One reason we pray is because God wants us to be intimately involved in the building of His kingdom on earth. He wants us to intercede for people and situations, to see Him respond abundantly to our requests, and to glorify Him for His goodness and love. In other words, God wants us to experience […]
Stories are coming out of Syria of people turning to Christ as a result of the violence and brutality in the region. A story on the NBC News website is one example. Four years have passed since the Islamic State group’s fighters were run out of Kobani, a strategic city on the Syrian-Turkish border, but […]
Continuing our discussion of the straight path… We looked at Joseph’s straight path, where obedience to God led Joseph from favored son to slave to prisoner to ruler of Egypt. Now let’s consider the path of Jesus. Philippians 2 describes a similar arc to the path of Jesus: Let this mind be in you which was […]
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 It’s easy to hope that God’s straight path for our lives would mean a life of peace and contentment, of prosperity and success. But what […]
As believers, we desire to do those things our Father wants us to do. Jesus did this (John 5:19) and Paul taught it (Romans 12:1-2). The life of obedience to the Father can be described as “the straight path.” Proverbs 3:5-6 teaches us how to live on this straight path: Trust in the Lord with […]
I just came across this article on crosswalk.com about a moment in A Charlie Brown Christmas I had never noticed before: In that climactic scene when Linus shares “what Christmas is all about,” he drops his security blanket, and I am now convinced that this is intentional. Most telling is the specific moment he drops […]
Heaven waited and watched in anticipation of the birth of a child. It was a child that God had thought about long before the child entered this world. It was a child God loved immeasurably, with every ounce of His infinite love. It was a child that would make the Father laugh, and cry, and […]
(This is a copy of a post run each Christmas season) I wanted to pass along one final opportunity for worship this holiday season. O Magnum Mysterium was composed by Morten Lauridsen, one of America’s most performed composers, and my primary composition instructor when I studied at the University of Southern California. The text is […]
An article on billygraham.org discusses the way many evangelicals are relating to the Bible, in particular those parts of Scripture that are currently at odds with the beliefs accepted and promoted by the popular culture. According to Chelsen Vicari, many evangelicals—especially those of the so-called Millennial generation, born between 1982 and 2004—are responding in a […]
Genuine faith always results in obedience. Hebrews 11:6 says, And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Living a life that pleases God begins with faith. You have faith that He exists. You […]