How do you start your day? Do you have some routines that are always the same? How long do you go until you greet God each day? You answer defines the robustness of your faith. Really. Either you lean on God or on your own strength. Either you live for God or for yourself. Either you put God first or yourself. In the morning You hear my voice, O Lord; in the morning I prepare [a prayer, a sacrifice] for…
Did you know that the first half of the lent is already over? Less than 20 days for Easter! Let’s continue to ready our hearts, minds, and souls for Jesus. Today I want to talk about something we very easily want to forget or, at least, downplay its importance in a life of a Christian. But the Bible does not want us to forget. If we want to mature in our faith, we need to be done with every trace…
Do you know how to keep joy? How to be always joyful? Happiness seems to come and go. In order to be happy we want more of things that used to make us happy. More stuff, more experiences, more fun. Always more. But that thrill-seeking leads us astray. Happiness-hunting gets us into trouble. More is never enough. It is a cycle to unhappiness. Why is everyone hungry for more? “More, more,” they say. “More, more.” I have God’s more-than-enough, More…
It seems like this same old problem has been around since forever: people want to be like everyone else. The root cause for disobedience is the desire to be accepted and admired by others. Just like the Israelites were hoping to be like the other nations. “‘What you’re secretly thinking is never going to happen. You’re thinking, “We’re going to be like everybody else, just like the other nations. We’re going to worship gods we can make and control.” (Ezekiel…
Do you try to gain the esteem of the world? Are you concerned what others think of you? Would you like to please crowds? I think we all would like to be well liked. But how far are you willing to go to gain acceptance? These questions rose as I combined two very different writing prompts I received today: ‘remember’ and ‘crowd’. Not a very likely pair. But they got me thinking. What do we need to remember? Crowd pleasing…
One of the really great things about Christianity is that God does not force us to do anything. God invites us and waits for willing hearts to follow his leading. How is your heart doing? Are you willinghearted? I’d like to say yes. I desire to say yes. But when I read these words of Jesus I am left wondering: Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it…
Are you satisfied with your walk with Christ? Or do you long for more? Do you want to rekindle your faith? To be more like Christ? To experience more of God’s presence in your life? Good for you. Time for spiritual renewal is here: Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (today). Lent is an opportunity to imitate Jesus as he fasted forty days in the desert. Lent is an opportunity to make room for God in our lives and get closer…
Spiritual exercise is necessary for robust spiritual health. There is no way around it. Any muscle that goes unused becomes weak. Any faith that does not get exercised becomes weak. So what are you waiting for? You even have your own spiritual trainer, the Holy Spirit, available 24/7. Let’s continue our journey towards a strong spiritual immune system. In the first part of the series I presented a formula for spiritual health. We need to have a healthy diet and…
Do you avoid choosing? Do you push decision-making as far as possible? Or do you like everything settled, clear and precise? I guess that depends on your personality (Whether you are P or J in the Myers-Briggs type indicator). I’ve learned of myself that I would like to keep my options open until I am 100% sure that my decision is the right one. But rarely do we have that kind of certainty in life, do we? We have to…
You know that faith is a gift from God. You can’t earn it, you can just receive it. Just as spiritual gifts in general, also faith is inspired and brought to pass by one and the same Holy Spirit. All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when. (1 Cor. 12:11, MSG) If you have had the pleasure to receive the gift of…
