Faith (Page 18)
How God Has Humbled Me
Humility is something we constantly learn as sinful Christians. We like to think we are wise and good on our own, but we often get ourselves in trouble. God has really humbled me in the last seven months. Back in November, I was faced with the most difficult conversation I had in my life with my Godmother on Thanksgiving Day. She pretty much hammered me on finances and adulting for over an hour after so many failed attempts of my…
Simple Faith
Could it be that the angst and anguish experienced today by the majority of Christians are due to the fact that we, as a generation of believers, are not people of the Word as our predecessors? Often times we like to compare ourselves to the believers of old. We relish in their testimonies and in the revelation of God they walked in. However, this is usually followed by a sort of snickering contempt of their lack of knowledge in comparison…
Waiting On God Is Not Passive
For years I struggled with the idea of waiting on God. On the one hand, I’m told to wait on the Lord, but on the other hand, I’m told Faith without works is dead. Those two truths always confused me until recently. I’m facing possible eviction soon, and the future looks really bleak for me at the moment, but if I haven’t learned anything in the past few, I learned that time never runs out on God. Waiting on God…
In A Perfect Storm
I’m struggling right now, as some of you know. I don’t know when my storm is going to end, but I know God is faithful. The past few days, I have been meditating on God’s word. God allows storms in our life to build character, and He’s not going to reward us falsely. The wait may seem long, but when we delight ourselves in God, that’s when change starts happening. I know you guys are wondering what’s next for me?…
4 Things I’m Learning In Dark Times
They say in the dark times is where you learn the most. I have been in financial darkness for over six months now, and here are some lessons I’ve learned while I been in darkness. 1. Don’t Jump Ahead of God We become so eager to do stuff without the guidance of The Holy Spirit. We let our feelings and other people’s opinion dictate our actions. Waiting on God’s guidance is critical for success. If we don’t wait on God’s…
God Doesn’t Give Fake Blessings
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to…
James 1:1 – Heart of a Servant
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. – James 1:1 KJV Its widely accepted that the James who wrote this book is not James the son of Zebedee, who was a disciple of Jesus while He walked this earth. Rather, it is the half-brother of Jesus named James, who became a Christian after the resurrection. When Paul started His ministry, James was one of the first people…
God Will Give Us Our Heart’s Desire When We Submit to Him
Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.” – Psalms 37:3-5 [NLT] God will give us the desires of our hearts when we submit to His will. Most people take Psalm 37:4 out of context and do not take verses three and five into…
Let Jesus Be Lord of Your Needs
We like the idea of Jesus being Savior but no so much Lord. Jesus being Lord means He must control every aspect of our life: our time, our money, our jobs, our thoughts, our hobbies, our family, our eating habits, etc. Jesus has to be first or otherwise; we will live a chaotic life. God shows us in the Bible what happens when we put other things before Him. Israel went through years of turmoil because they wanted to rebel…
Scorecards
Scorecards are used in a lot more places than just keeping track of who is winning or losing in a sports game. Brothers and sisters, whether we admit it or not, a great many of us employ mental scorecards to evaluate so many things in our lives. We keep track of how many times the boss compliments your co-workers’ efforts but not yours. We’ll count how often that we are the ones who text or call that relative with whom…
Customer Service
Many of us started our work careers in the service industry. While most of us as teenagers/twenty-somethings didn’t envision a job in a fast-food joint or a retail store as being part of our long-term work plans for life, there’s an important aspect that hopefully a lot of picked up on during our time behind the cash register: providing good customer service. Even though we may not have always been thrilled about the bosses that we work for, our employment…
Scott’s Newest Writing Project
Hey, where has Scott been lately?” A few of you may have been wondering the above interrogative. Rest assured, I have not dropped off the map. In fact, the metaphorical map may be growing by leaps and bounds. In the past six months, many people have seen their COVID-19-inflicted semi-lockdown as a bringer of hours of freed-up time, with some lamentably scurrying for new hobbies and (gag) new Netflix series on which to binge. For me, the bulk of…
The Filter
All ideas that you believe and follow must begin and end with Jesus and the Bible.” In today’s information overload world, you’re never at a loss for people giving you advice, sharing memes that echo their thoughts, giving their two cents, and wanting to offer their take on why things happen and what you should do about them. For instance, if you open yourself to social media even the smallest bit, you’ll get a relentless avalanche of viewpoints from voices…
Numbers in the Bible
I’ve always loved numbers and statistics, as well as clever connections and relationships between things, in just about every area of knowledge or storytelling. So when I first discovered numerological connections and meanings in Scripture, the nerdy part of me who loves stuff like this went into high “geek-out” mode. There are some who take this brand of Biblical numerology to fantastic extremes, going so far as to uncovering numeric values to alphabetic characters and deeper meanings to words that…
The Importance of the Resurrection
Although millions of Christians pile into churches this time every year – and this year, many will watch services via YouTube, Facebook video, or Zoom chats – a large segment of them probably don’t even realize the significance of Easter. Perhaps they know of the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus but have never really given it more than a fleeting thought or two in their minds. Maybe that describes you in your thoughts on the events of Passion Week.…
The Overlooked
I know who you are. You may feel like you’re the only one, but I’ve been in your shoes more times than you can count, and I sympathize with your plight. You are the one who constantly gets overlooked. The one who busts their rear-end while everyone else gets the accolades. It seems like everyone else gets the fanfare, the promotions at work, the likes on social media, the praise and pats on the back, and the credit for good…
Always Be Teachable
“Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored.” – Proverbs 13:18 [ESV] During the early years of my first marriage, I was admittedly unskilled when it came to the “domestic arts”. Being a budding, young man in my early twenties, I had just barely begun living independently, and taking care of the house wasn’t exactly my forte. I’ll put it bluntly: I was a pizza-box-thrown-around-the-apartment, soda-cans-everywhere-kind of slob. So no doubt I lacked…
Interview With John Clark and Michael Bodine of Soulcon Ministries | Soulcon Operator Book Released!
Soulcon Ministries is a digital men’s ministry that encourages Christian men to abandon the watered-down confines of lukewarm faith and instead go all-in for Jesus Christ physically, mentally and spiritually. Soulcon was founded by US Navy veteran-turned fitness expert and personal trainer Cody Bobay after he saw the “couch potato” lives that your average, 21st Century guys – yes, even most evangelical men – practice on a regular basis in every area of their lives. To help encourage men to get…
Unmet Expectations
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” – Proverbs 19:21 [NIV] One of the most damaging things you can do in your life is to place too much stock in your perception of the universe, your selfish desires, and your own ideas about how things should unfold. We’ve all been there when things don’t go our way, leading us to feel crushed and disappointed at one point or another in our…
List of Soulcon App Inspirational Messages
I’m honored to be part of a fantastic online men’s ministry called Soulcon. One of the main focuses of Soulcon Ministries is to encourage men to get out of their lazy, lukewarm rut and instead pursue the Lord Jesus Christ with all of their hearts, living lives with the same intensity that special forces soldiers do in the military. Soulcon Ministries, through its awesome phone app, pushes out great Bible verses, quotes, and inspirational sayings at least once a day…