The Prayer of Prayers

Prayer is difficult. Prayer doesn’t come easy. Thankfully, Jesus knows this, and like any good friend or mentor, Jesus steps in to help. When his disciples were finding prayer hard, Jesus taught them a way to pray that has become known as “The Lord’s Prayer,” not because Jesus prayed it himself, but because it’s the prayer he taught his disciples to pray. It’s a prayer that has been loved and memorized and studied and recited and prayed by thousands of people throughout the years. Thomas Watson called it, “the prayer of prayers.” Here’s several reasons why: The simple prayer The […]

-Read More


The Art of Encouragement

It’s easy to become discouraged in life. When the car breaks down again, when you’re worn out from work and its only Tuesday, when you’re struggling with the same sin, when people are difficult to work with, when your health is failing, when you continually hear of tragic events in the news, it seems like discouragement is just a normal part of life. But it’s not meant to be. Discouragement does not come from God. After all, he is called “the God of encouragement” (Romans 15:5). God does not want you to live discouraged because discouragement steals your joy, zaps […]

-Read More


A Picture of Love

  Whether it’s Fathers Day, Mothers Day or any other major holiday, one of the most popular gifts to give to your loved ones is a picture. Kids often draw pictures and others print and frame pictures because pictures have a way of capturing moments of love and communicating deep feelings of love. As people say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, in the end of John’s Gospel (see John 19:25-27), he gives his readers a beautiful picture of love between Jesus and his mother. Taken at the cross, painted with words and framed in Scripture, it’s a […]

-Read More


Experience Endless Hope

Everyone needs hope. Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said that, ‘To live without hope is to cease to live.” And psychologists will tell you that a lack of hope is where depression comes from. Yet, what is hope? Hope is the combination of two things: desires and expectations. Hope is not just wishing for something to happen; it’s living with the expectation that it will happen. Unfortunately, the English word hope has come to mean just wishful thinking. So, you’ll hear people say, “Expect the worst, but hope for the best.” But the biblical concept of hope is a confident […]

-Read More


Agnostic Christianity

When unexpected tragedy happens in your life, what do you do? When in the words of Fantine in Les Miserables, “Life kills the dream you dreamed,” where do you turn? What can happen to many people is that great uncertainties, doubts and suspicions towards God suddenly arise in their hearts. Suddenly, all the Sunday school stories you learned as a kid can seem so fake. What can happen is not a direct move into atheism — denying the existence of God, but a slow and subtle move into a silent agnosticism — denying that truth about God can be known, […]

-Read More


The Monday After Easter

  The resurrection of Jesus is meant to change your everyday life. The historical truth that Jesus is alive is just as important on the Monday after Easter as it is on Easter Sunday. In the words of rapper Lecrae, “If he’s truly raised to life, then it’s news to change your life,” but change it in what way? How does Easter Sunday relate to your Monday? Thankfully, Matthew answers that question in the end of his gospel. Unlike the other gospel writers (Mark, Luke & John), Matthew doesn’t focus so much on the evidence of the resurrection but upon the implications of the resurrection. Matthew is not out to […]

-Read More


The True Fairy Tale

When you open up the Bible, you’re not opening up a textbook; you’re opening up a storybook. After all, the bible starts off with, “In the beginning.” A beginning presupposes that there’s an ending. And if you have a beginning and an ending, then you have a story, but the Bible isn’t just any story; it’s the story behind all your favorite stories. It’s the true fairy tale. C.S. Lewis was right when he said, “In the story of Christ, all the other stories have somehow come true.” But how is this possible? Thankfully, John the Apostle summarized the great […]

-Read More


True Repentance

In the movie the “Princess Bride,” Vezzini, one of the main villains, kept saying, “Inconceivable!” One of his partners, Inigo Montoya, finally had enough and said, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” And the same thing could perhaps be said about the word repentance. People keep using that word, but it doesn’t mean what many think it means. Many people think of repentance as simply a change of behavior, and so whenever they hear the word repentance they conjure up in their mind a picture of some cranky street preacher […]

-Read More


Unplanned Parenthood in the Christmas Story

The Christmas story is a story about how the unplanned pregnancy of an unwed teenage mother was God’s plan for the world. Think about it; Mary wasn’t planning on having an angel tell her that she would miraculously be with child at a young age. And in a culture of honor and shame, you can just imagine the questions that went through her head: What are my parents going to say? What are my friends going to think? What will my fiancé Joseph do? It’s important to remember that Mary was impoverished, and her only hope for financial security was […]

-Read More


When Your Faith is Tested

  Suffering and trials are a normal part of life in a fallen world, and it’s during these times that a person’s faith in God will be tested. It’s not a question of if your faith will be tested, but when. So, what should you know and do as you handle these tests of faith? How do you prepare for the difficulties of life before they come so that you can face them with confidence and peace? In the famous story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego facing the fiery furnace, there are at least five lessons that are meant to […]

-Read More