God’s Love with Skin On I love the story of a 5 year old girl who was soundly sleeping in her own bed when a terrible storm assailed her house and awakened her. In her fear of the storm she ran to her parent’s room and found a refuge inbetween mom and dad. In this[…]
Find The Temple. Use The Sanctuary. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit[…]
A Time Of Crisis We experience crises along the way because it is in these times that our souls can truly learn to calm down, grow and expand in love. Cooperating with Jesus in a time of crisis is essential to spiritual growth. Without cooperation with Jesus during a time of crisis our souls only[…]
Meditate On These Things Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8 It makes perfect sense to me that[…]
Discomfort “Jesus diagnoses our inner divisions as our greatest challenge.” E. Stanley Jones Anyone who has taken an all night international flight in economy class knows what discomfort is. Anyone who has spent over a week in an intensive care unit knows what discomfort is. Anyone who has suffered with severe back issues for a long[…]
Words Jesus understood the power of His words. We often do not. He also understood that many who heard Him could not understand Him. Listen to how He describes those who could neither hear nor understand Him. Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and[…]
A Good Day Today is a good day to see Jesus. So, I will see Jesus first today so I will see God, myself and everyone else clearly, correctly and lovingly. I will keep my eyes on Jesus all day so I will remember that good comes first and I was created by God’s goodness[…]
The Greatest Sin of My Century “The greatest sin of the century is the non-compassionate use of accumulated wealth.” Francis Schaeffer commenting on the 20th Century. I will never forget reading these words from Dr. Schaeffer in the 1970s. In the light of so many sins committed in the 20th century, the century in which[…]
Jesus and the Christianizing of Everything Christianity understood correctly is 100% Jesus. Nothing can be Christian apart from Jesus. Only that which Jesus inspires and sustains can truly qualify as Christian or Christianized. So, we pray for the Christianizing of everything in and through Jesus. Jesus was very clear when He said to His first[…]
Living A Prophetic Life Jesus was a prophet. As a prophet He was so optimistic about what He could see us becoming that He set a prophetic goal for us so high it takes one’s breath away. “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48 Yes, this is a breathtaking[…]
Resolved We have entered a phase of human history where the quantity of knowledge is moving faster than our ability to take it all in. Whether we like it or not we must resolve what knowledge is worth retaining, living and communicating. If we are not very good at resolving we will drown in a[…]
Be one “Every kingdom that is divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” Matthew 12:25 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in[…]
“Well, we all have to be somewhere every day.” Ruth McCartney During a particularly stressful day in my life my mother-in-law Ruth McCartney said to me “Well, we all have to be somewhere every day.” In her simple, humorous way she was teaching me that where I was, was not the problem. Being the me[…]
Social Justice Online The passion for social justice is front and center in today’s digital world. Even major corporations like Starbucks, Target and Facebook are all in for profit and social justice. Business for business sake is so 1990s. Passions run high and hot when it comes to judging our online neighbor’s true commitment to[…]
“Where I Am?” What if a man came into our world from a place where all he had ever experienced was perfect, continuous love? What if he came here with the conviction that every single person and place in the universe deserved at least one chance to experience and live in contact with perfect love?[…]
“Where I Am?” Anyone who travels regularly and sleeps often far from home knows what it is to awaken in a dark room and ask “Where am I?”. This disorientation disturbs sleep and makes falling back asleep hard. Until the question of where we are is answered rest just will not come. When this[…]
My Potential I passed the homeless man four times as I walked in circles in the park. I was fully focused on the care and maintenance of my body. The sky above me was cloudless and blue. The temperature was a perfect 70 degrees. It was a good day to take care of me. The[…]
A Walk in the Park I passed the homeless man four times as I walked in circles in the park. I was fully focused on the care and maintenance of my body. The sky above me was cloudless and blue. The temperature was a perfect 70 degrees. It was a good day to take care[…]
Nothing and Something “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it”. I Timothy 6:7 We come here with nothing. We leave here with nothing. Very sobering. Even so, between these two nothings there is something. There is something we do here and leave here between these two inescapable nothings. […]
Be Good At Love If you want to be good at anything, be good at love. Love is the only human endeavor that lasts. We were made to be good at love. Success may look like control of circumstances, but love is success. Jesus dying on the cross was not an attempt to control His[…]
Surprising love “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet,[…]
Action or Reaction? As disciples of Jesus should we live in the world as a reaction or an action? Should we be a reaction to our circumstances or a continuous action that rises above and moves through our circumstances? Perhaps a better question is, “Was Jesus in the world as a reaction or an action?”[…]
Confession “If we confess our sins….” I John 1:9 Do Christians still confess their sins to God? It has been a long time since I heard a sermon on the need to confess our sins. It has been a long time since I heard a disciple of Jesus talk about confession. Where has confession gone?[…]
Jesus Was Jesus spiritually aseptic or ascetic? a·sep·tic āˈseptik/ a : preventing infection • aseptic techniques b : free or freed from pathogenic microorganisms • an aseptic operating room as·cet·ic əˈsedik/ characterized by or suggesting the practice of severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons. Was Jesus completely free[…]
The Optimism of Jesus Ligth Are you optimistic about the future of humanity? Do you see a future for humanity that you would want to be a part of forever? Jesus was and is optimistic about the future of humanity. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill[…]
The Optimism of Jesus Salt “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” – Matthew 5:13 It is surprising to hear the optimism in Jesus’ voice when he says[…]
Getting Close to Jesus Who can get close to Jesus? Would you risk answering this question? I have learned over the years that it is always best to let Jesus answer the questions in His own words. So, let’s listen to His answer in Matthew 11:25-30 1. The little children can come close. At that[…]
Hope “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” I Cor. 13:13 To lose hope is to lose love. Hope exists between faith and love. Without hope the ecosystem of divine love ceases to function. The Apostle Paul affirms in I Cor. 13 that three realities function together so[…]
Jesus, Original Wisdom “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But[…]
Ask, Seek, Knock Every commandment of Jesus liberates us to live a life of cooperation with God. We will never regret obeying and living the commands of Jesus. What He expects of us is best for us. One of Jesus’ most beautiful commandments is a simple and profound three step plan for reaching[…]
A Plan Over the years I have used a variety of planning systems trying to become a more organized person. None of them turned me into an organized person, but they certainly helped me avoid organizational disaster. As technology has expanded exponentially during my lifetime I have struggled to keep pace and keep planning. Now[…]
Wonderful, Hidden Treasures “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” – Matthew 5:8 The most important things in the universe were hidden inside the baby Jesus. When Jesus was born, only a very small number of people had the purity of heart to see what was hidden in the tiny gift of[…]
Four Questions for Disciples Each day there are four very important discipleship questions we must answer. 1. Who is first in our lives? 2. Who leads the way? 3. Who provides the resources? 4. Who wins the battles? As a growing multitude of people began to follow Jesus, He provoked them to answer these four[…]
A Christian Declaration of Faith Every Christian should make a very clear declaration of faith before the Christian community through Baptism. All who witness such a declaration before the Lord and before the church will be blessed and rejoice. All who make such a declaration will also rejoice and be blessed. Nothing is more inspiring[…]
Our Daily Bread Being fed by Jesus’ will Without food we cannot physically express our will. Food allows us to put our body into action one day at a time. Take food away and our will weakens and can even die. Jesus told us our prayers should always include this phrase “Give us this day[…]
Living in the Light of Jesus “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12 Jesus came as the light of the world so we could see the true intentions of the Father. He came to take us back to[…]
The Last Adam and the Last Eve “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as[…]
Rise Above A dear friend and mentor helped me navigate the frustrations of leading a team of leaders for nearly 10 years. When he saw me getting frustrated he would say “Rise above!”. He knew the only way out of the frustration was up and never down. The way is never down toward retaliation, lack or[…]
Receptivity and Gratitude At the moment of our conception we are what we have received through no merit of our own. We have arrived in this world having decided nothing, sustained nothing and done nothing. All we have done is receive well. Whatever we are are at that moment of our conception is the biological[…]