Many images accompany Christmas — fun and frolic, snow and decorations, laughter and family gatherings — images so ingrained in most people’s minds that they find it difficult to imagine the holiday any other way. Yet, in truth, Christmas only recently became the festive holiday we now cherish. For almost fifteen hundred years, the observation…
Jesus In First Place… Over Everything
Editor’s note: It’s the first day of Advent and the start of something new! The Jesus Over Everything by Lisa Whittle is our brand-new community Online Bible Study starting tomorrow, November 30th and you do not want to miss it! Oh, do we need this study now more than ever! I need Jesus to be…
“O Holy Night”
Many different traditions hover over our carol repertoire like the stars on Christmas Eve. This one is French, rooted in the music of the nineteenth-century Catholic Church, half-opera, half-soirée, designed to echo cavernously round the gloomy spaces of some vast Gothic church, reverently bellowed by a trained opera singer, all vibrato and shirt frills, accompanied…
It’s Never Too Late to Thank God
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. — Psalm 100:4-5 NIV “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One…
Struggle and Chaos
Struggles He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” — Matthew 26:39 We all struggle. But did you ever think that perhaps God may be using your…
The God Baby
The God Baby As you wait attentively in My Presence, the Light of the knowledge of My Glory shines upon you. This radiant knowledge transcends all understanding. It transforms every fiber of your being: renewing your mind, cleansing your heart, invigorating your body. Open yourself fully to My Presence; be awed by My glorious Being.…
Christmas in the Shadowlands
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. For those who lived in a land of deep shadows — light! sunbursts of light! — Isaiah 9:2 MSG This verse is where our story begins. Almost eight centuries before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah told of His coming. The biggest Christmas…
Your Unique Calling
We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. — Ephesians 2:10 I had wanted a red coat for years. But paying full price for a coat seemed excessive when I had several perfectly fine coats in my closet. So, each year I…
God Guides the Wise
Holiday time is highway time. Ever since the magi packed their bags for Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus has caused people to hit the road. Our Christmas trips have a lot in common with the one of the wise men. We don’t camp with camels, but we have been known to bump into a knobby-kneed…
Breakfast with Jesus
Peter is my favorite disciple because of how obviously flawed and human he is. (Man, can I relate to Peter!) After he denied knowing Jesus three times, he was completely (and pretty understandably) devastated. Believing his time as a disciple was over, he returned to his previous way of life as a fisherman. (Isn’t that…