As we approach the Holy week my mind has started swirling around the sacrifice of Jesus. I am in awe of vastness of God’s love. And then I think if God loved us so immensely … how should we respond to him? We can’t save ourselves but we can’t help but love God in return. How could we love God more and more? So, brothers and sisters, because of God’s mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a…
God called Jeremiah to be his prophet. Right afterwards God gave him on the job training: The LORD asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “A branch of an almond tree.” The LORD then said, “You are right, for I’m watching overmy word until it is fulfilled.” (Jeremiah 1: 11-12, CEB) There’s a word play going here in Hebrew. The Message translation catches the humorous zest between Jeremiah and God so well: God’s Message came to me: “What…
Everything starts with God. It’s always God first. He comes to us. He pours out his love and grace. He calls us. The LORD’s word came to me: “Before I created you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart; I made you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:4-5, CEB What will you do when God calls YOU out? Because he does have a plan also for you. “Ah, LORD God,” I said,…
Have you ever been so broken, shattered into zillion little pieces, that you were sure there was no hope for you? Or are you heart-broken right now? There’s good news for broken people! In Jesus all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies! There’s hope because of Jesus’ blood that poured down from the cross! He [Jesus] was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the…
Peter is one of the Bible characters whose spiritual growth impresses me time after time. He was passionate for Jesus from early on yet he didn’t first really understand what it meant to live for Jesus. But Peter was willing to learn, first from Jesus and later on from the Holy Spirit. Peter’s story is an encouraging example of heavenly spiritual formation, what it really means to grow in grace. Just think…Peter was the one who cut off the ear…
Do you have engrams, memory traces, of God? Has God touched you in such a way that there’s been a physical alteration in your living neural system? I hope so. Just like the men who fought along Saul: Along with him went courageous men whose hearts God had touched. (1 Sam. 10:26, CEB) When we have been touched by God, we are marked by God for good. When we have experienced God’s love and grace, our brains will always carry…
Too often we just let life happen and we wander without thinking, even without praying. But then we are in danger to get where the flow takes us and not where we want to go. We need to put our faith in action. Because faith is not a sentiment, it is a call for action. We need to start our days by praying for guidance, for wisdom, for direction, for strength. Tommy Barnett explains “I’ve discovered it is not sufficient…
Most of us can’t imagine that we’d ever reject God. But the sad truth is many of us is doing it without realizing it. When we insist living our way we are already rejecting God by our actions. The Israelites rejected God by asking for a king. The LORD answered Samuel, “Comply with the people’s request—everything they ask of you—because they haven’t rejected you. No, they’ve rejected me as king over them. They are doing to you only what they’ve…
Do you remember all the wonders God has done to you? Do you remember to stop and say thank you? Samuel shows us how to remain faithful and remember your God also when things are going well. When the Israelites had defeated the Philistines…Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer, explaining, “The LORD helped us to this very point.”(1 Sam. 7:12, CEB) Ebenezer literally means the stone of help. It…
Just the other day someone on Twitter told me “if you [are] talking to God you are askew. If he talks back you are insane.” That pretty much sums up how the world sees Christians. Praying makes you eccentric but if you claim God is talking back you are crazy. But how else could we be in a relationship with him if we did not communicate with each other? God is alive and well. Why wouldn’t he want to talk…
