Reimagine!! (3,532)

While this quarantine is difficult for people all over the world, it is not quite as hard on writers. I do not simply mean that people need our reading material to fill the time. Writers need solitude to write. While many of us have had to learn to write in the midst of the hubbub, it always helps to be alone. This doesn't mean…

#StayHome #WashHands #ShareJoy…

There is a sense in which the most important part of a tree is its root system. The stability and nourishment of a tree come from its roots. And, of course, the roots grow more slowly than the branches. So it is with our spiritual lives.

For this reason and others, I recommend Scripture memory as a discipline of prayer. It is not impossible to…

It had been one of those long, sleepless nights – the kind where you keep waking up and talking to God.  The issue causing my insomnia, was troubling, and I kept thinking, that I just needed to keep talking with God about it.  After all, I had spent a career teaching and preaching that God wanted to hear from us.  It was still dark when I finally gave up, and got up.  I got dressed and got in the car to look for a place to eat breakfast, still talking with God.  As the car engine came on,…

What do you do when you have to wait a long time for something to happen? With the quarantine over Covid19 many of us are finding more time on our hands than ever before. Waiting can be difficult, almost painful. Many years ago, I served as a student summer missionary in Uganda. Possibly the most striking difference between the East African culture and the one I grew up in, was that people had little concept of hurry. I used to joke that I sometimes needed to get…

We’re in a pandemic!  What is God waiting for?

 So many in the world have said, "no," to Him--and He Respects that.  God isn't causing Covid-19.  But He's not Intervening.  He is Waiting on the sidelines--to be invited back in: to be called by His Creations.

 We Creatures of His have free will: the right to say "yes" or "no" to God. And we humans have been sending Him a…

Selah is not translated in our English Bibles. We just have the transliteration of the Hebrew word. But if you follow its usage, you can get a good grip on its meaning. It is used at the end of each stanza of Psalm 46. I have italicized it for you.

Is your Grandparenting a Blessing or Painful?

Grandparenting is a special blessing but can also be a pain. Messy family relationships can leave grandparents hurting, depressed, discouraged, and hopeless.  Divorce, drugs, alcohol, and adult children walking away from their faith cause broken hearts for grandparents.

Grandparents are always excited when they learn they are going to be grandparents especially when they there waiting for their first…

Pray for wisdom for those in leadership as they make decisions on what precautions to take and how to respond as COVID-19 has been spreading throughout the region.

Pray for conversations with locals about the fear and anxiety many have towards this illness and its spread.  Pray that those in the Arabian Peninsula would recognize that they are not immune to the brokenness of the world. Pray that they would be pointed to their need for a savior as their sense of security is…

Pray for wisdom for those in leadership as they make decisions on what precautions to take and how to respond as COVID-19 has been spreading throughout the region.

Pray for conversations with locals about the fear and anxiety many have towards this illness and its spread.  Pray that those in the Arabian Peninsula would recognize that they are not immune to the brokenness of the world. Pray that they would be pointed to their need for a savior as their sense of security is…

Fasting from all, one day at a time.

The body grows weak, dreams come to mind.

All food abandoned, an annual fast.

We’re seeking forgiveness and healing that lasts.

Forty days pass, like Jesus I fast.

Temptations and trials start to attack.

Breakthrough will come, if only I win.

Could fasting help us all overcome sin?

Abstaining from pleasure, I walk Daniel’s path:

Rich foods forgotten, in this partial…

We seldom use the word behold in common speech. But it is a crucial word in Scripture and an essential concept for our spiritual lives. I could have posted this on my thinking in the Spirit blog, but particularly because of the passage I have chosen, I…

Many think being on one’s knees is the way to pray.  But knee pain can set in quickly.

Some set a clock for a certain time of daily prayer.  When time is up, prayer concludes.

A walk with God is best because the distance of the walk lengthens the conversation.  A person gets more…

Yesterday we held our third session in our prayer class themed around Paul Miller's book, "A Praying Life".  We continue to have very consistent attendance - evidence that God has placed a hunger for deeper prayer lives in our congregation.  It's exciting to think about what he might do with that hunger!

This week we covered chapters 6-8 of the book, and I divided the session into three main topics based on those chapters:

• Letting helplessness drive us to…

  Do you ever think about who you would call if you had a crisis in the middle of the night or while traveling in the middle of nowhere?  I was once in a vehicle in the wilderness of a west Africa nation, when someone asked where we were, to which the missionary replied, “We’re fifteen miles beyond the Great Commission.”  We laughed, but it set us to thinking.  Is the one on whom you call, the one to whom you pray, available at all hours, odd hours, from wherever you may…

(Adapted from HOPE, The Anchor of The Soul)

The Anchor of Perspective

Understanding that Jesus really rose from the dead has transformed the lives of people who have followed Him down through the ages. They could minister in the midst of plagues at the risk of their lives. They gladly died to help their neighbors, and loved ones, and people they didn’t even know. They were willing to stand for the Bible and the truth of the gospel even…

Spoken of frequently in Christianity is a personal relationship with Christ.  One either has that or does not.  God seeks all of the world (John 12:47).

God has Given us free will.  Free will is nothing more and nothing less than having the right to say, “no,” to God.  All human sin is committed after one says, “no,” to God.  But Grace allows that same sinner to say,…