How is your lenten journey going? I have found praying on my knees being a huge blessing so far. I have been praying that God would open my eyes to see my hidden sins. Those things that are not pleasing to God but I am unable to see myself. This morning when I was searching for another book I came across Gail Godwin’s novel “Evensong”. I could not help but notice a couple sticky notes peeking out of the book…
Are you in need of grace? Good for you, the most difficult step is to recognize your need of grace. Because God has plenty of grace to give you and he loves to pour more and more grace on you. Over and over again. There’s grace for every need and every situation. However, we can’t store up grace. We need to ask and receive grace every single day of our lives. But there’s plenty of it. God will -with gladness-…
C.T.Studd has said “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him”. I agree wholeheartedly. But I also agree with Dr. David Livingstone asking “If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?…People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. It is emphatically no…
You have a place in God’s plans. Yes, God is calling you to enter deeper into his grace. God is calling you into a full partnership with him. How do I know this? Just by reading the Bible. Every follower of Christ is called to make disciples and serve the body of Christ. Not just pastors! Every single follower is called to partner with God. Malcolm Smith has said “We have one function in life: to be the manifestors of…
We have entered the Advent season. It is time to make sure there is room in our Inn for Jesus. Join me this December to prepare our hearts and minds for Jesus. Let’s see what Mary can show us about being ready for God. Gabriel brings Mary a promise, an order, and a prophecy: When Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee, to a virgin who was engaged to a man…
Living in grace is liberating and empowering. Grace gets us into the loving presence of God and it validates our existence. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is in relation to God: We are God’s children and we love because God loved us first. I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure…
What would happen if you took your faith seriously? What if you embraced the fact that you were created for his glory and to do his will and work in this world? Martin Luther has said “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.” We are called to put our confidence in God’s grace. We are called to boldly seek God’s will for our lives. We are called to daringly embrace his plan for our lives. We are called…
Over the weekend some of the quotes I tweeted got very enthusiastic responses from the tweeting community. I realized they have a common theme and thought I’d explore this a bit further. Especially when my daily Bible reading seemed to answer the yearnings of these quotes. “Life is too short not to spend it doing what God wants us to do.” (Jack Hyles) Life seems to fly by. The biggest threat seems to be that we don’t get anything done…
What does following Jesus really mean? Sure, it means we’re saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and for that we give thanks to God! But how is God calling you to follow? Because God loves and calls each and everyone of use uniquely, taking into consideration our personality and life experiences. We are not just a bunch of people to God. We are individuals with needs, desires, and dreams. We are God’s children with whom he wants to…
Apart from God we are nothing. Even if we’d like to think otherwise. Apart from God we don’t even know who we really are. Apart from God we are completely and utterly lost. Blaise Pascal has said: “Not only do we not know God except through Jesus Christ; We do not even know ourselves except through Jesus Christ.” You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good…
