When the Bible says you can be filled with the Spirit, we often think it’s something that happens passively. In other words, we feel like we have no control over being full of the Spirit, that being filled comes randomly. But we can do things that make room for the...
Orphanages can be shockingly quiet. Infants and toddlers won’t cry if no one ever responds to their cries. I learned this from a story about how an adoptive father spent a week with the young children he and his wife were adopting but needed to leave for a few weeks...
Jesus says that if we want to grow in our spiritual life, we have to abide, or remain, in him. With so much competing for our attention and affections, how do we do it? The good news is God has shown us how. Here are a few, and while it’ll take time and space to use...
If the Bible says something more than once, we should pay attention. How about if it says something 17 times in the span of just one chapter? This is what happens in Psalm 136, where God’s people basically tell the story of God’s care and redemption. Then, between...
Love compels us. That’s what Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians. But what does it compel us to do? Well, it compels us to love God and to love neighbor. And the best way to do both of them is to tell people about Jesus. And Paul actually shows us the way one...
Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-control. These traits, listed in Galatians 5, make up the fruit of the (Holy) Spirit, the evidence of being followers of Jesus. Who doesn’t want to have these attributes defining their...
Judas had seen Jesus. He had been with Jesus. He had heard Jesus. He had seen Jesus raise the dead and walk on water and heal people. He had seen Jesus do all these amazing things and yet Judas betrayed him. He ended up in the night. (That’s such a powerful line in...
Where’s your happy place? The beach on a warm summer day? A quiet spot at the coffeeshop where you can read uninterrupted? A party where the conversation and food are flowing? The Washington Post recently analyzed some data about where people are most happy, and the...
You’ve strayed from Jesus. Now what? Are you hesitating to turn to Him because you’re not sure how (or if) He will receive you? Maybe you think He’ll be disappointed, stern, angry. Maybe you think that He won’t even want you back. Don’t believe it. Jesus once told a...
Looking for the best New Year's resolution of them all? The Apostle Paul already wrote it: "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." That's what he told the church at Corinth in one of his more pointed letters....