Waiting is part of life. Most often we don’t like it but we have to deal with it. But what is the purpose of waiting? I’ve started to think the purpose of waiting is to prepare us. And the longer we refuse to be prepared, the longer the waiting period will be. Because we can’t enter into a new phase of life until we’re ready. Okay, you say. How can we get ready for the unknown future? True, we don’t…
My word for 2015 has been readiness. I had no clue what to to expect of this year or what I would learn along the way. But the word intrigued me from the very beginning. It did bring some nice surprises along the way. For example, our family was lead to a huge trip to the other side of the world with a week’s notice. But mainly this study on readiness has taught me about what it means to be…
Do you know how to be dressed in readiness? Then I want to hear from you. My word for the year 2015 is ‘readiness’ and I am trying to figure out what readiness means for me and how I could practice it more fully. Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit. (Luke 12:35, NASB,*) We are all called to be ready for Jesus. But readiness for Jesus means more than ‘just’ being saved. And that’s what I will be…
Are you ready for 2013? Or do you know how to become ready for a new year? The web is bursting all kinds of self-help articles of how to make the best of 2013. But they leave me empty and unsatisfied. No matter how much planning I’d do for the new year, it does not solve the problems. If I have not ended this year well, the new year will be same old, same old. So the best preparation for…
What is it to us whether it is Friday the 13th or not, when we are in Christ? What is it to us who is against us, when God is for us? What is it to us what happens in the future, when the future is in God’s hands? So what are we going to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ…
The commercial adds try to tell us what is essential for Easter. But only one thing is essential for Easter: a ready heart. Has your lenten journey readied your heart for Jesus? There’s still time to do it. We are not to rush ahead to Easter. Rather, we need to work on readying our heart. Have we surrendered our selfish hopes and false expectations? Have we confessed our sins and repented them? Are we ready to die with Jesus? Search…
All these self-help articles of how to prepare for 2012 have left me empty. No matter how much planning I’d do for the new year, it does not solve the problems. If I have not ended this year well, the new year will be same old, same old. So the best preparation for the future is to deal with the past. When we have a clean slate we are ready to move on. But how can we get past the…
The Bible is full of stories of obedient and faithful men and women of God. I truly appreciate that we have these saints gone before us. We can learn from them what it is to live out our faith in the midst of challenging life events. Today I want to talk about Joseph, a central character in the Christmas story. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. When Mary his mother was engaged to Joseph, before they…
Throughout this season of Lent I’ve been trying to ready myself for Easter joy by praying, fasting, and listening to God. Today I will share the biggest repentance trigger of my Bible readings this Lent. Does this speak to you as loud as it did for me? Then Jesus went with them to a garden called Gethsemane and told his disciples, “Stay here while I go over there and pray.” Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he…
