Worthy Words

It is of the utmost importance for a Christ-follower to grow not only in grace, but in the "knowledge" of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To know God is the greatest form of knowledge and is a source of strength. “The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.” (Daniel 11:32 ESV) Knowledge strengthens our faith. The Bible speaks often of believers blessed and taught about the Lord. It says in 1 John 2:20, “Christ, the Holy One, has blessed you, and now all of you understand.” It is the work of the Holy Spirit to lead a believer into all truth for the purpose of increasing and developing their faith. Along with our faith, knowledge also strengthens our love of Christ. It is the door through which we see the Savior. Knowledge takes a high resolution photo of Jesus and when we see that picture of Him we love Him. We can’t love Him if we don’t know Him. Low level knowledge of what Jesus has done for us   and is doing for us puts a limitation on the amou...

My sister and brother-in-law took their family on a two week RV-ing vacation to the northwest region of the US concluding their journey in Colorado Springs. It reminded me of when my wife and I visited those vast expansive mountains especially viewing those breath-taking vistas at the summit of Pikes Peak. Gaining our view or knowledge of Christ is somewhat like driving up Pikes Peak. As you begin your assent at the base you are limited in what you can see and have no good measure of how high it really is. Confined in your vehicle you discover hardly anything but the trees rippling from the granite rocks as you wind around each curve past the tree line on the 19 mile roadway. The higher you climb the scenery below ever widens. Going higher and higher you see the landscape around for miles and miles. Still climbing the scene enlarges when at last you are on the summit. Walking around you look east, west, north, and south it seems as if you can see all of beautiful America, from sea to s...

I use a phrase among my family and my church family; it is “Live for Jesus.” This simple ditty is used as a reminder that He is our light and life. But you can’t live for Jesus if you’re not “Looking to Jesus—Hebrews 12:2. You see He is the founder and the one who has perfected our faith. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to keep our eyes focused on Christ and away from self. It is the work of Satan to counter the Spirit’s activity and have you continually try to put yourself in a higher regard than Jesus.  The father of lies insinuates that your sins are way too many, so, forgiveness is out of the question. He tries to convince you that you have no faith and you don’t repent enough therefore you will never be able to make it to heaven. The devil will point out your joy is not equal to that of some other child of God and you waver too much in your walk with Jesus. All of these thoughts are about self and we will never find any comfort or assurance by looking within. The Holy Spirit...

There are two principles at work within a Christ-follower. The first principle you’re born with. It was your natural or default mode. It is called “darkness.” But, since the time you came to know Christ as your Savior and Lord you entered into principle number two—“Light.” These two principles do not get along with each other. The apostle Paul, in Romans 7:21 and following, speaks of this war within when he says, “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.” What causes this state of being that Paul describes? The way to understanding this issue begins in the first book and chapter of the Bible — Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. (G...

Crying is the universally accepted way to express sorrow. Infants belt out this noise when all other modes of appeal to their parents fail. The same can be said of Christ-followers expressing their trouble to their heavenly parent, the Lord God. Only to Him should we bear our soul’s intense and personal distresses, for to cry to man is to waste our pleas— it’s like throwing them up into the air only to have them crash land. David expressed it like this in Psalm 28:1 when he said, “I pray to you, O Lord, my rock. Do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you are silent, I might as well give up and die.”   If we could only stop for a sober moment to consider how ready the Lord is to hear our cry and strengthen our hearts in His ability to render us aid, we would develop an instinctive habit for directing all our requests instantly to the Rock of our salvation. The Psalmist exclaims "Don’t turn a deaf ear to me." This is no formal prayer taught to say in church whereby mere r...