Unconditional Obedience

The preaching was powerful. People were coming to Christ, and yet God called him to leave it behind to pursue one man. It doesn’t make sense to me, yet that’s what he asked Philip to do. In Acts 8:25-40, Philip is heading back to Jerusalem and “preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans […]

Prayer Journal—Teach Me

Only you can fill me with an eternal love that will not fail. Give me a heart for you dear God. Defend me and protect me from anything that will distract me from filling myself with you love. Help me to spread your love to others. Heal me from the pain of the past that […]

Overcoming the World

When we profess our faith in Jesus, we choose to follow God. That also puts a target on our back. We become an enemy to satan. He will seek to tempt us to wander away from God and follow worldly ways. 1 Peter 5:6-10 reminds us to humble ourselves before God and cling to Him. […]

Sunday Praise

Sing for joy in the LORD, O you righteous ones;Praise is becoming to the upright.Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre;Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.Sing to Him a new song;Play skillfully with a shout of joy.For the word of the LORD is upright,And all His work is done in […]

What Follows Betrayal

It was something you told a trusted friend in confidence and now everyone knows about it. Perhaps someone close to you has hurt you in irreversible ways. Maybe a trust was broken causing immense emotional harm. What do we do when someone close to us betrays us? The apostles certainly experienced betrayal when Judas appeared […]

Prayer Journey—New Life

And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. – John 20:6-7, NASB Praise God that Jesus removed the vail of […]

Insult to Injury

At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”- Mark 15:33-34, NLT When you feel forsaken, mocked by others, know that Jesus has felt the same feeling. […]

Prayer Journal—Abide

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. – John 15:5, NASB Abide in Him. Bear much fruit. Abide in Jesus. Let his love wash over me. Help me to be vulnerable to you […]

Sunday Praise

Praise the LORD!Praise, O servants of the LORD,Praise the name of the LORD.Blessed be the name of the LORDFrom this time forth and forever.From the rising of the sun to its settingThe name of the LORD is to be praised.The LORD is high above all nations;His glory is above the heavens. – Psalm 113:1-4, NASB

The Natural State of Worship

At what point is our worship more about us than God; more about the building than God; more about the performance than God. In Deuteronomy 27:5-6, God instructed the Israelites to use uncut stones to build an altar to worship Him after they crossed the Jordan River. Several commentaries suggest the reason is to keep […]