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.
We can displace The idea of race By taking time To erase The lines That divide us.
There are many ways that the human race can be divided into categories. Skin color may be the most illogical one.
Freedom of speech includes the right to talk about the cruelty and brutality of slavery and Jim Crow even though hard hearts don’t want to hear about it. Regardless of our skin color, it would be good if all Americans knew the fuller story of our American history.
The history of slavery is an example of how people can fool themselves into to thinking that barbaric cruelty and brutality are justifiable.To heal our nation’s racial wounds we need a more open understanding of our history. This can help.
A good person never gives in to temptation. I don’t think there’s anybody on the planet who lives that way.
When temptation wins, you lose. Any temptation you don’t overcome, overcomes you.
Wrongful desire is temptation. It’s not identification. Desire doesn’t make you a thief or a cheater. Behavior does.
Some inclinations come from free will; some from the appeal of evil; and some from God. It’s important to recognize the difference.
Temptations loudly proclaim pleasure and partying while hiding the misery they’re carrying. People who resist temptations are often ridiculed by those who wallow in them, but surrendering to temptation is nothing to boast about.
When impure thoughts are allowed to linger in your mind, they work on establishing permanent residence there.The more you surrender to tempting desires, the more control they gain over your life.If you let a temptation entertain you, you’ll enjoy it a short while, but eventually it will slam you into the ground.
If you can’t state your point without unkindness, anger, or profanity, there’s a good chance you’re feeling insecure about it. If that’s the case, perhaps humility can help.
Attending a Sunday show About Jesus Isn’t the same As gathering To go with His flow.
Water that doesn’t flow becomes stagnant and unpleasant. So do Christians who don’t let Jesus continually flow thru their heart.
If church belongs to Jesus, why don’t we ever let Him take direct control of a worship service?When we’re unwilling to let Jesus take full and direct control of a church service, we act like we don’t completely believe that He’s alive and present.To not give the living Jesus the opportunity to take control of a church service is to doubt (and/or fear) His resurrection.
If Jesus is really alive, the choice for church isn’t human control or chaos. The choice is human control or Christ’s control.
Christians say that church belongs to Christ, but we want it programed and controlled to fit our comfort zone.To be a Christ-follower is to be frequently inconvenienced by the living Jesus and continually surprised by His joy!
Lord Jesus, the Hope of Glory living within me, help me humbly walk in Your victory.
Confusing question: If prenatal human life doesn’t matter, why do doctors offer prenatal care?
Follow the science: Prenatal human life obviously begins at conception.
Connectivity: Lack of respect and compassion for prenatal human life devalues all human life.
Perspective: There is much focus on the legality of abortion, but very little focus on the ethics of abortion.
Legality or ethics: Just because it’s legal to kill a prenatal human life doesn’t make it morally right.
Reproductive rights? Taking the life of a prenatal baby is not “reproductive” or “right.”
An observation, not an opinion: The legal attempt to stop prenatal cruelty is being called cruel.
Cruelty free? America resists cruelty to animals but embraces prenatal cruelty.
Thought: When a pet’s inconvenient, most people don’t just kill it. Surely a prenatal human life deserves as much respect as a pet.
Something else to ponder: If somebody killed their pet for its inconvenience, would the words, “My pet, my choice?” justify it?
Logic: Just because prenatal human lives are powerless and inconvenient doesn’t mean that they should be disposable.
An irrational thought: “The value of a prenatal life depends on the choice of the mother to be.”
Two unpopular mandates that save lives: 1) A mask mandate; and 2) A no-prenatal-cruelty mandate.
The Constitution and human life: The Bill of Rights didn’t include enslaved Black lives and in 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson supported active, Jim Crow racism against Black lives. In 1973, Roe v. Wade excluded prenatal human lives from constitutional protection.
Confusion: Some people say that only a woman has a right to have an opinion about abortion, but nowadays a man can declare himself to be a woman.
If you don’t Verify, It’s easy To believe A lie and Be deceived.
Certainty Without proof Remains aloof From truth.
Truth isn’t your birthright. It must be sought, Not inherited From your culture.
Before you declare An assumption, Make sure that it’s not Mere presumption.
Before you believe somebody, examine their character, their motives, and their claims. If they don’t align with truth and love, run.You prove that love is real, not by words or arguments, but by demonstrating it in how you live.
The proof of beauty is in its perception, not in logic.There’s no scientific proof for love, yet almost everyone believes in it, because it is proven in other ways.
A lack of proof doesn’t disprove anything, but it should at least make you question it.Some people try to hide truth behind a show, but if you watch carefully, they eventually show who they are.
Members of the human race find it easy to follow their opinions, feelings, and desires, but difficult to follow their conscience. We’re easily deceived. Mistakes are proof that you’re not always right.
Let life drive you to think. Your mind doesn’t belong in a parking garage.The next time you have a harmful emotion or desire, find the thought process that is triggering it and begin to detach from it.
The thing we humans trust in the most is invisible and beyond scientific proof–our own consciousness.
Pride makes a disagreeable proof hard to admit. Don’t mock people who are sincerely seeking truth.
People who skip out on truth are never able to skip along with innocent joy. A snicker weaponizes laughter and robs it of true joy.
To believe Without proof Can blow the roof Off of truth.
A culture clone, Although surrounded By copy cat people, Will still feel alone.
Be careful who you believe. Jesus said: “Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.” Deception isn’t rare!
The living Jesus leaves fingerprints in human hearts. The more I listen to and obey Jesus, the more He proves Himself to me.History (and the present day) is full of people with miraculous testimonies about how the living Jesus has worked in their life.
Sermonitis, like arthritis, can cause Christians to become immobilized. Jesus said, “Take up your bed and walk.” He didn’t say, “Take a seat and listen.”If you want people to believe in Jesus, help them experience Him.
I’ve always found the idea that nothing plus time produced everything, to be irrational. It makes no sense to me.
My wife and I just had a married couple, who really love Jesus, over for dinner and we saw the Spirit lead. We ate, shared testimonies, laughed, prayed, danced, took communion, prayed more, laughed more, repeatedly saw the gifts of the Spirit in action, and basked in the fruit of the Spirit, for 5 hours! It was awesome.
For almost two years now, my wife and I have been calling another couple every Sunday morning. We share testimonies, Scriptures, laugh, pray, open our hearts to each other, and have fun enjoying the fruit and gifts of the Spirit for an hour or more. All of that happens with no arguing or conflict as we humbly and joyfully celebrate the unity of the Spirit.
“The kingdom of God is at hand,” means you have the opportunity to be led by the Spirit anytime and anyplace (if you so choose). That makes me wonder why the typical sermon seems to be loaded down with over analysis, over preparation, over rehearsal, and loss of spontaneity when innocent spontaneity opens the door for the Holy Spirit to begin to truly take the lead.
Rigidity resists the Holy Spirit, but godly spontaneity freely goes with the Spirit’s flow.The definition of boredom is the absence of spontaneity. Church services too often stick religiously to that definition.
When Christians program, formalize, and systematize “worship,” we stifle the spontaneity of the Spirit.Biblical spirituality is spontaneous and unprogrammed, flowing like rivers of living water from deep within you. (John 7:38.)
To be Spirit-led you need to get out of your head and begin to spontaneously respond to what God’s saying in your heart. Being led by analysis, opinions, desires, or feelings is not being led by the Spirit.To be led by the Spirit is to surrender any control that you think you have, to the living God.
If you aren’t continually attentive and obedient to Christ in you, you won’t be able to be consistently led by the Spirit.To be led by the Spirit, we must embrace the humility and lowly position of a little child. (Matthew 18:3-4.) Since Jesus said to be like a little child, perhaps we should set aside religious formality and play along with the children’s sermon.
When the Spirit-leads you experience “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” When was the last time you know for sure you were led by the Spirit? (Romans 8:14.)
I enjoy listening to Jesus, both when He makes the Bible come alive and when He speaks directly to my heart. It’s even more fun when I do it with friends who love & obey Jesus.
Any condemnation that has come on you for sincerely questioning a pastor, is not from God. Be healed and be free to follow Jesus.
Martin Luther criticized church (and is honored for it today). Honest criticism of church is often needed and shouldn’t be silenced.If you’re not Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, then Luther’s rebukes of church opened the door for “your” church.Luther criticized the church and then established churches that didn’t tolerate criticism, leading to centuries of church splits.
Any Christ-follower who meets to pray and share with others who love Jesus, shouldn’t feel guilty about not going to church.If a church can’t attract attendees without manipulating people with guilt or obligation, something is off track.Christians are supposed to be trained and sent out to obey the Spirit, not corralled, contained, and controlled by pulpit power.
Many people in religious systems are following Christ as much as they know, but their spiritual vision is often limited by the system and its leader. “Quenching the Spirit” isn’t always an individual thing. It’s also a systemic problem that is built into much church programming. The living Jesus is working in people, but because church leaders have trained them to be quite about it, we seldom hear their stories.
Pulpits have silenced the testimonies of God’s people. Sound systems have overridden their voices. Their spiritual insight has been rejected.
Pulpit control often robes itself in self-appointed authority.Preachers who stifle criticism too often act like the religious leaders who tried to silence the prophets.
Pulpit control can compel uniformity in a church, but it can never produce the unity of the Spirit.If a church knocked over the pulpit and unplugged the sound system, people would need to sit close together and share with each other.After decades of Bible reading, I still can’t find the idea of one person continually controlling a congregation from a pulpit.
The person who controls the pulpit, too often controls the church, but that is a man trying to do Jesus’ job!A preacher standing in a pulpit should never distract people from the presence of the living Jesus.A pulpit, a degree, an ordination, a crowd, or being an inspiring speaker or a church planter, doesn’t make a man or woman of God.
Christianity is supposed to be about humility and heart connection, not about control and manipulation.Most Christians can tell you stories about how church hurts. Far too few can tell you about how Jesus’ ekklesia heals.
Going to church without connecting with the living Jesus is like going to Starbucks without getting anything to drink.Without personal connection with the living God, religion becomes deceptive.When Christianity is disconnected from the direct leadership and control of living Jesus, it quickly institutionalizes.
When religion tries to control people, it is acting like the New Testament Pharisees who wanted to end Jesus’ life.Stuck in tradition, habit, and controlling leaders, church too often gets upset about earthly things and ignores spiritual realities.
Nowadays many Christians are saying that masks “muzzle” them, yet they’ve been muzzled by pulpit control for years.Many preachers who condemn people as “rebellious” for criticizing them are busy criticizing other preachers (and even politicians).
Church conflicts are usually about people squabbling over control. If we all let Jesus be in control, there’s no church conflict.
To say that a meeting is being held in Jesus’ name, but not let Him have full control of the meeting is false advertising.If there’s anywhere Jesus should be expected to have full control, it’s in a meeting that claims to be in His name.
Jesus connectivity Allows His inner activity To freely stream Through your heart.
“Here’s the church And here’s the steeple” Turn over the pulpit And free the people.
Something you say or do (or don’t say or don’t do) will impact someone’s life today. To make the world better, make your impact positive.
War is the ultimate cancel culture. It dresses everybody the same so that it’s hard to recognize people as individuals. War is an excuse to kill people and it’s is always unfair.
War is insanity, but the people who speak out against war are too often the ones who are called “crazy.” Perhaps we should find a way to personalize war and let opposing soldiers get to know each other before they start killing.
War blows up truth with the dense smoke of deception. If wars weren’t glorified and romanticized, but instead their horror and cruelty was clearly seen, nobody would want to fight them.
Soldiers are both the victims and perpetrators of war. No one wins a war. Those who remain alive just survive it.
The act of war is surrender to Hell’s worst demons. Regardless of the side they fought on, the war dead know no victory.
Peace comes from caring enough to connect heart to heart with people. War comes from being unwilling to care about certain people.
People find it shocking (even appalling) when people speak against war (yet many famous generals have done so). General Sherman said: “War is hell.” Here is the rest of what he said: “It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.” ―William Tecumseh Sherman
War sheds blood, But friend or foe, The blood is Always red.
War fights Violence with violence, Destruction with destruction, Killing with killing.
War enrages And engages The worst phases Of humanity.
War weaponizes, Dehumanizes, And trivializes Human life.
War villainizes And demonizes People To make it easier To kill them.
Compassion is humanity’s most underutilized weapon.
War is deceptive. It’s cruelty and chaos confuse even the wisest people. The path to war leads to horror. The outcome of a war makes no difference to the people who are killed in it.
Battlefield medics know what war really is. Most of us hide behind mythical ideas about war to shelter us from its horrific truth.
War fully embraces the merciless use of violence. It gives in to humanity’s violent tendencies instead of resisting them.
From my earliest memories I was saddened and confused by war. I still am.
War plants the seeds of future wars. War is a failure to communicate. After listing all the possible excuses, justifications, and causes, war remains horrific. It releases and empowers hordes of demons.
The slaughter of human beings is never something to celebrate. The aftermath of a battlefield should be grieved, not celebrated.
War says:“If you believe you are right, then it’s okay to kill those you believe to be wrong.” It also says: “If our nations don’t agree, let’s kill each other until one side surrenders.”
War is infinitely more gory than it is glory.If you feel like a uniform makes a person your enemy, look beyond the clothes to the soul.
War fails to protect soldiers from being killed or wounded and innocent civilians from being collateral damage.When nations fight cruelty with cruelty, it increase cruelty instead of decreasing it.
Being led by the Spirit isn’t an optional part of Christianity. It’s an indicator of who God’s children are. See Romans 8:14.
Repentance and humility are how you make more room for the living Jesus in your heart and mind.When people try to a analyze Jesus, they disagree. When they surrender to and obey Him, they discover unity.
Now is the time for Christians to worship and be led by the Spirit. There’s no need to squabble.
When Jesus is allowed to be present in a human heart, He continually makes His presence known.If the reality of Jesus’ presence isn’t alive in your personal experience, you’ve missing out.
Rivers of living water flow from Christ-followers. Ekklesia (Jesus’ town hall meeting) is God’s forum to learn to freely express those Holy Spirit rivers.Some Christians are coming back to ekklesia & it’s all about Jesus and being led by His Spirit.
Knowledge alone achieves nothing but pride. Information unapplied is useless.
Knowledge doesn’t change hearts; compassion does. Perhaps a curriculum that doesn’t include a course on compassion is incomplete.
Compassion pays great dividends, not with cash, but with the mystical delight of human heart connection.If you have an attitude of compassion when you meet people, you’ll like them better than if you have an attitude of suspicion.
A compassionate heart facilitates interpersonal connection. A suspicious mind hinders it.
We learn to follow Jesus by doing it, not by listening to Sunday lectures about following Him.Church was a 4th century compromise with the Roman Empire, when Christianity received government approval and was institutionalized.
To be motivated and moved by your desires is to surrender your freedom and become enslaved to their demands. To obey the the Holy Spirit is true liberty.
