Believe in Jesus and Receive the Holy Spirit Jesus said, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe” (John 4:48, NIV). It’s a warning we should all consider with care. Some people have an experience-driven faith. They need a continual dose of signs and wonders to sustain their trust in God. What […]
Is Your Name on the List? Chapter 2 in the book of Ezra overflows with names. We often skim it or may face the temptation to skip it altogether. Buried among this dizzying array of names is a sidenote that’s easy to miss, but it carries an important lesson. Many of the Israelite exiles prepare […]
Azariah the Son of Oded Azariah, son of Oded, comes to Asa, King of Judah. The prophet tells the king, “If you see God, you’ll find him. If you walk away from him, he’ll walk away from you” (2 Chronicles 15:2). That is, to seek God first. King Asa takes the prophet’s warning seriously and […]
Doing What the Bible Says Isn’t a Requirement but a Response In the post about how to be saved we realized there’s nothing we need to do (or can do) to earn our salvation; it’s a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). This means we don’t need to first obey God before he accepts us. He […]
Discover What the Bible Says about Salvation Paul, in writing to the church in Ephesus, shares a succinct and essential truth about salvation. He tells them how to be saved, which reminds them how they were saved. He writes “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, […]
When it Comes to God, Should We “Fake it Till We Make It?” Psalm 142 is a prayer of lament. David’s hiding in a cave, likely fearing for his life. He feels alone with no one walking alongside him or having any concern for him. He cries out that he has no refuge, no protective […]
A Thought-Provoking Look at Faith, Persecution, and Navigating Right and Wrong Reviewed by Peter DeHaan The movie Silence is a fictional account of two Jesuit priests from Portugal who seek permission to travel to Japan in 1639. They desire to investigate what happened to their mentor. His written communication had stopped, and a rumor circulated […]
If Our Beliefs Are Important to Us, We’ll Make Them Part of Every Aspect of Our Life Have you ever met someone out of your normal context and were surprised at what you saw or heard? This is a person who compartmentalizes their faith. They have a work persona, a leisure-time persona, and a family […]
David Models Bold Action and His Nephew Learns from It Most people are familiar with the story of David and Goliath in the Bible. It tells of the young boy David, armed only with godly confidence and a sling, killing the warrior giant of a man Goliath. David’s example an inspiring tale of courage and […]
Control Your Tongue and Watch Your Words There’s a saying of disputed authorship, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” As such, we need to be careful what we say. The Bible has much to share about our words and our tongue. Tame the Tongue James […]