… and what are you doing? “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” — Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) There comes a time in every life when a man or a woman stops and asks, Who am I? and Why am I here? Usually, for… Read More »
Obedience Before Understanding I was reading through Acts in my devotions, and a few words jumped out at me: “So Philip ran to him…” (Acts 8:30). The text was interesting because this is the aftermath of the successful deacon appointments in Jerusalem. Stephen and Philip have shown the excellence of their character and faith, and now, after the… Read More »
A different perspective I’m a big fan of the story of Jonah. I don’t know why—perhaps a psychologist might tell me that I find myself in the narrative. To convince me, they’d have to tell me why, and maybe I would dispute it. How about you—what’s the reason you are reading about Jonah… again? I’ve always thought about… Read More »
Oh! Look—squirrel! There’s something about the human heart that refuses to be still. It wanders. It wrestles. It wants one thing today, another tomorrow. It reaches for God with one hand and holds onto the world with the other. King David, a man who had seen real victory and crushing, intentional moral failure, a man who had tasted… Read More »
6 words separate those who merely know about God from those who know Him. Your most important encounter with God starts with faith—that great and unseen force that pulls a man ever forward towards God when reason tells him to stop. It’s the quiet whisper in the dead of night that says, keep going, just keep going… don’t… Read More »
you will keep my commandments. We recently looked at a passage of Scripture in our DBS home group that caught my attention: Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15, ESV). Now, for some (and for me at first), that sounds like a transaction—do this, prove that. But that’s not what’s happening here.… Read More »
Church without signs and wonders, miracles and healings, and the gifts of the Spirit flowing regularly is an oxymoron! Some of my favourite times in John Wimber’s meetings were when he said, “Let’s stand!” That meant it was ‘clinic’ time—where we were not just talking about the ‘stuff’ of signs and wonders but were going to do them!… Read More »
– but they are invaluable “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” — 1 Corinthians 3:5–7 The humility in those… Read More »
Something needs to die? When it comes to cake, I can still be greedy. I remember my father bringing a tray of an array of cakes to us as children—four hungry kids eyeing up the best cake on the tray. My brother reached out like lightning for the cream cake, only to be intercepted by my father, who… Read More »
What else it means… Luke 4:18–19 is a dramatic scene—that moment. Jesus, standing in the synagogue, unrolling the scroll, reading words that must have sent a jolt through the room. Good news for the poor. Freedom for the captives. Sight for the blind. Liberation for the oppressed. Sounds like a party political manifesto. He wasn’t just reading Hebrew… Read More »
The manifest presence of God… I’ve been to the foot of Mount Sinai—who knows, I may have even trodden roughly where Moses, shepherding sheep, once trod, although the terrain will have changed significantly! Moses wasn’t always a shepherd, though. Once, he was a prince of Egypt, living in the palace, surrounded by vast wealth and power. You probably… Read More »
If you don’t, you’ll have no story to tell. Mark 6:53-56. It’s a short passage, almost easy to miss, tucked in there between miracles and almost seems like a throwaway to the end of the chapter, but—there’s something happening here. In context, Jesus and His disciples cross over to Gennesaret, and the moment they step out of the… Read More »
Meet and Greet… There’s been a lot of talk over the years about people engaging with angels, and what is remarkable (and a little foreboding) is that we will judge them! They are God’s divine workforce—the ‘deacons’ of heaven. No matter how much you are impressed with them, what about the Cherubim—those mysterious creatures who show up dramatically… Read More »
The road stretches on. The message is unchained, free, relentless; it can’t be boxed in by walls or silenced by opposition. There are moments—maybe you’ve felt them—when it seems like the road ahead for the gospel is narrowing, like we’re running out of space, like the message that once turned the world upside down is now struggling to… Read More »
This is an article published in Plexus magazine entitled ‘Understanding the Spirit Level’ used by permission Jonathan Edwards, the great reformer, theologian and evangelist said that, “the task of every generation is to discover the direction in which the Sovereign Redeemer is moving, and then to move in that direction”. Edwards was no stranger to the public manifestation… Read More »
It’s not a matter of faith—this one is on Him! If you are a Christian, you will have read Colossians, where the weight of the words “Christ in you, the hope of glory” drops on you. Just muse over those seven words for a moment and let them sink in… The actual verse is found in Colossians 1:27,… Read More »
Fixing Our Hearts on the Word A few years ago, Paul Cain coined the term “making Jesus the magnificent obsession of the heart.” It is indeed an emotive phrase, but I wonder if we can extend it to making the Word of God the magnificent obsession of the heart. Some of the old guard will feel their hackles… Read More »
It’s a noble thing. My friend Roger is being ‘Elderized’ this weekend—and it’s about time too. But just what is eldership about? I’m not sure that Roger is fully aware of the weight, the call, and, in his obvious humility, the difference he will make—but it will be worth it! Paul writes to Timothy, this young leader, this… Read More »
When God Opens the Impossible Peter is in prison. Again. Oops! Herod, driven by power and paranoia, has seized him. James, the brother of John, has already been executed. Peter is next. He’s chained between two guards, locked deep inside the prison, with more guards stationed at every possible escape point. There’s no way out, no options. In… Read More »
When God Opens the Impossible Peter is in prison. Again. Oops! Herod, driven by power and paranoia, has seized him. James, the brother of John, has already been executed. Peter is next. He’s chained between two guards, locked deep inside the prison, with more guards stationed at every possible escape point. There’s no way out, no options. In… Read More »