Some of us remember going to birthday parties and summer camps as a child. Sometimes we played a game called Treasure Hunt. Clues were hidden in various places in a field, or in the woods, or at your campsite. To start, you were given a paper scrap with a written clue scribbled on it. Clues were hints designed to steer you to another hiding place where the next clue would be found (under a rock, stuck in a tree’s bark, in your friend’s pillowcase). The...
Grumpy. Or critical, demanding. Words people use to describe God.
Loads of people don’t perceive God as enjoying humans. Because of misunderstandings, false teachings, our own hurts, He is repeatedly criticized.
Somehow we got the idea that God loves to punish people. And the word “judge” seems really scary to us. He is Judge, but I think most of us have been misinformed about what this means for us as His sons and daughters. It’s not supposed to
We feel alive when we feel and know that others enjoy us. My friend pointed to The Seven Longings of the Human Heart book and said, “Every person was created with a craving in their heart to be pursued and enjoyed by others. This is the most significant yearning in our souls.”*
I found enjoy in the dictionary and read: to take delight in, find satisfaction in, be happy, to like, to love. Yes, my heart sings when I feel like someone enjoys me, he is hap
If Jesus walked into the room where you are right now, certainly He would dramatically change your day! I want this kind of drama.
Let us consider the bold reality of Jesus’ goodbye assurance to His disciples and friends, as He looked upon His Father and heavenly home, “Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20 ). To “be sure” means you are undisputably convinced, definitely guaranteed, unquestionably certain. Wou...
We have to be careful what we say because it will return to us. Hahaha. It happened to me when I was in Moscow last October, during my first solo missions trip.
Traveling as a solo-team was new for me. Wisdom tells us that at least two together is better than one. And it’s true. But it was a divine setup. Jesus wanted to change my anxious view of ministering alone. He used my favorite teaching theme to do it.
My favorite theme is Jesus, the Ever-Pre
God created us to get into us. He arranged all things so that He could pour Himself into man.
His aim wasn’t to simply alter man’s behavior; it was for us to contain Him. Our life as son or daughter of God is not a matter of being moved in our conscience by teachings, but is completely about having a real Person living in us. The abundance of the Living God – the Creator of the Universe – lives in you and me. Jesus, in His complete deity, as Living W...
Immersed and saturated. It’s needed. It’s the one thing. To be fully overtaken and consumed by Jesus.
I crave this. It is who I am and how I was created to function.
I NEED TRUE LOVE. I was made for it. I do strange things, thinking that I am “getting” love … to try to satisfy this craving. My desperate attempts to satisfy heart-hunger tell me how important and deep this hunger is.
For all of us, at the very core of our being, is a hunger which requ...
Last week, while munching on falafel nuggets at a new favorite café, I spit out some words of encouragement to my girlfriend who sat across from me. As the sentences came to life, I realized I was also speaking to myself. Holy Spirit is really good at dual serving—giving life to me as He gives life to another through me, at the same time. He’s the original multitasker. And He will display Himself in this way with everyone He loves.
I bet you have expe
One of my BFF’s recently asked a significant question, “What do you consider to be a central prayer focus for this year?” I was at a family party, so I walked away from the conversations and found a quiet spot to sit still and listen. Inwardly my focus turned to Jesus, and I asked Him the same question.
In my inner man I heard: know God, know who you are in Jesus, and then do great exploits. This one-sentence message has been sounding in my heart for a wh