A word about honesty. The Scripture exhorts us to speak the truth in love. Speak the truth in love. Which means, don’t speak the truth in anger or resentment or with the desire to wound. We need to be careful to check our motives underneath our...
READ MOREA basic tool for recognizing if you are under spiritual attack or dealing with foul spirits is to judge the fruit: “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matt 7:16). Is misunderstanding coming against your friendships? Pray against that. I...
READ MOREMary was frantic: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him” (John 20:2). She saw a man, assumed he was the gardener, and asked him if he had taken the body. And then Jesus revealed himself to her simply...
READ MOREWe grow during meaningful conversations with kindred spirits. But that's often hard to find in the midst of our non-stop days filled with never-ending to-do lists.
As this year comes to a close, we want to lift up several powerful podcast...
READ MOREThe only way is love. Paul says love “keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5). In loving relationships, we want to throw away the list in our heads of wrongs done to us and ignore them when they raise their indictments yet again. Too often we...
READ MOREGod will use painful trials...to hone us, but he doesn’t cause all of them.
Some of my readers will need some help with this because they’ve been taught a theology that God causes all things. So they have had to swallow hard and...
As a teacher, counselor, and author, I love what I do for a living. But it hasn’t always been so. I spent a lifetime in Washington, D.C., several years ago. They were two of the most miserable years of my life. I don’t like government, and I...
READ MOREThe meadowlark has long been my favorite songbird. I love its song because it evokes so many summer days out in the fields and streams of the West. Its song means summer, hay meadows, long lazy days, fly-fishing. More than anything else...
READ MORE“He is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth.” (2 Samuel 23:4)
What makes your heart awaken? For what awakens your heart is worth paying...
We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline. (Hebrews 6:18–19 The Message)
The hope and promise of...
God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT)
The thing you are made for is the renewal of all things. God has given you a heart for his kingdom—not the...
READ MOREYou hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. (Psalm 139:5)
At the Fall, why did God curse Adam and Eve with an emptiness that nothing would be able to fill? Wasn’t life going to be hard enough out there in...
Long before [God] laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. (Ephesians 1:4 The Message)
We exercise because we want to grow stronger...
Is anything too hard for the Lord? (Genesis 18:14)
January 1. A brand-new year. It’s the time of year we start thinking about making changes. This year, rather than writing a quick list of resolutions that we’ll likely...
He who testifies to all these things says it again: “I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon!” Yes! Come, Master Jesus! (Revelation 22:20 The Message)
There’s nothing like stepping out your door into the beckoning world. This is...
Out of that terrible travail of soul, he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many “righteous ones,” as he himself carries the burden of their sins. (Isaiah...
READ MORE“After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. ... His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’ ” (Matthew 25:19–21 The Message)
You...
“Come!” say the Spirit and the Bride. Whoever hears, echo, “Come!” Is anyone thirsty? Come! All who will, come and drink, drink freely of the Water of Life! (Revelation 22:17 The Message)
Two ideas are absolutely basic to a...
What is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Indeed, you are our glory and joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:19–20)
Where is this supposed coming? The current...
[My] labor pains for you ... will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. (Galatians 4:19 NLT)
And so you’ve celebrated Christmas, the coming of Jesus to this world. And what a thing to celebrate! The entire...
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