LAYING ASIDE THE SIN THAT CLINGS SO CLOSELY
In my previous blog post, I promised to devote the next one to the problem of dealing with sin in our pursuit of holiness. In other words: how do I know when I am sinning and what do I do with it once I do know? Fasten your seatbelts, here we go! Before we delve […]
THE STATUS AND STATE OF OUR HOLINESS
As previously forewarned, I am on a holiness “streak” in my blog posts. It’s a subject I have been studying of late, feeling prompted to do so by the Holy Spirit. Not so much because I feel I’m not holy enough, but rather because I expressed my desire to know God better. God is holy, […]
HOLINESS AND A BELIEVER’S TRUE IDENTITY
The Lord has impressed on me to get, and pass on, deeper insight on a subject near and dear to His heart: holiness. Spoiler alert: look for a couple of posts on holiness in relation to various aspects of the Christian life. I wrote previously about the relationship between holiness and the armor of God. […]
HOLINESS AND THE ARMOR OF GOD
Holiness is a word you don’t hear much in today’s church culture. After all, the trends of our day have focused on making it fun to go to church and that means avoiding any talk of things that do not sound like fun. Things like sin, repentance, surrender. And holiness. That word has an otherworldly […]
BUT LOT LINGERED
Have you ever been in a situation where you had the clear impression from the Lord that you were supposed to do something, or quit doing something, or that He seemed to be working to get you out of a pickle, but you hesitated? Such was the case with Abraham’s nephew Lot in Genesis Chapter […]
FORSAKE YOUR THOUGHTS
Did I mention that I have been in Isaiah for a while during my morning devotions? Such rich insight into the mind and counsel toward the people He loves. A few days ago Isaiah 55:6-9 began speaking to me. It says: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is […]
A PASSION FOR HIS GLORY.
Recently, we were confronted with two extreme situations, each evoking a polar opposite range of emotions. A dear friend of ours who was suffering from glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer that had sunk tentacles deep into both sides of her brain rendering it inoperable and giving her but a few months more to live, was […]
DO NOT LOSE HEART
Have you ever prayed and prayed, perhaps even fasted, shed tears, and cried out to the Lord every day for a particular need and felt that there seemed no visible evidence of an answer? Did you wonder if there was anything in your life or in the spiritual realm that was blocking or delaying the […]
KEEPING OUR HEARTS FREE FROM IDOLS
Many of the judgments over Israel, Judah, and their surrounding countries that were pronounced through the pen and mouth of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah had to do with two things: self-reliance instead of reliance on God and idol worship instead of worshipping the One True God. It is the latter that pierced my heart […]
CAN WE SENSE THINGS IN THE SPIRIT?
On April 22, Jennifer and I crossed the St. Croix River into Wisconsin on our way to a long-anticipated prayer gathering that we hoped would launch a sustained prayer initiative for revival in the spiritually dark area of Pine County MN, and Burnett County WI. As we drove over the bridge, two things happened that […]