Posts Tagged ‘Faith’

Are You Satisfied?

July 30th, 2010

Are you satisfied with your life?  Is it all that you want it to be?  Do you think it’s all that God would have it to be?  Is your life smaller than your ability to live it?

Do you find areas in your life where your focus has been off or where you’ve known what to do but just haven’t been consistent? Have you decided you want to bless others by sharing your life in person?  Have you only been giving 50% at work?  Are you living an ineffective life without passion?

Have You Been Challenged?

I’m hoping that my recent posts have challenged you.  I know they’ve challenged me.  And if they haven’t challenged you, I’d challenge you to go ahead and challenge me (that just sounds funny, doesn’t it).  I’d appreciate it.

If You’re Not Satisfied

So, let’s assume for a moment that we’re not satisfied with our lives.  That God has more for us than we’re living and that we want to step into what God has for us.  What should we do?

» Read more: Are You Satisfied?

View Comments »

Posted in Living Faith

Tags:

Share Your Spiritual Journey

July 23rd, 2010

Our life in Christ isn’t static.  It’s dynamic.  It shifts and changes and grows.  It’s not a destination, it’s a journey.  And it’s a journey that’s meant to be shared.  Shared with God and shared with others.

In fact your journey – the ongoing story of your life with Christ – might be one of the most powerful things you have to offer.  One of the most irrefutable ways to share your faith.  It might just be a way that you can defeat the work of evil in the world (Revelation 12:11).

Why is Your Story Powerful?

  • It’s YOUR story.
  • It shows that God is interested in our lives.
  • It demonstrates God’s faithfulness and grace.
  • It’s an opportunity to share how you’ve lived so that others can live better than you have.

How Long Should I Wait?

» Read more: Share Your Spiritual Journey

View Comments »

Posted in Living Faith

Tags:

We’re Not Telling People About Jesus

July 12th, 2010
Discussion on the Merits of Bows vs. Knots

Image by chefranden via Flickr

Can you believe that we’re not telling people about Jesus?  At least not like we (the Church) used to.  I know that I was surprised and saddened as I learned about this from a recent Barna Report.

If you read the report, you’ll find that it was focused specifically on teens.  And you might think that gives us “adults” a pass on this.  After all, we’re not under the microscope.  That’s just not right.

We are under the microscope.  Sure, teens are influenced heavily by our culture.  But they’re also influenced by family, peer groups, and subculture.  If our teens are failing to live their faith, it’s our fault.  We have failed.  And we need God’s help to fix it.

» Read more: We’re Not Telling People About Jesus

View Comments »

Posted in Living Faith

Tags:

Find God’s Best in the Little Things

July 10th, 2010
2007 05 07 113
Image by .erin. via Flickr

If we’ll keep our eyes and hearts open, we’ll always find God‘s very best for us right now.  But sometimes I think we miss what God has for us now because we’re holding out for something big.  Yet we are surrounded all of the time by blessing if we’ll just recognize who God is and what he does for us.

A Schema

In many ways, our life of faith is like wading in the ocean.  If we consider the ocean for a minute, we find many parallels to life and faith.

For example, the ocean reminds us of our utter frailty because of its great power.  It speaks to us of seasons (or tides).  It’s an image of being surrounded and supported and occasionally overcome.  We can understand our lives saturated by the awesome presence of God.  We can understand ourselves as surrounded by God and wading in blessing.  Is it any wonder that Jesus told us to “consider the lilies” (Luke 12:27)?!

» Read more: Find God’s Best in the Little Things

View Comments »

Posted in Living Faith

Tags:

God Saves the Best for Now

July 3rd, 2010
"Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is...
Image by bdentzy via Flickr

Sometimes God interrupts our lives.  Sometimes when it seems like everything is going well and sometimes when everything seems to be going poorly.  It’s at those moments that we are reminded that God has the very best for us.  At those moments we realize that God saves the best for now.

That is exactly what happened when Jesus attended a wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11).

Wedding at Cana

You probably already know this story.

Jesus and his disciples were attending a wedding where the wine ran out before the party did.  Jesus’s mother asked that he intervene and he did – turning water into wine.  When the servants took a little of the wine to the one who was in charge of the banquet, he was so impressed that he remarked to the bridegroom, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” (John 2:10 – emphasis added)

The passage says “saved the best till now,” not “saved the best for last.”

» Read more: God Saves the Best for Now

View Comments »

Posted in Living Faith

Tags:

What’s More Important: Truth or Benefits?

June 19th, 2010
Think about balance
Image via Wikipedia

From time to time, I think about sharing my faith – how, when, and with whom.

As a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, there is an element of sharing my life of faith that comes naturally as I live in this world with my faith in God. But that’s not enough – I also want to be able to give a reason for the hope that is in me to any who ask (1 Peter 3:15).

Which leads me to my question for today:

As a follower of Jesus sharing my faith, am I primarily concerned with whether the Gospel is true or whether it works?

Truth and Reality

Truth is the relationship between perception (or communication) and reality.  If my eyes work right, what I see will be true because it will represent reality.  And if what I communicate is based on reality, it will be the truth.  That is to say that if I look up and see a blue sky and then tell you that the sky is blue, I have perceived and communicated what is true.

If, however, I see the sky and see that it is fuchsia, my perception is flawed because it doesn’t perceive reality.  Or, worse, if I see that the sky is blue but tell you that it is brown, I am not telling the truth.

But how do we know what is true?

» Read more: What’s More Important: Truth or Benefits?

View Comments »

Posted in Evangelism

Tags:

It’s Easy to be Consistent

April 27th, 2010
Odd man out
Image by Lisa Norwood via Flickr

I’ve found that it’s incredibly easy to be consistent. It’s just easier to be consistent at what is easy than what is hard. It’s easier to be consistent at what comes naturally than what requires change.

Here’s where I’m consistent

I’ve found that I have an amazing ability to be consistent in a few areas for sure:

  1. I have an amazing capacity to be lazy
  2. It’s easy for me to be selfish or self-centered
  3. I don’t have much difficulty being self-promoting
  4. I have no difficulty whatsoever in assuming the worst about a person or situation

The problem with my ability to be consistent is that none of these are areas where I want to be consistent. In fact, none of these areas describe how I would like to be consistent.

» Read more: It’s Easy to be Consistent

View Comments »

Posted in Devotion

Tags:

There’s Too Much to Do

January 31st, 2010
Too much to do, so little time.
Image by THEMACGIRL* via Flickr

I suspect we’d be hard pressed to find more than a handful of people in the US who don’t have too much to do. We all have responsibilities, goals, and aspirations. We all have relationships we want to maintain. We all have “time vampires” (some might call them addictions) that suck the time out of our schedules. And there are always unexpected events or difficulties.

I know that I certainly fall into the category of “those who have too much to do.” You probably do as well. So I’m constantly trying to make sure that I’m putting time into those things that are the most important to me. Well, really, it starts before that.

What’s important to God

I want to make sure that I’m investing my time and energy into what is important to God. After all, deep down, God is what is most important to me. Thank God (no pun intended) that he has let us know what is most important.
» Read more: There’s Too Much to Do

View Comments »

Posted in Me

Tags:

Learn, Love, Live

January 18th, 2010

I just have a short post for you today.

God is looking for worshipers who will worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:25). Imagine the kind of life you would live if you truly worshiped God whole-heartedly (and with your whole life), passionately engaged in the truth and grace of God, pursuing the enjoyment of his glory! Imagine the joy you would have in God.

I can scarcely imagine what my life would look like if I truly lived my faith. If I truly pursued the knowledge of God. If my heart were always engaged.

Lord, help me to better:

Think deeply

Love passionately

Serve selflessly

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

View Comments »

Posted in Me

Tags:

Poverty of Faith Leads to Blessing

January 6th, 2010

As we enter the new year, I would like to challenge you to make sure you are doing some spiritual exercises so that you grow in your faith:

  • Read the Bible
  • Spend time in Prayer and Worship
  • Spend time with other followers of Jesus
  • Share your faith and Serve others

If you’ve never read the entire Bible, I would recommend that you do it this year. I’m reading through the Bible on YouVersion.com this year. For the plan I’m using, click here. It’ll get you through the Bible in a year (if you follow it) and has some “grace space” built in so that if you miss a day, you can catch up.

That said, if you haven’t spent any time in the Bible today, consider meditating on the passage below. Ask God what he’s saying and how you can be a part of his plan.

Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Lord, God, may you grant us the grace to see our own poverty – in resource, in belief, in grace, and in humility – so that we may exchange it for the treasure that is you.

Until next time…

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

View Comments »

Posted in God

Tags:

Switch to our mobile site