Bringing Scripture to Life

If you struggle with anxiety or worry, you are no different that 140 million americans who combat this deadly and overwhelming paralyzer each day. However, God's promise to us is that He will keep in "PERFECT PEACE", those whose minds are steadfast on Him (Isaiah 26:3). The Bible tells us that Jesus is our "PEACE" (Ephesians 2:14), and in Him we are "COMPLETE" (Colossians 2:10). If you are not experiencing the peace of God through your relationship with Jesus Christ, whose peace is a product of all who are His according to Galatians 5:22, then I pray that this message on overcoming anxiety will not only minister to you, but that it will inspire you, and permanently transform you. That is what our God does, He transforms hearts and minds and makes us whole (Romans 12:1-2). Before you listen to the voice of the enemy telling you, "Don't listen to this, you've already tried to go to God for help, it doesn't work! He doesn't ...

I have been really blessed by a book that I am currently reading, entitled, "They Found the Secret", by V. Raymond Edman. In this book, I just read the chapter about Amy Carmichael, and one of the poems she wrote was very inspiring for the person who is seeking to follow Jesus closely. Amy Carmichael From Prayer that asks that I may be Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee From fearing when I should aspire From faltering when I should climb higher From silken self, O Captain, free Thy soldier who would follow Thee. From subtle love of softening things From easy choices, weakenings Not thus are spirits fortified Not this way went the Crucified From all that dims Thy Calvary O Lamb of God, deliver me Give me the love that leads the way The faith that nothing can dismay The hope no disappointments tire The passion that will burn like fire Let me not sink to be a clod Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.

I was really blessed by this powerful poem I read this morning. It was written by the late Dr. A.B. Simpson, on the importance of putting Christ before all. Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord Once it was the feeling, now it is His word Once His gifts I wanted, now the Giver own Once I sought for healing, now Himself alone Once ‘twas painful trying, now ‘tis perfect trust Once a half salvation, now the uttermost Once ‘twas ceasless holding, now He holds me fast Once ‘twas constant drifting, now my anchor’s cast Once ‘twas busy planning, now ‘tis trustful prayer Once ‘twas anxious caring, now He has the care Once ‘twas what I wanted, now what Jesus says Once ‘twas constant asking, now ‘tis ceaseless praise Once it was my working, His it hence shall be Once I tried to use Him, now He uses me Once the power I wanted, now the Mighty One Once for self I labored, now for Him alone...

Do you ever stop to think about how much God truly loves you? The Bible tells us to do this. The apostle of love exhorts us to, " Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God" (1 John 3:1). The Apostle John, the one in whom Jesus loved (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2), is exhorting us to "behold", or to take notice of, to study, or to literally stop and place our focus upon the incredible truth that God loves us! This past Saturday night I took my wife out to dinner to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary, and while we were out, I was given the opportunity to do just that, to "behold" how much our Father in heaven loves us. As we were at dinner (with a window-seat that came with a beautiful ocean view), we couldn't resist taking some pictures together at sunset. It was while we were taking photos that God once again caused me to stop and think about just how much He truly loves us. One of the photos th...

I have to tell you, and I realize before I say this that it may not seem very "manly" of me to say this (at least by some men's standards), but being married to my wife has been by far the greatest blessing in the world to me. 11 years ago today, on September 25th, 1999, I became (in my opinion) the most blessed man on the planet! God allowed me to marry one of His amazing daughters, Lyndsey, and it has been the greatest adventure and love story that I could ever have hoped to experience up to this point in life. I have to confess to you, that our marriage has been absolutely blessed beyond measure as far our relationship is concerned. We have had arguments of course, especially in the first 6 months of our marriage, when God stuck two very rough lumps of clay together. It was awkward at times, but we allowed the Potter to take His Spirit, and pour over us the Living Water, in order to help mold us smoothly together. Since that time God has taken our arguments, and tau...

I recently went with the Men's Ministry from our church  on their annual camping/fishing trip to the Sierra Mountains (near Bishop, CA). I haven't had so much fun fishing in over thirty years! Mainly because I really haven't fished too much in the last thirty years, but also because on this particular trip we caught tons of fish! Between the five guys that I was fishing with we ended up catching 27 trout! Prior to us catching all of these fish, we had spent a few hours with a total of just 1 fish, which I had caught in the first twenty-minutes of being there. I was using a well-known type of bait, called Powerbait. The Powerbait that I caught the first fish on was a bright yellow color. But like I said, even though this was Powerbait, I didn't feel at the time it was showing signs of having any power at all. But then after a few hours had passed by, a young guy named Cory came up to us and began talking to us. He encouraged us to try using the "Lime Green...