Are you frustrated, anxious, angry? It’s time to spend some time with Jesus! I’ve come to experience this time after time. Whenever I find myself off-kilter, I realize I’ve not spend enough time in prayer and scripture reading. Maybe this is what had happened to Martha, too?
Do you try make yourself a better person? Or do you trust God work in you to make you a person of grace? There’s a world of difference between those two ways of life. Self-strength stages an illusion. God creates life. Self-effort causes stress. Jesus provides salvation. Self-help brings exhaustion. The Holy Spirit brings peace. Why is it that stopping self-improvement projects and waiting for God to perform change in us is out of our radar? Why is is that…
Have you ever been so severely crushed that you thought you’re never going to recover? Have you been in such a storm that you thought you’re never going to make it? I’ve been there. But because of God’s mighty grace I made it. Most people don’t even guess I’d ever experienced anything so publicly humiliating and personally devastating. I’ve experienced God’s healing grace like Mary DeMuth writes in her new book Everything: “He [God] wants us to heal so fully…
Do you try hard to be perfect in every way? Are you afraid of letting your hear down? Do you wonder if you are good enough? Are you tired of trying to succeed? Watchman Nee has said “Many Christians endeavor to drive themselves by will-power, and then think the Christian life a most exhausting and bitter one.” But will-power or self-help does not work. It’s not about us making ourselves perfect or useful. It’s not about us producing fruit. It’s…
“Don’t just do something, sit there”. A very wise piece of advice. But so is this one: “Don’t just sit there, do something!” What? Yes, we need them both. There is time to sit still and there’s time to work. The tricky part is to find the right balance between these two. Every time I write a blog post about grace, I feel I’ve left out that we are also called to do something. And every time I blog about…
Are you in need of a cup of kindness? Congratulations! It’s available! Come and taste God’s goodness and kindness. It lasts from everlasting to everlasting. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100:5, NASB) God has been working behind the scenes for long time to get us out of dead-end, empty-headed lives. Now everything is ready in Jesus. By grace through faith in Jesus we are transformed into new life, real…
Do you remember the story of Naaman? He was general of the army under the king Aram. His master valued him because it was by him that God has given victory to Aram. But he had leprosy in its early stages. His wife’s maid was a captive from Israel. She could have been silent but she chose to represent God and tell them about prophet Elisha in Israel. Elisha listened to the servant girl’s advice and went off with silver…
Do you have a positive identity?Do you know that you are beloved? One of life’s most amazing experiences is finding yourself in God. If you don’t yet know that you are God’s beloved or if you keep forgetting that you are God’s treasure, this message is especially for you. This post was inspired by Jason Gray‘s fabulous song called “Remind Me Who I Am”. It’s about the struggle we face when we forget whose we are, what is our true…
The Bible is very clear that we are all called to be holy like God is holy. It does not happen without effort but by God’s grace it is possible. To be holy is to be transformed into the image of Christ. What bothers me is the fact that people think that holy people are boring, repressed, stiff-necked,and self-righteous. But Jesus was not at all that kind of person! What’s gone wrong here? We are called to be like Jesus,…
“We have learned to live with unholiness and have come to look upon it as the natural and expected thing.” wrote A.W. Tozer. I find this to be too true these days. Anyone who tries to lead a holy lifestyle seems to be ridiculed. But Tozer died almost 50 years ago! We tend to think this unholy living is recent history. But no. Tozer talked about this and the Bible talked about it all the time. Just think of King…
