Have you ever been scared to do something? When I sold my business to write a book, I was scared to death. Fear must be a common struggle for people because it is mentioned in the Bible more than 500 times. We see angels saying, “Fear not,” and even Jesus says to his closest disciples, “do not be afraid.” Maybe there is something sacred in being scared. The other day, I was reading one of Richard Rohr’s […]
discipleship
7 posts
We all follow someone. Either on Facebook, in the news, maybe your favorite motivational speaker, podcast, or musician. Even as Christians, we tend to follow a particular theology. So, who are you following these days? Today, we are going to see why it is so important to know who you are following. If you remember, the last few weeks, we have been talking about those people looking for Jesus. The Magi, Herod, Simeon and others all knew […]
Over the last few weeks, we have been looking at our spiritual seasons. Today, we will look at the season of pruning, which may be the most misunderstood season of them all. The definition of pruning is “to trim by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to increase fruitfulness and growth.” Interesting that pruning increases growth since last week we discovered the painful, yet necessary growing season. What does scripture say about pruning? You may be […]
What is joyous freedom? Last week, we talked about joyful obedience which is a phrase that comes from the United Methodist liturgy. It goes like this; “Merciful God, we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart. We have failed to be an obedient church. We have not done your will., we have broken your law, we have rebelled against your love, we have not loved our neighbors, and we have not heard the cry of the needy. Forgive us, we pray. […]
In the warmer months of the year, I enjoy my morning time with God sitting on my patio. With the birds chirping and the bees buzzing, I feel closer to God there. This morning, as I sat there struggling to get into the groove of my routine, (i.e.- devotion, scripture, prayer,) I was distracted. Not by all of creation, but more with the things I needed to do for the day. I made myself open my Bible. As the red letters leaped off the page, […]
The other day, I woke up to an old hymn playing in my head, “Trust and Obey.” “Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.” I instinctively knew The Lord was trying to teach me something. Today, I want to share that lesson of how to trust and obey with you. I remember, years ago, sitting in a church service with this unsettledness in my spirit. An anxiousness really. I felt as if the Holy […]