Three Traits of a True Friend

Three Traits of a True Friend – “In his friendship with David, Jonathan shows us three traits that should be present in any true friendship.”

Things for Christian Men To Think About

Things for Christian Men To Think About – This is a good word for all Christian men.

How Does Love Cover a Multitude of Sins?

How Does Love Cover a Multitude of Sins? – “To ‘cover’ is to work toward forgiveness.”

I’m a Jew. Hope you are too!

I’m a Jew. Hope you are too! – “Why? Why did Paul say something so stark, so provocative, so annoying, so insulting, so outrageous, so aggravating? Because he wanted to address the most dangerous devilish lie throughout all history.”

Toxic

Toxic – “So, next time you want to reach for this adjective, pause, and ask yourself: is there a more biblical way I can describe the sin I’m talking about? And am I using this language to excuse running from a situation, in to which I haven’t yet faithfully spoken Christ’s gospel of repentance?”

Four Ways To Help Your Children Love the Church More

Four Ways To Help Your Children Love the Church More – “Why have they drifted off? It pays to ask the question, before our children drift away, how we can help them love the local church. Here are a bunch of ways we might do that.”

Blessed Assurance

Blessed Assurance – “If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Scriptures are clear that the Lord desires for you to have assurance concerning your salvation. Put differently, if you belong to Him, He wants you to be confident in that reality.”

The Body Is Bigger Than You Think

The Body Is Bigger Than You Think – “The Church is bigger than your church. The kingdom is bigger than your denomination. God’s people are all over the world, united by a shared love for Jesus and confession of his lordship.”

Heart Matters

Heart Matters – “The condition of our heart matters. God is observing those chambers where motives are born, swell, and give way to actions. A healthy heart will be soft, tender, and malleable, eager to submit to the Lord, while a hardened heart is cold, rebellious, and bitter.”

A Bruised Reed

A Bruised Reed – “God does not treat us differently depending on our degree of faith. His eyes are not only on the raging fires, but on the faintly burning wicks. And he promises he will never quench them.”

From Burden to Image Bearer: How God Changed My View of Children

From Burden to Image Bearer: How God Changed My View of Children – In a time when couple aren’t having children because they are seen as a burden, here’s a biblical view.

4 Keys to Healing from Betrayal

4 Keys to Healing from Betrayal – “Whether you are processing pain caused by a friend turning against you or find yourself in the process of your own repentance, know God alone is wholly trustworthy.”

What the Bible Says About Social Media

What the Bible Says About Social Media – “Unfortunately, it doesn’t talk directly about using social media, something many of us wish we had a guidebook for. It does, however, tell us how we should comport ourselves, how we should treat others, and how to reflect Christ into the world.”

Messy, Late, and Happy: How to Survive Sundays with Small Kids

Messy, Late, and Happy: How to Survive Sundays with Small Kids – “Almost everything about having a young family works against a standing multiple-hour commitment on Sunday mornings.”

Too Old to Covet?

Too Old to Covet? – “We begin to realize that when we were younger, we coveted what some people had that we weren’t getting. In later life, we start to covet what we all had, but we are starting to lose.”

3 Threats to Christian Unity and How to Address Them

3 Threats to Christian Unity and How to Address Them – “We live in increasingly divided times. Some pull to the left and others to the right. What caused our division?”

 

9 Things You Should Know About Chinese President Xi Jinping

9 Things You Should Know About Chinese President Xi Jinping – “Here are nine things you should know about the authoritarian leader of the world’s most populous nation.”

Why the Church?

Why the Church? – “Christ is the head of the church. And he does not have out-of-body experiences. To submit to the authority of Jesus Christ over your life is to live in fellowship with the church.”

Step One in Preparing to Suffer

Step One in Preparing to Suffer – “This is how you prepare to suffer: you turn your value system upside down.”

Waiting on the Lord

Waiting on the Lord – “If God wanted me to be patient, why did he create me so impatient?”

Our Bodies Have Purpose and Value

Our Bodies Have Purpose and Value – “We are not our own and therefore are not free to do whatever we want with our own bodies. We bear the image of another; this image is what gives us transcendent value and dignity. The ownership of that image belongs to God.”

Limits Are A Blessing, Not A Curse

Limits Are A Blessing, Not A Curse – “It is my limits that drive me into your arms of grace. It is my limits that make me grateful for you. The awareness of my limits causes me to remember you.”

 

A Caution to Those Who Decree and Declare

A Caution to Those Who Decree and Declare – “Presumptuously commanding God insults him.” While the author is speaking to an African context, I’ve encountered this several times in our area.

Which Man Was More Free?

Which Man Was More Free? – “Which man was more free: was it the emperor or was it the missionary? Was it Nero or was it Paul?”

20 Quotes from Trevin Wax on the Thrill of Orthodoxy

20 Quotes from Trevin Wax on the Thrill of Orthodoxy – Here’s one, “The church faces her biggest challenge not when new errors start to win but when old truths no longer wow.” So true.”

 

Food Offered to Idols: A Contemporary Issue

Food Offered to Idols: A Contemporary Issue – “Many believers in Christ today share a dilemma quite similar to that of Corinth in New Testament times. They are confused about how to live out their faith in relation to the pagan community around them.”

How Can Jesus’s Return Change Us If We Don’t Know When It Will Be?

How Can Jesus’s Return Change Us If We Don’t Know When It Will Be? – “The references to Jesus’s appearing that saturate the New Testament letters make it clear that hope is fuel, and our longing to see Jesus face-to-face can empower endurance through the fiercest challenges.”

We Love to Give Gold Stars

We Love to Give Gold Stars – “Like us, Biblical characters have flaws, some of which are on bright display. But those flaws are not the point of the passage as often as we think. When we fixate on these questions, we drift away from what matters most.”

11 Doctrines You Can’t Assume Your Church Members Understand

11 Doctrines You Can’t Assume Your Church Members Understand – “The latest State of Theology report gives us a look into 11 theological doctrines we may take for granted but that we need to stop assuming our church members understand.”

How Can God Forget My Sins? What We Remember at the Table

How Can God Forget My Sins? What We Remember at the Table – “The book of Hebrews provides the most in-depth explanation of why the old covenant had to be replaced by the new covenant.”

How to Talk with Your Kids About Transgender Ideology

How to Talk with Your Kids About Transgender Ideology – “The question for Christian parents is not whether but how to talk about transgender ideology with our kids. We want to suggest three specific ways parents can counter bad ideas that might be shaping their children’s understanding of gender.”

Love Without Limits

Love Without Limits – “I learned that in my own human, imperfect way, I could love as God loves.”

It Starts With Surrender

It Starts With Surrender – “God doesn’t seek gifted vessels; he seeks surrendered ones.”

Who Was David Brainerd?

Who Was David Brainerd? – I read his story years ago. If you haven’t heard his story, he’s worth meeting.

Remember This About Spiritual Fruit

Remember This About Spiritual Fruit – “God does the work in us, through us, with us. And this is where our struggles with assurance of salvation and frustrations in sanctification crop up. We forget two essential lessons about fruit.”

The Room in Your House No One Knows About

The Room in Your House No One Knows About – “Many of us maintain secret rooms in our spiritual houses which need to be cleaned and disinfected and aired out.  We’re talking about repentance of sin, and healing and a new holiness.”

Jeffrey Dahmer and Killing Our True Crime Obsession

Jeffrey Dahmer and Killing Our True Crime Obsession – “When serial killer stories rank among the country’s top shows, we’re guilty of fueling a dark trend.”

Shaken to Bear Fruit

Shaken to Bear Fruit – “The God who is sovereign over all things may lead us into times and contexts that are deeply painful. Yet we can be confident that our suffering is never arbitrary and never meaningless, for God always has a purpose in mind.”

Why We Must Teach Kids Safety Skills

Why We Must Teach Kids Safety Skills – “Keeping our children safe means we teach them God’s ways—how he created us to live following him. Safety is built on the foundation of discerning right from wrong.”

Living Among Majesties: The Grandeur of the People of God

Living Among Majesties: The Grandeur of the People of God – “God’s people have a kind of grandeur about them, one that calls forth awe and wonder from David.”

 

The Earliest Prayer Ever Prayed

The Earliest Prayer Ever Prayed – “Of all the Christians who lived after Christ, who was the first to have a prayer recorded that has endured through the ages.” It’s a beautiful prayer.

 

How the Spirit Can Heal the Church (Again)

How the Spirit Can Heal the Church (Again) – “Basil understood that the Spirit ministers to the church so she might know, enjoy, and manifest the very beauty of God amid this dark and dreary world. Specifically, I believe he wanted readers to see three ways this occurs.”

Iran: Revolt or Revival?

Iran: Revolt or Revival? – “More Iranians have become Christians in the last 20 years than in the previous 1,300 years since Islam came to Iran. But this could be the beginning of an even greater revival.”

Why Christians Should Oppose Marijuana Legalization

Why Christians Should Oppose Marijuana Legalization – “Not everyone will be convinced—or even care—about the dangers. But to persuade the persuadable, here’s some of the evidence for why marijuana (cannabis) is a dangerous drug.”

Teach Your Kids to Love the Local Church

Teach Your Kids to Love the Local Church – “Megan Hill gives five practical ways to teach our kids to love the local church.”

What Does My Dog Think I Do All Day?

What Does My Dog Think I Do All Day? – “We were made to know God, but we are so limited. We are invited to know what God has revealed to us, but we shouldn’t think that we can know any more than the tiniest fraction of the whole.”

Perfectionism: The cruel burden we place on each other

Perfectionism: The cruel burden we place on each other – “We are not going to be perfect so long as we live in these mortal bodies on this earthly sod as a part of this fallen culture.”

Iran’s Church Seeks God amid Protests

Iran’s Church Seeks God amid Protests – “Iran’s story is a sad story from a human perspective, but we trust that God has good purposes for his people in Iran. If the revolution hadn’t happened, perhaps Iran wouldn’t have the fastest-growing church today.”

At Age 80, ‘The Screwtape Letters’ Is Still Worth Reading

At Age 80, ‘The Screwtape Letters’ Is Still Worth Reading – “It’s not just that the demon deceives. He understands a lie is made far stronger by mixing in a little truth.”

Expose Your Kids to Hard Truths

Expose Your Kids to Hard Truths – “Here are three ways to help children develop a robust faith that embraces and defends truth.”

Am I Going Through Hell?

Am I Going Through Hell? – “Compared to hell, the worst moments on earth—including my stage four, apparently terminal cancer—are but fleeting sorrows.”

How to Set Wise and Generous Financial Goals

How to Set Wise and Generous Financial Goals – “Set financial goals rooted in needs and generosity that will grow your faith. Trust God for the rest.”

How Do People Shipwreck Their Faith?

How Do People Shipwreck Their Faith? – “It is possible to make a start in the Christian life, perhaps a very long start, and then throw it away and be lost.”

Encouragement for the Trials We Face

Encouragement for the Trials We Face – “How should we think about the trials that are sure to come?”

There’s No Growth without Death

There’s No Growth without Death – “The problem is like with many new year resolutions they don’t see beyond February. Why? Because with most good intentions we don’t really think they have a cost.”

How to Prepare Your Kids for Eternity

How to Prepare Your Kids for Eternity – “Here’s the core difference between Christian parenting and worldly parenting. As Christians, we must believe the eternal destiny of each child entrusted to our care is the most pressing matter in his or her life.”

5 Myths about How We Got the Bible

5 Myths about How We Got the Bible – “If the Bible’s history has sometimes been misunderstood, the good news is that the truth is better than the fiction.”

5 Eternal Funds to Invest In

5 Eternal Funds to Invest In – “You’ve heard people say that you can’t take your money with you when you die. But that doesn’t mean you can’t send your resources ahead of you.”

The Middle World

The Middle World – When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

There is a Crack in Everything (Including Us)

There is a Crack in Everything (Including Us) – “The first step in becoming like Jesus is acknowledging how unlike Jesus we are.”

Debunking Grief’s Myths: 4 Lies You Need to Stop Using

Debunking Grief’s Myths: 4 Lies You Need to Stop Using – “Whether we’re offering flimsy hope to a friend or to ourselves, the myths we tell ourselves about grief don’t serve us well.”

The Relational Pain of Ministry

The Relational Pain of Ministry – “Friends in the ministry can let you down and never return or care for you again.”

What the Gospel Says to Those Who Suffer

What the Gospel Says to Those Who Suffer – “The gospel has to speak to those who suffer. And it does. In fact the entire Bible is the story of a God who cared about his people’s suffering so much, he entered into time and history in order to do something about it.”

Golden Bowls Filled with Prayer

Golden Bowls Filled with Prayer – “Revelation gives us a fascinating picture of golden bowls filled with our prayers at the throne of God. What is this telling us? Why would our prayers be presented this way?”

Wise Anger

Wise Anger – “The Bible teaches us to be careful around anger. It’s often been said that ‘anger’ is one letter away from ‘danger.’”

Why Does Jesus Make Us Pray ‘Our’ Father?

Why Does Jesus Make Us Pray ‘Our’ Father? – “Jesus teaches us always to understand ourselves not only as individuals but as members of God’s family of believers, and to pray accordingly.”

Designed for Community

Designed for Community – “So what are some ways you can fill that need for community? There are three things that I have learned and tried to implement when finding community.”

 

Praying in Public

Praying in Public – Here are some good reminders and encouragements when opportunity arises to pray in in public.

A Word About the ‘Spark’ In Marriage

A Word About the ‘Spark’ In Marriage – “A marriage that lasts requires more than a sexy flame.” 

Friend, You Can Be Ready to Die: Two Ways to Prepare Now

Friend, You Can Be Ready to Die: Two Ways to Prepare Now – “Years ago I read somewhere that, during the Victorian era, people talked often about death, and sex was the taboo subject. By now we have flipped it. We talk freely about sex, and death is the taboo subject.”

Getting America’s Most Famous (Or Infamous) Sermon Right

Getting America’s Most Famous (Or Infamous) Sermon Right – “God that holds you over the pit of hell much as one holds a spider or some other loathsome insect over a fire . . . tis nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. Sinner, consider the fearful danger you are in.”

The Wicked Bible

The Wicked Bible – “A scandalous printing mistake in a 17th century King James Bible caused its printers to lose their license, and a vast majority of the bible copies to be hunted and destroyed.” The printing of Bibles has had its challenges throughout church history.

7 Things Your Church Needs From You

7 Things Your Church Needs From You – “God made you part of your church for your good. You cannot do life on your own. You aren’t strong enough, you aren’t wise enough, you aren’t mature enough, you aren’t godly enough.”

Seek Wisdom in the Age of Algorithms

Seek Wisdom in the Age of Algorithms – “Algorithms care nothing about the truth. They’re designed to capture our attention for the maximum time to exert the maximum influence over our decisions. They bring to our screens the most reliable attention-grabbers: things that make us feel angry, afraid, aroused, or adored.”

The God of the gaps or the God who makes the grass grow?

The God of the gaps or the God who makes the grass grow? – “Science, rather than explaining away God, has opened a marvelous window for us to see in ever greater detail what it is that God does every day to govern and take care of his creation.”

 

You Will Be Breathtaking: Why God Clothes Us in Glory

You Will Be Breathtaking: Why God Clothes Us in Glory – “God’s glory gets less attention than the fibers under our feet — and we wonder why life feels so confusing and hard.”

Essentials and Non-Essentials in a Nutshell

Essentials and Non-Essentials in a Nutshell – “Like in all areas of life, we need to learn to choose our battles carefully. But in order to do this, we must first come to know the difference between essentials and non-essentials.”

May the Lord Make Me Truly Thankful

May the Lord Make Me Truly Thankful – “One of my goals as I get older is to become more thankful, more aware of God’s grace in all that he’s given me to enjoy. As far as I can see, the only alternative is to become more entitled, and that’s not an option I want to explore.”

Does the Bible Understand Trauma?

Does the Bible Understand Trauma? – “Psalm 55 is one passage among many that gives us confidence in God’s understanding of trauma and his ability to bring help and hope through his Word, Spirit, and people.”

Why I Stopped Church Hopping

Why I Stopped Church Hopping – “As American Christians, we can often treat the church like our personal theater experience. If a church isn’t the exact experience we’re looking for, we seek a full refund for our ticket and move on to the next show in town.”

Becoming Unshakable in a World of Pain

Becoming Unshakable in a World of Pain – “Sin is mainly about God; it’s not mainly about hurting people.”

The Silent Sin That Kills Christian Love

The Silent Sin That Kills Christian Love – “Perhaps the test of faithfulness in a day of moral degradation will be our love for people across chasms of difference. Faithfulness isn’t in showy displays that we hate all the right people.”

A Manifesto for Times of Suffering

A Manifesto for Times of Suffering – “Perhaps it can give you ideas or words that you can adopt as your own as you attempt to be faithful in even the most difficult of circumstances.”

How Christians May Insult the Lord Jesus

How Christians May Insult the Lord Jesus – “We are not talking about apostasy here. Just poor discipleship.”

How Can We Trust the Bible When It Contains Inconsistencies?

How Can We Trust the Bible When It Contains Inconsistencies? – “I am finding inconsistencies in the Gospels that really bother me. But if it contains contradictory accounts, how can we trust what the Bible says?”

Remembering Our Numbered Days and Call to Love

Remembering Our Numbered Days and Call to Love – “Death wasn’t meant to be. It’s ugly, hard, and elicits appropriate tears and hurt—just like your response to Lazarus’ death. But, hallelujah, Jesus, your death was the death of death, and your resurrection is the guarantee of ours.”

5 Things You Should Know about Creeds

5 Things You Should Know about Creeds – “There is a lot of misunderstanding about the nature, history, and purpose of creeds. Here are five things you should know about creeds.”

How to Respond If Your Child Comes Out Today

How to Respond If Your Child Comes Out Today – “In light of this malignant cultural narrative, how can parents best respond to a child’s coming out?”

Five Ways to Think About Witnessing

Five Ways to Think About Witnessing – “The Bible uses several analogies to play up our identity as witnesses. Here are five.”

The Disastrous Moral Harm of California’s Transgender ‘Refuge’ Bill

The Disastrous Moral Harm of California’s Transgender ‘Refuge’ Bill – “What’s being promoted is a false view of the self under the auspices of moral autonomy and freedom — especially toward children and youth — that is at odds with basic biological and moral realities.”

 

Hearts Painted by the Word Again and Again

Hearts Painted by the Word Again and Again – “As the workers paint the Golden Gate Bridge stroke by stroke, similarly I paint my heart with the Word of God verse by verse.  It is a never-ending process. Just when I think I have finished, it is time to start over.”

Is Any Part of Life Morally Neutral?

Is Any Part of Life Morally Neutral? – The real question is, “What is sin?”

Feast of Tabernacles: How Sukkoth Points to God’s Provision

Feast of Tabernacles: How Sukkoth Points to God’s Provision – “For the Jewish people, the feast’s significance can be seen in its three major components: the timing, the tabernacles, and the sacrifices.”

Is there Spiritual Safety in Numbers?

Is there Spiritual Safety in Numbers? – “There is no safety in numbers. You have to believe in Jesus for yourself, to be saved.”

Offers of Safety Are Not Always Safe

Offers of Safety Are Not Always Safe – “When my children were young, I thought the best way to protect them from the evils of the world was avoidance. And that may be true for the very young. But as they grew up, I realized they were going to be young men out in the world some day. It would be better to teach them what was right and wrong with the things they would face.”

Gather to Grow

Gather to Grow – “We aren't cucumbers, but we still benefit from companions on the climb between salvation and heaven. And not just any companions: Christian fellowship is unique among all other groups because it is centered on Christ.”

Why I’ve (Mostly) Switched to the CSB

Why I’ve (Mostly) Switched to the CSB – “It’s a blessing from God that despite all of the church’s problems today, we have access to numerous good translations of God’s word. These are just some of the reasons I’ve made the switch to the CSB.” I (mostly” made the switch for the same reasons.

To the Uttermost: How Jesus Keeps Us Day by Day

To the Uttermost: How Jesus Keeps Us Day by Day – “To get a sense of the height and length and breadth and depth of that word uttermost, consider three promises guaranteed by the present prayers of Jesus for his redeemed people.”

Prayer: The Battlefield

Prayer: The Battlefield – “How should I pray? Is it a time of loving relationship and communion with our Savior? Or is it a time of battle and seeking salvation for others? It’s both.”

Christmas Is Bigger Than You Think

Christmas Is Bigger Than You Think – “That baby in the manger was a lot bigger than he looked! Which is why Christmas is a lot bigger than we think.”

Something to Ponder

Something to Ponder – “The book of Psalms tends to become a favorite for people who have faced some challenges in life. Once we know of the soul food kept in that storehouse, we tend to find ourselves returning again and again.”

The prayers of God’s people

The prayers of God’s people – “Sometimes we wonder why things are happening as they are in the church. Why is the Lord doing this or that among us...But then we find out that people have been praying specifically for that thing. That is a real privilege.”

10 Things the Church Can Learn About Missions from Jesus, Peter, and Paul

10 Things the Church Can Learn About Missions from Jesus, Peter, and Paul – While there were differences in their approaches, there are clearly things they had in common.

The Great Tribulation—When and How Long?

The Great Tribulation—When and How Long? – “I am often asked whether or not the ‘tribulation’ is a seven-year period which immediately precedes the second coming of Jesus Christ, or is it the entire period of time between Christ’s first and second advent, the so-called ‘great tribulation?'”

The Other Half of Discipleship: Why We Learn Life-on-Life

The Other Half of Discipleship: Why We Learn Life-on-Life – “The people we spend time with profoundly shape us.”

Even When I Hate My Body, God Calls it Good

Even When I Hate My Body, God Calls it Good – “I said ‘I hate my body.’ The words came out like venom. And in that moment, I meant each one. It’s not even just the way my body looks. No, it’s the way it feels.”

Suffering Is Our Teacher

Suffering Is Our Teacher – “This is a recurring theme in Scripture. Consider more benefits of affliction.”

Will My Spouse Be My Best Friend in Heaven?

Will My Spouse Be My Best Friend in Heaven? – “The happiest marriage in the world is but a head start on the joys of heaven.”

Two Dangers Facing Christians Under Cultural Pressure

Two Dangers Facing Christians Under Cultural Pressure – “The first is to give in to the pressure to conform, and the second is to stand defiant in an ungodly way.”

Leading Our Churches Through a Life in Exile

Leading Our Churches Through a Life in Exile “Living as an ambassador means getting to know the people, language, customs, and power structures so we can represent God’s kingdom to the country we’ve been sent.”

Why We Go Light on Polemics

Why We Go Light on Polemics – “This means that someone who might otherwise listen to the gospel can go into fight mode if I start dishonoring the creed and traditions of his people – and then the chance to get to the gospel can be lost.”

 

Remember the History of Gospel Advance

Remember the History of Gospel Advance – “These movements and theologians labored for and were characterized by a desire to wed piety and theology to the glory of God for the good of the church.”

Christian, When Persecution Comes: Embrace It

Christian, When Persecution Comes: Embrace It – “How is it possible to rejoice even during something as painful as persecution? Let me offer six reasons you can rejoice and be glad even when persecuted.”

 

Why You Need to Know the Difference Between Hidden and Revealed

Why You Need to Know the Difference Between Hidden and Revealed – “Though you feel his presence listening to the Scriptures, deep in prayer, or in the friendships of your faith community, he can feel distant when you need him the most. You can’t always find him, but he always seems to find you.”

You Can’t Do Everything & Not Everything is for Everyone

You Can’t Do Everything & Not Everything is for Everyone – “Whenever talk of something a church is doing comes up, it doesn’t take long before all the whataboutery starts. It’s great that we’re providing X, but what about Y? It’s great that X is on at this time, but what about all the people who can’t make that time?”

 

What Does Scripture Say about the Fall of Satan?

What Does Scripture Say about the Fall of Satan? – “The fall of Satan and his angels is shrouded behind a veil and cloaked in mystery.”

People Who Need to Tremble Before God

People Who Need to Tremble Before God – “Asked for the greatest thought he’d ever had, Andrew Murray is said to have answered, ‘My accountability to God.’ That’s what is missing in the minds and hearts and lives of some of the fiercest of troublemakers who wreak havoc in the Lord’s churches.”

Trust Isn’t Just About Me

Trust Isn’t Just About Me – “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.”

Four Questions about the Love of God to Ask Jehovah’s Witnesses

Four Questions about the Love of God to Ask Jehovah’s Witnesses – Here are some tools for you to consider as you engage in spiritual conversations.

Entitlement is the Enemy of Worship

Entitlement is the Enemy of Worship – “Many times we approach God like we do an employer. We come not broken and indebted but rather anxious and annoyed at him. Why? Well because we feel he’s failing us. We come to collect our paycheck for service rendered and it’s late or unavailable. 

Day of Atonement: How Yom Kippur Points to Salvation in Christ

Day of Atonement: How Yom Kippur Points to Salvation in Christ – “The Day of Atonement was the only day when a priest could enter the Most Holy Place (or the Holy of Holies), the inner room of the tabernacle or temple that contained the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat.”

How Do I Persist in Prayer?

How Do I Persist in Prayer? – “Jesus’s answer to the question ‘How can you endure to the end and be saved?’ is ‘Pray, pray, pray.’”

We Know Our Enemy’s Plans

We Know Our Enemy’s Plans – “He’s not creative but he’s very effective.”

Love One Another On Twitter

Love One Another On Twitter – “The same hammer used to build a house can also smash a window in a robbery. The same screwdriver that assembles gorgeous furniture can stab someone in a fit of anger. Such is the case with social media.”

Before You Begin to Mother: Three Lessons for Young Moms

Before You Begin to Mother: Three Lessons for Young Moms – “I would tell her to get comfortable with uncertainty in the small details and to sharpen her understanding of God’s sovereignty over every season of life.”

Longing, Loss, and the Life to Come

Longing, Loss, and the Life to Come – “Out of nowhere, the feeling—soon to be a familiar one—swept over me: a great desire, an aching yearning, a tremendous longing for something I couldn’t name.” 

Reaping God’s Presence

Reaping God’s Presence – “Everyone’s a farmer. We’re always sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting, putting down seeds and taking up crops. We just do so with our thoughts, words, and actions.”

The Path Back to God

The Path Back to God – “When you’ve drifted away from God, how do you get back to him?”

Worship with Your Family in 5, 15, or 30 Minutes

Worship with Your Family in 5, 15, or 30 Minutes – “Without some regularity, structure, and purpose, we often assume we’re encouraging our children in Christ more than we actually are. Structured family worship seeks to daily encounter Christ by these means of grace—together.”

Christian, Do You Expect to Face Persecution?

Christian, Do You Expect to Face Persecution? – “Those who imitate Jesus will suffer like Jesus. If we live as citizens of the kingdom of heaven—which is to say, if we live like Jesus—we will be out-of-step with the values of the kingdom of this world and people will hate us for it.”

Give Me More of God: Why Spiritual Intimacy Can Feel Elusive

Give Me More of God: Why Spiritual Intimacy Can Feel Elusive – “Whatever the cause of our longing, the Spirit is stirring in us a desire that comes from God. Because it’s his great desire, the very heart of the new covenant, that we all really know him.”

A Parent’s Worst Nightmare

A Parent’s Worst Nightmare – “As parents, we can’t control if our children come to Christ. Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). And yet we can control whether or not they learn of him and his saving work (Deut. 6:5–9).”

3 Times When We Look Horizontally When We Should Be Looking Vertically

3 Times When We Look Horizontally When We Should Be Looking Vertically – “When we look for something in our environment – to our spouse, our career, our friends, our possessions, our kids – when we should be looking to God.”

A Thrill of Hope

A Thrill of Hope – “Today, then, as you think about what may feel like a long road of Advent before you, remember that as tired or wounded as this season may find you, the day is coming—and not too far off now—when the blessed hope (Titus 2:13) will appear.”

Let’s Stop “Should-ing” and “Shouldn’t-ing” on Ourselves

Let’s Stop “Should-ing” and “Shouldn’t-ing” on Ourselves – “Apostle Paul gave seasoned and newbie-believers a huge gift by being quite vulnerable with them.”

The Spirit God Gives Us in Difficult Seasons Like These

The Spirit God Gives Us in Difficult Seasons Like These – “Everyone is struggling. This has been an extraordinarily difficult time in our world for many in ways financially, physically, mentally, and spiritually.”

Joy in the Morning

Joy in the Morning – “How do you feel joy in the middle of suffering?”

Be Obedient Even When You Don’t Understand the Command

Be Obedient Even When You Don’t Understand the Command – “Between our own sinfulness, our lack of knowledge about God and his world, and the influence of the culture, we’re all susceptible to thinking we’re a better judge of what is good than God is.” 

What Does America Need for Its Post-COVID ‘New Normal’?

What Does America Need for Its Post-COVID ‘New Normal’? – Here are ongoing issues and challenges in finding the “new normal”. Particularly as it relates to faith.