But I Can’t Even Love Myself!
Do you love yourself? How about other people? God? Do you even know how to love? What is love, after all? In the list of the Fruit of the Spirit, love is the first one listed. Ever wonder why?
A Religion or a Relationship: Some Suggestions
Another description of Christianity is this: Religion is man trying to reach God while Christianity is God reaching for man. What do you think? Is your Christianity more religion or relationship? Of course, a relationship with God is like any other relationship–it can have ups and downs. There can be times when you are frustrated…
How’s Your Relationship with God?
An interesting phrase began showing up on bumper stickers and pins back in the seventies. It read “Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship”. I’m sure myriads of people were mystified, others simply accepted it without much thought either way. So, is Christianity a relationship? The Bible says so. Read Isaiah 29:13-15. Now focus on…
This Means War! (Bring Heaven to Earth)
What does a warrior do? Fight . . . right? Sounds like a “duh” question, doesn’t it? But I’m discovering it’s a lot more complicated than that. I’ll bet a lot of you have been questioning who and what God created you to be – if not now, then at some time. Even if you…
Do You Need a Tree Surgeon?
Cursing goes on all the time – we just don’t realize it. We hear negative things and even say them about ourselves and they become word curses. Our souls can agree with them so that we eventually become the thing that’s been said. Current cursing is bad enough, but we can also get stuck in…
“As the Twig is Bent, so Grows the Tree”
Iniquity – what a weird word. What could this Old Testament term possibly have to do with modern folks? Plenty! In simplest terms, iniquity means bent. Literally, it means crookedness, perverseness, or moral distortion. I’m sure you’ll agree we see plenty of that today! Whole families can suffer the effects of what becomes generational iniquity.…
Get Hold of Yourself!
SLAP! “Thanks, I needed that”. And the previously hysterical character gets hold of herself and is able to think clearly. Of course, in real life, she would have hit back or burst into tears! If we have all the other fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering/patience, kindness, goodness/integrity, faithfulness, and gentleness/humility) but don’t…
An Honest Opinion of Yourself
It takes strength to be gentle. Our independent, hero-loving society often equates gentleness with being soft, A gentle person, especially a man, is often derided as being a milquetoast, a weak person. He could be harassed and even called “pussy-whipped”. The original meaning of gentleness
A Maytag Life
Remember the old Maytag commercials? The bored repairman complained about the washing machines being too dependable and he didn’t have anything to do. A more recent example could be Ford trucks. The announcer always touts their dependability. If either of these guys had been talking about a person, he might have said they were .…
Be Good, For Goodness’ Sake
Did your parents ever say to you, “Be good, now, or God won’t love you”? As an adult, you probably know that’s a lie. He loves you no matter what—even when you act “bad”. But He does highly recommend goodness. It’s the next fruit of the spirit. I looked up the Greek reference for “good”.…