The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (Psalm 23:1, esv). Think how much of our misery comes from our wanting. Wanting a particular level of income. Wanting a specific kind of vacation. Wanting a certain desired job, position, or assignment. Wanting to be like somebody else, or wanting what they have. Wanting this, […]
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating […]
Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5, esv). What’s one of the hardest things you do in a typical day or typical week? Something job-related? Something to do with your kids? Your marriage? Your in-laws? Something physical, like […]
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 29:13–14a, ESV). The most important choice you will ever make in your life is to choose God. To choose to connect with the God who made you and me and […]
We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory (1 Thessalonians 2:12, esv). Have you ever walked anywhere accidentally? I’m not asking if you’ve been on a walk and ended up somewhere unplanned. I mean, […]
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold (Job 23:10, ESV). Job knew suffering. This one man absorbed more pain than most of us ever have to imagine. In a single day, Job lost his wealth and all ten of his children. Then he […]
And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail (Isaiah 58:11, esv). More than just the seat of emotions, your heart represents the immaterial part of you […]
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17, ESV). Permissive dads say, “Whatever you want.” That parenting style leaves deep, lingering wounds in children. For […]
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved (Psalm 55:22, esv). As much as we may wish for a day in this lifetime when everything negative finally clears and miraculously remains that way for all eternity, that day is not coming. As long […]
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18–19, esv). So much time is wasted by looking back. In the world around […]