Write down the revelation...

Not everything that happens is God’s will for our lives. By believing God is sovereign, many Christians have turned off their brain to understand God’s sovereignty and humankind’s free will are held in tension and where humankind opts to exercise his (or her) freewill apart from God, they will be operating outside of his will. This is related to Lies Christians Believe #1 , where I wrote God does not intend for us to hit rock bottom before we return to his protection. My Boy always seems to be in a growth spurt. He loves clothes shopping so it’s not hard to convince him to come with me to pick up new clothing. This past weekend, I had planned to take my Boy to lunch and then to a few stores to buy him some new clothes. That was my will, but my Boy had another option to hang out with some friends. He chose the latter, so although he needs some new clothes, it will have to wait until a more opportune time. My Boy stepped out of my will to do his own thing. My example is fai...

Heaven doesn’t have a layaway plan for healing. I pray for healing a lot – for myself and for others. Sometimes people are healed completely, sometimes there is a partial healing and sometimes people walk away with no change. I don’t understand why everyone isn’t healed all the time but I will not believe God’s will is for anyone to be sick, or it’s just not their time to receive healing . It’s a lie Christians believe and the western church needs to repent and learn to think differently. Jesus healed all the sick who came to him ( Matthew 8:16 , Luke 6:19 ), and he instructed his disciples to go out and heal the sick ( Matthew 10:8 , Luke 10:9 ). When we are not healed, the problem is not Jesus, not only is he able, he is willing as well ( Matthew 8:3 ). Two things astonished Jesus. One was the faith of the Centurion ( Luke 7:1-10 ) and the other was the lack of faith in Nazareth ( Matthew 13:53-58 ). The Centurion’s servant was healed but Jesus could not do many mirac...

When you see people undignified in worship before the Lord, are you embarrassed for them, or are you encouraged? I’ve spent years in reverent worship and polite praise, but I was released from the yoke of oppression and now I take every opportunity to worship with my whole body, soul and spirit. This past weekend at a conference, an acquaintance approached me after the conference was over and told me she was encouraged by my worship. She called it undignified before the Lord. Yep, that describes my worship. Having grown up in a Mennonite culture where dancing ability is bred out of our genes, I don’t have a rhythmic bone in my body but that doesn’t stop me from dancing – and at the front, no less. I’m aware I can’t keep a beat and I have a poor sense of my own body. In a word, it’s uncoordinated. 2 Samuel 6:12-23 describes the scene when David brings the Ark of the Covenant to the city of Jerusalem. It says he removed his kingly ephod and essentially danced in his und...

Is Jesus a polygamist? The question seems absurd but on accurate assessment of the current state of the church, it would appear we believe Jesus is a polygamist, and the brides don’t like each other. You’ve been part of the problem if: you find out someone is a Christian and you probe a little deeper to find out what kind of Christian and if they say Catholic, you know they aren’t really Christian. someone speaks in tongues in a public setting without an interpretation you discount it as demonic. you’re looking for a new church but the one down the street isn’t the same denomination you grew up in, you won’t even consider checking it out. a pastor with a public ministry is removed because of sin, you gossip about it, instead of pray for God’s grace in the situation. I’ve been guilty of all of those and then some but my thinking was wrong and I’ve had to repent to retrain my brain to think differently. The truth is there is going to be a wedding. Jesus is the brid...

God loves some people more than others, right? It’s obvious – some have soft, cushy lives and others’ lives are more like a series of unfortunate events. It stands to reason God loves me more than he loves Hitler, or God loves Mother Theresa more than he loves me. By and large, we perceive love is something earned. There is a scale of good deeds and the more good deeds you do, the greater God will love you. Many agree and will admit God loves some people more than others but there are still many (if not most) Christians who believe it but have enough sense not to admit it but it’s hard not to compare our blessings with another person’s and if they are better, deduce God loves them more. It’s a terrible way to live because the only way to increase the amount of love shown you is to perform better. It’s a lie Christians believe, the truth is God loves, period. Not more, not less. He loves you, he loves me, he loves Osama Bin Laden, and he loves the bully who beat up your kid ...

A kindly, faithful monk dies and is taken to the pearly gates in heaven. He is greeted by St. Peter, who says, “Because of your life of faithfulness, the good Lord would like to reward him. You may choose anything and I will take you there.” After some thought, the monk replied, “All my life, I loved to look into the Scriptures, now I would like to begin eternity being able to peruse through the original texts.” St. Peter escorted the faithful monk to the great library where the original works were stored and left the monk. A few days later, a heart-wrenching cry reverberated throughout all of heaven and St. Peter rushed to the libraries, where the sound was coming from. Staggering outside, the monk gripped his robes and shouted, “The text said celebrate , not celibate.” One of my love languages is gifts. I love giving gifts (and I also feel valued when I receive a gift). I especially love giving gifts to my Boy. You know why? It isn’t only because he’s my Boy (although tha...

One thing I know and one thing I have not yet grasped is the same thing: God loves me. Life – all life, my life, your life – starts and ends with God’s love. In John’s gospel, John calls himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved” four times.   It seems audacious until you understand John, above the other disciples, understood something about Jesus the others didn’t fully comprehend. I don’t believe for a second John thought he was loved above and beyond the others, but he understood he was loved. Peter, often the disciple I find most relatable, was quick to profess and demonstrate his undying love for Jesus but John understood he was loved by Jesus apart from his doing anything to warrant it. He was loved, period. He allowed and received the love of Jesus apart from what he could do in return. I know this, you do too, probably. But recently my worship times were interrupted and/or cancelled and I’ve felt distracted or completely unfocussed during my Bible study times. And so ofte...