I love to express what I feel called to say. Writing helps me to open up my heart and do that. I hope that what I write helps you in some way. I hope it makes you think, encourages you, or inspires you. If it challenges you or if you disagree, I hope you know that I respect your right to have a different point of view.
Until Christ is living in and demonstrating His love through those of us who claim to be Christians, we’re falling far short of our name.
Christianity's not about
Wanting to oppose,
Or to impose
Your will on people.
It's not about religious prose,
Or big church shows,
Or theology someone knows.
It's about how faith grows
As you rely on Jesus
In highs and lows
And follow His inner flows
With peace and repose
Going wherever
His Spirit blows.Here's the 4-step, biblical solution to national problems that may Christians are resisting: 2 Chronicles 7:14.
I was shocked to read the words, “everyone who is believing in Him may not perish,” as I read John 3:16 in the Literal Standard Version of the Bible (a word by word, literal translation). Most translations I’ve read use the word “believes” instead of saying “is believing.”
“Is believing in Him” means actively trusting Him at the present moment, not just acknowledging certain doctrines. I’ve often understood belief in Jesus as something that I did when I was converted, not as something that I need to do in the present moment, however, when “I am believing,” I’m doing something–I’m actively trusting Jesus and relying on Him in the now.
I was convicted of how many moments (okay, hours or days or longer) I spend believing in myself and my own efforts instead of believing (trusting) in Him. When I’m trying to accomplish something by my own effort, I’m not believing that Jesus will do it.
The Literal Standard Version also quotes Jesus as saying that rivers of living water will flow out of a person “who is believing in Me.” (“Rivers of living water” refers to the supernatural flow of God’s presence that begins in our heart and then impacts our environment.) When I’m actively believing in Jesus in the present moment, I feel those inner rivers gushing out of me, however, when I’m trusting in my own efforts those inner rivers no longer freely flow.
A person who “is believing” is relying on Jesus, not on human effort. That person begins to experience the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), flowing like rivers from his heart.
Christianity isn’t a religious pose you do for human approval. It’s a courageous lifestyle of believing in and relying on Jesus.It’s easy to pose as a Christian, but we have to “fight the good fight of faith” to keep believing in, trusting in, and relying on Him.
Test drive the Bible. Read it with an open heart and notice what it does inside you.
If you never test drive your spirituality and experience Jesus behind the wheel, you’ll never know what He can do. The living Jesus doesn’t always speak in words, but He always speaks in ways a listening heart can hear.
Discipleship begins with repentance. It requires that we begin to think differently and to see things from God’s perspective instead of your own.
Experiencing the living Jesus is like experiencing self. It’s an internal and immaterial experience, so you can’t “prove” it, but you know when it’s happening.
Too many Christians Merely listen To religious talks. Too few let Jesus Dazzle them.
Beyond the mind, Beyond opinion, Study and analysis, You can find The risen Jesus.
The risen Jesus, Although invisible To my eyes, Continually dazzles My heart!
Let the living Jesus Be your live-in And daily direct you By His presence within.
If you truly “know yourself” (your weaknesses and your strengths), you know all people, for though we disagree, we’re all basically the same. Compassion connects us. Conflict corrupts us.
Your consciousness can be controlled. You can focus your awareness on hope or despair, right or wrong, trust or fear. Shift your consciousness away from what troubles you and toward what inspires you.
Scientists can’t explain or prove human consciousness. Still, the fact you’re reading this shows that it obviously exists. Awareness of your thoughts is not thought. It’s perception!
Consider the thoughts that come into your consciousness. Refute the bad ones; cultivate the good ones.It takes courage to let your thinking and your lifestyle be led by your conscience. Our society greatly needs more people with that kind of courage!
Technology has made life easier and more comfortable, but no device can make your life meaningful. That’s up to you! Too much amusing leaves no time for musing.
If you made it up, it’s not the truth. If it’s not the truth have the courage not to tell it.
Discover and expand The inner silence Between thoughts, For peace resides there.
Make a conscious choice
To cultivate your consciousness
Until it creates conditions
That cause contentment
To come to you.
Opinions + feelings + desires rarely add up to truth. Opinionoids aren’t factoids. When your opinions differ with truth, it’s not a bad idea to change them.
Our opinions are like muddy windows. We seldom see clearly through them.If your opinions make you frustrated, angry, or arrogant, perhaps it’s time to re-examine them.
All opinions aren’t equal. Some are closer to truth than others. It’s important to continually truth-test our opinions. Human opinions are often a mixture of facts and feelings, truth and desires.
You have the right to express your opinions, but you don’t have the right to demand that other people agree with you.When people are mean in expressing our opinions, maybe they love their ego more than truth–maybe they’re trying to keep people from seeing their fear.
Ignoring facts and having no solid proof, it’s easy to believe that our opinions are more accurate than other people’s.In reality, our opinions are often little more than reflections of the biases of the social environment we associate with.
Being disagreed with isn’t the same as being persecuted.No matter how loudly we proclaim liberty, we don’t have much freedom when we’re stuck in our own opinions.
Our opinions often dilute and pollute truth. When people say, “My truth,” or “Your truth,” they’ve confused truth with opinion.
Here’s a deep thought: If you take “pi” (truth symbolized by π) out of opinion, you’re left with onion (layers of unstable feelings and desires).
Too often opinions are stated as fact. Perhaps we should say “perhaps” instead. Maybe it would be better if we say “maybe.” Here’s an example: Perhaps the arrogant and vulgar tone of profanity hinders mental health.
If knowing God better is your goal, you don’t feel kicked around when other people disagree with your opinions.
Thanksgiving is an action–a behavior, not a feeling. Join me in giving thanks today. (Tell God, “Thank You” in the comments section of this post.)
Thank You, Jesus, for being so real in my life and for demonstrating Your presence to me every day!
Thank You, Lord for my wife and for the beautiful relationship You have given us.
Thank You, Lord for creativity and for enabling me to think and write so many original thoughts.
Thank You, Lord for convicting me when I want to follow my own desires and for pulling me back when I start to stray.
Thank You, Lord for the hundreds of books that You have led me to read that have burned in my heart and changed my life.
Thank You, Lord for letting me experience You moving in and through ordinary people, starting with the Jesus Movement until the present day.
Thank You, Lord that You transformed my unbelieving family (parents and two brothers) into Jesus-lovers and Christ-followers.
Thank You, Lord for my daughter and for the privilege and joy you gave me of watching her grow up.
Thank You, Lord for the freedom and opportunity that WordPress, Facebook, and Twitter give me to post about my love for You.
Thank You, Lord for the Bible and for all the people who sacrificed and worked so hard to preserve it and translate it so that I can read it daily and let Your words set my heart on fire.
Thank You, Lord for the supernatural gift of tongues that lets Your rivers of living water freely flow from deep within me.
Thank You, Lord for all the miracles I’ve seen you do for me and for other people.
Thank You, Lord for giving me many friends who wholeheartedly love you and seek to follow and obey you in life and for all the encouragement and support they have given me.
Thank You, Lord for The Salvation Army supporting my wife and me and letting us oversee sermon-free, Spirit-led church for 10 years.
Thank You, Lord that I can offer Elephants INspiring The Room Kindle edition for free Thanksgiving 2021 through Giving Tuesday.
We can distress
With negative books,
Drift without books,
Or progress
With positive books.
Without fuel A car won’t go. Without uplifting words Hope won’t grow.
Uplifting words, Read And reread, Can gradually Straighten out Your head.
What you read matters. It has consequences in your life for good or bad.Books can lead you where you need to go, distract you with a show, or mislead you and leave you low. A reader’s choice is important.
What you read shapes you into its image. If you want your life to be better, read better material and read it a lot.
Read well. Read books that make you better, not books that enfetter. Everyday read something that encourages you and makes you feel good about life.
Too many people read without discernment. They treat a book like online “terms and conditions.” Instead of reading it with thoughtfulness, they just click “I agree,” and accept whatever it says.
Your mind, your choice! Don’t let books fill your mind with acidic thoughts.
Uplifting words are waiting to fill you with hope and peace, but you have to find them.Read what lifts you up, not what weighs you down.When you let a hope-filled book burn in your heart, you’re forever changed by its light.
Books have introduced me to some of my best friends, many of whom lived long ago.I like to read what inspires and encourages me, not what distresses and depresses me.The more I read hope-filled books, the better I feel!
As a child,
I tried to have
An invisible friend
But couldn't make it work.
As an adult,
Jesus has effortlessly been
My invisible friend
For 50 years.
Search for:The Joy Of Early Christianity
Atheism denies God. Ego-theism sees God as a way to feel good and boost self-esteem. Ego-theism acknowledges God’s existence, but keeps self in the driver’s seat.
Much religion is ego-theism. It’s designed to protect human pride, not to overcome it through repentance, brokenness, and humility.Jesus told His followers to go and make disciples, not to find a church that feeds their ego.
The Pharisees were ego-theists, not atheists. Their pride (not unbelief in God) led them to have Jesus crucified.Self-focus is the problem. Being captivated by the living Jesus is the answer!
Ego-theism sees God as a way to find yourself, not as the great I AM who causes us to lose our self-focus in His glory. Ego-theism says love yourself and love God. Jesus said to love God and love your neighbor.
Ego-theists want comfortable Christianity that will protect them from self-denial, sacrifice, and discipleship.They ask: “What can faith in God do for me?”Ego-theism sees the Cross as jewelry or as something to hang on the wall, but not as a daily lifestyle of sacrificial obedience to Jesus.
Ego-theism sees God like fire insurance–as a type of self-protection.It wants feel-good sermons, not sermons that boldly challenge sin and complacency. Ego-theism likes religious titles, religious ceremony, and religious control. It inspires people to name “ministries” after themselves.
Ego-theism sees self as good and rejects God’s grace. (Good people have no need for forgiveness, mercy, or grace.)Ego-theism confuses God’s love with His approval and implies that God approves even when we intentionally break His commandments.
The Bible says “God resists the proud” and warns of “the pride of life,” but ego-theists resist humility and offer God a life of prideEgo-theism cherry picks the Bible for blessings but ignores its warnings and calls to repentance, humility, and holiness. It bends the Bible to fit our opinions, desires, feelings, and pride.
Ego-theism equates loving yourself with loving God.It believes that God exists to serve humanity, rather than that humanity exists to humbly serve God.
Until we learn about Jesus by experiencing Him daily, we won’t be very excited about Him. We need Christ-theism! The biblical concept of the Incarnation is based on Christ-theism–the demonstration that Jesus is God–Emmanuel, “God with us.”
The heart knows things that the intellect can’t detect.Intellect is never completely free from pride and perspective. Its conclusions are always to some degree influenced by ego.
When intellect fails People often discover That hope prevails!
When life Looks like a wreck To your intellect, Recollect and Reconnect To hope.
The intellect And the heart Should work together, Not apart.
The acquisition of knowledge without the acquisition of hope leads to cold, hard facts.If life is only material processes begun by time and chance, that means human thought is nothing but a random evolutionary product.
Free Gas for Your Think Tank -- Short Reflections, Lasting Encouragement 