I’ll admit something to you… I did not get to have my devotional this morning. I woke up late… I stayed up late yesterday watching several episodes of Ken Burn’s The Vietnam War and snoozed through the alarm, and by the time I got out of bed, I had to get ready for school. My spirit […]

I would venture to say that most of our sins are what we would consider unintentional and even inadvertent. When we commit these types of sins, if we were asked whether we thought we were rebelling against God by doing them, we would vehemently deny. We might even say and believe that we were doing […]

God’s absolute control includes our “free” choice, meaning that what God has willed, we will willingly  help it come true even if it is against us. In other words, God does not override our choice in order to make His will come true. Rather, His will includes our choice in fulfilling it, so that we have […]

Judges 1:28-When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely. Most of our teaching ideally should come when we are younger, dependent, and unable to understand some of the things we are going to face in life.  God also commands us in the Bible to “train […]

I think there is a limit to how much of Jesus we can know and love in our current conditions. The worse and more dire our conditions, the more intensely we would know and love Jesus. My condition (perhaps not yours) can hardly be considered dire. I am a middle class American with a wife […]

If God is the engine of our salvation, then we are the wheels. If God is the electricity, we are the appliances. God is the One who works in His salvation, and we are the ones who work out that salvation. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works […]

Matthew 27:3-4-Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” When I have sinful desires, […]

Isn’t it strange that the more God blesses us the greater the chance of our falling away from Him? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve witnessed this in my life time. When things are difficult, we tend to hang onto God, but then when our life improves or even better, flourishes, we forget […]

Matthew 26:43-44–And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.  One of the great things that companionship gives us is support.  The kind of support that reaches beyond tangible things like money, but emotional and spiritual support, that gets to the “heart” of who we are.  Yet the lack of support […]

I do not often think about hell. I think about heaven far more. But I do need to think about hell more since Jesus taught about it often. The closest thing to hell I experience is when I’m sitting in the steam room. It’s upwards of 160 degrees in there and I can’t stay longer […]