The Fall-like Breeze

One fall day a few months ago, while sitting outside, I felt a cool faint breeze brush across my face. It was portending the winter to come. It was gentle and comforting. In that brief moment, I felt something else. I suspect it was God’s presence. I was stunned into stillness to ponder my rest in Him….to slow down my hurried life and just be with Him. I pray you and I both have more and more of those moments.

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Is this it?

I get pretty wrapped up in this earthy life of day-to-day. I sometimes can act like this is it. That life begins and ends here in my small world. I also sometimes forget the wonderful things God has for me in this here and now on earth. Things He has uniquely equipped and designed me to do. Maybe it’s just to use my optimism to uplift someone at the grocery store or to talk to be compassionate to a friend

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The picture of a lonely man

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 (NIV) When we’re young we’re full of vim and vigor. We think we can do anything. Then, as we get older we find out that we can’t do life very well in our own wisdom. As

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Union with God

“Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. – John 5:19 (NIV) I don’t know about you, but I do a lot each day by myself….not “as I see the Father doing” How do we reach this oneness with God, where we only do what the Father desires of us? Surrender might be high on the list.

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Victory over Death & Sin at Easter

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. 1 Peter 3:18 ESV ~~~ At Easter we celebrate a great victory at a terrible cost.   The agonizing work Christ completed on the cross and His miraculous resurrection from death’s grip changed literally everything. For followers of Christ, Jesus’ victory over Satan and death is the trigger

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A Heart that Reflects the King

Nature sometimes shouts about God.   While enjoying this lake at a retreat recently, I noticed something quite simple and wonderful. When the water was calm, the surface nearly perfectly reflected the beauty of the shoreline.  If the  shoreline represents God, we want to reflect Him, just as this water reflects the trees.  When our souls are at peace, filled with His joy, the life of Christ comes through us so clearly. So all of us who have had that

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Removing the Refuse Around the Heart

If you are a gardener or someone who loves the beauty of nature in a yard, you know that weeds, dead leaves, overgrown vines and yard clippings have to be taken out. Large brown bags from home stores line our street as evidence that we have to do something with the refuse, the weeds…the junk. We too have to take out the weeds and overgrown vines that sometimes lurk near our heart and influence our actions and thinking.  These weeds move

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Give me a pure heart, oh God.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. – Psalm 51:10 (NIV) This plea from King David was his response after his affair with Bathsheba.   When facing his sin, he turned to God and cried out for a clean heart.  We too can follow David’s example, turn to God and seek a pure heart. But the enemy wants us to dwell on our sin…to lay in shame and wallow in our unfaithfulness.  He wants us to delay our confession and

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Motivations of the Heart

The heart is often described as the inner self but it’s also known as the center of our motivations.  In other words, whatever you do or think, the underlying motivation or intent comes from your heart, not your mind. The Bible says that the word of God can discern the thoughts and intentions (motivations) of the heart. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and

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A Tender Heart Towards God

My brother Jim is a really great cook.  He’s so good he was on NBC’s cooking show Food Fighters and won against some nationally known chefs. So, I had a question for him about the heart.  I’ve been thinking about the fact that when we don’t pay attention to our hearts they sometimes become hardened and tasteless, like a hard piece of steak lacking the flavor and tenderness. Jim said, “I think about how you can take a very tough piece of meat, like brisket or

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