From a tiny baby in a lowly manger to our everlasting Savior…He is Emmanual…God with us! He will never leave us, never forsake us. Our trust in Him can be complete and total. We require nothing else.

We have the sure promise of God, that He is going to make everything right, in His own timing. He will. We can fully trust in Him.

We must regularly sharpen our weapon of prayer and use it to fight with valor and truth as we proudly wear the colors of Christ and glorify Him! Laxness and dull weaponry is not an option for a soldier of Christ.

Though I don’t want to be guilty of the spiritual laziness that characterizes an unexamined faith, I have learned to live in the tension of not knowing everything. I think the question posed at the end of the sermon gets to the heart of it, “Is your certainty greater than your uncertainty?” If it is, it’s OK not to know whether the 70 weeks of Daniel are literal or figurative. It’s worth consideration and study, but God’s plan will unfold whether we see it coming or not.

My mother’s care and provision for me as a child required boundaries but also carried with it a promise to never abandon me in my time of need. I couldn’t survive without my mother’s care, and Israel could not survive without God’s hesed love and mercy. Hundreds of years later, in the form of Jesus, God would take all of our sins on the cross upon himself, taking judgment on himself so that his steadfast love would remain faithful to restore our relationship with our heavenly Father.

Dear Lord, Would You please quiet my anxious heart? Give me courage to step out in faith, beyond what I can see or attempt to control. I bring You these burdens now.

It is this eternal perspective woven throughout the gift of Scripture that carried me from my darkest days no matter how much others told me I was losing my battle. For I knew, even if I lost this “battle” on earth, I win the war with Jesus. Forever and ever. This is our strength.  Praise be To God!

Evil may abound for a season.  It will touch even God’s people, in this broken world. But hold on.  Joy is coming.  It’s a promise.

Scripture teaches that He hears our cries and has promised everlasting life beyond the bounds of this finite sin-ridden existence we now found ourselves in for those that take up their cross of faith. It is a burden much lighter than the burden of sin, and we must trust that He will teach us to walk in His ways unchained by the evils of our past. He will guide us all the way to glory, and every battle against the spiritual forces of this world will have proved worth every tear.

The current reality of our lives is that they are finite. God has appointed death, the opposite of life, as the adequate punishment for sin entering the world through us. Each of us has a day upon which we will stop being able to make decisions and our wills will be eternally bound to one fate or another. God is in control of every beat of our hearts and breath that enters our lungs, and the gift of life comes with the inherent responsibility to fulfill its purpose. What happens when we neglect the purpose of the will God has granted us?

Some synonyms for the word “humble” are demure, lowly, unassuming, and modest. I don’t know about you, but I see a lot more of the opposite played out across the globe….especially on social media. Arrogance, conceit, and egotistical behaviors are almost praised while humbleness is viewed as a weakness. Culture says “humility applies to you, but not to me” as Christians are expected to submit to worldly views while the opposition stands firm. We easily identify the self-centered nature of others, but it is hard to admit our own.

Humans do a terrific job of putting on the facade of perfection. I’m the queen of slapping on a smile and saying that I’m fine. Internally though, we’re all shaking in our boots in some regard. Maybe our family isn’t quite as put together as our Facebook photos and eloquent captions make it seem. Maybe our perceived mental stability is really a mask cobbled together to disguise a wreck of anxiety, depression, stress, addiction, and significant mood swings. Maybe our “I’m okay” is just a smokescreen to the blazing fire of physical angst. 

Daniel chapter 3 illustrates not only the courage of three young Hebrew men to disobey the edict of a power-hungry king to bow down and worship his image but also a reminder of the faithfulness of God to uphold his promise of deliverance for his people in exile.

Thunder cracked the sky when a lightning bolt ripped through the roof of our home, igniting a fire that redefined our normal that Tuesday night in March 2017. The house snapped dark and shook. It was as if a bomb had gone off.

Nebuchadnezzar was spooked. His dreams were unsettling and he knew that they were not ordinary dreams. They meant something and it was keeping him up at night…

Have you ever considered how prominent food is in the Bible? Scripture, starting with the book of Genesis, speaks frequently of eating.  God allowed Adam and Eve to eat fruit from the trees in the garden, with only one exception.

“Remember your roots!” It’s what’s said when someone from humble beginnings makes it big. The sentiment is meant to remind that person of who they really are, lest they be forever changed by fame or fortune. Unfortunately, the person who stays true to their roots in such circumstances is more the exception than the rule.

We are not promised that we will be shielded from suffering, pain, and loss. Neither are we promised that every painful path will lead to victory in this life. However, we are promised that all evil will be undone and all that has been lost in this broken world will be redeemed to the glory of God and for the good of his people.

In the midst of a life defined by suffering and the penalty of rebellion, the pain of existence and separation from our Creator is palpable. Us humans think and do all kinds of things to keep the inevitable reality of death from confronting our souls. Whatever pleasures, evils, addictions, or past times we may use to distract us, we at one time or another all come to face the truth: we are going to die and end up in His eternal hands which hold the book of life.