Getting ready for Christmas is not about finishing your shopping lists. It’s not about cleaning your house or preparing scrumptious meals. It’s not about getting the Christmas cards out on time. It’s not about trimming your tree beautifully or decorating your house festively. It’s entirely something else. All these other things can be fun but the one thing that really makes or breaks our Christmas is our heart condition: Do we love Jesus more than anything? Jesus: Simon, son of…
Did you know that the Lord’s Prayer is dangerous? This week the Church of England’s cinema add featuring the Lord’s prayer was banned. I was curious to see this add and I absolutely loved it. How about you? Even the web site for prayer they’re advertising for is worth of visiting. But let’s discover the beauty of the Lord’s Prayer. Why is it so powerful, even dangerous? Bishop Steven Croft gives us seven reasons in his blog post: First, this…
Do you know what’s the difference between spiritual fruit and spiritual gifts? Do you know how or why they appear? And which one is more valuable, spiritual fruit or spiritual gifts? Let’s find out! But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23, NIV) The amplified Bible explains spiritual fruit to be the result of His presence within us. We can’t produce spiritual fruit. It just happens when we abide…
Have you ever wondered how do we know that Jesus is God? The quick answer is that the Bible tells us so. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20, NRSV, emphasis added) But there’s so much more to know….
Martin Luther was born on the 10th of November 1483 and to celebrate his birthday I share with you ten profound quotes of his. They are still relevant over 500 years later. How come? Because only eternal things have lasting value. Luther preached Christ crucified (1 Cor. 1:23). He reminded us of what is essential: we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. He pointed us to the cross. He encouraged us to focus on Christ. He encouraged…
Do you have any projects on the back burner? Or have you abandoned some all together? Sometimes that happens. We start something with great enthusiasm but then life happens, there’s not enough time or energy to complete what we begun, so we quit. That’s very human, I think. That’s why we might assume that God would do the same to us. That he’d be excited about us for a while and then give up when we’re not that promising after…
Lately, I have been contemplating on wholeness. It seems to be the goal for every person on earth. According to Victor Frankl meaninglessness in our lives is a hole, an emptiness, in our lives. Whenever there is a vacuum we rush to fill it with things. We keep on trying one thing after another – shopping, money, work, sex, drugs, entertainment, relationships, hobbies – but nothing fills the hole. But God. Look at that man, bloated by self-importance— full of…
The world is a very dark place these days. You don’t want to be swallowed by the dark forces. What to do then? The spiritual answer is the same as for the pedestrians walking in the dark: Glow in the dark. But how can we do that? How can we glow in the dark? There’s no way we can glow in the dark on our own. We need help. But the help is near. When Moses came down from Mount…
Thank God he sent his only son to save us from ourselves. Without Christ we are self-indulgent, self-righteous, self-conscious self-rulers that are only interested in self-preservation and self-promotion. And, let me tell you, that’s not life. That’s slavery. But, like I said. Thank God he sent Jesus to save us from ourselves. Otherwise we’d be not only stuck in the rut but also doomed for eternal slavery. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that…
How does your faith affect your everyday life? Or does it have an impact on your day to day affairs? (I would love to hear your answers in comments). You see, there are studies that states that faith that is not connected to everyday life deteriorates easily. We wouldn’t want that, would we? What to do then? How can we connect faith to everyday life? So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary…
