Grow like this
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affectionContinue Reading
Taken hold of
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing IContinue Reading
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you. (Psalm 8:2 NLT) This week our local homeschool theater program will present Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” These young people ages 13-18 have been working several months in rehearsals to presentContinue Reading
Shama for dabar shalom
The voice of the Lord is powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. (Psalm 29:4 AMP) Sunday at church I asked a friend to pray for me because I was struggling with a spiritual “storm,” of sorts. One of the first things we talked about in that conversation was discernment. ToContinue Reading
Middle East
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. (Daniel 9:3 NIV) I found these prayer points by Christa Elisha* that were helpful to me as I considered how to pray about the conflict in the Middle East,Continue Reading
I Come with Joy
I come with joy, a child of God,forgiven, loved and free,the life of Jesus to recall,in love laid down for me,in love laid down for me. – Brian Wren One of my favorite series growing up was “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis. As a child I did notContinue Reading
On the holy mountain of the Lord
Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” (Genesis 22:14 NLT) Today I was reading the second chapter of The Story, a version of the Bible that uses the NIVContinue Reading
A time for war
You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked. (Psalm 97:10 NLT) Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. (Romans 12:9 NLT) For everything there isContinue Reading
A different “what if”
Who is the person who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose. (Psalm 25:12 NASB) Abba, I’m struggling against some fears in some specific areas. You said to cast everything on to you because you care for us. So I’m actively casting. Yes, Child. ThatContinue Reading
River sewage
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. (Psalm 36:7-8 NIV) Our pastor once told the story of riding in a large canoe up a river in aContinue Reading