faith

by

A Revelation

Do you love the book of Revelation—or do you avoid it whenever possible? We seem to have a love/hate relationship with John’s writings, and it’s easy to see why. He’s confusing. The book is full of scary events. It’s controversial; many of us have strong opinions about what it all means, and we often don’t agree.

I admit, I wouldn’t read Revelation except that God tells us to. It’s the only book in the Bible you get a bribe reward for reading—“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” (Rev. 1:3)

Most of the time, I don’t give the book of Revelation much thought. However, in just the last week it’s come up four times in various conversations and articles. Plus, the Holy Spirit seems to be prompting me in this direction. I just finished reading through the Gospels, and was trying to decide what to read next. I guess this is it.

Continue reading →

by

Making Converts?

Most Christians would agree that it is supremely important to win converts. We were rescued from hell, and it is imperative that we share what God has done for us so that others can be rescued too.

Likewise, most Christians would agree that evangelism is one of, if not the, hardest job they’ve ever faced. Just the thought of it causes our pulse to rise and our stomachs to churn.

I’ve struggled with the issue of evangelism for every one of the 39 years I’ve been a believer. Maybe I remember too well how disrespected I felt for all those years before I met Christ, when Christians tried all sorts of ways to convert me. I was misled, insulted, ridiculed, yelled at, argued with… and none of those things moved me one step closer to faith. In fact, they probably delayed my decision for several years.

Continue reading →

by

Desperation Prayers

What motivates you to pray?

A group of us were talking after church one day, and a friend declared, “I pray as a last resort, after I’ve exhausted all other possibilities.”

He clearly didn’t see any problem with that; I bet a lot of people would agree with him. As long as things are going well, as long as we think we know what we’re doing, as long as we believe we have the answers, we don’t pray. After all, God is busy and we don’t want to bother Him with the “little stuff.”

Well, I’ve learned that this is a really bad approach. There are two reasons why.

Continue reading →

by

Looking for His Voice

Have you ever prayed to know God’s will?

Pete and I are at a crossroads, faced with a decision that will have a major impact on our lives for at least the next few years. As you might expect, we’re asking God to tell us which way we should go. Is this an opportunity—or a distraction? Do we run toward it or run away?

Sound familiar?

I expect that most Christians have prayed to know God’s will. After all, it’s clear in Scripture that God wants us to ask, and then obey what He tells us. David had a long string of successful battles, but He always inquired of the Lord when facing a new situation. Sometimes God gave him an expected strategy, while other times He had a surprise in mind. But no matter how skilled a warrior he became, David always took time to ask.

Continue reading →

by

A New, Improved Post

Hey, have you seen the new Nikon D800? It has a 36.3megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor, full HD 1080p video at 30/25/24p with stereo sound, an ISO range of 100 to 6400 (expandable to 25,600), a four-frames-per-second burst rate and their Advanced Scene Recognition System with a 91,000-pixel RGB sensor!

Hey, do you have the new iPad? It’s got that new Retina display, a 4 megapixel camera, and 4G LTE, and it’s only $499!

Hey, have you heard? They just came out with the…

Yes, I’ve heard. And no, I haven’t read the reviews.

Continue reading →

by

Steps to Success: Godliness

(Yet another installment in my study on 2 Peter 1:3, 5-8.)

Am I godly? Are you?

I’d always assumed that godliness meant “being like God,” so I was quite surprised to discover that isn’t the case. I don’t often take the time to dig in on a word or phrase, but in this case, I’m glad I did. Understanding the Greek was essential to understanding what Paul says.

Godliness is translated from the Greek word eusebia (εὐσέβεια). It is derived from a root word (εὐσεβής) meaning “pious” or “reverent.” It relates to doing that which pleases God, based on one’s heart attitude.

Continue reading →

by

Toilet Paper Prayers

Praying is as easy as talking to your best friend but it’s not always that simple. Even after years to talking to God, I have a lot to learn. I was asking a good friend to please pray for us, as our ministry is once again out of funds and we’re not getting any paychecks. Agreeing to pray, she also told me this true story:

Katrina had recently devastated the Gulf Coast, and my friend joined a team from her church that was heading for Mississippi to help in the recovery. They were partnering with a church near the coast that had been acting as headquarters for a whole series of similar church groups.

Hundreds of people were coming through the Mississippi church, sleeping and eating in the church buildings, but supplies were still hard to come by. At one point, one of the church elders approached the pastor: “We’re out of toilet paper! What are we doing to do?”

Continue reading →

by

Looking for a Miracle

A dear friend of ours suffered a massive heart attack yesterday morning. As of last night he had not yet regained consciousness, needed a respirator to breathe, and had no brain function. Doctors are giving him a 1% chance of survival—as a vegetable.

Family and friends are gathered at the hospital, and of course we’re praying for a miracle. That’s what believers do, right? But in spite of our professions of faith, it seems that very few of the pray-ers actually believe in miracles. And, they assume, if God does intervene, He only does so on exceedingly rare occasions. As their church pastor pointed out, she had never actually seen a miracle. The whole concept was hypothetical.

Continue reading →

by

Talking about Politics and Religion

Religion and politics are the two topics a genteel person is not supposed to discuss with company. I assume that’s because we usually have strong opinions on both of these topics and a civilized discussion can rapidly disintegrate into an all-out war, with normally well-mannered guests popping up from behind the sofas to lob verbal grenades at one another.

However, an article on CNN’s website caught my attention—and it deals with both religion and politics:

According to a poll released [last week] by the Public [Religion] Research Institute and Religion News Service, most Americans (56%) say it is somewhat or very important for a presidential candidate to have strong religious beliefs.

I have to agree. I want my president to have the fear of God deep down in his or her soul! However, the news report goes on to say:

Continue reading →