Category Archives: HOPE

“You are the salt of the earth.”Matthew 5:13 Everything we eat, whether processed or unprocessed, has some degree of salt. What is the power of salt that makes it so essential? Salt regulates the body. It manages and balances the rate and speed at which we operate. The human body cannot survive without salt. Don’tContinueContinue reading “Salt”

“If you only knew…”John 4:10 Tragically we can go after everyday errands without stopping for life-giving water. Did you know your soul was designed to be quenched exclusively by God? We’re made for abundant life—working, receiving, thinking, understanding, is the beauty of time and space. And nothing grows without water. Remember the woman at theContinueContinue reading “Ocean of Grace”

It was a breath of pure energy. You know that feeling? The first crank of a sealed window. Fresh air pushed its way in, opened lungs, and brushes ever so softly, delicately against thirsty skin. I got comfortable there like I’d died and gone to heaven. The magnolia eagerly opens. White petals thrust off theirContinueContinue reading “Satisfying Drink”

I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness You have shown to me. Genesis 32:10 Jacob arrived at the end of himself. It had been a long, dark road. Favoritism overshadowed, manipulation mounted, lies were told. Yet…God’s unfailing love and enduring faithfulness redeems every evil thing. To a fool, dishonesty isn’t internalizedContinueContinue reading “Sleeplessness, Wrestlings, & the Hard-Wire of Salvation”

Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters.Genesis 19:30 Seconds before Sodom and Gomorrah goes up in flames, Lot argues with the angel about God’s instructions to flee to the mountains. “Oh no, my Lord!” LotContinueContinue reading “Arguing with God & The Skill of Listening”

I lay down and slept; yet I woke in safety, for the Lord was watching over me.Psalm 3:5 Can you imagine hate so thick between you and your grown child that they plot your death in order to get what’s yours? Absalom’s rebellion would have made sleep impossible, the pressure unbearable. Yet… David lay downContinueContinue reading “God Given Sleep”

Always depend on Him.Hosea 12:6 In the last couple years, since opening My Church, three individuals have stood on its doorstep claiming the walls would fall down if they were to enter the building. Each man in search of one thing or another. One gentleman was in need of shelter, the other perhaps someone toContinueContinue reading “Come Back”

Then Israel will no longer be tempted to trust in Egypt for help.Ezekiel 29:16 The Lord is serious about His kids. He’s not a Father who trusts His children in the hands of any other. In a culture where wealth and prosperity are thought to fix everything, we can easily be swayed away from theContinueContinue reading “The Father Who Loves You”

You hear its sound.John 3:8 I heard it in the distance. The sound of rain’s arrival. A gentle rumble. I imagined green lawn and soft leaves gulping up blessing from heaven. Below the surface, growth moving. Those daisies are on their way. They usually sprout up on the berm near the walking path in May.ContinueContinue reading “Love’s Sound”

That your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.Philippians 1:9 Did you know that godly love grows? We’re not born with a capacity to love unconditionally or sacrificially. Love doesn’t grow with time or experience. Love grows through the knowledge of God and the discernment of His Spirit. The moreContinueContinue reading “Love Grows”

Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.Job 41:11 When God speaks, our most dangerous predators—even demons obey. Camp there with me for just a second. The unseen world is no match for the Designer of it. Wait, God has all the power? Sorry, it’s just that sometimes scripture illuminates a heavenly place I hadn’tContinueContinue reading “His Favorite”

From whose womb did the ice come forth?Job 38:29 I’ve always thought Job a book of suffering, but today the Holy Spirit reveals something different. Something terrifying. The deceitfulness of pride. The devil is always gunning for it because he knows our deep affection for it.  I’m going way out on my theological limb this morningContinueContinue reading “Keeping Your Heart In Check”

I know that my Redeemer lives.Job 19:25 The voices around Job, in his darkest days, set themselves above him. “How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words?” How easy it is to look on others in their trials, their hardships, their misery—and find reasons why they likely deserve it. Forty-twoContinueContinue reading “Speak Truth to Your Soul”

If it is not He, who then is it?Job 9:24 I love Job’s worship-filled convictions concerning God. He doesn’t reduce God in size to satisfy his need to be innocent. He believes he is innocent—but trusts God altogether to know better. Our friend Job has not been turned by the world to think God so smallContinueContinue reading “The Lion of Judah”

Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?Job 2:10 The rhetorical question Job poses hits below the skin of who we believe God is.  The tempter is unloading every possible weapon on this one man in the land of Uz.   I’m willing to wager this isn’t the first time Job metContinueContinue reading “Suffering Sanctifies”

In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.Job 1:22 What was Job’s secret to remaining humble, grateful after all his work, possessions, grown children, even his own skin was utterly destroyed, ruined, ripped from his arms? I don’t remember any preacher treading far on Job’s encounter with Satan and God. (ThoughContinueContinue reading “One Thing We Own”

Have you noticed My friend Job?Job 1:8 Oh boy, the book of Job. Why oh why does God point out His friend to His enemy? We’re tempted to question, Doesn’t God care about Job’s suffering? But how could that be given all we know about God? How He made us, gave us the garden ofContinueContinue reading “The Peace Satan Hates”

Esther also was taken.Esther 2:8 With all the liberties I enjoy in my circumstances, I quickly forget the realities of oppression. I once thought Esther a lucky woman. Her purity and beauty was such, she was noticed by the king’s men and escorted to the palace. Bathed in sweet scents and expensive oils for months,ContinueContinue reading “Holy Spirit Perspective”

The singers.Nehemiah 12:29 Church music passed over my ears like a long, boring recital when I was a kid. Can we move this along, I thought—I’ve got dolls to dress and frogs to catch.  We’ll never bridle the power of true praise grabbing hold the broken soul. I’m ashamed to admit it—I’ve thought the singers lessContinueContinue reading “Christ My Song”

We hear it all the time, “Follow your heart.” Well, I don’t know about you, but my heart has gotten me into a boatload of trouble. I shudder at the thought of returning to, and following through, every deep-seeded, passionate plan my heart compels me to do. So how do we know the difference betweenContinueContinue reading ““My God put it on my heart.” Nehemiah 7:5″

I sat down and wept and mourned for days.Nehemiah 1:4 When Jerusalem was taken into captivity because of their rebellion against God, their enemies broke and burned down their city walls. The people who survived the exile returned to a city with no walls, no gate. When Nehemiah hears of Jerusalem’s trouble and shame, heContinueContinue reading “Strong Tower”

Are you God’s vessel? Are you washed clean and used for service inside the house of God? From Moses to Jesus the holy vessels were designed to hold pure water—living water. Water able to turn what God cannot even look upon into His own precious possession. Jesus is the one way to the house ofContinueContinue reading ““The vessels are holy.” Ezra 8:28″

What is God asking you to rebuild? A broken marriage? A vacant community? Your own abandoned heart? Don’t let those troublemakers stop you. Those voices in your head threatening your progress. Those discouragers of hope in what God desires to accomplish in His people and for His glory. When God stirs our heart for HisContinueContinue reading ““They did not stop them.” Ezra 5:5″

I’m no risk taker. And putting your faith in God, is risky business. Putting faith in a decent wage comes naturally, a healthy diet—piece of cake. But faith in a God who made everything out of nothing always seems to be too much of a stretch for me. Why is that? When I stand backContinueContinue reading ““Faith apart from works is dead.” James 2:26″

“Be safe,” we hear all over the place, and it makes me laugh when I think of the way the children of God are called to live. Wholly trusting the Holy Spirit’s leading, offering ourselves, a living sacrifice. Does that sound safe to you? Oh, but wait. After Paul and Silas were drug to prison and locked inContinueContinue reading ““Whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.” Proverbs 29:25″

The Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for everyone who was not clean.2 Chronicles 30:17 “Why so much blood, God?” I questioned this morning. One-thousand bulls, seven-thousand sheep, sacrificed and splattered across the altar of the Lord. I just don’t get it. And when all was burnt up, they sang for days, bursting withContinueContinue reading “The Horror of Sin”

In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord.2 Chronicles 28:2 When your conscience bothers you, what do you do? When you realize you’ve blown it, do you stay faithful to your poor decision, determined to stay hidden and preserve your reputation? The Bible calls this, bondage. Jesus came to freeContinueContinue reading “Leave the Sin that Leaves You Empty”

The king listened to them.2 Chronicles 24:17 It’s often a gradual, seductive turn. We come to a crossroad, a challenge, a loss and start listening to people’s advice. We can feel desperate to realign the course we are on when the future suddenly looks different. This is not the time to abandon God. This isContinueContinue reading “Trouble & Testing”

I didn’t know what to do. Feeling pulled in a thousand directions, I started cursing, yelling at the tiniest details of every-day life. All the inessentials, niceties, trivial stuff that won’t mean a hill’a beans in the end. Is anyone going to notice dried rosemary in their soup as opposed to fresh? Must every flowerContinueContinue reading ““When they began to sing and praise.” 2 Chronicles 20:22″

Inquire first for the word of the Lord.2 Chronicles 18:4 I can’t count the decisions I’ve made in haste. Choices to go, stay, do, take, give without a single inquiry of what God—who alone is wise—would have me do. As if I haven’t made a million wrong moves! I’m tired of me, friends—because I’ve doneContinueContinue reading “Stop & Pray”

Distress is a warning signal that we need God. Better communication skills, a change of scenery, a tighter budget, increased exercise, refocused goals, diet changes will not bring the peace we so desperately seek. These may be a result of our turning to God—but they are not the true God. This morning I need toContinueContinue reading ““Without the true God.” 2 Chronicles 15:3″

What a grave eternity awaits those who hold in highest regard numbers of years, friends, income, efforts, abilities—shrugging off the inner treasure of everlasting wisdom the Author of life offers to those who love Him. Let us not forget the words of 130-year-old Jacob, whom God renamed Israel. A deceitful man he was until theContinueContinue reading ““Teach us to number our days.” Psalm 90:12″

Do you need to see Jesus with your own eyes? You’ve heard the stories, witnessed the change in people’s faces, felt the pull to see for yourself if what they’ve said is true. But you’ve refused. For whatever reason; fear, apathy, stubbornness, pride—you’re holding fast past convictions that what they spread is too good toContinueContinue reading ““My own eyes had seen it.” 2 Chronicles 9:6″

I think these the saddest, most frightening words in scripture. I remember the days before the Lord saved my hopeless, helpless self. My life like a roller coaster—thinking highs and lows were all there was to live for, terrified of what waited at the end of the ride. But I could never have articulated thisContinueContinue reading ““They abandoned the Lord.” 2 Chronicles 7:22″

There is a misconception that God hears everyone who prays. That’s not what the bible says. The devil deceives us into imagining, as I have imagined, God some sort of naive father figure able to be suckered by any manipulating kid for ten more minutes at the park. Other unrepentant souls think, as I haveContinueContinue reading “Pray, Seek, Turn 2 Chronicles 7:14”

Does Monday feel like a mountain to you? Does it look like the start of a race you haven’t the legs for? We don’t have to roll this way. If our schedule owns us, it’s because we’ve paid into it. Our pride buys the lie that we are everything to everyone—when that is God’s job.  ContinueContinue reading ““Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 1:3″

King David, in preparing for his death, is giving charge to his son Solomon to know and serve God with a whole heart and a willing mind.  I wondered this morning why Solomon would even need strength and courage? David had pretty much put everything in place for Solomon’s kingship. All expenses were paid forContinueContinue reading ““Be strong and courageous.” 1 Chronicles 28:20″

King David was a man of war, his son Solomon was to be a man of rest. But not the kind of rest we typically think. Solomon wasn’t called to sit on a beach, tour Italy, or indulge in french food. Rest, meant peace and quiet from all his enemies—an appointed time to build aContinueContinue reading ““Arise and work!” 1 Chronicles 22:16″

Do you think . . . 1 Chronicles 19:3 Upon reading this morning, I am sorely convicted and wholly enlightened. Have you ever slipped suspicion into a conversation against someone you’ve never really trusted? I thought it justified. I didn’t want someone I loved to be taken advantage of. But planting suspicion in the thoughtsContinueContinue reading “Suspicion & Transformation”

This part of 2 Kings is always so exciting to me. The moment some insignificant, supposedly holy man, goes snooping around the house of the Lord and stumbles upon God’s written words. Opening it, he can’t put it down. Pumped with his discovery, he shares it with another, who in turn runs to read itContinueContinue reading ““I have found the Book of the Law.” 2 Kings 22:8″

Heart check. Are you listening to the Lord? Are you obeying? Because God is Spirit we can be drawn away easily, start to think He’s not even listening. Don’t fall for this. The Lord is near to those who call on His name. I’ll say it again (for my own sake). The Lord is nearContinueContinue reading ““They neither listened nor obeyed.” 2 Kings 18:12″

I spent a month in Rwanda in 2016. Among other unforgettable things, God showed me the value of water. Most don’t have water that pours from one faucet, let alone seven. Women and men are seen carrying containers, lugging gallons of water up and down steep hills all day long. They must travel by footContinueContinue reading ““Drink.” John 7:37″

We can think our lives too small. Reduce ourselves to mere flesh and bone. If I could just kick the winning goal, impress enough friends, climb the tallest tree…then I’d surely taste greatness. Wishes like this don’t even brush up against your significance my dear sweet friend. We’ve got to think deeper, wider, higher thanContinueContinue reading ““There is a boy.” John 6:9″

Remember the work that went into the temple in the Old Testament? In 1 Kings 6 the building begins. And the Lord’s attention to detail blows my mind every time! Every cubits width, length, height, depth from corner to corner was measured and recorded. Windows had recessed frames, outside offsets were made because there wasContinueContinue reading ““The temple of His body.” John 2:21″

Are you like me and hate to cry? Our pride stops us or maybe someone shamed us for shedding tears when we were just a kid. For whatever reason we scold those tears, we need to understand this one thing: God listens for our cries like a mother her firstborn child.  When I brought myContinueContinue reading ““My cry entered His ears.” 2 Samuel 22:7″

If we’re not growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we’re dying with the world. Our gardens, fields, and flowers have grown all season. Not one day have they ceased to change. From seed to full bloom, even now to mature fruit, and approaching winter we’ve witnessed complete transformationContinueContinue reading ““Grow.” 2 Peter 3:18″

What does it mean to serve mammon? I avoided this question for a long time. I, for one, like having a savings account, a nice car, a pretty house. I feared understanding this verse would take my stuff. After inviting in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, that fear fled. Not because God said, “StoreContinueContinue reading ““You cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24″

Ever think of Jesus as affectionate? I have to admit, I never have. I see Jesus trustworthy, upright, kind, wise, compassionate, commanding, humble, giving and doing all things for the sake of His people—but not necessarily affectionate. When I hear the term, affection, I imagine snuggling, cuddling, handholding, smooching, butterfly kisses. So, I sat downContinueContinue reading ““The affection of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:8″

How do we read the Psalmist without tears? No matter our story, the word of God is comfort in affliction, joy in sorrow, peace in turmoil, a compass in confusion, hope in death. When we choose not to live in the word of God, it’s because we are drawn to death. God withholds His graceContinueContinue reading ““Your word has given me life.” Psalm 119:50″