Why Do People Get Sick?
The Bible breaks such deceptive bondage. If you’ve ever been confused about why people get sick or you know someone who needs answers, these truths will be a soothing balm to a weary soul.
The truth is, God is strong enough, wise enough, and powerful enough to bring purpose out of our pain, even if He doesn’t take us out of the pain right away. You and I experience this more often than we realize. Whenever someone we know dies, it can either lead to bitterness toward God, or to our own appreciation... Continue Reading
How Discipleship is Like Cooking
Christian, you are called to make disciples. But being faithful to this command does not mean that you have to strictly follow a recipe.
As we trust Jesus and follow Him, we can also feel the freedom of knowing that God has created us each individually, each with different personalities and traits, with skills and experiences all our own. All of these things come together in the actual fashion that we carry out Jesus’ command. In other words, we... Continue Reading
God Loves Cliff-Hangers
God loves to use all the circumstances of our lives to advance His kingdom.
GK Chesterton once wrote on why things happen this way: “Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.” We have a god who knows the way out of the grave. The cross was a place of total and utter disaster for the followers of Christ.... Continue Reading
The Person of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God.
As the third person of the Trinity, the Spirit is co-equal with the Father and Son, and yet as a distinct person, the Holy Spirit is the one who regenerates us and guides us into all truth. He doesn’t speak on his own authority but relays the truth. The Holy Spirit is ever illuminating the... Continue Reading
Character First
When the role and responsibility outpace the leader’s character, disaster is inevitable.
Caring about your team’s character begins with the ongoing process of building and assembling the team, but it does not end there. Care for their souls. Pray for them. Remind them of the grace of God. If you sense a lapse in character, if the Holy Spirit brings something to your mind, don’t bury it.... Continue Reading
Praying the Lord’s Prayer Specifically for a Person or Situation
The beauty of praying the Lord’s Prayer—it is comprehensive and helps us prioritize what God wants us to pray.
I’m convinced the Lord’s Prayer is the ultimate prayer tool and the first thing believers should memorize, that’s why I mention it so much in my book When Prayer Is a Struggle. If we can learn how to use this Spirit-inspired prayer tool well, many of our struggles to pray will dissipate. One of my favorite prayer... Continue Reading
A God I Could Love
"It is more pious and more accurate to signify God from the Son and call Him Father, than to name Him from His works only and call Him Unoriginate." ~Athanasius
In the Son of God, we do not see a haughty God, reluctant to be kind. We see one who comes in saving grace while we were still sinners. In him we see a glory so different from our needy and selfish applause-seeking. We see a God of superabundant self-giving. We see a God unspotted... Continue Reading
The Ascension
The victorious Christ rose to His throne as King of kings and Lord of lords.
We sometimes talk about kings and queens “ascending to the throne,” and this—the ascension of Christ—is the supreme example. It’s nothing less than the visible demonstration that Jesus Christ is now enthroned in heaven. So when we talk about the ascension, the word isn’t simply referring to the physical “rising up” of Christ. He is... Continue Reading
Embracing Suffering in Ministry: Lessons from Romans 8 – Part 2
God is in control. He’s sovereign, and he works even the greatest tragedies into something good.
The Holy Spirit groans with us. He intercedes for us in our helplessness. And not only that, we know that God is going to turn everything into good. And if he’s sovereign, then we have hope. And if we have hope, we have patience. We work in the midst of hardship, in the midst of... Continue Reading
How Do I Know if Sin Reigns in Me?
Sin whispers to us that we have more time before the concrete settles, that our ways are still malleable. But it’s lying.
When we sin, if we find our natural reaction to busy ourselves with other tasks—to take a shower and get out of the house and listen to music, that might be an indicator that we are refusing to think of God. But if when we sin, we think of our kind Father, and feel the... Continue Reading
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