Archive for April 2024
Negotiating with God
We all do it. We try to broker a deal with God. We promise the moon and deliver a dim candle. Then we still expect God to ‘do for us’ what we wanted in the first place. We forget that God is all knowing. We forget that He already knows we will fall short. Yet…
Read MoreThe Promised Land
It seems there is perpetual war in the Middle East. Although history reveals certain periods of peace, the reality that people have been fighting over a sliver of land for centuries should make us ponder. Where is the promised land that God offered to Abraham? When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to…
Read MoreDo You Serve That Which is Made by Hands?
We all serve someone. Employees serve their managers, and managers serve the company owners. Those in love serve their lovers. Some even serve wealth and power. All these things pass away. All these things are made by human hands. All these are idols. Thus says the LORD: To whom then will you liken God, or…
Read MoreGet Your House in Order
We understand the need when we grow old to put our things in order. Who will get our possessions? Who will take care of our requests. The older we get, the more we think of death and having our life in order. Now is the time to get our house in order. “Therefore thus says…
Read MoreIt’s About Becoming Perfect
In the Gospel of Mark we hear of a father who brought his son to Jesus for healing because the Apostles were unable to heal him. He called to Jesus, “’If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible…
Read MoreNot Perfect but Patient
Four weeks of Great Lent have come and gone and you’re still here. You haven’t given up yet, but you’re close. Fasting and extra prayers are taking a toll on your endurance. Being flooded with temptation is testing your patience. You may even be thinking of giving up the fight. BRETHREN, we feel sure of…
Read MoreFollow God for another Promise
I keep referring to Great Lent as a journey. Every journey needs a destination. Traditionally we think of the destination of our Great Lenten Journey as Pascha. Our fasting leads to feasting. Our prayer leads to the Altar of God. Sometimes our idea of a destination isn’t a destination at all. Sometimes it is just…
Read MoreHumanity is always Rushing Things
It started in the very beginning. Adam and Eve wanted to rush being like God. The result was the Fall of Humanity, and death. It wasn’t that God didn’t want humanity to be like God. He did. It was that humanity wasn’t ready to be like God yet. That is always our story. We rush…
Read MoreThe Power of Pride
Our daily struggle during Great Lent is much more than fasting. Great Lent is a struggle against pride. We all have it. We all struggle to subdue it, or at least we should. We all fall to its power through temptation and ego. It is what holds us back. The sons of Noah who went…
Read MoreGod Destroys Evil
We should admit the battle between good and evil is sometimes difficult to decipher. We stand up against evil to the best of our ability with the hope the God is there to help us. We are tempted to become violent against evil using the Scriptures as our defense. The Old Testament is filled with…
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