Pray for those who are enduring trial and tribulation. Pray that they would hold fast and be stirred to know that the Lord goes with them. Pray for the believer to hold on. If you are going through trials and tribulations or a season of discipline, then I ask you to reach out to another believer and ask them to pray with you.......

As I shared yesterday, the discipline from my father led me to want to run away. I wanted to draw back, seeing that his discipline of me was because I thought he hated me. What should the response be if I see instead that the discipline from my Heavenly Father is the result of His love for me? It should not be running away or shrinking back from His discipline. Rather, it should be meeting Him wit...

There I sat, curled up in a ball on the floor of my bedroom. My arms folded, rested upon my knees. I was catching my breath from long-winded cries as I wept the discipline I had just received from my father. The moment was silent, my heart beating hardily in my chest. A thought occurred to me. "My dad is punishing me because he hates me!" It doesn't take a very mature mind to arrive at such a conc...

Identity is a core theme throughout Scripture. There is something in a name. If we look at the various names of God, we can see testimony of His character. His names reveal who He is. In our modern culture, we name someone based on names that we like or sound fitting. It is rare that someone name their child out of understanding of the child. It was common practice to wait to name the child until ...

6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice w...

This week's passage spends its efforts in sharing a wonderful mystery concerning the Lord and the relationship between Him and His sons. Held in this passage is a declaration that the audience may very well be sons of God. I do not say this is some mystical or mythical sense. Rather, I say it in the sense of those that belong to God. The qualifier found in this passage is a hard pill to swallow, h...

3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;6For whom the Lord loves He chastens,...

Prayerfully and honestly examine your life to identify and weights or sins that need to be dealt with. Ask the Lord how you can partner with Him in your sanctification in removing those things and how you can set your eyes upon Jesus. Don't overthink it. Trust in the Lord.7“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,And whose hope is the Lord.8For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,Which...

My wife is brilliant when it comes to diet and nutrition. This has been a long time passion for her and it has been a deep desire of hers to bring that passion to the church. There is just one problem. Eating healthy is something that she loves to do. It has been a wrestle to translate that same passion to people that love not eating healthy. She has had to work through many ideas of how to make e...

I have been undergoing a recent paradigm shift. It becomes extremely clear when I look at this week's text. It is one I have been aware of for some time, but hadn't exactly known what to do with it. The solution becomes clear in the passage. Let me spell out the problem and then I will draw attention to the solution.In times past, I have read this passage and have been caught up in exactly what I ...

The imagery that the author of Hebrews gives is a very relevant one. We can all understand running. We can all understand a race. We can also imagine the difficulty of running that race while weighed down or ensnared by something. The instruction that Hebrews gives is to deal with the things that weigh down and ensnare so that the runner can truly run the race set before Him.This instruction is an...

This is one of those passages that serves as a bridge between sections. Be that as it may, it carries profound impact. If we are to look at the whole of Hebrews, it has been funneling the same exhortation and the same argument all throughout it. That exhortation is for the believer to hold on. The example was just given through chapter 11 of all the incredible men and women who walked faith out. T...

This week's passage may be short, but it is admittedly one of my all-time favorite sections of Scripture. It is packed with so much spiritual depth and spells out some incredible things about the Gospel for us as well. In this section, we are guided by the author to look at many different perspectives. We are to consider the great cloud of witnesses that precedes us as an example. We are to identi...

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne ...

Having discussed the suffering of the saints at length, I'd like it if we could take some time this morning to pray for the persecuted church. Pray for those who are undergoing physical persecution. Also pray for those who are undergoing verbal persecution. We have a war of ideologies on our own hands here. Pray for those in and out of America. Pray for your brothers and sisters in the faith.......