Are you feeling small or fenced in? Maybe your perspective is off kilter. When we are focused on ourselves, our lives gets smaller and smaller. But when we open our eyes to help others, our lives get larger and larger. The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. (Proverbs 11:24, MSG) And when we focus our eyes on God, our lives are getting even more spacious. In the Hebrew language…
Do you walk with God? Do you know how to walk with God? You know, walking with God should be the most natural state of being for a Christian. Just as walking comes naturally to human beings. But what could walking with God entail? How would you describe walking with God? When we are reconciled to God by grace through faith, our Christian walk begins. Walking with God means that we have an on-going communion with God, we abide in…
The Bible is a huge gift for us. It proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ, of course. But it also equips saints and advices disciples. It keeps us focused on God and when our life focus is God, our life is balanced and blessed. Reading the Bible is so essential to a life of a believer that we really can’t live without it. Or at least stay spiritually alive without it. Today I want to share the beauty of…
Do you worry about how your life is going to turn out? Or do you worry about how your life is going to end? If you are a friend of Jesus, there’s no need to worry. Whatever it is, Jesus got it covered. If you live with God, there’s no need to stress. Whatever it is, Jesus got it covered. Behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation…
Do you resist self-examination? Are you afraid of what you will find? And are you not ready to take the trouble or pay the price to fix it? So you continue to ignore the signs because you are somewhat functioning. I don’t need to tell you that the trouble is increasing and the price you need to pay is getting bigger and bigger. Especially if this is happening in your spiritual life. You are supposed to be alive but in…
Do you want to grow in wisdom? I think we all do. But do you know how that happens? The Bible gives us a very clear answer: Skilled living gets its start in the Fear-of-God, insight into life from knowing a Holy God. (Proverbs 9:10, MSG) I knew this and I try to live it out every day of my life. But that’s not all, folks! This very morning I read from the Acts how the church throughout Judea, Galilee,…
Hope is not dead. Hope is very much alive. No matter what the world wants you to think. No matter what you are experiencing. No matter what is going on in your life. Sure, we must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope like Martin Luther King, Jr. put it. Hope is not dead. How do I know this? Because the Bible tells so. Hope is not dead because the tomb was empty. Hope is not dead because Jesus…
Have you erected barriers against God in your life? Maybe not knowingly. But sometimes we act out of fear without thinking. We might think we are not good enough for blessings and turn away. We might look at our own resources and shy away from service. Hence we don’t dare to dream God-size dreams. Instead we bar God further away from our lives. That’s why we need this quote from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis to wake us up from…
You hear so many stories of how people turn away from God when they have experienced some heart-breaking difficulties. Somehow they’ve learned to think that if you believed in God there would be no hardships anymore. But that’s not what Jesus promised for his followers. He promised something much more amazing and important. All this can be found in this one Bible verse with the words of Jesus: I have told you these things, so that in Me you may…
Do you realize the fullness of Christ? Do you live it? School’s out; quit studying faith and start living it! You have received Christ; now live him. Put what you have learned in practice and live large. Do everything in him and let your living spill over into thanksgiving. My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re…
