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…
Today I want to share a miracle in the Bible that I have too often hurried past without stopping to appreciate God and his powerful message. Yes, there may be more exciting stories right before and after it. Yes, there are even bigger feeding miracles in the Bible. But this feeding miracle of the Old testament has a strong and encouraging message for all of us. One day a man arrived from Baal Shalishah. He brought the man of God…
Do you ever wish you had more faith? I have good news for you. Your faith is beautiful. It is a gift from God. You don’t need more faith. What? That’s what Jesus said. The apostles came up and said to the Master, “Give us more faith.” But the Master said, “You don’t need more faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could…
Has God rescued you out of deep waters? Has God pulled you out of chaos? Has Jesus saved your life? Do you still remember the awesome feeling of being pulled out of darkness? Or have you forgotten all the good God has done to you? Forgetfulness is one of the dangers in our relationship with God. Too often we are thankful for all the good when we are just out of deep waters. But then we go on with our…
Today – being Friday the 13th and all – I want to remind you to take up the shield of faith. Above all, carry the shield of faith so that you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. (Eph. 6:16, CEB) We are saved by grace through faith. But so often we forget that through faith we also receive God’s protection. God’s your Guardian, right at your side to protect you— Shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from…
Did you know that because of Christ you are free to change? Any time, anywhere. God is personally calling you to follow Him and he has a ready-made plan for you to blossom in his care. Whenever you crave change, cry out to God and be ready to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Surrender yourself to God and he will continue his work in you. Christ has set us free to live a free life. (Gal. 5:1, MSG) Did…
Are you marked by joy? Is it evident in your life that Christ lives in you? If he lives in you, your life should be brimming with joy. Because God is joy. God is indeed the source of joy. All joy comes from him. When we stick close to God, joy is present in our lives no matter how dark the world around is. When we dare to embrace the cross of Christ, we are filled with overflowing joy. And…
Do you choose your own comfort over following Christ? What’s your excuse to not to surrender everything to God? Tough questions. But these were the questions that the Holy Spirit asked me while reading these verses from Luke: On the road someone asked if he could go along. “I’ll go with you, wherever,” he said. Jesus was curt: “Are you ready to rough it? We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.” Jesus said to another, “Follow me.” He said,…
Blaise Pascal’s famous quote “Not only do we not know God except through Jesus Christ; We do not even know ourselves except through Jesus Christ” gives us a lot to ponder. It states that Christ is the only way to God. But that’s not so surprising. It is one of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity. But the second part -that states that we can’t even know ourselves without Christ- can sound a bit odd for many. How could our identity…
This week we’ve been pondering on what it means to “Live well, Live wisely, live humbly” (James 3:13, MSG) as we search for God’s will for our lives. Today we concentrate on how ‘living wisely’ can help us on our quest for God’s will. What could living wisely be? Maybe it’s recognizing what in life has eternal value and embracing it with everything we’ve got. Don’t love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world,…
