Category Archive: Spiritual Growth

Prayer Is Activism

Posted by on June 19, 2020

It seems like in the midst of all this chaos it is impossible to say or do the right thing anymore. We know that saying or doing nothing is absolutely wrong. However, if we jump in and try to fix everything, we may abandon the gospel message as Christians and in the end that is our only hope.

The hard truth that I have had to deal with is that if I am talking to other people about all of this drama more than I am talking to the Father, I have failed to do the most important thing I can to help. We have lost a heavily vision of the power in prayer.

Prayer automatically resets our perspective that behind all this negative news is the biblical worldview that our great God is still sovereign. He did not cause all of this but He will use it for His glory and our good. I have to stop praying to stop it all just to get emotional relief, because I want Him to have all the time He needs to accomplish eternal things so many will come to know Him.

This post by Eugene Park is very encouraging: “As our nation reels from George Floyd’s death, many in the church feel compelled to do something. Responses have run the gamut from listening, learning, and lamenting to posting black squares on Instagram, donating, marching, and more.

Yet in our rush to engage, many of us have neglected the most potent form of activism at our disposal: prayer to the sovereign God of the universe.”

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Nothing Is Certain Anymore-Nothing That Is, But God’s Love

Posted by on April 12, 2020

This global disruption by its very nature changes everything that we used to take for granted. We are no longer sure we are going to have a job or even if we will live or die. The truth in reality is that this is actually our every day reality. However, we get busy and are not grateful for all the blessings we enjoy daily. This post by J.D. Greear is well worth reading:

“We are living in times when nearly everything we thought was certain is suddenly uncertain. But in the midst of that uncertainty, one thing remains: If you turn to God, you never have to wonder what he thinks of you or if he’s going to help you with your worries, big or small.”

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Embracing The Day God Has Made

Posted by on September 24, 2019

One of the most important things I have learned is how to live one day at a time. We are provided with the daily grace we will need if we do not waste it. Using today’s faith on the pain of the past or worry about tomorrow, will cause us to not have the strength we need for today. This post by Carolyn Mahaney is wonderful:

“Nine years ago this month, my dad went home to be with the Lord. One of my sweetest memories of him is how he loved to sing hymns. Whether he was fixing stuff around the house or leading our church’s congregational singing on Sunday mornings, I remember my dad’s strong baritone lifted in praise. Among his all-time favorite hymns was Horatio Spafford’s “It Is Well.” Even now, I can picture him singing, with great gusto,”

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Finding God In Life’s Waiting Room

Posted by on September 18, 2019

I have been in the waiting room far too many times in my life. At times, I was there because I was making bad decisions with wrong priorities and it was time for change. Other times, I have been there in the midst of a time of spiritual renewal. I have learned the hard way, to stop asking Why and transition to What. What can I learn and what is my next step. This post by Alica Akins is a heartfelt story of grace:

“You have a plan for me.”

Each day I wake to these words, the opening lyrics to a worship song I set as my alarm some rejections ago. If I’m untroubled, I stop the song there and start my day. Other mornings, when my pillow is still damp from the previous night’s cry or my heart worn from waiting—35 years for a spouse, 15 months for a job, indefinitely for the resurrection of friendships lost—I let the whole thing play. Battling waves of envy, frustration, and shame I wait, echoing the psalmist’s heavenward cry: “My eyes fail, looking for your promise” (Ps. 119:82).

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Three Dangers Of A Kid-Centered Family

Posted by on September 16, 2019

This is an extremely difficult subject because there is so much right about making our children a priority. However, when we place them above our own spiritual intimacy and our marriage, we have really hurt them and not helped. We are to represent the Father to them but we will be in no position to do that, if we walk away from the other two priorities first. This post by Jamie Ivey is worth your time to read:

“My husband and I have been married for 17 years. We have four kids. When you have four kids, your family often feels as though your life is in a kid-centered family. It’s hard work to make sure that our homes are gospel-centered family vs. a kid-centered family. It’s something that our family continues to work on. And it is hard, but it’s doable.”

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How You Live Shows What You Believe

Posted by on May 14, 2019

I do a lot of executive coaching. When people get stuck, many times they are living out of the pain of their emotions or the logic of their own thinking. However, when I press them on what do they really believe about this situation, I immediately bring their faith about God into the conversation. As J.D Greear brings out in this great post, if you believe it then you should live it:

“When we have truly been saved, good works will always follow. When Jesus takes up residence in our lives, it should make a difference. Paul teaches that we are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. Faith is always accompanied by good works.”

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Christianity Isn’t Cussing Less And Giving More

Posted by on April 17, 2019

The biblical tension of being in the world and not of the world is a daily battle. However, we must understand that culture is not our enemy, it is simply the context through which we do ministry. As we do our daily ministry at home, work and in our neighborhoods other people should notice something completely different about our lives. This post by J.D.Greear is convicting:

“The study showed that 84 percent of non-Christians said they personally knew at least one Christian, but only 15 percent thought that person’s lifestyle was significantly different than their own. Non-Christians don’t think we’re different because we’re not different. But we should be.”

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Beware Of Emotional Affairs

Posted by on December 18, 2018

I warn you that some of you will think this post by TGC is over-reacting to the new realities of social media.  After 30 plus years of dealing with broken marriages, especially with leaders in the ministry, I absolutely disagree.  This content by Ellen Mary Dykas is spot on and the questions she asks are all extremely important:

“Josh had been at a new church for four months when Sara—his pastor’s wife—invited him to join their community group, which was a weekly gathering of both singles and married couples. Sara and her husband, Craig, wanted a group where married couples mentored singles.

Josh and Sara hit it off, and they discovered lots of common interests. Their conversation easily flowed during the fellowship time before the Bible study. Sara was surprised how much she missed Josh when he couldn’t attend. Josh realized that talking to Sara became the main reason he enjoyed the group. Not a big deal, it’s just talking.”

Read More …https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/beware-emotional-affairs/

Why Pride Causes Blindness

Posted by on May 24, 2017

Pride is a terrible thing.  It causes you to focus only on what is in your personal interest and blinds you to the reality of what you are doing to hurt other people.

The public spectacle that played out in the news concerning Reverend Wright and Barack Obama was been painful to watch. In this tragedy you have two people who once genuinely cared for each other now forced to publicly attack the other person because of what has been said.

Pride also causes you to lose touch with the truth about yourself and what you really believe.  You literally become like the thing you hate but you cannot see it.

The great irony about some of the positions being advocated by the Reverend Wright on the extreme right of black liberation theology is they are really no different than those of other hate speech being advocated by the leaders of the extreme right of white liberation theology.

The only difference between the two groups is literally the color of their skin and if they heard that they would deny it to the death.  What should we all take away from this?

This is not a story just about politics.  It is about every relationship we have in our lives.

When you think the other person is always wrong and you are always right be careful.  The reason you may be able to see their faults is because you are looking at them through the mirror of your own life.

We as Christians are told to always clean up our own issues before we  even begin to criticize someone else.  God does resist the proud but he will give His grace to the humble.

One Day At Time

Posted by on April 25, 2017

The Christian life at times can be extremely complicated.  We all suffer from the consequences of our bad decisions but sometimes we suffer not because we have done something wrong but as a testimony to the world that God’s grace is indeed sufficient.

I have learned the hard way over the years that the only way to work your way out of one of these black holes of the soul is to discipline yourself to live one day at a time.  When you do not know why things have happened and how it is all going to work out it comes down to what can I do right now.

The first practical step in this process is to experience forgiveness for the past.  We must first receive it for what we have done wrong and then give it to others who have hurt us and caused pain.  We should learn from the past but we cannot live in it.

The second step is to have faith for the future.  God is able and He is good so you can rest in the fact that He will meet our needs.  All worry and fear will do is to rob us of the spiritual energy we need to live today.

The last and probably most important truth is to embrace His promise of grace for today.   Every new day comes with the necessary spiritual power to deal with whatever happens within that twenty-four hour period of time.

If we do not waste that power on unforgiveness for the past or fear of the future then we will be able to live today with eternal perspective.   That perspective is that no matter what happens to me in this life that may hurt deeply at the time we win in the end.