Being different is not a goal itself but a co-product of being a faithful servant of God. When we do God’s will, we will stand out from the crowd. We will be different but God has a way to bring the best out of us. We will be blessed beyond measure. God wants us to become more and more Christ-like. We are not holy by nature. And we don’t become holy by accident either. We need God’s grace to both…
My word for this year has been devotion because I wanted to truly devote my heart and mind to God this year. Too often we don’t really spend time in God’s presence. And when we do we monopolize the time we spend with him. So I wanted something more: “I want to be seen by God and I want to see God. I want to meet God in his terms. I want to spend time in quiet adoration. I want…
Two weeks before Christmas…are you already running behind? Exhausted? Weary? Maybe even burned out? It’s time to take a pause. It’s time to turn to Jesus to recover our lives. It’s time to take a real rest. “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the…
We all know that Jesus is our best Christmas gift ever. But do you know what to give Jesus this Christmas? Just yesterday this was a novel concept to be. It had never occurred to me that I could concretely give Jesus a birthday present until I read Ann Voskamp’s blog post where she shares how their family gives birthday gifts for Jesus by buying goats or mosquito nets. I thought it was a brilliant idea. So during the dinner…
Prayer is such an awesome gift for us. We just neglect it too often. We somehow don’t believe enough in its power. But can we afford not to pray? I don’t think so. I have written a post about my reasons why I can not live without prayer. Prayer simply invites God into our lives. Hence prayer enables us to be human and leaves everything else to God. Prayer is also an antidote for anxiety and a power tool in God’s…
People who don’t know better think believing in God is just about rules, regulations, and religious behavior. If this was true, I’d be the first to quit. I am not drawn to religiousness. I am drawn to God. And not to a statue somewhere. But to the Living God: personal, relational, active. Christian faith is not about keeping alive a bunch of rituals and commemorating a fairy tale. Christian faith is celebrating the freedom we receive by grace through faith…
“God majors in impossibility” is one of those uplifting, encouraging, and empowering facts of faith Mary DeMuth writes about in her new Everything book. Impossible is nothing to God, he is mighty powerful! Also nothing is impossible with God, he will empower us to thrive by grace. This quote encourages me to embrace life fully no matter what happens: “God’s heart…is not that we escape our lot, but that we learn to thrive in the midst of it” (Mary DeMuth)….
As nights are getting longer and darker I am reminded of the battle of darkness and light. Thankfully we know that God has won the battle on the cross. Gratefully we realize that darkness has no say over us. Blessedly we acknowledge that in Jesus there will always be light.
Faith is meant to be robust and life-giving. But too often we let the worries of the world and the hurries of our lives to take over and we end up suffering from Spiritual Anemia. Or we get so caught up following religious rules that we forget what was the point of all of it. Somehow our lives get muddled and soon refreshing faith is just a memory. We forget that faith is about walking with the Living God!
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?
