Standing Strong in Affliction

Standing Strong in Affliction – “I have experienced seasons I thought would be the most uncomplicated or joyful of my life, but instead, they brought afflictions, problems, illness, or conflict. Some of those challenges even threatened my spiritual health and vitality. I did not bear much fruit in those seasons. And many of the issues seemed to come out of nowhere.”

When You Are Done But God Is Not

When You Are Done But God Is Not – “God is not done, even when we are. Life changes. God moves us from phase to phase. Be faithful in whatever your current stage is. Live there to the fullest, serving God and those He brings into your life.”

On Not Giving Up

On Not Giving Up – Pastoral ministry has changed from golf to hockey. “Golf is hard, but it’s a game of technique. Improving your technique is the answer to most of your frustrations on the course. In hockey, you’ve got all the technique development challenges that go along with golf, but you also have to account for the reality that someone is trying to punch you in the face or check you into a wall at full speed.”

Don’t Give Up Too Quickly

Don’t Give Up Too Quickly – “Perhaps the Lord is displaying his wisdom when he makes us wait. He’s showing what we really want when we either abandon or persist in prayer.”

Know the Difference Between Laziness and Limitations

Know the Difference Between Laziness and Limitations – “Let’s commit to judgments about ourselves and others that are according to truth and understanding, all the while bathed with grace and an almost unlimited capacity for forbearance.”

Six Years, No Converts: Harvesting with Judson in the Hardest Fields

Six Years, No Converts: Harvesting with Judson in the Hardest Fields – “The lives of Adoniram and Ann Judson still serve as a living testimony to God’s faithfulness, continuing to sustain and prompt many to rest on the promises of God.”

Faith in the Wilderness of Waiting

Faith in the Wilderness of Waiting – “Twenty-five years. Three hundred months. One thousand three hundred weeks. Nine thousand one hundred twenty-five days. That’s how long Abraham waited between hearing God’s promise and holding his son (Genesis 12:4; 21:5).”

If We Do Not Give Up

If We Do Not Give Up – “How long must a wife bear witness to Christ before her unbelieving husband? How long must parents pray for a child who hasn’t trusted Christ? Why does so much sowing not result in reaping? Why do the due seasons seem to come later than we’d expect, if ever?”

What Does God Want Us to Continue?

What Does God Want Us to Continue? – “Sometimes we need to set our faces and purposes once again to continue something we’ve already started, to stay the course, to keep going.”

 

Seasons of Spiritual Drought

Seasons of Spiritual Drought – “You’re trying, you really are. You’ve been seeking him, but even after years of discipline, your heart isn’t warmed. You pray for a strong desire to study God’s word, but day after day still feels the same. Is something wrong with you?”

 

How to Hold On to Faith When 2023 Gets Tough

How to Hold On to Faith When 2023 Gets Tough – “Paul gives Timothy three reasons he should hold on to what he’s received.”

7 Encouragements in the Christian Struggle for Perseverance

7 Encouragements in the Christian Struggle for Perseverance – “Endurance, with its synonyms (perseverance, long-suffering, or patience) appears throughout the Bible as a Christian virtue. It is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Christians have a duty to endure. How, then, do we ready ourselves for it?”

 

A Workaday Faith

A Workaday Faith – “If you don’t get to do everything you hoped, remember Isaac, the patron saint of raising your kids, paying your bills, and trusting God.”

God is Always Working, Even When We Don’t See

God is Always Working, Even When We Don’t See – “I encouraged myself by reminding myself of times in Scripture or in my own life where I saw His answer after an extended period of seeming inactivity.”

When ‘A Little While’ Feels like Forever

When ‘A Little While’ Feels like Forever – “‘A little while’ feels like forever when you’re in it.”

Hey Christian, Don’t “Quiet Quit” your Faith

Hey Christian, Don’t “Quiet Quit” your Faith – “Quiet quitting the Christian life is the third soil that Jesus speaks of: those who bear no fruit because of the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things. Or as we might put it today ‘everyday life’.”

How Long Will it Last? – “‘He’s going through a religious phase.’ How often did you overhear that being said about you in your early days as an openly professing follower of Jesus Christ?”

The Spiritual Gift of a Closed Door: How Waiting Serves Ministry

The Spiritual Gift of a Closed Door: How Waiting Serves Ministry – “Sometimes God makes us wait for doors to open in ministry because unwanted waiting is some of the best preparation for ministry.”

Not Now: The Surprising Joy of Waiting on the Lord

Not Now: The Surprising Joy of Waiting on the Lord – “As a society and culture we don’t like to wait. Yet, we miss surprising spiritual benefits and blessings when we fail to head God’s imperatives and call to wait on Him.”

 

How a Steadfast Heart Guards You in Crisis

How a Steadfast Heart Guards You in Crisis – “When the winds are howling around you, you’re bending so far you’re afraid you’ll break. He’s given us the revelation of who He is and how He is working in the world, may we root our hearts in Him.”