When I think of this journey with Christ, I think of it having three stages:1-Believing in Christ, 2-Following Christ and 3-Discipleship.   Believing in Christ, the 1st stage, is where we have to really work at being obedient in following the 10 Commandments in what we say and do. This stage is more ego-and-mind-driven, as […]

            We don’t think of love as nonviolence. Or as compassion. Or valuing another person and all they’ve been through which formed them as they are. We don’t think of love as embracing our enemy, listening to them, seeing everyone as a child of God. We don’t look at the Ten Commandments as teaching us […]

The gifts of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 are the result of our transformation from being attached to the world to an attachment to God with a great love for God in our lives. These gifts result from our following the Indwelling Spirit of God wherever He would lead us. First, we allow God […]

  Over the last three weeks I’ve written about the three petitions in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer, “give us today our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Today I want to talk about the beginning and the […]

The third petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one,” [Matt 6:13 NIV] asks God to keep us safe from harm, challenge, distraction and the devil. The first part of the petition in the NSRV reads: “And do not bring us to the time of trial.” […]

            I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years thinking about the fruit of the Spirit, the qualities that are ours to express in this world when we truly follow Jesus. The first three: peace, joy and love are the essentials in the life of the Spirit. Peace takes us out of […]

  The second petition in the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:12, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” has two main interpretations in our churches today: 1) as I just quoted and 2)” forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” There is another version of Jesus’ teaching in […]

  As often as we say the Lord’s Prayer, we repeat the line that says “Give us this day our daily bread.” Bread is a common reference in the Old and New Testaments from the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Exodus to Isaiah 30:20 “The Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water […]

We are born of God, in His image, into this world, into this country, where we are raised in its cultural standards and goals. Even if we are raised in the church, we are very much indoctrinated into the norms and standards of our culture through our parents, our friends, our schools. Here in the […]

Love and the Word leave a trail just like the flower petals of this crepe myrtle tree fall to earth. Hear what God says about how His word operates in the world: “my word goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the […]