Hasten, O God, to save me; come quickly, Lord, to help me May those who want to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. — Psalm 70:1-2 Read Psalms 69-71 David’s psalms are a continual returning to urgent petitions. He asks God to hear him,…
Spiritual Warfare: Behind Enemy Lines
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. — 1 Peter 5:8 Why is it important to understand the enemy? Before you fight a war, it’s always a good thing to know something about your enemy. Nowhere is this statement truer than in…
The Joy Model: Radically Trusting God
Buzz. Buzz. Michelle’s cell phone vibrated twice on her night stand. It was a text coming in at 12:40 a.m. I was zonked out and the sound barely registered with me. “Jeff, Jeff, wake up. Look.” It was a text from my seventeen-year-old son’s ex-girlfriend: “Please check on Neal. He sent me this photo.” It…
One More Powerful
Luke 3:15-18 When John began to preach in the wilderness, crowds flocked to see Him. He baptized those who confessed their sins but rebuked the pious religious leaders for their self-reliance (Matthew 3:7-10). After 400 years without a prophet, people rushed to John, wondering if he might be the Christ, the one for whom they…
God’s Peace for When You Are Anxious About Tomorrow
As you sink into bed tonight, exhausted, are you already thinking about tomorrow’s meetings, next week’s obligations, next month’s deadlines? You’re anxious about tomorrow… and the next day… and the next. Whether you’re a busy mom who’s worried about your child’s future, an overwhelmed college student in the throes of midterms, or a rising executive…
Trouble in Paradise: Tell the Truth
From the beginning of creation, God has asked for honesty — not perfection. I suppose it was easy for Adam and Eve to be honest with God at first, because they had not yet disobeyed Him. They had no secrets or hidden agendas, only full transparency with each other and with God. But after…
Loving One Another Because We’re Made for Each Other
Made for Each Other ~ N. T. Wright As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. — Proverbs 27:17 We are made for each other. Yet making relationships work, let alone making them flourish, is often remarkably difficult. We all know that justice matters, yet it slips through our fingers. We mostly know that…
Find Delight in What Is Right
Paintings and People It was July 21. My forty-eighth birthday. I was in one of the hardest parts of this season of suffering. The season of dust. I wasn’t able to do the typical “Hey, since this is my birthday, let me just do a little planning… a little dreaming” thing. Nope. The future felt…
Speak Up and Stand Up
To this day I’ve never laughed so hard. I can’t explain why the video was so contagious, but it was. And I had to share the video with my family and friends. As it turned out, I wasn’t the only one. The next day, Candace Payne discovered her Facebook Live video had reached 24 million…
When God Gives You More Than You Can Handle
There’s no easy way to attach the word cancer to your world and not make all who love you cry. I kept thinking about that statement everyone loves to throw out in times like these: “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” But that’s not actually in the Bible. God does say He…