Do you have a favorite place? A sweet spot where you’re the happiest? A reading chair or maybe the beach nearby? Or maybe your favorite place is your summer cottage or a rose garden? No matter how sweet and wonderful your favorite spot is, it doesn’t compare to the best place in the world: the foot of the cross. Because it has healing powers. It gives life upon life for anyone who wants to receive them in Jesus’ name. The…
I think I’ve been living in denial. You know, thinking the western world would not be so immoral or post-Christian. But a few things have forced me to open my eyes and the view is daunting. Lord, have mercy on us. I can see why people start questioning the Bible and their beliefs when everyone around them is living like Jesus never existed. But they are mistaken. Please, do not let the world fool you. Do not let the world…
Are you after spiritual well-being? Do you want more of God’s grace and peace? Good for you. This means you know what can make your life better and more blessed. So you are ready to choose life over death. Wonderful. But do you know how to go about it? How can you have more of God’s grace and peace? Let’s find out. Grace and peace [that special sense of spiritual well-being] be multiplied to you in the [true, intimate] knowledge…
Are you included in Christ? If yes, you’re part of a very rich inheritance. All the riches of Christ are yours when you heard the good news of your salvation, and as a result, believed in Him. If no, know that all are included in the invitation to come to Christ. All are welcome just as they are. Christ has everything you need to be made right with God and even that is not all. He has everything to heal…
Do you ever read some Bible verses thinking ‘thank God that’s not my problem’? But once you dig a bit deeper you realise that it’s exactly your problem? I share a Bible verse today that had that kind of effect on me. It’s from the sermon of the Mount. Jesus tells us that we can’t serve both God and mammon. I nod wistfully like a Pharisee and I am thankful money has never been an issue for me. (I have many…
Do you feel stuck? Sometimes we feel like we’d be doing the same old, same old routines over and over. Nothing changes no matter how we try. Like we’d be forgotten in the middle of nowhere. But that’s not true. God knows exactly where you are and what is going on in your life. He is ready to help you. You just need to ask. Don’t let fear keep you stuck. Let God’s grace set you free. You see, I…
I love Jesus. How could I not, right? He died for me and gave me a chance to be made right with God. Loving Jesus is a no-brainer to me. How about you? It gets tough when we are told in the Bible to love God and Jesus above all. More than ourselves. Even more than our kids. And even more than life itself. Ouch. Loving Jesus more than anything does not come naturally to us. Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord…
I don’t use any Bible reading plans. My plan is simply to read a chapter or two or three both in the Old and New Testaments every day (and, no, I don’t manage to do it every day). Once I’ve read through, I start rereading them again, usually in a different translation. So I was utterly delighted by the divine orchestrating that on Easter Monday I was reading through the last chapters of the letter to the Hebrews. It so beautifully…
Good Friday, Holy Friday, Long Friday – whatever you call the day Jesus was crucified – leaves me always in reverent awe. Somebody died for a wretch like me. Not just any death but crucifixion, brutal torture from start to finish. And all this was prophesied hundreds of years before it happened. God knew this had to be done, that much he loved us. That much he yearned for us to be made right with him again. Such love for us….
Sometimes we might wonder whether God can understand what’s going on in our lives. You know, how awful it feels to get rejected or be shunned from the coffee table discussions at work. How could God understand what it feels like to lose a friend, right? But then I’m reminded that Jesus is God. And Jesus went through awful things, especially during the time we call the holy week. Jesus got rejected, shunned, cast off. His friends unfriended him, he…
