Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. About faith, love, life and relationship with God. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in interaction with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. Many have been tweets on Twitter and updates on Facebook. For your edification, inspiration and/or motivation — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• Nobody deserves grace. Nobody. That’s why it is called grace. And that sets us free to throw ourselves into God!
• Nobody needs grace more than I do. And that’s why nobody needs Christ more than I do. Nobody.
• Grace is confusing to people who are trying to relate to God through rules and regulations.
• Each new day is a good day to repent, to turn to God anew and in ways we never have before. And grace is always there to meet us.
• Justice is not something we get, it is something we do. Sure, we all want to be treated justly ourselves. But it is more important that we treat others justly, even when we are not.
• Jesus calls us to seek, above all else, the kingdom of God and His way of living. It is a risky business. But there is even greater risk in not seeking it.
• Confusion is what happens when you begin heading into the dark. It is also what happens when you begin heading into the light. The difference is that it eventually clears up in the light.
• Enoch walked with God (Genesis 5:22). Noah did, too (Genesis 6:9). This is what faith is — walking with God.
• Jesus is the Way — follow Him. He is the Truth — trust Him. He is the Life — live Him.
• To know God in every moment, waking or sleeping, in every situation, in every encounter — each moment becomes a divine moment, each situation becomes a divine situation, each encounter becomes a divine encounter. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1 is that God would give us wisdom and revelation by the Holy Spirit so that we may know God more. Fully, experientially, intimately. Not just in theory.
• God’s plan is that everything comes together in Christ. This is the fullness of the gospel.
• If one is going to be deconstructionist, then even his deconstructionism needs to be deconstructed. Arm-chair deconstructionists are usually not willing to go that far. Like skeptics who are skeptical of everything — except their own skepticism.
• Some people like stereotypes. They think it saves time and that the odds are with them. Perhaps. But it is not worth the damage that so often follows.
• I think I’ve just about figured out how much I don't now. But, of course, I could be wrong about that.
• Vulnerability is a venture, a risk we take. Safety is an environment we offer.
• Worship does not fulfill some need in God. He has no need. But it sure does meet a need in us.
• If you’re miserable living for Jesus, then you’re doing it wrong.

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. About faith, love, life and relationship with God. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in interaction with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. Many have been tweets on Twitter and updates on Facebook. For your edification, inspiration and/or motivation — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• Faith is not a static moment of belief but an ongoing conversation with God. What is God saying to you? What are you saying to God?
• God can handle our honesty. Even our anger and doubt. But He cannot do anything with our deceptions.
• Faith is not so much about what you believe as about Who you trust.
• God’s word causes things to be. It does not just describe reality, it creates it.
• Faith flows with the love of God because faith is relationship with God, who is love.
• I am, at any given time, a mixture of motives. Some noble, some not so much. I have my hands full minding my own heart.
• Jesus calls us to make disciples, not clones — He’s going to look different on you than on me.
• I would rather have one Christian who lives the faith well but cannot argue it than ten who can argue the faith well but do not live it.
• Faith in Christ is more than a doctrinal point concerning soteriology, it is a lived-out daily reality.
• Faith is trusting Christ with your life.
• What if everywhere we went, we prayed, “Kingdom of God, come into this place. Will of God, be done here in this place, just as in heaven”?
• You can find a lot of gory images on the internet — even on Facebook! — and it can easily overwhelm. Too much of it can even lead to despair. But there is one gory image that gives hope, and that is the image of Christ on the cross.
• In the end, heaven and earth must be joined together, because Jesus is truly God and truly man, and cannot be split in two.
• My eschatology is simple: The gospel will prevail and all the nations of the world will be discipled to become followers of King Jesus the Messiah.
• Pharaoh needed to let the children of Israel go, but the children of Israel also needed to let Egypt go.
• God has no self-appointed, self-anointed gatekeepers.
• A person’s socio-economic situation can color how he or she perceives Scripture. Someone on the bottom rungs of society might read certain passages differently than someone who is well-heeled. If we are going to take Scripture seriously, then, we must allow it to challenge our own socio-economic conditioning.
• This day, I expect to know God more.
• Isn’t it marvelous that, though God gives us all of Himself, we do not lose our own identity — we remain ourselves. You remain you and I remain me, but now the God-filled versions of you and me.
• The grace of God, through His power at work in me, is able to do far beyond all I can ask or think — and I’m not done asking and thinking.

More random thoughts …

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. About faith, love, life and relationship with God. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in interaction with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. I didn’t know what else to do with them, so I put them here. For your edification, inspiration and/or motivation — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• Some people are still living in the “before” part of their testimony. But keep praying for them, because God knows how to get them to the “after” part — and it will be breath-taking.
• What counts, the apostle Paul said, is faith expressing itself through love. God is love, and faith in God looks like love.
• The gospel of Jesus Christ is not an ideology, it is an invitation to a relationship with God that changes the world.
• Christ does not offer us a legal contract but a covenant relationship. It is not like buying a car but like getting married — we belong to Him and He belongs to us. Which is why the Church is called the “bride” of Christ.
• Evangelism without relationship is just propaganda.
• Faith is not a doctrine but a relationship. It is not about a proposition but about a Person.
• Faith is learning to be loved by God ... and to love God in return.
• Faith is learning to live in the faithfulness of God toward us, and so we become more faithful toward God.
• Faith in Christ is not working up a sense of certainty about Christ. It is giving your life to Christ, entrusting yourself into His hands.
• Gave up “trying harder” years ago. Started loving God more instead. Happy ever since.
• If you see the glass as half-empty, perhaps that is an opportunity for you to help fill it.
• The nature of faith is that it can be seen in the life of the person who has it. You can tell a lot about what a person believes by looking at how they live.
• When you know Jesus, the judgment of God does not come to condemn you, it comes to condemn everything that stands against you.
• The judgment of God shakes out things that cannot be established and establishes things that cannot be shaken.
• “Set your mind on things above.” That’s how you can see what the will of God being done in heaven looks like. Then you will be able to see where the earth is out of alignment with heaven and call for the will of God to be done here just as in heaven.
• Today, Lord, fill my mind with Your thoughts, fill my mouth with Your words, fill my heart with Your affections. Amen.

More random thoughts …

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in interaction with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. I didn’t know what else to do with them, so I put them here. For your edification, inspiration and/or motivation — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• Paul tells us to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). He did not leave us the option of just one or the other, truth or love. We must do both. We must speak the truth, but we must do it in love. Truth and love are, first and most importantly, personal — that is, they are about a person. For God is love and Jesus is the Truth (1 John 4:9; John 14:6). So if our communication fails to reflect truth or love, it fails to reflect the Lord Jesus, and we come short of the glory of God.
• Because we’ve been given the sword of the Spirit (the Word of God), the temptation is for us to think that we are supposed to hack away at people with it.
• God is love. He who abandons love abandons God.
• God is love. He who has faith in God has faith in love.
• Jesus saves us with a salvation that truly changes us.
• The cross is the intersection of heaven and earth, of time and eternity, of creation and the Creator.
• When Jacob wrestled with God, who prevailed? Jacob won a blessing … but that was always what God wanted to do for him.
• The world looks for someone to exercise authority and be the “tie-breaker.” Christ looks for those who will submit to each other. Big difference.
• The way of Christ always turns the world on its head. And the world always fights hard against it. Christians often do, too.
• The closer we know the Lord, the more guidance will take care of itself. The better we know His heart, the more we will know what to do.
• We tend to know what we like and like what we know are. Then we are uncomfortable with what we don’t know, and fearful of anyone who knows something we don’t.
• I learned about Christ from the Church and from the Book. But it is because I have met Christ that I have realized that the Church and the Book are true.
• Everyone is a heretic to someone.
• Salvation by grace through faith is a relationship, not a contract. Which means no loopholes, just friendship.

More random thoughts …

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in discussion with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. I didn’t know what else to do with them, so I put them here. For your edification, inspiration and/or motivation — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• If we delight ourselves in the Lord, we will end up with the desires of our heart. If we delight ourselves in the desires of our heart, we will end up with nothing.
• If we get things right in the small moments, we will be alright when the big moments come.
• Discipleship is a process. So is salvation. The invitation to one is the invitation to the other. The life of the age to come is lived out as discipleship in this present age.
• God is love. All the fullness of God dwells in Jesus. Which means that all the fullness of love dwells in Jesus.
• In the Parable of the Prodigal, the extravagant love and grace of the Father was just as much for the elder brother as for the younger, prodigal one … and both were in desperate need of it.
• Good theology leads to wonderful doxology. Isn’t that what we are really supposed to mean by “orthodoxy”?
• When we offer great praise to a great God, we develop great expectation.
• Every little moment of decision is a moment for repentance and conversion. Will I turn to God and yield to the change He wants to work in me? Or will I turn away from God and remain as I am? And every day brings those little moments. So every day is a good day to repent and be converted again.
• Both pride and shame tell us lies.
• The problem I see with both the old “turn or burn” gospel and the new “lovey-dovey, feel good” gospel is that they are both focused on us — on me. But the gospel of the Bible always focuses us on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Christ-centered, not us-centered, and that makes all the difference.
• Grace is God holding out His hand to you. Faith is taking hold of God’s hand.
• The Trinity means that the Father is present to us through the Son by the Holy Spirit. By faith, we partake of His life, now and forever.
• The Father sends the Spirit, the Spirit shows us the Son, the Son reveals the Father.
• Sanctification, to put it in Trinitarian terms, is the work of God in me, through the life of Christ in me, by the power of the Holy Spirit in me. Which is also what salvation is.
• The Christian faith in five seconds: We have union with the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit.

More random thoughts …

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in discussion with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. Some I didn’t know what else to do with, so I put them here. For your edification, inspiration and/or amusement — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• The language of “going” to church can so often and so easily lead people to think that the Church is a building or a meeting instead of what it really is — the body of the risen and ruling Christ.
• When we begin to understand our identity in Christ, as His body, then the Church is unleashed to be the world-changing people God calls us to be.
• It is good for the church to gather together regularly, and we are called to do so. But we are still the church even when the worship hour is over and we walk out of the building to go back into the community outside. So instead of “going to church,” I prefer to speak of the church gathered together and the church sent out.
• The more the Church is present for the sake of the community, and not focused on its own numbers (“nickels and noses”), the more the community is interested in hearing about the Lord we proclaim.
• The value of a good creed and a good liturgy is that it points us to Christ. But the problem is that we carelessly mumble the creed, rush through the liturgy and do not look to the One to whom they point: God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then it becomes like the master who points at the moon, but the disciple looks only at the pointing finger instead of looking along the finger to behold what the master is pointing toward.
• On the cross, Jesus not only made provision for the salvation of souls but also for the liberation of the world and all its aspects — even the physical creation itself — from bondage. Because at the cross, Jesus disarmed the principalities and powers (Colossians 1:15), which are the demonic influences behind the corrupted cultural and political systems of the world.
• The first part of dominion is the last part of kingdom. The “new creation” has already begun in the coming of Jesus the Messiah and His resurrection from the dead, and we are part of it (2 Corinthians 5:17). Our job now is to announce the good news that the King has come into the world to establish His dominion, so that all nations may come into proper alignment with the King and His kingdom through faith in Him.
• People often do not think through what they say — or what they believe, or what they say they believe — to know how much of what they say is what they really believe. Often what they say is merely a matter of cultural alignment. That is, speaking in agreement with the culture (or subculture, or counter-culture) with which they most identify themselves. And they are usually not much better at it when they come to the Bible and ask what is in it. Do they come to somehow confirm their cultural identity? Or do they come to be challenged by it — their words, their thoughts, their beliefs tested by the Word of God, and their lives changed?
• For the first eleven centuries, the Church understood the cross mainly in terms of victory over the devil. Is there something we can learn from that?
• Sometimes the Holy Spirit may lead us in startling ways. More often, though, His leading is so subtle that we do not particularly recognize that it is Him. It may come as a desire, a burden, an intuition about something, the discernment of a particular need we are able to meet, or some other subtle way. And we respond to it in a Christ-life way. (Yes, I said Christ-life, which is also Christ-like.)
• Sometimes we need to look at the forest, and sometimes we need to consider the tree.
• Correct theology is important. And yet, according to Jesus, it is by our love for one another that all will know that we are His disciples. In 1 John 4:8, we read that God is love. Theology is something that is about God, but love is something that God is. If we do not have love for one another, I wonder how correct our theology actually is.
• Show me your theology by your love, and show me your love by your love. I’ve had too many Christians try to show me their love by their theology — it usually does not work out well.
• When we fail to act in love, even “defending the faith” does harm to the body of Christ.
• For some Christians, grace is a doctrine. For others, it is a way of life.

More random thoughts ...

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in discussion with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. For your edification, inspiration and/or amusement — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• Faith is not primarily about a proposition but about a person, because truth is not primarily a proposition. Truth is a person. Jesus said, “I am … the Truth.” So faith in God is not merely a belief about God but a personal relationship with God. It is for the sake of this relationship Jesus has come into the world, for He is not only the truth but the way and the life as well (John 14:6).
• People act on the basis of what they believe. Watch how they act and you will know what they believe. We reveal what we truly believe by what we consistently do.
• Sometimes we hang on in faith. Sometimes we let go in faith.
• The lifestyle of prayer is a habit of devotion, always in communication with God and fully consecrated to Him. It is a persistent attentiveness to God, a life that holds on to faith and hope, regardless of the circumstances. It is a peaceful life of joy, knowing that God hears and will answer.
• Prayer is not just words directed to God, but being mindful of God, being present to God and waiting before God.
• Often we do not know what to pray. Pray anyway.
• I think we often have more faith in our interpretations and understandings and articulations about Christ than we have in Christ Himself.
• All the words in the Bible taken together do not exhaust the revelation of God we have in the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.
• James said that faith without works is dead (James 2:26). Paul said that faith expresses itself through love (Galatians 5:6). So then, faith without love is dead.
• When our love is lacking, so is our faith.
• Through Jesus Christ, we not only enter into eternal life, we enter into eternal love.
• God is love, and love does not withhold what is good from those who are loved. God has given us the greatest thing — His Beloved Son. And in Him we have every good thing.
• God is love. Grace is the love of God reaching out. Glory is the revelation of God's love reaching out.
• The cross of Christ and the kingdom of God are not in competition anymore than means are in competition with their ends. The cross is the means and the kingdom is the end for which Jesus went to the cross. All of it is the gospel.
• Tears speak when words cannot.
• Live today today. Don't try to relive yesterday or pre-live tomorrow.

Random Thoughts

Here are some thoughts to begin the new year, culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in discussion with others. For your meditation, edification and motivation.

• Years ago, I got out of thinking about the Christian life as rules and regs and began thinking about it as relationship, because that seems to me to be what the Lord Jesus is about. So I've just been learning to love Him and walk in His love for me, and letting that love overflow in me to others. It is love that fulfills the law and produces in me what the rules and regs never could.
• A faith that does not change a person is not a faith worth having. It is not a real faith, only a head fake. And a gospel that does not change a person is not good news after all. Neither faith nor the gospel are all in your head, but they show up in your life.
• Grace is not just God’s favorable attitude toward us but also God’s favorable action on our behalf through Christ, and in us by the Holy Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit is not “asleep at the wheel” in the life of any believer but is active to bring forth the fruit of love.
• The heart that is caught up with the love of God does not count out what it gives and carefully weigh it out against what it receives. It loves with abandon.
• The grace of God is greater than our ability to believe it — or to doubt it.
• When the heart breaks, there is nothing to do except give it to God.
• My past is redefined by Christ, my future is redefined by Christ, and so also my present.
• God is love. To whatever extent we have encountered love, we have encountered God. And to whatever extent we express love, we express God. Love is a revelation of God.
• God is love. Lord, let me be love, too. Amen.

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in discussion with others. For your edification, inspiration and/or amusement — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• I have given up the idea of doing “great things” for God — I don’t trust my judgment anymore about what is “great.” I am learning to be content with doing what God leads me to do. He knows what He wants me to do, and I believe that will actually end up being the greatest thing I can do, whether or not it appears that way to me at the start. After years of ministry, I have learned that it is often the small things, things I don’t even remember doing or saying, that have the greatest effect.
• If anyone thinks of ministry as a competition, he has already cut corners and is headed for trouble.
• True ministry in the lives of others is always something initiated by God. We plan it one way, it often happens another. We stumble into it. We back into it. We wake up in the middle of it.
• My advice to anyone who feels “called to ministry,” is to understand that the ministry is not his or hers — it belongs to Jesus. The ability to do ministry does not come from themselves — it comes from the Holy Spirit. When we yield it all completely to God, He will do amazing things through us, above all we could ask or imagine, because it will be His power at work in us.
• My advice for Christians in other fields is similar. Our vocation (“calling”) is an assignment from the Lord, and it belongs to the Lord because we belong to the Lord. If He has called us to it, He will provide whatever we need to accomplish it. And when we yield it all completely to God, He will do amazing things through it, above all we could ask or imagine, because it will be His power at work in us.
• I view preaching, both in the prep and in the delivery, as dynamic, not static. It is a process. I want to be aware of not just what the Word and the Spirit have said but they are saying in regard to the people to whom I am ministering. I have often experienced the message I end up delivering to be more effective than the one I prepared. There has often been an overlap between the two, of course, but not a 1:1 ratio. That said, I don't think it is usually necessary to announce that the Holy Spirit has given me something to preach that is different from what I prepared. I just go with what God is giving me, and count the prep for preaching to be a matter of the preparation of my heart as much (and usually more) than the preparation of my notes.
• I don’t actually think much in terms of obedience. I think more in terms of loving God and loving others and letting the love of God work through me. It’s been said that we become like what we behold. As I get older, I find that my desire is to behold God more. In that, I discover that godly things flow out of my life, not as a matter of obedience or discipline or discipleship, but more naturally than that.
• What does faith mean in the face of disappointment and tragedy? Faith does not deny the reality of tragedy, sickness or death, but it says that God is bigger than all those things, that He gets the last word on them and that that last word is a good one.
• “Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:17). Young men see what is, old men see what will be. Both aspects speak of awareness of who we are, where we are and why we are. God is from eternity — He takes the long view. His plans and purposes endure. “He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations” (Psalm 105:8). God has dreams a thousand generations long.
• Every thought, word and deed should flow out of love for and relationship with God. Do nothing except what His love compels you to do.
• The size of your God determines the size of your miracle. That is, how great and powerful and good you understand God to be will determine how big a miracle you will be able to believe Him for. Little God, little miracle. Big God, big miracle.
• What does it cost to change the world? Everything. But it is well worth the price.
• When you learn how to hear, you will know what to do.
• Intimate relationship with God is the seedbed for every pure desire.
• “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Believe the love.
• Faithfulness — the ability to walk in faith, exercise faith, be full of faith.
• Discipleship — in training to be like Jesus. Not a program but a relationship with Jesus and His people.

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in discussion with others. For your edification, inspiration and/or amusement.

• I give thanks for the waves the Father makes for me to ride, the wind of the Spirit to fill my sails, and the peace the Lord Jesus speaks over my life.
• Prayer is not a business meeting, or placing an order with God’s customer service agent. It is part of a life-giving relationship with the one who made you.
• “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us” (1 John 4:16). Yet, even if we have not believed it, God's love for us is greater than our unbelief ~ He loves us still. How great is our joy when we know and believe that love.
• Important distinctions get lost when people react instead of respond. To react requires nothing more than emotion, but to respond requires careful thought.
• There are two kinds of people I avoid: Those who want to be accountable to me ~ after all, who am I? And those who want me to be accountable to them ~ after all, who are they?
• Accountability can quickly devolve into rules and regulations, no longer about relationship, but someone with a checklist by which to evaluate everyone around. When it is no longer about encouraging and building up the members but about controlling them, it becomes simply a means to power for the ego-driven.
• The Epistles don’t negate the Gospels; the Gospels don’t negate the Epistles. If we ever think that one negates the other, it is only because we are reading one of them wrong.
• When one’s interest in “social justice” becomes, as so often seems to be the case, a matter best left for the State to handle, then I think both “social justice” and the State have become forms of idolatry.
• “Social justice” is not a matter only for individuals. There are many forms of interconnectedness, including family and local community, as well as the Church. To whatever extent the State may represent interconnectedness, I do not think it is the highest form or the most efficient or effective form.
• One thing we have to ask is who gets to define “social justice,” and how and by whom it is to be implemented. The State? A political party or movement? A denominational structure? Individual conscience?
• The Christian faith teaches us to give of ourselves for the sake of others; it does not teach us to take what belongs to someone else in order to give it to another. Christian charity gives and serves; it does not commandeer others for the sake of our own agenda, however good we may think our agenda is. When we take from others what they have not offered, that is called stealing, something about which God says, “Thou shalt not.”
• The tithe Abraham offered Melchizedek was a voluntary one, and one God honored — Abraham received a blessing. I would not go so far as to call it a “norm,” but it is certainly a worthy example for Christian giving. I believe God still honors the tithe today, even as He did back then, quite apart from the Law.
• Tithing is based on increase, what comes into your hand. If you have not experienced increase, there is nothing to tithe on. But it is still possible to give. There are a lot of ways we can give of ourselves for the sake of others. For example, through acts of service, through our prayers for others, through kind words to others. If our heart is to give and serve, God blesses.

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in discussion with others. For your edification, inspiration and/or amusement.

• The Bible speaks much about the love of God, but it also speaks much about His holiness and justice, about hell and judgment. Can we explain it all out, about how all this comes together in God, or how it all plays out? I expect not. There are a number of things God has given us to know, and apparently a number of things He has not. Can we live with not knowing exactly how His love and judgment work together? Can we live with the mystery of what He has not given us to know and go with what He has given us to know?
• God can certainly teach us things in the midst of sickness and poverty, and even bring good out of them. But the teacher He has appointed for us is the Holy Spirit, not sickness and poverty.
• God is not glorified by our sickness but by healing us in Jesus’ name. He is not glorified by our poverty but by the provision He has made for us according to His riches in glory in Jesus the Messiah. Our sickness and poverty do not please Him, but faith pleases Him. And faith is a matter of believing God, taking Him at His Word, even concerning healing and provision. In the midst of sickness, He is pleased when we believe Him for healing. In the midst of poverty, He is pleased when we trust Him for provision.
• A man many appear to be prospering outwardly, but if he is not prospering in his inner being, his outward prosperity will not endure. When it folds, he will fold with it. But a man who is prosperous in spirit will endure even if all outward prosperity be taken away.
• Jesus is the True Light who gives light to every person who comes into the world, so that no one is without a witness that is adequate to lead them to salvation. The real question, then, becomes about how they are responding to that witness. God will not hold anyone accountable for more light, or less, than He has given them.
• The gifts of the Spirit were not meant to be merely “validation for the message.” They are manifestations of the kingdom. Jesus didn’t heal the sick and cast out demons because He needed to validate His message ~ He was manifesting the kingdom of God on earth.
• The kingdom of God is the will of God being done on earth as it is in heaven. There is no sickness in heaven, so the manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth in regard to sickness is healing. Likewise, the manifestation of the kingdom in regard to demonization is expelling the demons.
• Many people today, including many Christians, think of hope as speculation: “Maybe so. Maybe not. We’ll see.” But in the Bible, hope is a matter of expectation. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for.” That is, faith is the substance, or underlying reality, of what we are expecting. Faith is believing the promise of God, expecting that it will eventually come to pass. The facts of the world (the way the world is at present) must eventually line up with the truth (the promise God has made). Faith is expecting it to be so.
• I have been single and I have been married. I’ve known both sides of the coin. No doubt, the responsibilities inherent in marriage and family shape the way I look at life. I am committed in particular relationships in this life (till death do us part, in regard to marriage, and my children will always be my children). I am not just Jeff, I am somebody’s husband and somebody’s father, so following and honoring Christ in those roles is very important. My wife and my children are the ones Christ has set before me, and if I am going to be faithful to Him I must be faithful to them.
• God is a God of order. But our order is not necessarily His. So what sometimes might seem out of order to us is just God establishing His order. Likewise, if God’s ways sometimes are confusing to us, it is because we started out confused and God is trying to straighten that out in us.
• There are many facets to the gospel and many ways to reach out to people with it. The best way is the one that is needed at the time by the person you are reaching out to. But the more we understand the bigger picture of the gospel, the more we will understand what it means in a particular situation. DISCLOSURE: I am still learning the gospel and I expect it will take me the rest of my life.
• I don’t understand the bigger picture of the gospel to mean that people are basically good. People are basically broken, and that brokenness manifests is so many ways. The good news of the bigger gospel is that Jesus does not just address God’s wrath toward our sin, but He defeats all the powers that stand against us and hold us in bondage, and restores us to God’s original purpose in creating us in this world (Genesis 1:26-28). It is a healing, not just of ourselves, but of our relationship with God, with each other, of creation and our relationship with creation. The bigger gospel means that not only is my brokenness healed, but that healing can begin to manifest now, in this life, bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit. We go from faith to faith and glory to glory. The darkness is fading away because the true light is already shining. I love the bigness of the gospel because it is the solution to my brokenness.
• Life is not fair. But God is faithful.

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me moments of quiet reflection, some in discussion with others, and a couple highlighted by readers of some of my books. For your edification, inspiration and/or amusement.

• The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are conspiring together on your behalf.
• Faithfulness is trusting God in all things. Because He is faithful and will always lead you to what is right.
• Some say that “money talks,” but I think it merely amplifies what is already in the heart.
• Though there is great evil in the world, the greater nature of the world is love — because that is the nature of the One who made it. Live in that expectation.
• If you’re gonna pray for rain, take an umbrella.
• Faith is an understanding. Faith is a decision one continually makes. Faith is a commitment. Christian faith is enabled by God: Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, and no one can confess, apart from the Holy Spirit, that Jesus is Lord. Because of the divine element involved, faith is more than merely a preference. Faith is more than personal, because it affects every area of one’s life, private and public.
• The gifts of the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit are not in competition. One does not invalidate the other or render the other unnecessary. God has given both to the Church. Neither is to be marginalized or denigrated.
• The practice of the gifts of the Spirit is not necessarily “at will,” but rather, “as needed.” What is the most important gift? Whichever one is needed at the time. For example, when someone is sick, what they need is healing. It is the same with the word of knowledge or word of wisdom, or some other miracle. The gift is not the particular manifestation itself — the gift is the Holy Spirit, and He brings forth what is needed. The only matter of the will is the decision of whether we are going to believe God and His Word.
• Faith is being confident about what God has promised; presumption is being confident about my own speculations. God obligates Himself by His word, but He is not in any way obligated by my speculations.
• There is very much about God that is a mystery to us. His love, grace and mercy are a mystery. So also His holiness and justice. That does not mean that we can’t know anything about them, only that we can’t know everything about them. God is infinite; we are not.
• What does it mean to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness? The kingdom of God is His rule and reign, His will being done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). Here, the righteousness of God, as the Amplified Bible notes, is “His way of doing and being right.” Seeking is about giving ourselves totally over to God, looking for His rule and reign in everything, and obeying it. It is doing things God’s way, which is the right way and will always bring the right results. — Three Kindle users highlighted this quote from my book, The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
• “Who is this life all about? Those who think it is all about themselves walk in fear of every problem and situation that is bigger than them, and they will perish in the wilderness. Those who know it is all about God walk in faith, knowing that God is much bigger than any and every problem. They go on to enjoy victory in the Promised Land.” — Five Kindle users highlighted this quote from my book, God’s Word in Your Mouth.

Random Thoughts

Here are a few random thoughts that have been buzzing around my head. For your inspiration and/or amusement.

• Not to brag or anything, but I am God’s gift to the world. And God’s gift to God. So are you. Understand this through the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Live accordingly.
• My God supplies all my needs according to His glorious riches in the Messiah, Jesus. And there is not even the slightest possibility of a shutdown there.
• Has anyone ever noticed that whenever someone says, “I assure you ...,” it is never really assuring at all?
• The Bible says that God is Love, God is Light, God is a Consuming Fire. I don't think that is saying three different things but saying the same thing three different ways.
• Had an interesting revelation today: Obituaries are the Facebook of the elderly. It is how they keep up with many of the people they know (or knew).
• God’s heart is for all nations and all generations. His plans and purposes are as wide as the world and as deep as time.
• Your words are very powerful. Choose them with care and use them wisely.
• Debt is a bondage. A nation in debt is a nation in bondage.
• The most politically powerful thing we can do is to worship, to proclaim that Jesus the Messiah is King over all the earth.
• I died and was buried. Now I live. True story.
• LORD, fill my mind today with Your thoughts, Fill my mouth today with Your words, Fill my heart today with Your affections. In King Jesus, Amen.
• I am the sharpest knife in the box ~ God gives me the wisdom to cut anything that He wants me to cut.
• “Does this taste funny?” she asked as she handed me the fork. I took a bite ... and laughed.
• If you are going to dream and believe for something, you might as well dream and believe for the best.
• Some people are hoping they can just stay afloat or keep their head above water. But the people of God should have a greater expectation ~ we live in the favor of the LORD.
• God gives strength sufficient for every day, each in its turn. Don't go and start running a deficit by worrying.

Writer's Block

A few scattered thoughts about writer's blockage (but can also be applied to many other things):

• Your identity is much bigger than about being a writer, and writing is much more than sitting in front of a keyboard.
• Live well, and that will help you write well.
• Writer's block is a signal that you need to get up, get out and give your life a stretch. Enjoy who you are in Jesus and let Him teach you something new.
• You have so much going for you in the love of God — what if you never got back to writing?
• When you can let it go, then it has become your servant, not your master.

(If not fully satisfied, your money will be cheerfully refunded.)