What Is Your Will In Christ?

I've come across a number of people over time that have a distinct disdain for anything related to "religion". I don't condemn them - in fact depending on their interpretation and descriptions attached to the word, I might even agree with them... To some, the mention of Christianity in particular immediately conjures thoughts of a guilt ridden, ritualistic servitude and life of condemnation immersed in hypocrisy. Of course and still amazingly, the opposite is very true. But one has to wonder where these ideas and impressions come from. Were they given life by the example of someone claiming to live under the banner of Christ? Were they acrimonious conclusions drawn from viewing the scripted religion of past media presentations or over zealous and over acted presentation? Each case may present a different answer, but I cringe when I think about some of the potential possibilities.   I haven't found in scripture yet where Jesus made a habit of yelling and thre...

I'm a child of grace. I'm exceedingly grateful that the challenges, trials and self designated disasters that have been allowed in my life have not been greater... The total number of opportunities for what I would be tempted to consider greater harm in my life - the absolute terror of things that I don't even know that I've been protected from, are something I can only wonder about. I only know that the horror of what could have happened hasn't. I look across the days of my life and consider that I could have been encumbered with far greater physical suffering, heart rending horror and devastating loss - the potential totality of which I can't even know. Yet I here I am still, gratefully broken by the overwhelming mercy of God's grace. What I have suffered is nothing compared to what I might be worthy of. I stand before the Lord humbled under the magnitude of His power and greatness. I'm a tender blade of grass standing before the raw and devastati...

In the busy day to day struggles to get through what's become our self made grind, what we know has a tendency to become so common to us that we really don't give it much thought. For instance, we know that somewhere "God's watching". But we've known it for so long that we may have even become complacent with the idea. I tend to think that God alone is so big and so powerful that He can see each of us individually and continually at the same time. There may be others who watch and surmise the content of our thoughts, intentions and motives in a given moment, but God alone knows the truth - even better than we know ourselves. As He watches over mankind, God's not surprised. He knows and expects with perfect clarity, knowledge and wisdom. But what we might acknowledge even less than Father God's continually watchful eye are the countless multitude of His mighty angels waiting with Him and having witnessed it all from the beginning. What must they thi...

Our lives have a voice. At times, it's a voice that can speak far louder than the one that comes forcefully out of our mouths. As followers of Christ, if the opportunity to talk about our experience with our Lord presents itself and we find our mouths shut in silent shame because of the life we've been living in front of present company... we've uncovered a problem. When the life we're living - what we say and do,  doesn't measure up  to what we might truthfully say or claim boldly in front of others, we may have a credibility issue. And that issue in that moment isn't just with the person or persons we wish we could speak freely to... but with ourselves... and we know at the same time that the Lord sees it. It suddenly becomes a moment of self acknowledgment - an instant self examination that has the opportunity to result in further growth and maturity... or to become an opportunity for discouragement and spiritual immobility. The enemy of our souls would ...

Dare...     ... to take some time to evaluate your life and ambitions by a reality bigger than the one that encompasses your daily life - by God's reality and established truth. Dare to take the time to consider what's real as established by the one who created it all... and in that process, find what your heart's "really" searching for... What's "real" to many is commonly based on the perception of our flesh and is determined by virtue of its senses. But what lives within these decaying bodies is eternal and was created with the holy and purposeful intention to have fellowship with God on His terms. Anything beyond that purpose is meaningless. We were created with an inherent desire for relationship with our creator. Nothing else completely satisfies that ever present and nagging feeling that something is missing - nothing possibly could. We were purposely created by God with a void in our hearts that only He can fill so that we'd be drawn ...