Did you know that you have a place in God’s plans? Yes, God is calling you to enter deeper into his grace. God is calling you into a full partnership with him. How do I know this? The Bible tells me so. God is calling every follower of Christ – not just pastors – to make disciples and serve the body of Christ. What could it mean to you to live and work in partnership with God? Malcolm Smith has…
If surrender scares you, this post is for you. One of the biggest reasons why people keep from truly following Christ and surrendering to God is the belief that then life would be boring or, at least, all the fun would be cancelled. People just are not ready to bury their dreams. It might seem that is what God wants us to do. But when you dig a bit deeper you find out that God wants to give us life…
Did you know that God loves you and wants to bless you? That’s why he sent his son Jesus into world to die for you. God wants you to be made right with him so he can spend time with you. He wants you to get to know him. And, yes, God wants to bless you more. The father of the prodigal son told his oldest son who did not know how to enjoy life with his father “all that is…
What do you think? Do we have a capacity for faithfulness and obedience? I can still hear some people trying to assure me that it is impossible for a person to be faithful in marriage. I strongly disagree. We are called to faithfulness by God, granted a capacity for obedience by God and we are empowered by the Spirit of God. God wanted to teach this to His people and told Jeremiah (in Jeremiah 35) to invite the Recabites to a…
Do you worry your prayers? Or do you believe your prayers? There’s a huge difference between these two prayer styles. The first one leads to death and the other one to life. God is willing to help us. He just wants us to ask in faith, without doubting God’s willingness to help. How you do pray? Do you worry or believe your prayers? If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask…
Spiritual amnesia is one of the great dangers on our faith journeys. Forgetfulness of God’s goodness pushes us easily into a downward spiral towards spiritual emptiness. This happened time and time again for the Israelites on the wilderness. And it happens to us if we forget God’s graceful ways, either in the biblical history or in our personal history. How could we avoid spiritual amnesia? Spiritual disciplines have always been ways of keeping spiritual amnesia away. The most common ones…
Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the Wittenberg church door 499 years ago today. He was worried about the church’s way and wanted to call the church back to the grace of God. My favorite of all the 95 theses is #62 “The true treasure of the Church is the Holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God.” When the body of Christ remembers this, all is well. And this goes to each individual member too. That’s why…
Today’s word for the Five Minute Friday blog challenge is park. I love parks but I don’t want to write about parks. Instead, I want to urge you to position yourself in God’s presence. Once you’ve learned to establish yourself in a sense of God’s presence, put up a sign stating “Park yourself here”. Because there’s no better place than that. In God’s presence is fullness of joy. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is…
I saw this DaySpring eCard on my Facebook feed this morning. It has a quote by Tony Evans stating “Faith doesn’t make sense. It makes miracles.” What a beautiful thought. It gives us permission to relax in God’s grace. Faith doesn’t have to make sense. It is not of this world. But what really matters: faith makes miracles. Faith makes miracles It sounds a bit outrageous first, don’t you think? How could we produce miracles? Well, we can’t but God…
How do you feel about spiritual testing? Are you tired of trials? I hear you. But, believe me, there’s more to testing and trials than we might think. There’re hidden blessings involved, you know. Each trial has a purpose Warren Wiersbe has said “Life’s trials are not easy. But in God’s will, each has a purpose. Often He uses them to enlarge you.” This already make me feel better of tests and trials. Each trial has a purpose. God has…
