Eyes wide open

Hello, you. I know how you feel. You're so comfortable with the world, comfortable with life. Nothing too great & exciting, but even so, nothing so desperately troubling that you feel the need to humbly pray to God and read the Bible. You're okay with going to church, especially when your friends are there, and you're also okay with saying a quick prayer and maybe reading a small bite of the Bible before you sleep. You enjoy youth camps, you enjoy the emotional highs you come out with, you enjoy the games played, the funny pictures taken, the special t-shirt you get. So yes of course, you'd say you enjoy being a Christian. But if you didn't have friends around you who also go to church, if you get too busy with the world to pray and read the Bible, if youth camps aren't fun and emotionally exciting enough, would you reconsider how much you enjoy Christianity? Is your Christian faith really about God? Is your Christ ian faith really about Christ? Is...

Hebrews 13:20-21 “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, m ake you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Over my 11-month break I have learnt a tremendous lot about the will of God. These are things which I picked up here and there from sermons, articles, books, etc. that I’ve read, and were consolidated through an actual living out and encountering of problem after problem, trouble after trouble, difficulty after difficulty, challenge after challenge, and dependence on God over all. I truly thank God for using these months to mould me; what seemed at first to be the start of a dull drawing on of idle months soon unfolded into a surprising journey of growth and shaping. In four points, here’s my practical understanding of walking in God’s wil...

There's much to learn about this Joshua 2 story of Rahab and the spies - much more than I'll write in this short-ish post - but as I read the account during my quiet time with God this morning, several important reminders were freshly imprinted on my mind & heart, a significant one being about the fear of the LORD . Rahab was a pagan prostitute in Jericho who welcomed the spies from Israel into her home and hid them on her rooftop, sending the Jericho authorities another way when they came searching for them. [Rahab said] "I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage...