My book on prayer can be purchased on Amazon or Barnes & Noble websites, plus a Kindle version is also available from Amazon. IGNITING AN IMPASSIONED PRAYER LIFE – How to Develop the Energized, Extended, and Sustainable Life of Prayer You’ve Always Wanted. Do you wish...
Prayer, like most spiritual practices, is subject to a spectrum of opinion and conviction as to how it is best practiced. Prayer in a word, means different things to different people. Typically we associate prayer with some form of communication and personal encounter with God....
When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD… Numbers 11:2 (NIV) Why is prayer often the great omission when it comes to discussion of spiritual leadership? In my humble estimation the topic of leadership is the most frequent focus of...
“Come follow Me,” Jesus said. Matthew 4:19
The casual, downgraded meaning of being a “follower” of someone today, as on FB, IG or Twitter, is much different than two millennia ago when it required a life altering decision.
Deitrich Bonhoeffer, in his book “The Cost of Discipleship” summed it up best when he wrote “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
Surrendering to His lead and falling in line as His follower will make you a person and take you to a place you’d never choose, but in the end bequeath you great rewards you’ll never lose.
“In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer.” Psalms 109:4 ESV
How we react and where we turn in the face of misunderstandings and false judgments about our motives or character can deescalate tense situations and avert much needless sorrow.
Here we see that our default must be to turn our hearts and eyes upward to God in prayer, while resisting the temptation to turn inward in self-recrimination or outward in retaliation.
Injustice is a fact of life and so many who have gone before us, from Joseph to our Lord Jesus, should inspire us to entrust our lives to God and His vindication
“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I WILL YET PRAISE HIM, my Savior and my God.” Psalm 43:5 NIV
Having hope in God is hanging in there while believing that at some point, as surely as the sun rises each day, we will eventually be saved from the things which afflict us.
Confessing “I will YET praise Him,” might not be at the faith level of “continually offering a sacrifice of praise” or “giving thanks in everything” but it is a good starting place!
Hope in a compassionate God who promises to not “break a bruised reed” or “extinguish a dimly burning wick” is all we need to cause our faith for a breakthrough to grow (Isaiah 42:3).
“Jesus withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.” Matthew 14:13 NIV
Solitude is aptly termed a spiritual disciplne because it is the regular practice of withdrawing from the all-consuming milieu of everyday life for the purpose of the nuture of ones soul.
For the follower of Jesus, the spiritual well-being of the soul, where a person’s mind, will, and emotions are centered and at rest in Him, is the grounding and starting place for all other engagements in life.
Whenever the press of life is exacting its toll, may the Lord grant us the self-awareness and self-discipline to find a way to withdraw, like Him, to a solitary place to refresh our souls.
“The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalms 27:1 NIV
Split Rock Lighthouse, an iconic landmark on Superior’s North Shore, was built to prevent the repeat devastation of the likes of the notorious 1905 storm that resulted in 29 ships being either lost or damaged.
Storms in life are inevitable and their accompanying fears of loss a reality; but God in His grace has made provision in His word for the storm-tossed to overcome them.
In this verse we are reminded of the great promise that the Lord Himself is the reference point to whom we must look to assuage our fears and insure a safe passage.
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