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Defining goodness is as hard as being good. Jesus said that only One is Good. Only One exhibited unconditional love in the giving of His only begotten Son to die so that we might live even while we were black with sin. He exhibits selfless Love all the time and has this characteristic. We humans are given the chance to be Good, but how many times do we let self get in the way? Our desires constantly override that which is good for another. We humans have fits and starts of goodness, even those who do not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit exhibit goodness of morals, values,…  ( Click for more )

The written word is a mighty thing.

I reached in my bag to grab my Sunday School book to study and a blue piece of paper came out with it. “What in the world?” I thought as I opened the folded note.

Suddenly, I was transported back a couple of years to a happy Sunday morning. The note was from my pastor’s wife encouraging me and telling me something to make me smile. Just a little three inch by three inch scrap of paper and a few words from a beloved friend lifted me out of the humdrum onto a floating blessing. It wasn’t much effort on her part. It…  ( Click for more )

...and unconditional love.

Being a Christian since I was six years old, I guess it was inevitable that I should take God's Grace for granted. I know absolutely that God has a purpose for everything and that includes me. So, I was sitting there feeling incredibly sorry for myself... trying to pray and realizing that my prayers weren’t even getting off the ground. Not, because there was unconfessed sin, but because I was focusing on my depression rather than on God's grace.

Have you heard of Tony Evans? He wrote a most enlightening book called Totally Saved. I think this…  ( Click for more )

Spiritual bankruptcy is something that happens a lot in our stressed-filled lives. We fight it, of course, by reading our Bibles and going to church. Sometimes we are spiritually depleted just as Elijah was after he ran for his life into the desert away from Jezebel. He collapsed under a broom tree, crying out for God to take his life. Remember, this was after he chided all the prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth… after he spoke to God and asked for fire to consume the sacrifice… after he had 12 barrels of water poured over the altar soaking the wood and the bull.

Admittedly,…  ( Click for more )

I get to the screaming point. I want to shout out the truth, but to no avail. I work and work at trying to be what God wants me to be and I always fail. Help me, Lord. Carry me over the fjord. The chasm is deep and I weep. Dry my tears. Release me from my fears. Carry the truth to those ears that refuse to hear the truth. Put back that hair that I have pulled out. Rub the steel bands that are supposed to be my shoulders for I am done with things as they are, no longer look back and pout. Whisper my name, cause me to be still. Tomorrow I shall go forward, leaving…  ( Click for more )

Kindness is the outward evidence of the Spirit. When we show kindness we are extending God's hand to others around us. Frankly, I do not see a whole lot of kindness in the Church. It takes effort and energy and it takes all the other parts of the gift of the Spirit in order to evidence kindness.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 meekness, temperance. Against such things there is not a law.

A person in deep depression has little thought of exhibiting kindness for he is wrapped up in his own Hell.…  ( Click for more )

The one time I was blessed enough to go to Charles Stanley's church in Atlanta, he made a statement that penetrated my hard head. He said, "Never throw away the notes you've made while in study of the Bible. These were important enough for you to jot them down, they may be a life saver later on." I had just decided to clean out some files when I got home so that I'd have room for more files without have to buy another filing cabinet. There went that plan, tossed out with a few words from Charles Stanley. Well, he was right! I have spent a few minutes each day…  ( Click for more )

No one understands God's perfect ways or even why God acts in such a way for some and in another way for others. How do we even know for sure we are walking in His will?

We can't see the future. Our feelings are fickle. We can't control other people's decisions. So how do we find the path where God’s word is the light for it and the lamp for the feet? Of course that question suggests that we must know which direction to take in order to be in His will. I don’t think we really ever need to know exactly which direction we are supposed to go. It is something we must step…  ( Click for more )

I have heard until I am sick to death this rubbish that people are not healed from their sicknesses because they just don’t have enough faith. To say that a person just doesn't have enough faith is an out right lie straight from the Father of Lies, Satan himself.

You want to know why? Because God takes care of His children and their needs regardless of what, when or how they ask. Matthew 6

You don't have to believe when you pray for something. Go read Acts 12. Peter was amazed he was standing outside the prison. He thought he must be dreaming, yet it was real.…  ( Click for more )

Have you come down with an illness? Has silence descended into your marriage? Have you lost your job? Have you lost your church position? Have you been rejected by your peers at work or by your boss? Have your finances taken a slide downhill? Have you had to quit your job in order to take care of elderly parents, or a sick child?

There once was a fish that God had appointed to do a great service for Himself and to Jonah. Sometimes God puts us in the dark place so that we can realize what God has known all along. Sometimes the belly of the fish is the only place where we can come…  ( Click for more )

If you missed the first three parts, the links are at the bottom of this article.

Now we are at the part where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. The decision has been made, the temptations have been recognized, and you have a regimen to deal with those pesky temptations, so now it’s all smooth sailing, right? Not by a long shot. Now begins the real battle. Now is when Satan will dig in his heels and begin the battle in earnest.Now is when you fight more than just your fleshly desires, the Spiritual Battle begins, and Satan will be using every fiery dart and piercing…  ( Click for more )

Last time we talked briefly about making that conscious and deliberate decision to quit ________. The importance of this step cannot be emphasized enough.

If you recognize there is a problem, admit that what you are doing is wrong, but don’t make a decision to quit doing it, the flesh will win out every time. Temptations are extremely strong when we let them roll around in our heads. There is a very thin line between thinking about doing something and actually doing it.

According to the University of Baltimore the neurons in our brains initiate thoughts and memory. Without…  ( Click for more )

Breaking a sinful addiction is the hardest thing anyone can do. Addictions have brought the mightiest to their knees, and have surprised even the most stalwart that they got caught in Satan’s web of addictive seduction. Godly people do ungodly things. It is a fact which Beth Moore explores in her book (and one that I highly recommend), all because the flesh is weak.

As in every problem solving situation, one must first recognize there is a problem. It is a key element. There was a man who was suffering from severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms (DTs) and his family rushed him…  ( Click for more )

There are countless ways we Christians sin. We have called someone "you fool", even under our breath when they pull out in front of us on the highway. We have been angry with our siblings without justifiable cause, or even with justifiable cause but we are consumed with anger and bitterness rather than forgiveness. We have taken communion while being angry at a sibling. We have taken the LORD's name in vain, we have lied, we have stirred up strife. We have held a thing or a person higher than the LORD. We have stolen. We are not without sin.

Habitual sin, however, is…  ( Click for more )

1. The difference between love and lust.

1 John 4:16 And we have known and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and the one abiding in love abides in God, and God in him

Jeremiah 22:17 But your eyes and your heart lust for nothing but your unjust gain, and to shed innocent blood, and oppression, and to do violence.

Galatians 5:16 But I say, Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

2. When to hold on and when to let go.

Proverbs 3:18 She (wisdom) is a tree of life to the ones who lay hold on her, and happy…  ( Click for more )

A trip to the store on Wednesday had me reaching for a blindfold. What are women thinking? I saw lots of belly fat through thin T-shirts. I saw lots of chest skin and held my breath hoping against hope that a woman’s breasts would not fall out of her shirt when she bent over to unload her basket into the trunk of her car. It was a Fallout Alert! Why do women think this is pretty? Why do young girls cheapen themselves by wearing next to nothing? Why aren’t mothers telling their daughters, “You can’t wear that, it makes you look cheap.” Which is what my…  ( Click for more )

This month we’ve been studying scripture’s Wonder Woman. I was taught in Sunday School when I was a teen, that this paragon of virtue was a guideline, but unachievable. I bought into that for a long time. Only after studying this passage with the proper guidance from the Holy Spirit have I realized that the Bride of Christ is really Wonder Woman. Not because she is stronger than a locomotive or faster than a speeding bullet (oh, wait, that’s Super Man—hmm), but because of the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, living God Who dwells within us. Everything…  ( Click for more )

21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

The word translated scarlet is שׁני shânı̂y (shaw-nee') Of uncertain derivation; crimson, properly the insect which is the Coccus ilicis, an insect which infests oak trees, called kermes by the Arabians. This insect used to extract the color crimson when it was boiled. It also meant “shining” because of the brilliance of the color, and to get that color it was double-dipped. More on this in a moment.

Since a color…  ( Click for more )

I ran across a blog post that stated the Proverbs Super Woman was unattainable. He (of course it was a he and a pastor) blithely stated that he hoped his wife would read his post because he wanted her to know that no matter what, he loved her and she did not have to be this super woman to have his admiration.

Oh, come on!

That is most commendable, but so erroneous to think that Wonder Woman is unattainable. Absolutely, this Proverbs woman is quite the paragon, but her qualities are not unattainable. She is described as a virtuous woman…excellent woman…capable…noble…  ( Click for more )

Juggling multiple priorities can either be the blight or the crown of Today’s Woman. The first step is actually recognizing something as a priority then being able to categorize all of them into manageable slices. Some people use lists, others use piles, some use other methods. Regardless, if we do not have a system for managing and prioritizing our tasks, we flounder in stress and stacks of chores. The most perfect woman described is the one in Proverbs 31 where we see a true Super Woman. This Wonder Woman was able to manage multiple priorities with seeming little…  ( Click for more )

“I really don’t think God cares about the mundane things in our lives,” said someone in my Sunday School class a few years ago. She meant, why would He care what dress we wear or if our shoes are comfortable? He has so many more important things on His mind. Like what He has in mind for the Bride of Christ, or World events, or holding Satan’s tail, things like that. Those things are an excellent overview of the kinds of Wills of God. His perfect will, His absolute will, His divine will, His personal will for each of His children. There is a personal will because,…  ( Click for more )

…in hectic daily living.

What does your average week day morning sound like? Is it filled with soft, shuffling breezes carrying the scent of frying bacon and brewed coffee? Does the gentle sound of children’s giggles waft to you as the dulcet warmth of a hot shower cascades down your back?

Neither was mine twenty years ago. Kids gathering homework, phone ringing, breakfast frenzies, all the while trying to get mascara even and hose untwisted, the right color shoes and so on. It was nothing like the days when the babies slept until seven o’clock and…  ( Click for more )

To whom it concerns an open letter:

Dear Mr. President, Honorable Senators and Representatives, Governors, Judges, Councilmen, Aldermen, Mayors, Sheriffs, Police Chiefs, and other Persons holding positions of Authority,

The first heat of battle is over. There is now time to regroup and rest before donning the armor and entering the fray again to determine who will be our leaders for the next few years.

Lately, it has come to my attention that this world we live in has lost much of its ethical luster and needs a good polishing and cleaning. Since you have sought this position…  ( Click for more )

Is prayer an art? I can be lost in wonder at the beauty of some prayers. David's for example how Psalm 16 begins, A Secret Treasure of David. Watch over me, O God, for I take refuge in You... Or how about Paul's in Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may yet abound more and more in full knowledge and all perception, 10 for you to distinguish the things that differ, that you may be sincere and without blame for the day of Christ, 11 being filled with fruits of righteousness through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Some prayers have been combined…  ( Click for more )