Enjoying the Journey
Posts Tagged ‘spirit’
The Danger Of Conservative News
Have you heard the news today? It is easier than ever in our digital age to keep up with what is going on in the world. Usually if you listen for 15 minutes you have the general picture…the next several hours will just discuss it in 100 different ways. While it is good that news can travel fast in our world, there are also some inherent dangers in it. The same news that can fill your mind with information and ideas can also drain your soul. After listening to local and world news I often feel “sapped” of strength instead of renewed. Why is that? The Danger Of Time You can be so connected with the news and opinions of…
Read MoreYou Are What You Eat.
This is not an article on health and wellness. It is much more important than that. (If my mother is reading this I want to go on record as saying that I do believe we all should eat our vegetables! Love you, mom.) The question is: why would we take better care of our bodies than we do our souls? A man’s spirit is most important because it is the eternal part of him. This is what the Apostle Paul taught when he wrote to young Timothy, “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). The greater thing…
Read MoreThe Most Important Characteristic of A Staff Member
For nearly two decades I had the joy of serving on the staff of a wonderful church and college. After the first few years I had the responsibility of not only being a staff member but also having staff who answered to me. I told someone recently that I learned more about serving on a staff after having the opportunity of supervising others! I truly tried to be a help to the man I served under but I am sure in my youth I made a host of mistakes. Thank God for patient leaders! Now, as an evangelist, I have the privilege of spending time with staff members in many churches. Just last week I enjoyed a lunch meeting with…
Read MoreToo Much News!
This generation has grown accustomed to the 24-hour news cycle. Our eyes, ears, minds, and emotions are bombarded by the constant flow of headlines and pictures. We know more detail and digest more information than any people who have ever lived. Yet our souls are starving. Hopelessness and despair are at an all time high. Is it possible we are getting too much news? When our oldest daughter Morgan was very young I flipped on the news channel one evening, only to hear her say sarcastically, “And now for more of America’s problems…” Never were truer words spoken. This does not mean that we should not seek to be informed about what is going on in the world around us.…
Read MoreWhy I Started Running & Why I Plan to Continue
A little over two years ago I started running. I didn’t plan to do it. In fact, I’m not sure why I went out that first day. I remember saying to my wife, “I’m going for a run.” Her loving, tender answer was, “You’re not a runner!” And she was right. In fact, I’ve never been a runner. But I became one. One run at a time. When I came home that first day I felt better. My mind was clearer. So I did it a second day, and a third, and…you get the point. Now, these many months later I can say it was one of the best things I have ever done. And it’s not just physical. There…
Read MoreWhat to Do with Your Emotions
Emotions are a gift from God. They are also marred with the sin nature of Adam. When they are under God’s reign they feel as He feels, but when they are “out of control” they are both deceptive and destructive. The longer I work with people, the more I come to see my own depraved heart, I am convinced that emotions are the devils playground. For some reason – perhaps because he knows how susceptible we are to suggestion – much spiritual warfare takes place at the soul level. In our emotions. Think of it. Depression. Anxiety. Fear. Anger. Guilt. Envy. Jealousy. Pride. Hatred. Despair. All emotions. Many times those who are most careful to avoid sins of the flesh…
Read MoreThe Battle That Never Ends
As a young Christian I imagined that some day it would get easier. My flesh would not rear its ugly head; the world would not seem as attractive; the devil would not fight so fiercely. That day never came. In fact, there is a battle that rages all of the days we live on this earth. And most shocking of all is the realization that my greatest enemy is the man I see in the mirror each day. Lester Roloff was fond of saying, “The first thing I do every morning is jump in the grave!” He meant by that, of course, that flesh has to die daily. Martin Luther said, “Flesh dies hard.” And so it does. This is…
Read MoreVictory Over Temptation
We all want to live in victory over sin. The key to victory over sin is learning victory over temptation. “Resist small beginnings”, a wise man once said. Deal with the seed and you will not have to overcome a forest of sin’s consequences. Temptation is a fleshly assault by the enemy. He appeals to our lust, our pride – our flesh. It is impossible to combat fleshly temptation with the energy of the flesh. Pastor Sexton has often said that you must deal, not only with the devil, but the devil’s friends! He has a friend in me and in you. Flesh is complicit with the temptation because we desire to please ourselves! The only way to meet fleshly…
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