The Rule of Life
Embedding Habits
If you don’t actively embed habits into your life then they won’t get there any other way. It takes, depending on who you ask, between three and seven weeks to form a habit. Once they’re formed they last until a strange sequence breaks them, and then they need forming again. Discipline your life, like an... Continue Reading
Reasons Why Ministers Must be Diligent in Their Ministry
The weight of a minister’s accountability.
We must take heed to our ministry, when we consider what a great Lord and master we have received it from. His eye is always on us, to see how we manage this trust, as it was on the angels of the seven churches. The fact that He wrote to them after He ascended, exposing... Continue Reading
Light in Your Darkness (Is. 9:1-7)
Jesus offers to be our light in the darkness.
He shines His light on us, but there are still dark shadows. At this very time those trust Him can celebrate His full and free forgiveness. At this time those who trust Him can be comforted that He guides us and fathers us in love. But we too look forward. For one day he will... Continue Reading
Bowed Down by What Makes Them Beautiful
God has given us the strength to bow our knees in worship and to bow our hearts in submission.
The posture of our hearts soon matches the posture of our bodies. We acknowledge that God is the one whose providence has directed our every high and every low, our every joy and every sorrow, our every laugh and our every tear. And as we pass through the trials with a faith that is unbroken... Continue Reading
How to be an Anxiety Fighter
Talk about the goodness of God
This is more than the power of positivity or a gratitude journal. The goodness of God alleviates more anxiety than a swaggering self-confidence because it frees you from that dreadful cell of…you. The antidote to anxiety is basking in the truth—God’s got this. Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word... Continue Reading
Right Reactions?
Be Prepared: Christians are neither to be surprised or alarmed by trails of “various kinds”.
Never forget that what the devil plans for bane God permit to bless. Brace yourself in advance so that you won’t be shocked by dark days in your life. Be resolved to keep going, not faint, and get the intended benefit of character forged like Christ. Ask for all His wisdom that you need to... Continue Reading
Women in Church History: Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753–1784)
Christ-Honoring and Pioneering Poet
From the trauma of enslavement to repeated loss of loved ones and material suffering, Phillis’ story is a tragic one. Yet her poems show her unflagging belief in God’s providence within and beyond her circumstances. While acknowledging the sorrows of her early life, she praises divine mercy for allowing her to learn “That there’s a... Continue Reading
Hardship Is Not the End
Hardship doesn’t rule—God does.
As the children of God, we are ruled not by our circumstances but by the one who controls every circumstance for his ultimate glory and our ultimate good. It may seem like hardship is winning, but whatever hard thing you are going through is not your final destination. God is preparing us for our final... Continue Reading
Bearing Fruit
The seed (think Genesis 3) that dies bears much fruit.
We know that everything, everything, that dies in Christ comes to life. That includes all that ‘wasted’ effort on self-denial that didn’t bear fruit we could see. We need new creation eyes to learn that nothing done for God is wasted, no seed dies without bearing fruit, even if it isn’t the fruit that we were aiming for.... Continue Reading
The Problem in Imitating Christ
Are you faithfully sharing and preaching the gospel to the ends of the world?
God is not interested in simply re-tweaking a few behaviors and calling them good. He is about repentance and radical transformation in our lives! Jesus is not about behavioral retraining of a therapeutic relationship which is reward-based. That is basically to stop bad behavior and start doing good behavior like training a dog! How does he... Continue Reading
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