The blessing of an undivided heart
Once my heart was undivided, God gave me grace to overcome. Each new year, may we walk in the two blessings that characterized Esther’s and Elijah’s lives!
Rest is a many-splendored thing! Psalm 23
How “many-splendored” rest can be! Especially the rest the Good Shepherd gives. As our lives sing yes to his rest, he lifts our spirit, lightens our load.
Obsession with power, in the church
You begin to see something distressing in the church. Can it, might it, be an obsession with power, eerily like the Baal worship of old? Whatever do you do?
Tabor: The day you overcome
At Mount Tabor, God told Deborah and Barak, “This is the day I will give you victory over your oppressors.” The same Lord gives us strength to overcome, too!
Prayer of the Body, for the Body, of Christ
A prayer “that, as the Bride of Christ, we will continue to learn to ‘walk in beauty’ with our fellow man and God." - Mark Charles
Toxic church? Healing promise: Real belonging
Long ago and still today, God promises his traumatized, grieving, scattered people: I will be a sanctuary to you. I will protect you. I will gather you back.
Masters of misdirection and mesmerizing fog
People like King Ahab spend their lives using and abusing others, to get what they want. They also mesmerize and misdirect us, so we won’t see them as they are.
Feast of Joy, in times when life is hard
Life was hard when God introduced me to Sukkot, the Feast of Joy – and invited me into the joy that is at once bedrock and a bubbling spring.
Spiritual schizophrenia and the two-headed snake
"How long will you try to go both ways?" Elijah cried. When God's people opt into spiritual schizophrenia, they empower a two-headed snake.
Facing shame – so freedom and favor can flow
Shame can torment and shackle us. Yet Jesus bore our sins. He bore our pain. He teaches us how to face and deal with shame, so freedom and favor can flow.