Are you on your way to heaven? Do you know how we are supposed to spend our time waiting for the second coming of Jesus? Let’s find out! I don’t think, friends, that I need to deal with the question of when all this is going to happen. You know as well as I that the day of the Master’s coming can’t be posted on our calendars. He won’t call ahead and make an appointment any more than a burglar…
Grace invites us to try on a new kind of wardrobe. One that God has chosen for us: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Did you just audibly sigh? Don’t worry, I know. The godly wardrobe doesn’t quite fit! But I know a Master Taylor who can help us: The Holy Spirit. When we invite Jesus to live in our heart the Holy Spirit starts working on our new kind of wardrobe. Gently he keeps on working on us and…
Do you remember Hannah who yearned to have a child? How she felt crushed in soul but prayed to God anyway. How she prayed for a son and promised to give him back to God. (1 Sam. 1) Her prayer was an authentic plea right from her heart. Before the year was out, Hannah had conceived and given birth to Samuel. Hannah did what she had promised to God. After she had weaned (much later than today) the much wanted…
Living in grace is liberating and empowering. Grace gets us into the loving presence of God and it validates our existence. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is in relation to God: We are God’s children and we love because God loved us first. I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure…
What would happen if you took your faith seriously? What if you embraced the fact that you were created for his glory and to do his will and work in this world? Martin Luther has said “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.” We are called to put our confidence in God’s grace. We are called to boldly seek God’s will for our lives. We are called to daringly embrace his plan for our lives. We are called…
Don’t you just love how God works? How he gives us a fresh start time after time? How he pulls us out of chaos and shows us the right way to go? But me he caught—reached all the way from sky to sea; he pulled me out Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos, the void in which I was drowning. They hit me when I was down, but God stuck by me. He stood me up on…
Do you have regrets? Or are you carrying bitterness or hurt around? Do you keep your real feelings from God? Do you only bring the good in you before God and deal with the bad on your own? Many of us do just that. We might forget the regrets for the most of the time but they are there. We might hold ourselves accountable and don’t forgive ourselves our own wrong doings. We might have been badly hurt and we…
Prayer is as important as breathing to Christians. We all know -no matter how busy our lives are- we need to find time for prayer. Or maybe especially because our lives are hectic we need more and more prayer. Like Martin Luther has said “the less I pray, the harder it gets. The more I pray, the better it goes”. Well prayed is indeed half done. Without God’s guidance and blessing there is no point to do anything. But when…
Where were you on 9/11? I was a rookie professor in Minnesota. I had just moved across the Atlantic Ocean. All my cupboards were still very empty, I did not yet know many people, and I was still searching for the right church home. So the horrendous news made me feel very vulnerable and lonely. But I was not devastated. Because I knew my life was in God’s hands. I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from…
You have heard the good news of Easter: Jesus is risen. And you have heard of the general resurrection of the dead in the future. What’s going on between the resurrection of Jesus and the promised resurrection of all? This is no time of zero activity! God is active and at work in us. Christ is resurrecting his children every single day. My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received…
