Category Archives: General

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me. (Psalm 23:4)

Far too many people, including many in the church, mistakenly believe that circumstances make the person . . . in other words, you become what you are because of the circumstances you encounter throughout life. James Allen neatly dismantled this misconception by saying, “Circumstance does not make the man . . . it reveals him.”

Today’s verse of encouragement tells us how independent we are of outward circumstances, thanks to one simple truth: Jesus is with us!

• Jesus was with Moses walking through the Red Sea
• Jesus was with Elijah on Mount Carmel when facing the prophets of Baal
• Jesus was with Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego in the fiery furnace
• Jesus was with Daniel in the lions’ den
• Jesus was with Stephen being stoned
• Jesus was with Paul in prison

AND JESUS IS WITH YOU . . . regardless of where this finds you today.

We can rise above our circumstances when the seas of life are stormy and it looks like our boat is about to capsize, because the One who walked on the waves is with us. We can be at peace when storm winds are blowing in our lives, because the One who said “Peace, be still” and calmed the storm is with us. It may feel as if darkness is enveloping you, but fear not! The Light of the World has promised to guide you and protect you and ultimately bring you safely to the other side.

If you find yourself lying on a bed of sickness today, fear not! Your sickbed becomes a throne of grace because Jesus is with you in your sickness. If you are facing financial difficulties and poverty is banging at your door, fear not! Jesus has promised to give you more in your lack than the rich will ever have in their abundance, for He is with you. Even death itself cannot disrupt the peace of the disciple, because Jesus our Savior became the death of death, and to cross the Jordan with Him is to enter the place marked GLORIOUS GAIN!

Regardless of the circumstances you are facing today, fear not! The power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within has given you the power to make you independent of all circumstances. Darkness becomes light. Loss becomes gain. And death becomes life, because Jesus is with us and He has promised us, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25).

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. (2 Corinthians 3:3)

God’s love letter to us, the holy Bible, tells us that we are letters of our Lord Jesus Christ, letters that are not written by human hands but by the Holy Spirit. So the question we all must answer is this: What does my letter say to those who are reading it? It has been rightly observed that the life of the Christian believer will be the only Bible many people ever read. People are reading you to learn about Jesus Christ.

How does it make you feel to know you are one of the Lord’s living epistles? Do you feel great about that? Or . . . maybe not so great? Maybe you feel a little guilty?

As disciples of Jesus, we must remember that as soon as the unbelieving world hears our profession of faith, they begin to watch closely to see if our walk matches our talk. The way we live out our faith paints the clearest picture of the kind of God we love and serve. The way we live out our faith will either draw people toward Jesus or repel them. There is no middle ground.

How attractive have you been making God in your words and your deeds lately?

The key to being the most effective letter of the Lord is to pray at the outset of every day that God will make the truths of the Gospel to be manifest in your life. Jesus is our model, because He was the perfection of the Lord’s Letter in the flesh. He lived out the truths of the Gospel perfectly, yet even in His perfection as the living Word of God, some were attracted and some were repelled. Some received and some rejected; some walked with Him and some walked away.

There’s a lesson for you and me in that truth: Our focus should not be on the reception we receive when others read us; rather, our focus is to be on prayerfully striving to make the message contained within our own living letter consistent with God’s Gospel of love and grace.

Here is one of the simplest ways to look at the content of the Lord’s Letter: It should be written in the shape of a cross. The first thing people need to read must be written vertically: How we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The next thing people need to read must be written horizontally: How we love others . . . all others. We don’t just love the lovely and the lovable. We love all others as we recall the love that was poured out upon us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). When people read a message of love in us as we live out the Lord’s letter — love for God and love for people — they are receiving the most important message they will ever read.

Do you recognize what a great privilege it is to be the Lord’s living epistle? Jesus has chosen to write His message of perfect love on imperfect parchment paper, and He has set it before the watching world for everyone to read. Remember, Christian, His mercies are new every morning, so we are given a new opportunity every day to write a new letter of love for the glory of our Lord.

What will the Spirit of the living God write upon you today?

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Today is Valentine’s Day. I’m sure every reader has childhood memories of giving and receiving cards and candy. If you’re a parent, you may be knee-deep in that process today with your kids. I have a distinct memory of small, heart-shaped candies that had an assortment of messages on them: “Be Mine,” “I Love You,” “You’re Sweet,” and so on. Those Valentine’s Day memories are not always sweet ones: Sometimes “the one” who one of my children had most hoped would send a “Be Mine” message sent no message at all; there were other times when a sincere message of childhood affection was ignored.

Many readers of this blog probably will probably give a Valentine’s Day gift and/or card to a spouse or sweetheart. Perhaps even that is not so sweet; maybe that love is not being returned . . . or maybe there is no one to give that card and gift to, and you are wishing and praying that God would bring you that special someone. Whether this day is a day of sweetness or sorrow for you, I hope you’ll find tremendous encouragement in the Bible’s message about our Lord’s unimaginable love . . . for you!

When was the last time you gave some serious thought to just how loved you truly are by your Savior? If you spent every waking moment marinating in and meditating on this truth, you would not even begin to plumb the depths of how deeply and divinely loved you are! Here is how Charles Spurgeon described this love in his Morning and Evening devotional:

Where shall language be found which shall describe His matchless, His unparalleled love towards the children of men? It is so vast and boundless that, as the swallow but skimmeth the water and diveth not into its depths, so all descriptive words but touch the surface, while depths immeasurable lie beneath.

The apostle Paul tells us in our verse for today that God’s love for us is so vast that it surpasses knowledge. Our finite minds simply cannot understand infinite love; and what we do understand would not fill a teaspoon to overflowing. It is a love that God in Christ had for us in eternity past, before time began (2 Timothy 1:9). When there was only the Triune God, there still was His love for us that surpasses knowledge. Then that love that surpasses knowledge created us in His own image. The heart that beat with that incomprehensible love never skipped a beat when we rejected God’s love, but rather it pursued rebels on the run. Who can understand that kind of love?

The love that surpasses knowledge sought us, caught us, and bought us with His own precious blood as He hung on a cruel cross. What agony Jesus endured to have us as His own! He was denied, betrayed, falsely accused, mocked, beaten, brutally scourged, endured a crown of thorns pressed into His brow, and shuddered as nine-inch nails were driven through His hands and His feet. And as if that wasn’t enough pain to experience in His pursuit of the objects of His affection — you and me — Jesus endured the heart-searing pain of the supernatural separation from His Father, who could not look upon His Son because He had become sin for us. Jesus cried out in His anguish, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” 

And if there is a brief flicker of time when we just might begin to sense the depths of the divine love that has been poured out upon us, notice the last portion of today’s verse: “That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” It is impossible to fathom what it means to be filled with the love of God; how then can we possibly fathom what it means to be filled with all the fullness of God?

Beloved, know this: When knowledge is surpassed, it is simply best to receive and rest in its truth. This Valentine’s Day, may that truth fill your heart to overflowing. Christian, you are loved . . . deeply, passionately, and for all eternity. God wrote it in the Bible, His “Be Mine” Valentine’s Day card to you: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3).

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

It is said of these people, “They kiss calf-idols!” (Hosea 13:2)

Some 700 years before the birth of Christ, the people of God were in ugly, willful rebellion against God. They had left their first love and were chasing after smaller gods that promised life but delivered only death. This is always the case when we chase after anything smaller than Jesus. Oh, it may look like life, and it may even feel like life for a time, but in the end it cannot deliver on its promise and brings with it only despair, destruction, and death.

Let this serve as a word of warning this day: Kiss not the calf! Whatever that idol may be, it will not satisfy the longing of your heart. Instead, bow the knee and kiss the King of kings and Lord of lords, for He will always meet you with love and grace in your deepest place of need.

The problem with presenting a message like this in our contemporary church culture is that too many Christians will dismiss it offhand. We hear the word “idol,” and we promptly picture the golden calf the Israelites formed and began to worship when Moses tarried too long on the mountain of God. Oh, we believe the biblical account of the people of Israel bowing down and worshiping a statue, but we assure ourselves that those were a primitive people; we are far too educated and sophisticated to do anything like that.

I’m perfectly willing to grant that most people living in the 21st century are unlikely to worship a statue of a calf, but it is also a fact that men and women will worship idols that are much more “fashionable” . . . things like a job, a relationship, financial success, a hobby, social status, physical beauty, and more. All these forms of worship can be summarized by one word: greed, which the Bible expressly defines as idolatry in Colossians 3:5.

It’s important to point out that most of our present-day idols are not “bad” things. Things like career advancement, physical health, and positive relationships are good things that we should all pursue. The problem arises when these (and countless other good things) become ultimate things in our lives; that is when they become bad things. These idols enslave us and become life-altering, causing us to do things we ought not do; often we hurt ourselves and our loved ones in the process of our idolatrous pursuits.

Let’s be honest; we all kiss calf-idols from time to time. Sometimes they are clearly bad for us — things like greed and immorality. But more often than not, they are good for us — things like maintaining a strong marriage and raising healthy children — and the greater the good, the greater our expectation of having our deepest needs met by it. I’ve said it here before, but this truth cannot be overemphasized: Good things become bad things when they become ultimate things.

Have you kissed the calf lately? Have you sought after anything smaller than God to give to you what only God can give? Remember, we all enter this world with a God-sized void in our hearts, and it is only when we fill that void with God that we will find the happiness and joy and satisfaction we so deeply desire.

Kiss not the calf! Rather, like the prostitute who anointed our Lord with expensive ointment, kiss the feet of Jesus Christ, and your internal void will be filled to overflowing.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth . . .” (Matthew 6:19)

One of the great blessings of being a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is found in the gift of “divine disencumberment,” where God supernaturally shifts our focus away from earthly treasure to heavenly treasure. The amazing grace that God used to raise us from death to life is the same grace God uses to raise us above seeking after earthly treasure and hoarding them “where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”

Is divine disencumberment one of the marks of your life today?

Before we were saved, by grace through faith, we sought after the stuff of this life. In our worldly-mindedness, we looked to satisfy the desires of the flesh through the attainment of any of the 5 Ps – power, position, prestige, prosperity, and pleasure. And make no mistake, the more we were in hot pursuit of any of these things, the more we became encumbered by the flesh and temporal satisfaction. The more we pursue the stuff of this life, the less we pursue our beloved Savior, and the result of this worldly pursuit is to multiply the cares of this life.

The true disciple of Christ says NO to worldliness and YES to the Word. Remember, it is not a matter of eliminating pursuit; it is a matter of pursuing the right things. Our problem is not desire; our problem is that we desire the wrong things. Our hearts should beat after all things above, pursuing the life God has called us to live. Throughout this life, we are being conformed into the image of our Lord Jesus. The more we are conformed into His image, the less we are encumbered with the stuff of this life.

Divine disencumberment is a grace that grows in the heart that beats for nothing smaller than Jesus. The true disciple is one who seeks first the kingdom of heaven, trusting that everything else will follow. God has promised to meet all our needs in the glorious riches of His precious Son, our beloved Savior. We need only keep the main thing the main thing, allowing Jesus His rightful place in our lives: on the throne of our hearts. Divine disencumberment frees us from a life filled with empty pursuits and fills us with the eternal promise that “The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10:22 ESV).

So . . . what treasures have you been storing up for yourself lately? What does the confession of your life say to those who know you best? Remember, we are all hunting some kind of treasure. The key is to hunt after the treasures that are holy, and then divine disencumberment will bless you wherever you go.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . .” (Matthew 9:6)

We all have a tendency to mistake wants for needs. We frequently say, “I need this” or “I need that,” when in actuality we don’t need it at all; we simply want it, and we want it so badly that we have placed it in the category of need. With that being said — and that should give us all a moment of pause to check our want list today — let me encourage you by sharing the importance of understanding our greatest need and how it has already been met.

The greatest need every person has is the need for forgiveness. Unless our sins are forgiven, we will spend eternity separated from the love of God in a terrible place where there is never any happiness or comfort, but only weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luke 13:28). To die without Christ is to die in our sins.

But this will not be the case for those who understand the truth of our verse for today and have embraced that truth by grace, through faith. Our Lord Jesus Christ has the authority and the power to forgive our sins — all of our sins. Jesus was born as a babe in a manger to die in our place in order to pay the penalty for our sins, and at this very moment He has the power to pardon, no matter what we have done. His wounds bear witness to that power and authority.

He who knew no sin became sin for all those who will trust in Him as Lord and Savior. The penalty was paid . . . atonement made . . . debt satisfied. God the Father put His supernatural stamp of approval on the cross work of His beloved Son by raising Him from the grave on the third day, just as the Scriptures had said. He has granted repentance for sin to all His elect, and He has also guaranteed remission of sin. The power of His passion is perpetual; never shall the divine fountain of forgiveness run dry.

May this truth set us free from the gnawing guilt that keeps us from growing into the person God is calling us to be. To be sure, every Christian should be filled with a godly sorrow when we sin and break the heart of God. But after we have taken our sin to the throne of grace, we are to remember that it has been nailed to the cross and cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. We really are forgiven!

Beloved, because your greatest need has been met, you should be experiencing the peace that passes all understanding every day. Don’t let the evil one make you a prisoner to your past. We must learn from the past, yes, but not live in it. Because our Lord’s mercies are new every morning, you can rise up this day and live as one who has been eternally forgiven and will never be forsaken. You have His Word on that.

Oh, the joy in knowing that our greatest need has been met and is met each day by our Master!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

There is a comforting challenge contained within our passage of Scripture today. Does that sound like a contradiction in terms to you — “comforting challenge”? Usually a “challenge” is an exhortation to engage in something difficult, right? Well, when Jesus Christ referred to Himself as the true Vine and to us as His branches and then went on to say, “Apart from me you can do nothing,” it was the same as saying “Connected to Me you can do anything!”

We live in a world that is self-deceived by self-dependence. The idea of a “self-dependent” or “self-reliant” person is a myth. Those who think of themselves as strong, self-reliant people live in a world of make-believe. No one ever has and no one ever will live a self-dependent life. Even our Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, God in the flesh, did not live a self-dependent life when He came into this world. Rather, He lived in complete dependence upon God the Father through the power of God the Holy Spirit.

Jesus made no attempt to hide His dependency. “I tell you the truth,” He said, “the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing.” (John 5:19). Moments later, He said again, “By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me” (John 5:19, 30).

To pursue a life of self-dependence is to pursue a life our Savior refused to live. As He knelt in prayer just hours before His arrest and execution, Jesus said, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Think about it this way. Every breath you take and every beat of your heart is dependent upon the will of God. Only as God purposes for us do we have life, and that life is totally dependent upon the will of God sustaining it, “for in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Every person is God-dependent, whether they want to acknowledge it or not. When the world speaks of “willpower,” it is speaking in self-deceived terms, because “will” has absolutely no “power” apart from God.

Listen, being a god is not only hard, it is impossible to do. When we attempt it, our hopes that our self-dependence will mask our weaknesses actually accomplish just the opposite. We end up appearing both anxious and afraid to those around us.

So, here is a question we all need to ask ourselves: Are we trying to live a life of self-dependence, as branches disconnected from the true Vine? If you are sensing in any area of life where this is the case, simply turn your heart back to God and remember Zechariah 4:6 — “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Never forget that self-dependence is self-deception. Stay close to Jesus through His Word, your prayers, and consistent connection to His people, and you will be living the only kind of life that truly matters: Savior-dependence, which brings glory to God and good to others.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.” (Ezekiel 34:11)

What a word of cosmic comfort we have before us today! Notice this most amazing truth: Our Lord Jesus Christ does not send someone out in His place to search for and care for His sheep. Oh no! The prophet Ezekiel tells us that Jesus is the sovereign, seeking, searching, shepherd Savior. And He is all that for you.

Notice something else contained within today’s text. Our salvation not only begins because of Jesus, but it continues and is sustained because of our continually searching Savior. No matter where or how often we wander away from our Lord, He chases us down and returns us to His sheep-fold. And He does not go into action when a certain number of His flock wander away. The parable of the lost sheep (Mathew 18:12-14) makes it perfectly clear that our great Shepherd leaves the heard to go find even one, single lost sheep and brings him or her back to the fold. You matter that much to Jesus!

One final point: To be “looked after” by our Shepherd is to be locked in to our salvation. “This is the will of him who sent me,” Jesus said, “that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day” (John 6:39). Jesus will not lose a single sheep . . . and that includes you.

Is this not a powerful promise to plead if at this time you find yourself having strayed away from your Shepherd’s sheepfold? It certainly was for Peter. When Peter denied Jesus three times on the night of Jesus’ arrest and that rooster crowed, Peter’s heart was broken for having failed his Savior so grotesquely. But after His resurrection, Jesus restored Peter by asking a simple question — not once, but three times: “Do you love me?”

If your answer is the same as Peter’s — “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you” — you can be assured that nothing can ever separate you from your searching Savior. Nothing can snatch you out of His hand (John 10:28). Let that truth set you free today and every day until you cross the Jordan and enter into your eternal rest.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor. (Matthew 27:13-14)

Pilate pressed our Lord to speak in His own defense, and I believe that we are just as astonished as Pilate to read that Jesus “made no reply.” It certainly wasn’t because He was unsure of how to respond! After Jesus preached His incomparable Sermon on the Mount, we read that “The crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority” (Mathew 7:28-29). In another passage of Scripture, the temple guards — who certainly were not “fanboys” of Jesus Christ — confessed that “No one ever spoke the way this man does” (John 7:46). No, Jesus was not at a loss for words when He stood before Pilate; He deliberately chose not to reply.

In the life of every disciple of Christ, there is a time to speak and a time to be silent. The key is to possess the wisdom and discernment to know what time it is! So much can be said about these two simple words, “no reply,” that can bring great encouragement into the life of the Christian. Jesus made no reply when words might have well have brought a blessing to Himself, but never once did our loving Lord withhold His words when He could bless others. 

Jesus said to the fishermen He met by the shore, “Follow Me,” and they became fishers of men. 

Jesus said to the man up in a tree, “Zacchaeus, I must stay at your house today,” and the despised tax collector rose up into the ministry of the Gospel alongside his Master. 

Jesus said to the woman at the well, “Will you give me a drink?” and she received “living water.” She became the first evangelist in her town in Samaria, and as a result, many there became believers. 

Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, “Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” and she left His presence, forgiven and faithful to her Lord. 

These are just a few of the many examples of the words of Jesus blessing others. He made no reply to Pilate, refusing to provide a defense against the blatantly false accusations made against Him, but He never missed the opportunity to defend and bless others. 

Where has Jesus spoken into your life and brought you great blessing? Remember, Jesus made no reply because He chose to take our place and die on a cross. Jesus made no reply so He could drink the full cup of God’s wrath. This was the time for Jesus to be silent because His silence testified to the fact that He was the True Lamb of God who was silent “as a sheep before her shearers is silent” (Isaiah 53:7).

But when it comes to your relationship with Him, He has not stopped speaking life to you, and He will continue to do so all the way into glory.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. (1 Corinthians 10:11)

Make no mistake about this biblical truth: Your life . . . my life . . . everyone’s life will serve as either an example to follow or a warning to avoid. I have worked as a coach for decades, and I am always amazed when some high-profile athlete declares, “I’m not a role model!” I have no doubt that they may not want to be a role model, but they most certainly are one for many people who are watching them.

The same can be said for everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ. Did you know that you are the only “Bible” some people will ever read? These people who have never opened a Bible know nothing about the 66 books of sacred Scripture . . . but they know a great deal about the life they see you living. And because you are a disciple of Jesus, the way you live is all they know about the Jesus of the Bible.

So the question that needs to be asked is this: Is your life serving as an example to follow? Or is it a warning to avoid? I want to make something perfectly clear: I am not speaking about living a perfect life. Only Jesus did that. One of the beautiful things about the living and active Word of God is that it presents its heroes as sinners in need of a Savior, just as you and I are. We live every aspect of our lives imperfectly. We all think things we ought not think. . . we say things we ought not say . . . and we do things we ought not do.

What I am talking about when I say that our lives should serve as an example to follow is that our hearts should be filled with the desire to live a life that is pleasing to God, even though we know it will not be perfect on this side of the grave. Peter’s life was far from perfect; he denied knowing our Lord three times and later refused to eat with Gentile Christians, earning a sharp rebuke from Paul (Galatians 2:11). Yet the life Peter lived serves as a wonderful example of what it means to live for nothing smaller than Jesus Christ, even while living it imperfectly.

Every great saint in Scripture and in the history books had their share of blemishes and warts for all the world to see. But that just makes them more real to us! Even when others don’t see our shortcomings, we know they are there. We are painfully aware when we do not measure up. And yet, in spite of our imperfections, God has chosen us to put His glorious Gospel on display. Never forget that God uses imperfect people . . . because that’s all He he has to work with! 

Have you considered the example you are setting for those around you? Look, we’re all going to mess it up from time to time. When you do fall short of setting a good example, confess your sin and ask for forgiveness — from God and from those you may have disappointed, offended, or hurt. Then get on with your life and live it, as much as it is within your power, for the glory of God and the good of others. 

Everyone is an example. So let me ask you once again: Is your life serving as an example to follow? Or is it a warning to avoid?

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!