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Speak to Your Mountain

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When faced with a problem, the typical Christian can react in a few different ways:

With extreme passivity — “everything is God’s will; he’ll help if he wants to”
With self-abasement, doubt — “Why is this happening? Am I being punished?”
With anger and resentment — “How could God do this to me! This is bogus!”
While all of these positions look at the problem from a slightly different angle, they all produce the same result; these ideas immobilize you.

Think about it; if you believe that absolutely everything is God’s will, then you will never resist anything, because all of it is his will. So when spiritual forces attack, you’ll just roll over and accept it because, hey, it’s God’s will.

Similarly, if you believe that negative situations are God’s punishment for some wrong you’ve committed, then you still will not resist, because you deserve what is happening… it’s your punishment after all. So you’ll just suffer through the pain.

And the third idea is even more straightforward. You just directly accuse God of causing the problem.

All of these ideas keep you in a mental and spiritual box— never able to move forward, because moving forward requires the power of God. But if you see God as the source of your suffering or somehow complicit in it, then there’s no reason to even ask him for help!

Looking at things this way can seem rather hopeless; but all is not as it appears. The scriptures show us a different perspective; one not of hopeless reassignment to loss, but one of strength, power, and victory.

Why No Evil Can Touch You

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There are many promises and facts in scripture that assure us of wonderful things. Promises for a future in the heavenly Kingdom of God, and facts that we can stand on right now to secure us in the truth and free us from bondage and fear.

One particular fact that is very powerful yet a often ignored or misunderstood comes from Psalm 91:10 which says that no evil shall befall you.

For many people, these words are too fantastic to believe. Surely God did mean to suggest that no evil could touch us! You’re dreaming!

But what if He did mean it? How would that change your outlook, your emotions, or even your life? Let’s check it out.

How To Handle Guilt

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Guilt is one of the biggest issues among Christians today. I can make a lot of interesting comments about that… but I won’t. The simple fact is that most believers just don’t know what to make of guilt, or how to manage those feelings. The difficulty of guilt has led some to fundamentally change essential doctrines of scripture, lessening the gospel message in the process! Not good.

The truth is that most of us have things in our past that can be a source of some level of guilt— it’s normal; it’s natural. There’s nothing wrong with you, or unique about your situation in that regard. What we do with those feelings of guilt is what makes all of the difference— and you don’t need to guess about that. The scriptures describe the incredible way that Jesus sets us free from guilt, and far from lessening the gospel message, it’s magnified through Christ.

Holiness vs. Grace: Which One is Right?

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There’s been an ongoing feud among Christians for a long time. A battle between the holiness camp and the grace camp. The holiness side is preoccupied with your works, the things that you do, your behavior, and a checklist of things that you must accomplish to please a perfectly holy God. And they often sound something like this:

“God is coming back one day! He’s not coming back to give you a big hug! He’s coming back to execute his wrath! You need to fear and tremble before him! The scripture says Be holy for I am holy! Tremble, fear, condemnation! Bwahahahahah!”

So, the holiness camp is completely focused on the wrath of God, and uses fear to promote human works.

Now, the grace side is on the opposite end of the spectrum. The grace camp often completely disregards the judgment and even sometimes the respect worthy of God. On the extreme, the grace side sounds like this:

“Oh, don’t worry! God loves you! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and everything’s just fine and dandy all the time!”

So which is it? Is God suffering from multiple personality disorder? 

As you might expect, neither of these positions tell the whole story, and the truth of God’s character, His nature, and the Gospel message, is far greater! Let’s talk about it!

How To Change Your World

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One of the most common questions that comes up today, is that if God is in control, and He’s so good, and we are so blessed, then what’s going on with the world; why does the world seem to be getting worse?

Some people assume that it’s because humanity is a fallen and sinful creation, sheer ignorance, or the devil and his forces of evil! 

Those things are all part of the equation  but not the whole answer!

What if I were to tell you that you are playing the most critical role in the state and direction of the world, and you don’t even realize how! In fact, you are the one with all of the power, and your power  is being used against you without your knowledge.

Rest for Your Soul

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Last week, we explored what it means to abide in Christ, and we saw some powerful truths regarding His sacrifice for us and how it changes our position from sin to righteousness, and our nature from sinner to king priest in His kingdom and family.

During that study, something caught my attention which caused me to meditate on it more— specifically in Hebrews 4:10 which refers to ceasing from our own works, as God did from His.

It’s one thing to speak about ceasing from your own work or effort, and spiritually-speaking, we know that we should cease from our effort, though we find it challenging to fully rest in what Christ has accomplished.

I know this challenge quite well, I’ve been there, I’m familiar with the struggle; and so today I want to continue from where we paused last week. As we continue to explore abiding in Christ, with the details given to us in scripture, and I believe that as we study this together today, it will release a burden that has secretly been on the hearts of many who have been finding it difficult to rest in Christ.

What It Means To Abide in Christ

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Abiding in Christ is something that Jesus mentioned several times and is repeated in various New Testament books. But what exactly does it mean to abide?

To some, abiding is simply attending regular church service. To others, abiding means regular bible study and devotional. And others still haven’t given abiding any consideration at all.

But abiding is is critical for a healthy spiritual Christian life, and the scriptures don’t leave us guessing as to what it means. So today, we will examine what it means to abide in Christ, and how it applies in our daily life.

Did God Give You Promises or Facts?

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If you’ve spent any time in the more charismatic sections of Christianity, you’ve likely heard about the promises of God. The promises are something that Christians often meditate on, recite, and think about. There are books and devotionals dedicated to the promises, and they can give a lot of comfort.

But what exactly is a promise in the biblical aspect? By asking this question, I’m aiming primarily at the time-frame in view. When we typically think of a promise, we envision something that is going to happen, but hasn’t happened yet. The time-frame may seem like a small detail, but it can have large implications.

Today we will explore what it means to have a biblical promise versus a biblical fact, and how a seemingly subtle difference can significantly influence our perspective of what we have in Christ.

God’s Divine Love Explained

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First Corinthians chapter thirteen is the famous ‘love chapter’ that speaks of love being the principal characteristic of Christian life. For many people the words of the chapter create a desire to conjure up more love for God and others around us.

Yet, as we read the context found in chapter thirteen, and the chapters surrounding it, we can see a different idea emerge. The typical perception focused on mans’ efforts begins to fall away as we see that the writer is more focused on a different subject.

Today we explore what it means to have love, and find a source of strength that we may have never known existed.

Do You KNOW Jesus?

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Knowing Jesus Christ is the absolute fundamental of the Gospel message. Surprisingly, something so essential as knowing Jesus, is surrounded by a lot of debate, various opinions, and confusion.

For some, knowing Jesus amounts to simply attending a church building, listening to a sermon, and performing other regular Christian rituals. For others, knowing Jesus involves extensive bible reading and study plans.

I understand each of these positions; I’ve lived them for a number of years. As good as gathering together with believers and scripture reading is though, neither captures the essence of knowing Jesus.

What I want to share with you today, is how Jesus describes knowing himself, and how we can truly grow in our relationship with him.