How do you renew your mind? How are you becoming more Christ-like day in, day out? There’s no shortcuts here. We can only grow in faith by abiding in God. How do we do that? By practicing ancient Christian disciplines like prayer and reading the Bible. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and…
It’s almost funny how some odd things of the Bible holds your interest. I’ve been reading the Old Testament in the chronological order and I am almost done, a bit of Nehemiah and then just Malachi left this time around. Anyway. About the odd things that keep you thinking. The prayer in chapter nine in Nehemiah is a powerful prayer…but…there’s no ‘Amen’ at the end. Does it even matter? This is what puzzled me. Amen is a beautiful word meaning…
I’ve never understood that some Christians can live without reading the Word of God. Do you? How do they keep doubts away? How do they remind themselves of God’s goodness? I truly need to read the Word of God to be filled with the joy of salvation. Let me explain. Just read these three verses: You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is immortal by the ever living and lasting…
One of the most famous Bible verses is Psalm 119:105 (AMP): Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. There are songs about it and almost everybody – it seems like it – knows it by heart. I’ve always loved it too but today I read it in the Message paraphrase and saw it very differently afterwards. By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path….
I have been in love of Psalm 19 a few days now. I am going to share it with you and explain why it feels so precious to me right now. Read it and let the Holy Spirit read you while you are at it. This is how the Living Word of God works! The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road. The life-maps of…
Last week I read an online article about how we should not do things we love every day. Like if you love ice cream, you should not eat it every day if you don’t want it to become just an emotionless habit. But there’s one exception to this rule, I think. The rule does not apply to Bible-reading. Because ….the more we read the Bible, the more we desire to read it. The more we digest the Word of God,…
How do you obtain wisdom for Christian living? Do you bank on your own reason or do you somehow rely on God? I think we all would like to think we are trusting God and not ourselves, right? But are you really seeking God’s wisdom? Or do you end up accidentally relying on your own reasoning day after day? Too often what really happens is far from the ideal. We intend to pray but we forget. We want to read…
The Bible is a huge gift for us. It proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ, of course. But it also equips saints and advices disciples. It keeps us focused on God and when our life focus is God, our life is balanced and blessed. Reading the Bible is so essential to a life of a believer that we really can’t live without it. Or at least stay spiritually alive without it. Today I want to share the beauty of…
God’s word is a mirror. We just need to dare to look at it. What do I mean? We could take, for example, any story Jesus told to his disciples. If we dare to ask the Holy Spirit to read our heart and show us what we need to know, God’s word will be a mirror for us. The picture that we see in our hearts is God’s message for us. Keep this in mind when you read the parable…
We need to eat to live, grow, and get stronger. For this very same reason we also need Jesus. If we want to live, we need Jesus. If we want to grow, we need Jesus. If we want to get stronger, we need Jesus. Jesus told them, “I assure you, it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.The bread of God is the one who comes down…
