Hard Things of Faith

  Judgmental, Hateful, Hypocritical These are just some of the things American Christians are known for.  First, can I just tell you that I am sorry? I am sorry for every person that has misrepresented Christ and hurt you. I am sorry to those that I have hurt in the name of Jesus. Some of us have distorted the Good News of the Gospel; we have given a false representation of who the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit really are. We have shown you a God of Judgment and not a God of Love.  I hear a lot of people say that God is all-loving and that is correct, and there is a lot more to God's character that does involve judgment, it is just a matter of how that is presented.  We have given people a bunch of "moral" standards and consequences for failing to meet those standards.    We have not acted like Christ at all.  We are supposed to be people of grace and truth, yet we say some of the most hateful things people have ever heard. We have called out the sins in your life, and the

It’s been several years since the Lord whispered these words to me for the first time.    It was a moment I will never forget.  I was in my car, headed to a women’s bible study group.  Now, please don’t be offended when I say that women's bible study can be a huge blessing, but it can also be a huge headache.  I was leading a class, so I had to go, but I was worn to the core and didn’t know if I had anything left to pour out.   If I am being really honest, when I get to that level of weariness, grace and kindness are not what pours out of me.  All it takes is for some unknowing person to say something or do something, and what comes out of me is more like salt & vinegar.  I remember driving and not being able to formulate words that could be construed as prayer. But God.... he knew exactly what I was saying.  Ever so gently, he whispered:  “Mercies & Manna” My heart was put to ease immediately. I love how the Lord does that!  He gives you something so simple and

  “I am a good person" “People are inherently good” “But they have such a good heart”     These statements break my heart.    They break my heart because they are untrue. This is blatant false teaching that has been widely accepted both in the church and outside of the church.  We have cherry-picked scripture to support our belief that we are naturally good people.  I have had so many conversations about this as of late.  People get really worked up when I tell them I am not good.  They get even more worked up when I tell them that they are not good either. This is not to point a finger; it is to point them to scripture.   The very first thing I hear people say about this is: “I am a good person because I haven’t murdered anyone.     I am not a thief, and I haven’t committed adultery.”     People automatically go back to the 10 Commandments, whether we realize it or not, even those who don't follow Christ.    We go back there because ultimately, we believe that the commandment

Friends, my confession to you is this:   To know who our Triune God will take more than a lifetime to learn. This series,  The Character of God ,  The Love of Christ ,  and The Power of The Holy Spirit is only a brief picture of our Triune God.  Our Godhead is far more than my words could ever describe to you.  My greatest hope in this is to give you an introduction, or a new perspective of who our Triune God is.  He is Father, He is Savior, He is Helper.    It is tempting to start out telling you about all the reasons I love the Holy Spirit.  This is not about me though; this is about Him and who he is.     Each person of the Godhead has a unique quality about them in regard to who they are, even though they are of one person.  The Holy Spirit is different than the Father and Jesus because He is Spirit that not only surrounds us but has the ability to live within us. Scripture tells us in several places that those who accept Christ will be given the Holy Spirit.  (Romans 8:11, 1 Corin

Jesus. There are so many facets of Jesus, it would take a lifetime to unpack them all.  Here are some of the ways that we know him though. He is the Son of God, the Bridegroom, Savior,  our Advocate, our High Priest.  We know him as the Author and Perfecter of our faith.  The thing I hear more than anything about Jesus is that he is love.  The part people sometimes do not understand is just how sacrificial his love is.  We should know how costly this sacrificial love is.  It is easy to say, "Jesus died for you", but how many people really know what that means and why that was necessary?  This certainly is not going to be one of those "feel good" posts that you are going to share as a way of encouraging others.  This is the smallest glimpse of the hard truth of sacrifice and why it was needed.  We will never understand the love of Christ until we understand the sacrifice of Christ.  Will you step back with me into the Old Testament and take a peek into what is going

It is one thing to believe in God, it is another thing altogether to know who God is.  Learning about the character of God has the potential to be a game-changer in our everyday life.  We are living in a time of great division and darkness that many people have never seen before.  The only thing of value that I have to share is my faith and my ever-growing understanding of who God is.  I hope in reading this and through the pages of scripture, you will find the One that is faithful and true.  He is my solid ground when the world around me seems to be falling apart.    A few months back, I was talking to a family member that had to leave her home church and she mentioned that she missed going to Bible study.  I was so excited that she wanted to be studying God’s word, I offered to help since she didn’t have a new church home yet.  When I asked her where she wanted to start, she said, “Genesis.”  Well, can I just tell you how less than excited I was at that?  I was hoping for something o

  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all the things have become new.        A few months ago I woke up and before my feet even hit the floor, I was struggling with sinful thoughts.  I knew immediately that I need to go to the Lord in prayer and then get into scripture.  The Lord was faithful to meet me where I was and help me in my struggle.   Being so taken with the Lord’s willingness to meet me where I was that morning and help me, I shared this with a dear Sister-in Christ.  Her immediate response was “What do you mean you woke up with sinful thoughts.  You are a Christian, you shouldn’t struggle with sin like that.”  Then she recited the above scripture to me. I was definitely taken aback by her statement.    Now you must understand that this woman is a dear friend of mine who loves the Lord.  She had no idea that she was helping to perpetuate false teaching that has been used to cause great harm to many people.     The