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Thanks Be To God – For What?
Thanks Be To God – For What? Thanksgiving is one of the most precious times of the year because we have so much to be thankful for: our nation, family, life, health, opportunity, the list never ends. But what if you’re in a season of uncertainty, if you’re asking what God is doing in our nation or your family is struggling or your health is questionable or you’re unemployed? What if you’re living in confusion and fear and don’t know how to respond to what is happening to you? How can you be thankful? The apostle Paul faced that exact situation. He had written a letter of rebuke…
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Blessed Are the Pure In Heart
When Blessings Abound Series The Beatitudes Attitude: Passionately Pursuing Christlikeness Through Desperate Dependence on Him { Hidden in The Folds } Who can be pure in heart? Who I ask? Certainly not I! Can I think I am pure in heart? Of course. Can I be pure in heart “as far as I know?” I can—as far as I know. The problem is I don’t know very far. Only God knows if I’m pure in heat, and He’s not telling me. The heart is an active deceiver (Jer. 17:9), and this is why God searches us (Jer. 17:10) so He can reward us according to the secrets hidden away in…
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Mercy Me!
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken When Blessings Abound Series The Beatitudes Attitude: Passionately Pursuing Christlikeness Through Desperate Dependence on Him { Mercy Me! } Blessed are the merciful. . . (Mt. 5:7) When I was growing up I was taught the Christian life by being given a list of things I should not do and a list of things I should do. If I didn’t do what I shouldn’t and if I did do what I should, I was spiritual. Since being spiritual was the highest goal of my life, I kept my lists diligently and became spiritual—or a least spiritually superior. I don’t think that’s what…
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Blessed are the Driven
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken When Blessings Abound Series The Beatitudes Attitude: Passionately Pursuing Christlikeness Through Desperate Dependence on Him { Blessed are the Driven } Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. . . (Mt. 5:6) Hungry and thirsty people are driven people. When we are hungry and thirsty, the drive for food and water takes over, and nothing else matters. After all, food and water mean life and not death. So when Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” He was saying that our longing for righteousness and freedom from the death that sin and the shame bring is a blessing. That’s…
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Blessed are the Broken – They are the Meek
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken When Blessings Abound Series The Beatitudes Attitude: Passionately Pursuing Christlikeness Through Desperate Dependence on Him { Blessed are the Broken – That is the Weak } Blessed are the meek . . . (Mt. 5:5) When we’re bankrupt we’re broke, but are we broken? Sure, bankruptcy means we have no resources, no way to pay our bills, and that is devastating. Bankruptcy strips us of every dignity we have: our identity, our self-image, our status, our possessions—what’s left but shame? Unless we hold on to our pride. To be broke is to be broken—unless we’re too proud to declare bankruptcy. Then we scramble,…
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Blessed are the Meek – Not the Weak
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken When Blessings Abound Series The Beatitudes Attitude: Passionately Pursuing Christlikeness Through Desperate Dependence on Him { Blessed are the Meek – Not the Weak } Blessed are the meek . . . (Mt. 5:5) Moses was the meekest man in all the earth—meek, not weak (Numbers 12:3) When He was reviled He did not revile in return—meek, not weak (I Peter 2:23) Nevertheless, not my will but yours—meek, not weak (Matthew 26:39, 42) My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?—meek, not weak (Matthew 27:46) You whited sepulchers—weak? (Matthew 23:27) Get behind me, Satan—weak? (Mark 8:33) You would have no authority over…
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God’s Comfort For Mourning Leaders
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken When Blessings Abound Series The Beatitudes Attitude: Passionately Pursuing Christlikeness Through Desperate Dependence on Him { God's Comfort For Mourning Leaders } Blessed are those who mourn . . . (Mt. 5:4) How can God comfort mourning leaders? Few of us would, especially if their sin tore our hearts apart, left our lives in ruins, and created suffering for us. Yet comfort is exactly what He offers those who mourn for sin.However, we must understand God’s kind of comfort because there are many false comforters among us today who do not take God’s holiness seriously, so they don’t take our sin seriously either.…
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Comfort in Mourning
Mourning. Grief. Pain. Suffering. Struggling for hope. Unanswered questions. Regrets. What if’s. Irrational fears. The dark night of the soul. Turmoil. Confusion. How many ways can we describe it? And what difference does descriptions make? Read more…
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Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
We mourn fallen police officers in Dallas. Do we mourn our sin? Read more..
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Blessed are the Bankrupt
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . (Mt. 5:3) What stunning, shocking words! What king announces his rule by calling the poor in spirit to him, the bankrupt, those with no resources who bring nothing to him? Only one. The King who is lowly in heart, who offers a light burden because He is not bent down by the weight of pride. Amazingly these are the first recorded words of discipleship Jesus uttered. Jesus requires bankruptcy to enter His kingdom… That’s what it means to be poor in spirit: spiritual bankruptcy, a total lack of resources to do what ultimately…
