When, where, and how do you pray? Is it only in times of crisis or need, possibly once a week at church? Prayer is being online with God when our hearts are connected with His: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). Being online includes […]
Online with God 24/7 (Psalm 145)
Hope In Christ (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Do Satan’s schemes leveraging his bait, hook, line, and sinker leave you feeling hopeless? There is hope, and that hope is Christ. He will guard our hearts. When temped with the bait, God always provides a way out in Christ: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; […]
Satan Preys on Our Feet (Proverbs 4:26-27)
Wherever our feet carry us, we can sin. Even our hands are subject to where our feet travel: “Make level paths for our feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil” (Proverbs 4:26-27). The third of the three pathways that temptation […]
God Hates Sinful Eyes (Proverbs 6:17)
What is the focal point of your eyes? We are reminded God hates eyes that sin (see Proverbs 6:17). Still, when the day’s images replay in our minds, they often include what we have seen on the internet, whether wise or foolish. Our culture, especially millennials, is bombarded by social media images on a daily […]
Satan Preys on Our Eyes (Proverbs 4:25)
What has been the focal point of your eyes this week? Think about the images that captured your gaze most frequently. Now here’s the big question: What do those images reveal about your heart? The second target of temptation is the lust of our eyes (see 1 John 2:16). In our peripheral vision, we see […]
Satan Preys on the Mouth (Proverbs 4:24)
Have you ever uttered something and then wished you hadn’t? Solomon recognized the potential danger in our speech: “Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips” (Proverbs 4:24). John said that one of the three pathways temptation flows is from our hearts to our mouths. Each of us can fall […]
The Work of a Defeated Being (Hebrews 2:14-15; 1 John 3:8)
Have you ever watched a football game where one team is way ahead of the other as the final seconds tick down on the clock? With no hope of victory, the squad being trounced on the scoreboard results to cheap shots, baiting the winning players into a brawl in an attempt to somehow take them […]
Why does God ask you to walk through a door that He decides to shut?
Recently, a friend asked me this question, after sensing God’s clear prompting to become a candidate in his company’s search process for their new CEO, only to make it to the final four and not be selected. The search committee even communicated that he was a leading candidate for the next time the CEO position […]
Satan is a Destroyer (1 Peter 5:8; John 10:10)
Are you experiencing destruction from falling prey to Satan’s temptation? Did you succumb to his enticement, only to discover his bait concealed the hook of dissatisfied desires that trapped you in sin, and now you stand accused before God and others? Satan is a destroyer: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around […]
Satan is an Accuser (Revelation 12:10)
Have you ever noticed how an accuser typically practices the act which he accuses another of doing? Satan is the origin of the evil that he accuses humanity of committing. Satan is an accuser: “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of […]
Satan is a Deceiver (2 Corinthians 11:14)
Have you ever been deceived by Satan? Did you take his bait, only to discover you had been duped? Perhaps it was a lustful act, an angry tirade, a substance abuse, or a foolish risk that left you feeling dissatisfied. Satan is a deceiver: “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of […]
Satan is a Tempter (Matthew 4:3-11)
Have you been tempted this week? Satan is a tempter. Too often, we see temptation as a sin. Temptation is not from God, and being tempted is not a sin (see James 1:13-14). Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, and yet He did not sin (see Hebrews 4:15). King David warned his […]
Guard Your Heart from Satan’s Schemes (Proverbs 4:23-27)
Are you being tempted to commit an act apart from God’s design for your life? When we read David’s instructions to his son Solomon in Proverbs 4:1-9, we recognize that the King of Israel was warning his eventual successor that he would be tempted toward foolish behavior. Wisdom would be his weapon to apply his […]
How Do We Let Go of Resisting Blessing Horizontally in Relationships? (Matthew 7:12)
Can you honestly say that you love your offender? How do we truly let go of resisting blessing our enemy horizontally in relationships? We wish our enemy well before others. First, we love our enemy by serving them in order to meet a legitimate need in their life. This love fulfills the Law: “In everything, […]
Praying for Your Offender (Matthew 5:43-48)
Have you tried praying for the person who wronged you? If so, what did your prayer sound like? Too often we hold on to resisting blessing our offender, the fourth prison wall of withholding forgiveness. Resisting blessing does not wish our offender well before God or others; it treats others as they have treated us, […]
How Does Resisting Blessing Affect Our Vertical Relationship with God? (1 John 4:20)
Are you involved in a conflict where you simply cannot bless the offender? Resisting blessing does not wish our offender well before God. It treats others as they treat us. Jesus said, that His followers had been taught a legalistic interpretation of the greatest horizontal commandment to love one’s neighbor (Matthew 5:43). They had learned […]
The Prison Wall of Resisting Blessing (Matthew 5:43-48)
Are you withholding something positive from a person who has sinned against you? Resisting blessing is not wishing one well before God and others. Whereas the other three prison walls of withholding forgiveness hold on to negatives, resisting blessing holds on to a positive. We withhold wishing the offender well before God and others — […]
How do we experience freedom from regret? (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Are you holding on to regret, imprisoned by the thought you could have changed the past? In order to be free from regret, we must continue to practice the instant forgiveness experiment. When someone sins against us, we can instantly let go of the prison walls of revenge, resentment, and regret. We let go of […]
How Do We Let Go of Regret Horizontally in Relationships? (Philippians 2:3)
How do we let go of regret horizontally in relationships? We repent, trusting in God for the freedom of forgiveness. Rather than harboring the thought that we could change the past: the offense, the offender, or our past behavior, we change our thoughts about the past. We let go of the past and hold on […]
How Do We Let Go of Regret Vertically with God? (Psalm 139:23-24)
Oftentimes, we utter the words, “I’m struggling to forgive God for allowing this tragedy to happen to me,” when in fact we cannot forgive God because He has not sinned against us. However, we can let go of regret, the thought we could have changed the past, which tends to be the core issue. In […]