Elijah was a man “with a nature like ours” (James 5:17) and is held up for us as an example of fervent and earnest prayer (the Greek reads, “He prayed with prayer”) that accomplishes much. Elijah didn’t merely pray reactively to the circumstances happening around him; he sought God’s face proactively. He knew that he... Continue Reading

The answer is simple, yet we tend to overlook it. We need God’s grace because without His grace, we cannot grow to be more like Christ. We’re never alone, Christ promised us that He will send the Comforter so we could live a life that reflects the righteousness given to us by faith. He promised... Continue Reading

Remember that the most lasting transformation and renewal is not that carried out by the governments or lobbyists or protestors of this world. Rather, it is the redemption that comes in the gospel of Jesus Christ and leads ultimately to the renewal of all things when he returns. Jesus established the church to be his... Continue Reading

God’s plan for the nations sits at the center of Paul’s argument. Each nation was given over for a time to lesser spiritual powers (see Deuteronomy 32:8). That period, Paul says in verse 30, was the time of ignorance. But the era of such particular tribal cults is over. Paul announces the dawn of the universal, unrestricted reign of Christ. Whatever a culture’s ancestral... Continue Reading

In the 1998 animated film Prince of Egypt, Moses’ ark takes a wild ride down a violent torrent amidst snapping hippos and crocodiles. Whilst all very exciting the truth is that Moses’ mother carefully places him where she knew Pharaoh’s daughter and her attendants bathed. Her daughter Miriam watches over him. Thus Moses’ mother offered... Continue Reading

In 2 Timothy 2:16–18, Paul gives the most insightful reasoning. Here we get the content of the “babble”: The resurrection has already happened. Paul wants Timothy to avoid this idea because it spreads like gangrene, leads “people into more and more ungodliness,” and upsets their faith. The principle is that sometimes the way to stop... Continue Reading

Folks will often say, “Come to Jesus and He will take all your troubles away!”—I’ve found the opposite to be the case. Indeed, my life before Christ was relatively easy and carefree in most respects. And when I became a Christian, Christ did in fact take away that which formed the raw substance of my... Continue Reading

I think that our technological age, in part, has made it so that we feel like we should be able to solve problems with great efficiency.  Solutions to our problems—obesity (GLP-1s), lack of energy (energy drinks), financial insecurity (gambling and prediction markets)—seem as convenient as ever. But sometimes efficient solutions can sometimes be deceiving. Of... Continue Reading

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from... Continue Reading

Habakkuk cries out to God, protesting what God is going to allow—but he never gives up on who God is. If the God that Habakkuk trusted was like the gods of the nations—gods who could be defeated, gods who could turn against you, gods who never claimed to love their people—none of this would be... Continue Reading