Loving Theology: Recent Episodes
Loving Theology
| Getting Motivated series | The Wrong Definition Kills Motivation Our definition of success is absolutely fundamental to the process of getting motivated. It defines our target, our aim. What are we getting motivated to do after all? Moreover, last time we saw what happens when we have the wrong idea about what success is, …
How Does God Define Success? Read More »
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Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | Getting Motivated series | Inadequacy vs. Fear of Failure In our struggle for motivation, a lot of things can stand in our way. Not least of which is fear, particularly the fear of failure. We all feel it, and to be honest, it’s a …
What If I Don’t Succeed? (Fear of Failure) Read More »
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Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | Getting Motivated series | When we’re considering whether we should do something, whether we should work hard at it, the first question that often enters our mind is this: “Will I be any good at it?” To consider that question, we’ll look at the …
What if I’m Not the Best? Read More »
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Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | Getting Motivated series | The good news of the gospel is that our righteousness, our position with God, our spot in heaven is not based on what we’ve done. On the cross, Christ gave us all this and more when He gave us His …
What’s Our Motivation? Read More »
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Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | Revelations and Glory series | We have all gone through dry seasons where we feel disconnected from Him, seasons where we don’t see revelations like we used to. Why does this happen? What causes these seasons to sneak up on us? Whereas we have …
Why Am I in a Dry Season? Read More »
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Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | Revelations and Glory series | We have all felt lost at times. We’ve all struggled with questions about our purpose. Ever found yourself asking “Why am I here?” or “What’s the point?” We could describe this as a sense of dissatisfaction. We are no …
We Need Spiritual Hunger Read More »
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Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | Revelations and Glory series | “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” Proverbs 25:2 Last time we began to see the truth in the first part of this verse about the glory …
Revelations that Change Us Read More »
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Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | Revelations and Glory series | God’s Glory Concealed When we study the Scripture, we begin with a mystery that is concealed and, through the process of meditation on His word, God reveals the truth to us. Why did God do it this way though? …
God’s Glory Concealed Read More »
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| Hope series | Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Hope enables us to experience the good promises God has for us even while we’re surrounded by the troubles of this life. We saw last time that the Christian life was never meant to be (and frankly cannot be) done without …
Hope in Heaven Read More »
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Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Why Did Paul Say YOLO? … “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 1 Corinthians 15:32 Life can be difficult. Sometimes it’s just a season and sometimes it’s hard to see when it hasn’t been difficult. But somehow, we are called to have …
Why Did Paul Say YOLO? Read More »
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| Hope series | What is hope? How is hope different from faith? What are the benefits hope has to offer? Did you know that hope leads to joy and enables patience? I wouldn’t mind a little more joy and I know I could use a little more patience. As we kick off this new …
What Is Hope Read More »
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| Modern Idolatry series | Society Can Be an Idol We’ve seen that God alone defines good and evil. Anytime we decide for ourselves what’s good and what’s evil, we repeat the sin of Adam and Eve when they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Anything we allow to subtly …
Can Society Be An Idol? Read More »
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| Modern Idolatry series | We don’t often find ourselves tempted to bow down to a wooden statue but make no mistake, idolatry is very much alive and well in our culture. Idolatry happens any time that we allow something other than God to take on one of His roles in our life. As I’ve …
Have We Idolized Reason? Read More »
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| Modern Idolatry series | More Than Righteousness There are some verses in the Bible that challenge our use of the word “good”. I think we often get confused, thinking that “good” is the same as “righteous”. There are so many verses in the Bible that show us that there’s so much more to the …
Why is Good So Good? Read More »
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| Modern Idolatry series | Sometimes it feels like the Scripture is full of paradoxes. Two things we know are true, that operate side by side but are hard to reconcile. Among the most fundamental of these is works and faith. We know that we are saved by grace through faith and not by our …
Why is Faith the Answer to Sin? Read More »
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| Pro-Life Family Planning guide | Pro-Life Family Planning Intro Understanding Fertility Pro-Life Options for Family Planning Is Hormonal Birth Control Pro-Life? Timing Intercourse to Avoid Conception Birth control works using 3 mechanisms of action: Preventing ovulation (before conception) Hindering sperm reaching egg through in crease in cervical mucus (before conception) Preventing implantation through thinning …
Is the Pill Pro-Life? Read More »
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| Pro-Life Family Planning guide | Pro-Life Family Planning Intro (this page) Understanding Fertility Pro-Life Options for Family Planning Is Hormonal Birth Control Pro-Life? Timing Intercourse to Avoid Conception Maybe you’re asking yourself, why are we talking about this? Does God really care about what we do for birth control? Does our faith really matter …
Pro-Life Family Planning Guide Read More »
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| Don’t Judge…Help series | What do we do when we see someone struggling with sin? In this series we’ve focused on Matthew 7, where Jesus calls us first to not simply pass judgement on them, to condemn them for violating God’s law. But He didn’t stop at what we were called to NOT do, …
What Does Judging/Helping Look Like? Read More »
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| Don’t Judge… Help series | How do we reconcile love with judgment? How do we balance mercy and judgment? Are we even supposed to make judgments? We’ve been in a series exploring Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 7 to “Judge not, that you be not judged.” In exploring this passage, Jesus illustrates this command by …
Judgement That’s Loving Read More »
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| Don’t Judge… Help series | As we talk through Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 7 to not judge others, we left off with this verse last week: First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:5 In the …
Don’t Judge… Help! Read More »
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| Don’t Judge… Help series | One of Jesus’ most famously quoted statements comes from Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that you be not judged. Matthew 7:1 Jesus is telling us to not judge, and we cannot ignore His instruction. So, what does that mean? If we see something sinful, should we refuse to decide, to …
Don’t Judge. Read More »
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| Struggling to Conceive series | We are finally releasing a video for our guide for IVF. Something that can be difficult during that process are all the decisions that need to be made and protecting any lives that are conceived. If you have questions regarding when life begins I’d first check out this post …
IVF Guide Discussion Read More »
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| Make Room to Be Refreshed | We all want to be consistent in our quiet times! The hard part is getting motivated and staying engaged. The reality is we know our relationship with God is our motivation but why is it that many times we don’t follow through. Forcing ourselves to do it isn’t …
How to Stay Engaged in Quiet Times Read More »
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| Make Room to Be Refreshed series | When He asks us to pray, He isn’t giving us another to-do; He’s inviting us to put it all on Him and just breathe. This week we’ll continue this series from last week on making room to receive God’s invitation. If I can say it simply, God …
How to Be Motivated for Quiet Time Read More »
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| Make Room to Be Refreshed series | God invites us to accomplish more by doing less, to release the strain of busyness and be refreshed by spending time with Him. Do you ever feel overwhelmed? If it’s not one thing, it’s another: another crisis at work, another project with a deadline, another soccer practice, …
How to Do More by Doing Less Read More »
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| His Final Hours series | Join us in a deep discussion on how to actually love like Jesus did. After all he said it was better for Him to leave so we can have the spirit of truth. this enables us to love just as deeply as He did with His grace! We will …
How to Love Like Jesus Did Read More »
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| His Final Hours series | Jesus Pain Leading to the Cross Thus far, I’ve emphasized the emotional, mental suffering Jesus endured leading up to the cross, but even before the cross He also endured incredible physical suffering. While our focus in this series is the emotional suffering He endured, let’s remember what He did …
His Unstoppable Love Read More »
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| His Final Hours series | We’re in a series going through Jesus’ final hours and what He faced during those hours, the persecution, the sorrow, and the weight of what He endured. Last time we talked about what led up to His arrest. We saw that Judas truly was one of His closest friends …
How He Loved When He Was Accused Read More »
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| His Final Hours series | The Suffering He Faced In His final hours, Jesus experienced incredible hardship. Throughout His life, He faced plenty of persecution. But in the days leading up to His crucifixion, He faced so much more than I can imagine. The one aspect of Jesus’ suffering we are perhaps most familiar …
How He Loved at His Arrest Read More »
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| God’s Rescue Plan series | Does God Have a Rescue Plan? Despite the wonderful upbringing I had, I have endured some really tragic moments and some seasons in my life that were completely overwhelming. Though I knew of God my whole life and was raised in church, I never brought my worries, hurts, shames, …
God’s Rescue Plan Read More »
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| The Good News series | In this video, we are getting into the practical tips and motivations for overcoming sin. We first discuss the heart of the struggle. What’s the big picture behind why we struggle and how do we really find that motivation to overcome sin. Next, we talk about some practical steps …
How to Live Free From Sin Read More »
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| The Good News series | Liberty through Pardon We saw, last week, how the Good News is that Jesus gives us freedom from slavery to sin. But how did He do this and what does this freedom give us? Let’s look again at what Jesus read in Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord …
Peace with God Read More »
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| The Good News series | What’s the Gospel? When we read about Jesus, it’s incredible to see all He did in such a short time. He healed so many, taught so many, and, ultimately, died for so many. But, for everything He did, what was the main point? Why was He here? He answered …
Set Free Read More »
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| Conception’s Significance | Is an Embryo a Baby? | Scientifically When Does Life Begin? | Scientifically When Is a Person a Person? | Scientifically Is an Embryo a Baby? | Biblically (this post) When Does a Person’s Life Begin? | Biblically | Resolved series | When Do We Have a Soul? We have shown …
Is an Embryo a Baby? | Biblically Read More »
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| Conception’s Significance | Is an Embryo a Baby? | Scientifically (this post) When Does Life Begin? | Scientifically When Is a Person a Person? | Scientifically Is an Embryo a Baby? | Biblically When Does a Person’s Life Begin? | Biblically | Resolved series | A Good Question Let me start by saying that …
Is an Embryo a Baby? | Scientifically Read More »
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| Resolved series | There probably isn’t a more important question that we could answer: Am I Saved? How do we know if we’re saved? What does it mean to be a Christian? Let’s resolve what we must do to be saved. Let’s resolve once and for all if we are saved. If you confess …
How to Know If I Am Saved Read More »
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| Resolved series | Where Did the Universe Come From? Our culture often suggests that it’s foolish to believe in God. I want to explore that and resolve this question for us. Specifically, my goal is to demonstrate that belief in God is quite reasonable. By reasonable, I mean that belief in God, a creator …
God and Reason Read More »
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| Resolved series | The New Year brings an opportunity for a fresh start from this past year. In this video we are discussing how Joseph and I have previously taken on resolutions. Let’s define what resolutions are How they can be helpful What resolutions are really worth our time. How can we finally be …
Resolutions That Matter Read More »
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As I prepared to talk about Christmas this year I came across something so significant. I found a parallel between Jesus’ birth and the way He lived his life that I had never heard someone talk about. The way He came into the world and where so perfectly symbolized the way He would live His …
Jesus Birth and Life (A Christmas Story) Read More »
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| More Than Conquerors series | We can either overcome adversity or allow it to define us. Hardship can either produce good for us or harm. What can we do to enable good to come out of adversity? How do we overcome adversity? Can we really come out on the other side better as a …
How to Overcome Adversity Read More »
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| More Than Conquerors series | Last time we saw How God Works All Things for Good. However, we saw that we also have a part to play, that our response to suffering enables us to receive the good that God wants to produce for us in it. This also means that adversity can either …
What Keeps Us from Overcoming Adversity Read More »
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| More Than Conquerors series | Hardship Can Produce Harm In Why We Suffer, we talked a lot about the good that hardship can produce in us. Indeed, this truth was evident in each of the stories we looked at in that series. However, when we look around us, the stories we hear don’t always …
How God Works All Things for Good Read More »
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| His Love in Suffering series | This is the last in our series on God’s love in our suffering. This week, I’d like to consider a character from the New Testament to talk about his unusual perspective on suffering. Paul wrote quite a bit on the topic of suffering, and I can understand why given …
Rejoice in Suffering Read More »
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| His Love in Suffering series | We are in a series on God’s love in our suffering. Seeing the suffering in this world and experiencing suffering in our own life may make it seem that God doesn’t love us. However, there is one character in the Bible whose story powerfully refutes this. If God …
Why We Suffer Read More »
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| His Love in Suffering series | In the last post, we explored how God does not always display His love by preventing suffering in our lives. Rather, He shows His love to us by comforting us through our sufferings. In that post, I mentioned that I would like to bring this idea to life …
His Plan for Our Pain Read More »
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| His Love in Suffering series | “When I set aside what I wish He would do for me with His power, I begin to see how much He does for me with His presence.” I wanted to talk about God’s love for us. As I think about His love, my thoughts are often drawn …
His Companionship in Our Distress Read More »
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| Talking with God series | Friendship with God Have you ever felt alone? The fear of being alone certainly ranks among our deepest and most meaningful. But the word “alone” doesn’t fully describe it; after all, we can be surrounded by people, even friends and family, and still feel alone. I long to feel …
Overcoming Loneliness Read More »
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| Talking with God series | Knowing Him and Recognizing His Voice “Is that You God?” Have you ever had a thought while you’re praying and wondered whether it was His voice or just your own? How do we discern if He’s talking to us? In John 10, Jesus explains our relationship with Him as …
Learning God’s Voice Read More »
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| Talking with God series | Is it a sign? Have you ever found yourself wondering if God’s trying to tell you something? I know I have. We long for His direction in our life, but it can be hard to know when He’s speaking. Sometimes I think I’ve heard Him, but when everything goes …
Does God Still Speak? Read More »
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| Struggling to Conceive series | In our post for Father’s Day this year, we issued the first release of a guide for Christian couples who are trying to conceive, including a guide for IVF. We also promised to release further updates to this guide as we had time to put the research we’ve done …
TTC Guide Intro Read More »
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| Finding Satisfaction series | A lot of things can make us happy for a little while, but, once the newness fades, the happiness seems to fade right along with it. We all struggle to feel satisfied at times, but how do we approach that struggle? Join us as we take a very practical, “how-to” …
How to Find Satisfaction Read More »
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| Finding Satisfaction series | Whether it’s more work or more play, we’ve seen in this series that neither promises to satisfy. However, we often experience our most meaningful success and our most lasting joy in the context of our closest relationships. Whether it’s friendships, dating, marriage, or family, perhaps relationships can offer what success …
Can Soulmates Satisfy Read More »
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| Finding Satisfaction series | Why did God make pleasure? Can our desire for pleasure ever be fully satisfied? What does enjoying pleasure look like as Christians, in what ways are we limited? Can Pleasure Satisfy? Like we discussed last week, God wants us to enjoy life’s good things. Whether it’s relaxing with a glass …
Satisfying Our Desire for Pleasure Read More »
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| Finding Satisfaction series | The Ingredients of Success What can we do to be successful? How do we know when we’ve achieved success, or, more specifically, at what point does success bring satisfaction? King Solomon was a genuine authority on success. He was incredibly rich and powerful, being Israel’s most prosperous king: “I became …
Satisfied in Success Read More »
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| Finding Satisfaction series | Happiness Are you happy? A lot of things can make us happy for a little while, but, once the newness fades, the happiness seems to fade right along with it. How can we find it again? What does it mean to be happy? From Harvard studies to the Pharrell Williams …
How to Be Happy Read More »
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| Forgiveness series | What should we forgive? EVERYTHING. How do we forgive even the hardest things? After releasing new videos for our series on forgiveness, we have a new discussion style video to help make this series very practical. Join us as we talk about how we forgive and what that process looks like, including: …
How to Forgive Read More »
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| Forgiveness series | Christ offers His account to repay us for the debts we forgive one another; an account full of peace and joy and love. Last week we talked about the parable of the unforgiving servant. This parable shows how the forgiveness we give to others flows from the forgiveness we first received …
His Promise to Repay Read More »
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| Forgiveness series | When He asks us to forgive, He invites us first to receive His forgiveness so that we are empowered to simply pay it forward. I love the disciples. So often they do exactly what I would picture myself doing or ask the very question that’s on my mind. Take Matthew 18 …
His Forgiveness: Pay It Forward Read More »
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| Struggling to Conceive series | My Gift On Mother’s Day, we shared about our first miscarriage as we said Happy Mother’s Day to those who’ve struggled to conceive or had a loss. My Father’s Day gift this year represents something of a milestone for this story. Little Evie came in time for Father’s Day. …
A Gift for Father’s Day Read More »
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| What Is Love series | His Love Saves Us In the story of the adulterous woman that we discussed last week, it’s inspiring to see the way that Jesus showed His love for her when He defends her and refuses to condemn her. We stopped just short of the end of this story though. …
God’s Commandments are Love Read More »
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| What Is Love series | God’s Love is Selfless God is for you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. His love for you is completely selfless. That’s who He is. In our last post, we saw that we need to know God as a person and who He is to know what …
God’s Faithfulness is Love Read More »
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| What Is Love series | What Is Love? How would you define love? I can only imagine how vastly different each person’s definition would be. Even as I looked at the definition in the dictionary, it was incredibly vague. The Bible, however, has a lot to say about love and gets very specific about …
The Definition of Love Read More »
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| Resting in Our Weakness series | In our last post I promised to share something God showed me that helped me see the gift of salvation in a whole new light as we finish this series on Resting in Our Weakness. It comes from the end of our passage in Matthew 11; in verse …
Resting in Our Salvation Read More »
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| Resting in Our Weakness series | Last week we took a break from our series on rest for a special post for Mother’s Day. This week I’d like to pick up with the second in our series on Resting in Our Weakness. Humility vs. Meekness “Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I …
The Work and the Worry Read More »
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| Struggling to Conceive series | Our Story When Monica and I got married, we planned to wait a year before having kids, but apparently God had other plans. Abigail was born just 10 months after we got married, literally as soon as possible. Even Elijah was born just 14 months after Abigail. While the …
Happy Mothers Day Read More »
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| Resting in Our Weakness series | Finding Rest “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) That’s a promise I’d like to cash in on. But, how do we? It goes on to say, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30) I …
Yoked with Jesus Read More »
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| The Power of Prayer series | Does God Hear Us? We saw last week that God desires to bring us closer. His voice has the power to change us for the better, but sin can cause us to hide our hearts from Him. In hiding our hearts, we are unable to hear His voice. …
God Hears Us Read More »
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| The Power of Prayer series | If you want to hear God more, let Him lead the conversation. Why Can’t I Hear Him? We all want to hear God’s voice. When I felt led to start this website, I wanted to be sure it’s what God wanted. So, I set aside time to take …
Hearing God Read More »
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Knowledge only becomes eternally significant when it inspires us to love better. As I was reading 1 Corinthians, I came across the familiar chapter on love. After strolling through the recognizable list of all the things love is and isn’t, I was surprised to find a verse I’ve read many times: “as for knowledge, it …
The Aim Is Love Read More »
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