Surrendering to The Precious Good News & Being Divinely Equipped for the Great Commission

The Gospel and the Bible are so challenging… yet so simple.  It is truly incredible that short or common passages constantly speak the same Truths throughout centuries… to you, me, and others in different ways.

In a recent small group we were led to explore and pray through the following passages. We only had ~15 minutes to pray and journal, but I feel God really illuminated scripture to me and impressed his Truth, love, and sacrifice on my heart in that short period of time. [continue reading...]

Simple Devotional: Bible Verses on Love

This post simply contains a selection of Bible verses on love. Read them. Pray through them. Experience them only in and through Christ. Share the verses with your spouse. Live the verses with your family and church.

Pray that the Holy Spirit reveal truth to you from these scriptures and they will manifest daily in your life as you submit to and pursue Christ. Christ is the only way to the Father. ‘

Read through this a few times over the weekend…

Be thankful.

Pursue and serve your spouse. [...]

Devotional: 6 Words that Change Your Choices & Show You Christ (from James 1:27)

The title of this blog is actually kind of silly… there are well over 750,000 words in the Bible. Every one is important because each has been intentionally placed by and delivered from the Creator of the Universe as a gift to humanity.

One of the most amazing aspects of the Good Book is how you can read something many times and never catch anything “big”. It is also incredible how a few seemingly insignificant words embody and suggest so much about both our struggle with the flesh and our relationships with the world, others, and Christ.

Earlier this week I read through James. The close of Chapter 1 has six simple words that have been resounding in my mind and heart all week like low and overwhelmingly powerful hum of a gong in a symphonic performance. Who knows how many times I have read this and never thought twice about it. [...]

Devotional: Vices, Virtues, & Fruits of the Holy Spirit – Galatians 5:19-26

In the bubble of Christianity, it is inexplicably easy to get “overwhelmed” with internal theological or apologetic debate. Dissecting scripture to find “objective truth” is sometimes difficult as we try to understand and “pin down” the lines we should not cross. We question whether or not certain actions, activities, or choices are OK, and try to define (and sometimes wiggle into or out of) the black, white, and gray areas.

Most of us most of us know plenty about the Bible and Christ. What if all someone knew were these words from Christ: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27). Imagine what the world would look like if we stopped reading the Bible and simply lived out only the stuff we already know. [...]

Devotional: Honor Your Wife Even When She’s Not Around – Bounce Your Eyes, Mind, and Heart

While I was strolling with my wife on a quaint beach-town promenade in Orange County, California, I thought about how even the most well-intentioned man is a soldier storming a land mine field of the best stereotypical model bodies money can buy.

As I am everyday when I leave the house, I was reminded of the importance of “bouncing my eyes”. This  tried-and-true technique for protecting your mind and honoring your wife is taught by Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker in Every Man’s Battle: Winning the War on Sexual Temptation One Victory at a Time (The Every Man Series)

However, I also thought about what it would mean to my marriage and relationship with God if I also “bounced my mind” and “bounced my heart” [...]