Do You Understand the Power of Prayer?  Good Morning Friends,  Grace abounds in my life. In many ways I am the poster child for predestination. I grew up in a loving family. I have had people praying for me all my life. I have the security of love in my relationships and enjoy moderate success … Continue reading Do You Understand the Power of Prayer? →

What Do We Do with the Biblical Call To Purity?  Good Morning Friends,  I understand we need to embrace the ongoing work of sanctification. I understand we need to become more holy. The Bible calls us to live lives of holiness. But purity, that sounds so restrictive, so boring...so isolating. So what does the Bible … Continue reading What Do We Do with the Biblical Call To Purity? →

How Are We Empowered to Want to Follow Jesus?  Good Morning Friends,  As a follow up to yesterday's devotion on making disciples today we explore the power of an intimate presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Here we reflect on how the Son of God not only became human to enable us to … Continue reading How Are We Empowered to Want to Follow Jesus? →

Are We True Disciples?  Good Morning Friends,  With Christ at the door our fears can be relieved. With Christ at the door we can be freed. For sure we have messed up but because of God's grace we are not locked in. We can be freed of the guilt of sin and know the truth. … Continue reading Are We True Disciples? →

Are You A Child At Heart?  Good Morning Friends,  Children are kingdom people. They can be aggravating, they can drive an adult nuts but they are the future and they need to be provided access to the resources to fulfill their roles in it. As Christians, we need to reach out to them whether or not they reach … Continue reading Are You A Child At Heart? →

 Truly What Is Needed to Sustain Our Faith?  Good Morning Friends,  Recently we installed new elders and deacons during worship. As part of the experience previously ordained elders and deacons lay hands on the new class as a public display and visible sign of our connection in ministry. A goodly portion of the congregation came down … Continue reading Truly What Is Needed to Sustain Our Faith? →

Do You Know How to Pray?  Good Morning Friends,  Amazing though this may sound, God really loves to spend time with us in prayer. It is a verb that turns us into a better noun and is at the confluence our spiritual lives with leadership as a noun becoming activated in us as a verb … Continue reading Do You Know How to Pray? →

Do You Have Such A Family Likeness?  Good Morning Friends,  I touched on this last week and so did Pope Francis in Philadelphia on Sunday. I took the scripture from the position of the great diversity of expression of institutional churches but he instead takes it from the perspective of the manifestation of the Baptism … Continue reading Do You Have Such A Family Likeness? →

Who Has the Spiritual Unction in Prayer to Bring Us Together for Confession?  Good Morning Friends,  Nothing in scripture comes back void. Some of it is hard reading, but it too can be as examples of the Kingdom breaking through. Today we see that God attends and measures all the details against His planned Kingdom … Continue reading Who Has the Spiritual Unction in Prayer to Bring Us Together for Confession? →

What is the Origin of Mercy?  Good Morning Friends,  A TIME magazine issue in 1984 presented a startling cover. It pictured a prison cell where two men sat on metal folding chairs. The young man wore a black turtleneck sweater, blue jeans and white running shoes. The older man was dressed in a white robe … Continue reading What is the Origin of Mercy? →