In the book of Hebrews, our life and time on this earth is compared to an athlete running a race. A runner must build up endurance, and experience personal training to be equipped for an upcoming event. Accordingly, God has provided us with training instructions that we need to stick to, in order to complete and win the heavenly prize for our earthly life’s race. First, we are told we must throw aside every unnecessary weight or burden…..
Courage gives us the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear. Fear is detrimental to our emotional and spiritual growth, because it will either paralyze us, or cause us to rush forward and make a choice that will deter us from stepping forward in the right direction on our journey of Faith. In the hidden place of our hearts, we all have things we are waiting and hoping for, expecting the Lord in…..
According to the Bible, our earthly human body with its human nature is identified as the “fleshly man.” On the other hand, there is a place deep inside our hearts where God resides and reigns, a place that is regarded as our “spiritual man.” Our fleshly man and spiritual man are usually quite at odds with one another. In general, our flesh wants what it wants, believes that an “easy” life without difficulty will bring fulfillment, and presumes that our…..
I am thankful to say that sometime there are some positive, pleasant, encouraging human interest stories on the network and cable news broadcast – but only a few! In general, cynical worldviews and reports of offensive vulgar activities totally dominate our society. Many families, friends, and acquaintances would not know what to talk about if negative gossip, scandal, or chitchat were not the main topic of conversation. We discover ourselves easily pulled into focusing on the gloomy, distrustful, and hopeless…..
Fear is the negative force that Satan uses to hinder us from discovering the purposeful, positive, and productive course that God has planned for each of us. Many times we don’t recognize it is fear that motivates our thoughts, words, choices, and actions- or our lack of words, choices, and actions. God gives us His life giving Truth that proclaims – Love is the powerful, positive force that displaces fear, because fear is the opposite of love. It is God’s…..
Does it seem as if your emotions and circumstances are defeating the hopes and dreams that God has put in your heart? If so, you may feel angry, sad or just blah. But God’s love for you is faithful, unmovable, and BIG…. you can count on Him to show up when circumstances bring you to the giving up point where you feel afraid and defeated. When you are down, God longs to use the opportunity to show you who He…..
One day, while at the beach, there was a thunderstorm. I said to my granddaughter, “God is in a spiritual battle fighting for good to triumph, humility for His children, and truth to be known”. She replied, “Nana, I thought a thunderstorm was just hot and cold air coming together.” I explained,” science and spirit are not opposed to each other, and the spiritual and physical world are both real, but different. In the physical world, hot and cold…..