Many people say God feels distant. But we can’t trust our feelings in spiritual matters. But I understand if God feels distant, it’s easy to also doubt his existence. And that can cause all kinds of problems. But is there anything we could do? Is God distant or is he just silent? Sometimes God is silent and then we just need to wait. We all get dry spells along our spiritual journey, the trick is to know what to do…
This post started in the most peculiar way. In a dream, I was writing a post using a quote by Andrew Murray. So this morning I decided I needed to check out his writings again. And I fell in love with this quote about the gloriousness of fellowship with God. “The giver is more than the gift; God is more than the blessing. And our being kept waiting on Him is the only way for our learning to find our…
When we are low, we don’t need lectures. There’s no need to point out the obvious. Instead, we need help and, especially, hope. And that’s what God provides us no matter how badly we have messed up. With God, there’s always hope. And then some. God gives hope upon hope. We can’t say the same about our enemy. Because his goal is to kill and destroy. When we’ve messed up, our enemy is more than happy to tell us just…
This Lenten season is a wonderful opportunity to see if we’re putting something else than God into the first place in our lives. What does take up the most of your time? Or what occupies your mind most? It’s so easy to get distracted and start caring more of Netflix or hobbies than God Almighty. Sometimes we need to do less in order to see what’s important and what’s not. When we do less, we can seek more of God….
Is it hard for you to ask for advice? Do you rather wander aimlessly around than humble yourself and ask for help? Why is it so hard to admit that we are lost? It must be pride. We want to pretend at all cost that we know what we are doing. But the sooner we admit we are clueless, the sooner we are en route in the right direction. This is also true in our spiritual life. We don’t need…
By grace, I came to faith early. And, by grace, God is still the one whom I choose. Nothing has taken his place in my life over the decades. I have experienced heartache and loss but they did not turn me away from God. Instead, they made me run into God’s arms. Everything but God was taken away from me but God was more than enough. I was healed and made whole again. And the best part of the whole thing:…
We spend a lot of our time and energy in trying to find out who we are and where we belong. Marketers want to influence us by showing us possible identities – and stuff that goes along with that image. We are told to make something of ourselves. So we try to be successful, to be something, anything, really. Yet, we might miss our true identity altogether if we pass God’s invitation to come to him. Henri Nouwen has said, ‘Jesus came to…
Most people seem to think it’s up to them to reach their full potential. They think it’s about will-power and dedication and, yes, those are good qualities. Yet life, success, and reaching your full potential is not at the end about you. And even if you would do everything in your power to reach your full potential, you would still have not reached all you can be. Because just as some parts of our identity is hidden in Christ, so…
We claim to trust God yet we don’t act like it. We stress about everything when we could pray and trust God to solve all the matters that bother us. Sometimes I’m better with uncertainties, sometimes I catch myself wishing for a security cushion against the world instead of praying for God’s will and protection. What about you? How do you deal with uncertainties? I have tried all kind of tricks to deal with uncertainties but I have found only one…
Do you ever wonder whether God can still do mighty things? And if he can, could he do them in your life? We do need reminders of God’s power and goodwill towards us. Otherwise, we have a hard time believing in God and his grace. The Bible is full of these reminders and that’s why we need to keep on devouring it. But in the end, faith is a mystery, we can’t explain everything. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be faith. As Martin…
