“Whoever unfurls [John] 3:16 as a banner for the ages. Whoever unrolls the welcome mat of heaven to humanity. . . . invites the world to God. Jesus could have easily narrowed the scope, changing whoever into whatever. . . . But he used no qualifier. The pronoun is wonderfully indefinite. After all, who isn’t […]
“There’s the pressure to keep pressing on, . . putting one foot in front of the other. There’s no time to cry or process. We have to intentionally build time into our lives so that we can see that God is loving us right here.”- Jennifer Dukes Lee “For it is by grace you have […]
“It is in the midst of such constant turmoil that the believer stands in great need of the quieting effects of meditation, so that he may distill God’s voice from the noise of everyday living. God gave the practice of meditation . . . to all HIs children so that we might better relate to […]
Whatever you feel is lost, sinking, or despairing, tell the enemy there is more where it all came from. We’re all trying to run from these emotional floodwaters, but maybe we just need to stop running and decide to rise on them. As we accept what feels lost, we rise toward the next beautiful thing […]
“The prayer of examine is built on the belief that if we pay attention to our lives, every moment is an opportunity to learn unceasing prayer (1 Thess. 5:17). This prayer is an examination of one of our most precious commodities, our time. If we do not set aside time to intentionally consider moment by […]
“As we unearth the real desires of our hearts, we begin to see our assumptions about God, and we see more clearly who we really are. . . . If God is who he has proclaimed himself to be and ushers us into the prayers of the Son and the Spirit, then there is never […]
“It’s not a question in life of whether keeping the Ten Commandments is good — of course it’s better to be honest, faithful, and upright. But laying down the law bears no fruit. . . . The law makes us anxious and exhausted. When we’re worried and weary, we’re at our worst. Fear makes us […]
Curse wants to resurface old shame to create a sense of doom for today. Blessing does the opposite — it liberates in order to create hope for tomorrow. . . . The Manasseh part of the Ephraim and Manasseh blessing tells people, ‘Your past troubles do not have to define you, but they can refine […]
“If you do the natural, its sets God up to do something super. Miracles happen at the place where our grit meets God’s grace.”- Mark Batterson In Chapter 6 (“The Mundanity of Excellence”) of Win the Day, Mark Batterson takes up the moral from Aesop’s The Tortoise and the Hare. That moral: slow and steady […]
“We want freedom but are resistant to simply do what God says to do. God knew all of this, so He made a way not dependent on our strength. A forgiving way to grab on to Jesus’ outstretched arms, bloody from crucifixion and dripping with redemption. He makes a way for us to simply cooperate […]
“The cross of Christ shines through each of the four sacred gifts (value, strength, grace, joy) of our God-given callings. We all stand equally condemned under God’s righteous Law, yet equally forgiven and redeemed by His grace. The cross is the lens through which I must interpret every human interaction and relationship.”- Rev. Jeffrey Leininger […]
“Nothing is as freeing as confessed sin. Nothing is as isolating as a guilty secret. And that is why the Enemy wants you to keep your sins a secret. If you keep your sins a secret, you will be trapped in the cage of guilt the rest of your life. The only way out is […]