Just the thought of being rewarded for some good I have done brings me a sense of anticipation. It encourages me to try harder. Sometimes it seems that any good we might do is canceled out by our failures making our efforts seem fruitless. Source of rewards Jesus wants to prevent those inevitable failures. Yes, they are inevitable because it is from our efforts. It is our resources. Flesh. Apostle Paul tells us that in him, the best of the…
Finding inner peace. Peace with ourselves. We all long for that. You know, the inner conflict we struggle with that keeps peace away. That inner tug-of-war between what self wants and what God is wanting for us. Remember how Paul described his inner turmoil in Romans 7? He wanted to do what was right, but found himself doing the opposite. Living independently from God is the path Adam and Eve chose. We struggle with that same temptation. In chapter 8…
Successful Christian Do you wonder how to make spiritual success real in your life? How do you overcome besetting sins? How to be more loving, patient, etc.? What has been done for us has already been done. There is no more for Jesus to do for us. It has already been done. He did it all through His life, death and resurrection. It is done. Even He said it as He was dying. Remember? He said, “It is finished.” How…
I would like to share an excerpt from my upcoming E-book called Walking on Water. Our Christian life is made real by faith. Walking on water is an example of believing and substantiating, making real the promises of God. Introduction Today we can choose to believe. Today we can choose to walk on water. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1 Walking on water is a picture of faith. Faith…
What does your life feel like each day? Stressed? Is it fragmented? Do you feel torn to pieces? Is there so much going on that it feels like a spinning merry-go-round? We all have many roles to play – parent, student/employee, leader, wife/husband, brother/sister. We are made up of many roles which switch at a moment’s notice. Often we don’t finish one responsibility before another is pushing in on us. We begin to feel fragmented, torn to pieces, stretched beyond our…
What do we need to live a victorious Christian life? What do we need to make us true, fruitful, successful Christians? Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Everything we receive from God is part of Jesus. He doesn’t give us experiences apart from Jesus. The fruit of the Spirit is Jesus. Everything we learn from Him is what is already in Jesus. Revealing more and more of Jesus. It is releasing Him to live out Himself in and through us by giving Him…
Prayer Do you struggle with prayer? What is prayer? Would you like to go deeper? Prayer is: Worship – adoring the holy, incomprehensible One Conversation – two-sided conversation Sharing – we sharing our thoughts and concerns with God and He sharing His thoughts and concerns with us. Prayer is more than asking and giving thanks. It is communicating. It is sharing your inner most thoughts with your closest friend. It is your Friend sharing His innermost thoughts with you. God…
Annoyed When something irritates or annoys us do we rebuke it or do we surrender that to God to remove our irritated reaction? Is our spirit that is united with Christ’s spirit irritated? No, our spirit is one with the Spirit of Christ and wants what He wants. It is our flesh that is irritated. Flesh is enmity with God. It doesn’t want spiritual things. Don’t expect it to. We can’t reform our flesh. Our natural self, our flesh was…
The following is a quote from The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer. It is how he closes his short book and I thought it was worth sharing. It is my prayer and hope it is yours too. You can listen to the audio version online. Pursuit of God And, of course, it can be purchased in paperback. (The following quote is from audio version time stamp 3:08:20.) Above All Lord, I would trust Thee completely; I would be…
“You stand before God as if you were Christ because Christ stood before God as if He were You.” Charles Spurgeon Jesus Paid It All That is why He died. To stand in for us, to accept the full measure of God’s wrath on our sins. To pay our fines, our debt, the price for our acceptance. The price for our gift of approval from God. That is how much God loved us and loves us. His holiness couldn’t overlook…