CATEGORY: Christian Living in the Trenches
COMFORTS AND CHALLENGES IN GOD’S WORD
The first part of this post may encourage you. The second half may challenge you. 6 Promises to Encourage Us As We Serve God When we open God's Word, we often yearn for truths and texts that encourage us. Reasons for needing God's comfort or sustenance vary,...
When You Are “Seeing Red,” Don’t Go To Bed!
A story revealing a vital biblical principle for handling conflict in relationships Scene 1: Ryan's Steakhouse, Columbia, South Carolina Late 1980s Dolly and I sat across the table from Bob and Nancy (not their real names), a winsome couple from our...
A Reassuring Truth for a Tense Father-Daughter Relationship
Do you recall a time when unrestrained joy filled your soul to the brim? Who or what generated such exuberance? Have you gleaned a truth from God's Word that burst through your mind, flooding your heart to such extent that you cried aloud with joy and uttered...
What Truth About God Offers the Most Comfort When You Suffer?
Have you experienced severe suffering and pain that wasn't a direct consequence of a mistake you made or a sinful choice? When you are hurting, what insights about God, gleaned from His Word, provide the most sustenance? Have you ever struggled to reconcile how...
How To Fight Depression, Temptation and Erroneous Thinking
Who do you most rely on for speaking God's truth into your mind and heart? Is it a loyal, but honest, accountability partner? A dedicated pastor who studies diligently for every sermon he delivers? A best-selling author who feeds your soul through his or her...
Can I Serve Others Effectively When I’m Depressed?
A biblical strategy for alleviating depression or discouragement. When we are hurting, whether it is debilitating physical pain or emotional affliction, such as severe depression, we are self-centered. When depression envelops me, I usually think of others only in...
A Story of Eternal Perspective: Fruitfulness of A Single Seed
In your ministry of Bible teaching, preaching or personal evangelism, does it ever seem that, instead of fruitfulness, your branches are bare? Does discouragement dog you because you can't see results from your ministry endeavors, or because someone unfairly...
I Want To Live Before I Die
As a new year approaches, or shortly after it begins, do you reflect on areas in which you see a need to change? Do you ask God to reveal to you areas of life in which He desires renewal for you? Due to past failure in resolution-keeping, and the self-badgering...
Is My “Public” Christian Life Eclipsing My Private World?
What happens on the inside is far more important than external attractiveness. In the late spring of 1999, I was the teacher of record for a European tour that offered college academic credit for recent high school grads. The students had just received their...
5 Ways To Listen To A Sermon
Do I listen to my pastor's sermons, or do I just hear them? To listen implies engaging the mind and processing the preacher's words. To hear means the sound waves are entering my ear canal but I'm not concentrating on them. What a privilege I’ve enjoyed to take...
A MESSAGE FROM THE GRAVE: Can God’s Blessings Become A Snare?
Sobering Lessons from the Ravi Zacharias Scandal (Part 1) Stimulating lectures on university campuses serving as bastions of a liberal worldview. Stirring debates with prominent atheists and scholarly representatives of other faiths. Soul-strengthening sermons...
HOMELESS: We Know More Homeless People Than We Think
There is more than one type of homelessness. In cities across the United States, homeless individuals sleep on park benches, under bridges and on scraps of cardboard stretched out on sidewalks. In the suburbs of my hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, on busy...