weekly words of encouragement

Suffering Will Bless You – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” Romans 8:35 (ESV) It is interesting that in the same sentence about Christ’s love we have a list of terrible things that our loving God allows in our lives. Why is this? Because God’s first priority is your Christformation, not comfortable circumstances. In vv. 28-29 we learn that all things work to conform you to the image of Christ. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:28-29, NIV). Thus, suffering will bless you! And the truth we always know is that Christ loves us no matter what terrible thing is happening to Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

The Kingdom Of God Is Here Now – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Luke 11:20 (ESV) When God promised his coming kingdom in the Old Testament he promised deliverance from enemies. Here we see Jesus casting out demons, demonstrating the power of God and delivering people from the Enemy of all enemies. Then he makes the most astonishing declaration that a Jew could make: the kingdom of God is here. Devout Jews had waited hundreds of years for the coming of God’s perfect kingdom. Jesus was saying that it had arrived! This was so monumental that it is hard to know what the people thought. We know that Jesus only began the inauguration of the kingdom and it wouldn’t be completed until he left and returned again. But the fact remains that the kingdom of God is here now. We Continue Reading →

heaven

Your Rewards In Heaven Depend On Your Works

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When we think about our blessings in heaven we usually think about the immense pleasure of just being in God’s presence and enjoying his love. We may not think so much about the rewards in heaven God will give because that seems too self-focused. Moreover, how much good is a reward compared to being directly in God’s presence with Jesus? In Bernard of Clairvaux’s (b. 1090 – d. 1153) famous work On Loving God he says that “God is not loved without reward, although he should be loved without regard for one” (Sec. 6.17). Bernard rates loving God because of rewards in heaven as only the second of four levels of loving God. And yet scripture repeatedly uses rewards in heaven to motivate us to be Christlike. God assures us in Ephesians 6:7-8 that we should do “service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

Seek And You Will Find – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9 (NIV). In this passage Jesus is trying to tell us that the Father wants to give us good things. But he also wants us to ask, seek and knock. Why does he want us to pursue our requests like this if he already knows what we need? One reason is that he is waiting for us to acknowledge our need and our dependence on him. If he just gave us our desires without us asking we would not learn this dependence. Also, there are spiritual barriers in the spiritual realm that we do not understand, and our prayers have the power to break through barriers. Breaking these barriers is part of the dignity and authority God has given to humans, so Continue Reading →

christlike creed

The Christlike Creed Helps You Mature

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When the church wanted to clarify its doctrines in the early centuries it developed the Apostle’s Creed. It would also be helpful to have a creed that summarizes the practice of the faith. That is why I wrote the Christlike Creed. It contains 9 stanzas of 3 lines each and summarizes the important attitudes and practices of the Christian life, including identity and destiny. It describes what a Christlike person looks like. In other words, it describes spiritual growth and discipleship. Consider how important it is to have a description of what a disciple of Jesus looks like. How can a church or ministry make disciples if the leaders or the people don’t know what a disciple looks like? Don’t we need to know what we are aiming for? This creed describes what a disciple of Christ looks like so we know what is important and what is less important. Continue Reading →