Immanuel means God with us. In the birth of Jesus, God proved that He is indeed with us—but I’ve been thinking about where and how we experience God with us. God is omnipresent, so we can experience His presence anywhere, but I want to highlight three places He is...
If you were to guess, what is the all-time most popular Christmas song in the world? The one that has been translated into more languages than any other? It is a song called the “Magnificat” and it is sung by Mary as recorded in Luke 1:46-55. Now I’ve done multiple...
The Advent season is a “can’t wait” season. People can’t wait to start listening to Christmas music or to decorate. Some can’t wait to open presents and others can’t wait see presents opened. The “can’t wait” nature of the season is seen in lots of ways, including...
I’ve learned that “tone” matters in talking to people, and I think the same is true when we talk to God. Jesus makes this point in Luke 18:9-14 when He tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee’s tone is arrogant and entitled as he...
In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus tells his disciples both then and now the parable of the persistent widow. If you are not familiar with the parable, basically a widow gets justice because she won’t leave an unjust judge alone. Luke 18:1 tells us the point of the parable is “to...
The Psalms are called the prayer book of the Bible, and 70% of the Psalms are classified as “lament.” Even beyond the Psalms, the Bible is chock full of lament. There is even a whole book of Lamentations. So clearly lament should be part of our prayer life, but if you...
I’m struck every year around this time by the word “sincere” because Linus, in “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown,” is convinced that the Great Pumpkin will come only to “the most sincere” pumpkin patch. The word “sincere” is defined as “free of deceit, hypocrisy...
How do you pray? Mary and Martha give us a great example in John 11:3, which was the theme of my sermon last week. What we learn in John 11:1 is that Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was sick, so his sisters sent word to Jesus. That is prayer: sending word to...
I was reminded recently that Teresa of Avila was considered a “master of prayer” and was convicted that I am not. I suspect most of us pray and value prayer but could grow in our prayer lives. Thankfully, Scripture provides a great deal of guidance on how to pray and...
I’ve been reflecting on 1 Samuel 23:16 this week. “And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God.” This was a remarkable thing for Jonathan to do given David was hiding from Jonathan's father and that David’s survival meant that...