A question came to me from a college student that went something like this.If Lucifer rose up against God and was cast out of heaven what’s to stop that from happening again? The Bible essentially ends with a happily ever after but doesn’t progress any further than we will spend eternity in heaven or hell?I believe scripture teaches that the fall will not be repeated in heaven. Here’s why: For tho...  Read More

Jacob, grandson of Abraham, was named Israel after he had wrestled with God (Gen32:28). This name is a combination of the Hebrew words for "wrestle" and" God". Because (sareta) you have wrestled with God and (‘el) with men you will be called yisrael.There are other interpretations of what "Israel" means, but the context in Genesis 32 strongly supports the meaning "he struggles with God" (see also ...  Read More

Finding true joy by abiding in Jesus.Every spring when I was growing up, we would go into the garden and clean up all the dead vines from the plants that died over the winter. They were no longer connected to their source of life and would not be producing fruit, so we gathered them up and placed them in a pile to be burned. Jesus uses this simple example from nature to present us with a great tru...  Read More

Sanctification—our growth in holiness—is a process that lasts from the moment of our conversion until we are glorified in heaven. God definitively sets us apart as His holy people when we turn to Christ, and so we can be called “saints” (Eph. 1:1).However, becoming holy in practice takes time and a single-minded commitment to do what the Lord calls us to do as citizens of His kingdom (Luke 16:16)....  Read More

This weeks request for all who read this is to pray a simple prayer.  Not asking anything of God, but praising Him for His great love for us.  I hope you will join me in doing this. Here is mine.  May He bless you as you praise Him.“Thank you for your amazing power and work in our lives, thank you for your goodness and for your blessings over us. Thank you that you are able to bring hope through e...  Read More

My reading this week led me to revisit a text we studied last year, Galatians 5:22-23. In this text, the apostle Paul laid out nine virtues called the Fruit of the Spirit. The text made me think of how my life has been shaped by experiences encountered along the way, especially in moments where the virtue of patience or perseverance was required. I must admit that I was a slow learner, yet those e...  Read More