Pastor Gene Jesus often retreated to a quiet place alone to talk with His Father. As His disciples, we need to do the same. The desert is the best place to evaluate our walk with Him – and to consider our wins and losses. It’s a place for reflection. When the disciples returned from their brief missionary … Read more
We need the desert. A quiet place, a retreat. We need a place where we can meet our heavenly Father without distraction. A place to practice silence in the Lord’s presence. A place to listen, as well as to talk. Job said, “Teach me, and I will be silent; and show me how I have … Read more
One of the greatest longings in life is to have a purpose, a reason for living. This is true for every human being, saved or unsaved. Read what Marianna Pogosyan, Ph.D. writes, “Belonging can also contribute to a meaningful life, since being a part of a group connotes being a part of something larger, something … Read more
We forget, don’t we? Life has a way of doing that to us. The old cliché that ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ may or may not be true, but, there’s no doubt that familiarity breeds forgetfulness. We can easily forget how much we need and love those closest to us. The relationship we have with our parents … Read more
I have to say, I, like many of you, struggled with prayer. First, you wonder, why should I pray, God knows everything. Second, you might say, He never seems to answer my prayers so what’s the sense. Third, I can never stay focused. I am always distracted. Fourth, I feel weird when I pray. We … Read more
Prayer is a great unifier: it pulls together seemingly disparate parts of the believer’s life. While we have a tendency to divide our life into the “Christian” parts and the “other” parts, the Bible recognizes no such distinction. A.W. Tozer called this the “sacred/secular antithesis.” I think we might better call it the “sacred/secular fallacy”. … Read more
They committed themselves to the Apostle’s teaching. When I think of this I think of Romans when Paul wrote, “Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God”. We as believers are to, “Live by faith” as it says in Hebrews. However, the concept of faith can be misleading. Most people, when you talk … Read more
Lent has traditionally been a time for believers to consider, in humility, who we truly are before the Lord. It’s a time for acknowledging our need, our ‘lostness’ without Him. It reminds us of Jesus words, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). All that we are and all that we shall become … Read more
You might know the song Autobahn from the band Kraftwerk. It’s a quick little 23 -minute (!) toe-tapper in which they sing in German, “We’re driving, driving, driving on the Autobahn” over and over again to a wash of electronic music. It’s a krautrock classic. To my American ear, it always sounded like they’re singing, … Read more
As we read 1 Cor 11:23-26 we notice what our Lord said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” What is it we are to remember? Could it be the incarnation? That God took upon flesh? That He inhabited a body like ours, frail weak and destined for the grave? Or could it be that He … Read more