Impatience seems to be the beginning of anxiety, right? Waiting for God’s guidance and timing is not easy, especially when we have all kinds of wild thoughts racing through our mind. What are the next steps God wants me to take? Should I wait or proceed? How can I be sure I am not missing God’s guidance? This morning I stumbled upon this Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote: “Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break…
Do you need constant renewal? I certainly do. Yesterday’s grace and peace won’t work today. I need my daily refill in order to live out of love and not out of fear. If you don’t trust my word on it, follow Jesus’ example. With the words of Andrew Murray: “While others still slept, He [Jesus] went away to pray and to renew His strength in communion with His Father. He had need of this, otherwise He would not have been…
The elements of a great life are not what people usually think. Neither a designer hand bag nor the latest technological gadget will bring happiness. And finding a spouse or having a child are not necessary elements of a great life, either. What then? The main element of a great life is God. Christ is the cornerstone of a great life. A great life is built by the Holy Spirit. Any life can be a great life if it’s lived…
Do you know how to enjoy God? Do you know how to practice the enjoyment of God? These are not trick questions, just very basic questions. (I wish I could hear all your responses right now. But, please, do comment below.) There are many ways to enjoy God but they all have one thing in common: God can only be met and enjoyed in the presence. God is the great I AM. He is not I WAS or I WILL…
Life is like cultivating a garden. A beautiful and balanced life or garden does not happen without effort. An important step in garden maintenance is to cultivate the soil. He [Jesus] said many things to them in parables: “A farmer went out to scatter seed. As he was scattering seed, some fell on the path, and birds came and ate it. Other seed fell on rocky ground where the soil was shallow. They sprouted immediately because the soil wasn’t deep. …
We all know times when we have felt like being in a cold, moldy, dark tunnel. It feels that in that place in time there is no way out. But with the words of Anne Lammott “hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: You don’t give up.” You don’t give up and you cling to the…
Anytime you start doubting, go back to your Bible. Anytime your feelings tell you that there is no way out, take your Bible out. Anytime you want to be assured by God’s amazing love check out some of the Bible verses that include these two little words “but God”. They’re small words but they declare God’s powerful ways to operate in this world in a big way! I’ll share here just a few of the Bible verses so you can…
This famous altarpiece from Wittenberg shows us how to live, breath, preach, and teach. The main thing is to keep Christ in the center. The Holy Spirit moves everyone: male and female, young and old. Jesus is the word of God embodied, real and active in our lives. When we keep Christ in the center our faith starts flowing. When Jesus is in the center, our life is balanced and blessed. All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him…
Disappointments are part of life. There will always be some sort of disappointments along the way. If we expect no hardships we will always be disappointed and might even become bitter. The trick here is to learn what to do with disappointments. Do we let the disappointments drag us away from God? Or do we give thanks even in the midst of hardships? Sure, it is hard. But when we praise God when we don’t feel like it, we are…
What do you think? Is holiness old-fashioned? Fasting during the Lent is (for most Christians) a voluntary thing. But too often we think all the discipline and growing in grace is optional, too. Even if you are not interested in hidden blessings hidden through discipline, you are called to be holy like God is holy. Holiness is not voluntary. It is the new normal for children of God. Don’t be conformed to your former desires, those that shaped you when…
