Rhythm of Faith

“For years I couldn't take a shower without being afraid. That's because all the frightening images from the film Psycho kept coming back to terrify me. I had seen that film when I was young, and my shower experiences were ruined from that point on. It wasn't until I received the Lord and someone prayed for me to be delivered from fear that I was actually able to close my eyes in the shower and enjoy the water. There were many other things I was afraid of too, such as dying, starving, failing, flying, accidents, needles, knives, getting lost, being abandoned, getting sick, being injured, the dark, the unknown, people's opinions, and being rejected. But God healed me from every one of these fears. Some I prayed about specifically. Some just went away as I learned to walk with the Lord and spend time in His love and His presence. God does not want us to live in fear. Fear does not come from Him. It's the world that teaches us to fear. The things we see in movies, vide...

“Many people have asked this question, but the question answers itself. The enemy attacks you because you are a good person. The devil will always attack anyone who loves God and lives His way. In fact, this is the main criteria for his enmity against you. The only way you could get him to not do that is to become like him. You would have to stand for what he represents. As long as you have a heart for the things of God, you are his target. Keep in mind that the greater your commitment is to the Lord, the more the devil will try to harass you.” “That's why if you are moving into a deeper level of commitment to God, or coming into a new time of deliverance and freedom, or entering into new ministry or work God is opening up for you, you can depend on your enemy trying to stop it. He will do all he can to wear you down with discouragement, sickness, confusion, guilt, strife, fear, depression, or defeat. He may try to threaten your mind, your emotions, your health, your work, your fam...

“What I have forgiven . . . has been for your sakes . . . to keep Satan from getting the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his wiles and intentions. —2 CORINTHIANS 2:10-11 Suppose we receive a package from an overnight carrier. After we open it, we stare at a beautiful, oversized envelope, with our name written on it in exquisite calligraphy. Inside, the invitation starts with these words: You are invited to enjoy a life filled with misery, worry, and confusion. Which one of us would say yes to such an outrageous invitation? Don’t we seek the kind of life that keeps us free from such pain and distractions? Yet many of us choose such a life. Not that we blatantly make that choice, but we sometimes surrender—even temporarily—to Satan’s invitation. His attack is ongoing and relentless—the devil is persistent! Our enemy bombards our minds with every weapon at his disposal every day of our lives. We are engaged in a warfare—a warfare that rages and never stops. We can put on the...

“On my tenth birthday, I received a necklace that consisted of a small glass ball hanging from a delicate gold chain. Inside the ball was the tiniest mustard seed. I thought at the time, Why in the world did they bother putting a seed in there that was so small it could hardly be seen. Obviously, I didn't get the point. It wasn't until some time later that I learned the significance of that little seed. Jesus said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there', and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20). I've since thought a lot about how tiny that seed was. If that's all the faith it takes to move mountains, then surely I can come up with enough to move the obstacles in my life. God takes the tiniest bit of faith we have and makes it grow into something big when we act on it. The Bible says that "God has dealt to each one a measure of “faith" (Romans 12:3). We al...

“Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. ‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’ So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.” Joshua 2:1 (NIV) I used to believe if God needed something important done, He would ask someone who had it all together. You know those women. They never yell at their kids or have an emotional meltdown in the craft store over which tie-dye kit to buy. They know what they’re having for dinner each night and come to Bible study with their homework done. If God is going to assign an important job to someone, it’s going to be a woman like that. A “good church girl.” Right? That’s what I thought until I read the story of Rahab in the book of Joshua. It gave me hope that sometimes the best woman for God’s job doesn’t have a perfect life or a perfect faith. In fact, Rahab’s story tells me sometimes God chooses women with rough resumes, gritty pasts and dauntless attitudes to get a hard job done...

In November of 2013, I had the privilege of visiting West Minster Abbey in London to attend a conference about the life of C.S. Lewis. How inspiring it was to understand that he was not just an incredible writer with transforming messages that inspired people all over the world.  He was also one of the most generous, serving, humble, compassionate, loving men in his generation. During World War II, he invited young children to live in His home, away from the bombings in London. He cared for the mother and daughter of a friend of his who died in World War I for many years. He gave away a great deal of the money he earned from writing and speaking. He shared Christ, loved friends dearly and lived as fully into Kingdom work as he possibly could. Each of us has a story to live and people who are sprinkled in our lives that we may influence and love in the name of Christ.   But we must choose to share our faith, our earthly goods, our focused time and our love freely.  I was a...

Older women are not off the hook with this post…because all of the qualities listed for young women to learn –older women should be role-modeling for us.  Now remember, grace.  We are all a work in progress and none of us will have these mastered perfectly…ever.   That is why we need the power of Jesus in our lives.  He helps us become the {radical} woman he calls us to be. Titus 2:3-5 says: Older women likewise are  to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.  They are to teach what is good, 4 and so  train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5  to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands,  that the word of God may not be reviled. This list from Titus 2 is truly {Radical}. Let’s take a look at the  5 {Radical} qualities young women should pursue  according to Titus 2:5. 1.) Self-Control   A {radical...

Psalm 50:10  10For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.  Suppose you have just heard of someone whose financial debts have been miraculously cleared. Or your elated friend has just told you that despite being an average student in school, he scored straight As in all his subjects. Perhaps on Sunday, you heard a newlywed couple share about how they won an all-expense-paid trip for two to Hawaii, or how a once-childless couple is now expecting their miracle child.  When you see or hear of others being blessed, do you ever wonder when it will be your turn? Or do you even find yourself saying, “Oh, he got blessed with the very thing that I have been praying for. There goes my blessing.”  Now, just because man’s economy operates on the principle of shortage, it does not mean that God operates in the same manner. So the next time somebody gets blessed, tell yourself, “I won’t be disheartened. I won’t be jealous. I am the next one to be ble...

We all want to live a long life. But more important than the number of our years is what we fill them with. Like most every headstone, yours will likely be marked with the same thought-provoking inscription. Somewhere below your name will be your birth date on the left and the date you died to the right. But the most important symbol will be the dash in between those two numbers. You see, the dates will indicate when you lived and for how long. But the dash will reflect the life you lived. Some people strive to fill their years with meaning and purpose. Other people just live a really long time. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think the desire to live a long life is something we all understand. But none of us are guaranteed even one more day. So it’s important to fill this moment – and every moment – with things that matter. When all is said and done, that boils down to faith in Christ, a strong relationship with your family, and pouring your life into others. What will the dash on your hea...

If you surveyed one hundred teenagers about their parents, how many would respond, “My parents are precious, valuable people whom God has given to me for my good. I appreciate their guidance, life principles, correction, and rules”? Hah! Probably not too many. Sadly, parents are more likely seen as jailers or parole officers who arbitrarily limit children’s freedom.  The God I know, however, thinks parents are worthy of praise and wants you to think so too. (By the way, this is not just for little kids and teenagers; this is also for you in your 40s, 50s, and 60s.)  “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 5:16).  This is not just the right thing to do so God won’t be angry with you and punish you. Honoring your parents triggers the release of a flood of benefit into your life. God has attached a double promise to parent-r...

Jesus put a thief in charge of his moneybag. Has that ever struck you as odd? Lets look at  Mary , who poured a year’s wages on Jesus’s feet, and Judas, who saw Mary’s worshipful act as huge waste, because “he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6). But this fact raises the question: Why was Judas carrying the moneybag in the first place? Jesus could have given the moneybag to Nathaniel, “an Israelite indeed, in whom there [was] no deceit” (John 1:47), or to John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20), or to Levi, who had extensive financial experience (Luke 5:27). But he didn’t. Jesus chose Judas to be the treasurer of his itinerant nonprofit. One is tempted to offer the Lord some consulting on good stewardship. Donors were supporting this ministry financially (Luke 8:3), and Jesus appointed the one guy he knew was a “devil” (John 6:70) to manage the money. But this was not poor judgment on Jesus’s part. I...

Trust is something that all humans struggle with. There is very little that everyone can really count on. We are confident that the sun will rise and set each day. All of humanity is confident that death will someday find them, and pretty much everyone trusts that they will face adversity in some form or another. But there really isn’t much in life that we can place our complete confidence in, and I think this why we often have trouble believing that God can love us with an unconditional and unwavering love. One of the reason we cannot depend wholly on ourselves or others is because we and they are always changing. We are not constant, but God never changes (Mal 3:6), and this is why we can rest in him and in his faithfulness to us. Understanding the faithfulness of God is critical to our confidence in him and hope for the future. Here are 4 things we must know well that will help us see the faithfulness of God. We must know that God never changes in: 1. His purposes While we cannot kn...

“But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?” Psalm 56:3-4 (NLT) As a teenager, I lived a pretty sheltered life. I believed nothing bad would ever happen to me. Then one day, I found myself in the middle of a really  bad situation. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time resulted in a pistol put to my head. A robbery that was a sudden and terrifying scenario for this naive teenage girl. “Don’t move or I’ll shoot!” The sharp words of my abductor rattled me to my very core. Shaking uncontrollably, I could feel the cold, hard surface of his gun pushing against my pulsating temple. As my heart raced, thoughts ran through my mind:  I’m going to die. This is it … my life is over.  I wanted to run, but saw no way out. By the grace of God, I survived. But although I had no physical wounds, the memories of that experience settled deep within my heart. Like aci...