Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, November 13, 2025.

Honestly, I haven't really prayed in a while…

For the same reasons I don't like calling friends and family:

"I don't know what to say."

I am afflicted by a kind of dyslexia of thought.

There's a deep well of love and affection, but getting it to the surface takes tremendous effort. There's a near infinite chain of interlinked thought and sentiment where to pull anywhere in an attempt to extract a thought is to pull it all. Hardly anything ever comes out right.

My thoughts are often jumbled—not in an order that makes sense to most people or conveys the weight of what I want to give them. Throughout my life when I've tried to communicate, the reactions I've gotten—as though I'm weird or stupid—haven't felt great.

I'm constantly afraid I'm going to do or say the wrong thing—afraid I'm going to inadvertently offend someone or embarrass myself.

So I withdraw, even from God.

And I settle for small talk: reporting of facts and reactions about what's on the surface rather than having a real heart to heart. I hate it and actively avoid situations involving small talk.

Because another one of my afflictions is that I'm practical to a fault. I approach everything asking "What are we doing here? What do we hope to achieve? What's the purpose?", including talking.

I really don't understand casual conversation. I don't understand what it does for people. And if it's not accomplishing something, if I'm not doing something for you, what's the point?

I've been doing a Bible study that's challenged me on this. We were in the book of Daniel where I took note of the prayer life of Daniel. It revealed this: presence is the point.

God's presence does something. It is life.

Daniel persistently sought it.

And when we, who are created in the image of God, show up honestly and authentically—as He created us to be—it does something.

It never occurred to me on a heart level that anyone would want just me—that my just being there does anything—that my presence is a form of love.

I love God.

But, I haven't loved God in prayer.

I repent.

I haven't committed the time and effort to reach out and spend quality time with Him because it's been a struggle for me to show up authentically for fear of not coming across well or of it not accomplishing anything.

"But perfect love casts out fear." — 1 John 4:18

I will not be rejected, because He initiated the communication. He wants to be with me.

And what I see now in His love for me is it starts with presence.

Presence speaks volumes. We can get to everywhere from there.

It is a struggle, but that's part of love—overcoming resistance to reveal the beautiful Truth.

This has transformed how I have approached prayer: what it is, how to do it, and where to start—which I'll share later in more detail in "I don't know what to say" Part II.

#IDontKnowWhatToSay #prayer #heartwords

Originally posted on Facebook on Friday, October 31, 2025.

The Bible is about one thing:
the glory of God expressed through His Kingdom.

Because "kingdom" is a core theme, the Bible is often mishandled and weaponized. But the key to right understanding is this: it's "His" Kingdom.

– His rule of His creation,
– His response to rebellion against Him,
– His restoration of His order,

How is this God-glorifying Kingdom expressed?
Jesus Christ.

He is righteousness.
He is justice.
He is love.

So the question is:
Are we with Him or in rebellion against Him?

Does the dominion He gave us:

– rule the way He rules,
– war the way He wars,
– restore the way He restores?

To glorify God through our dominion, it is important to stress that the dominion we have is the one He gave us. It refers to a dominion that is subject to a kingdom that we voluntarily submit to, not one we impose on others.

This kind of dominion doesn’t come through our works, but through Him and His power by His grace. We access this by faith that begins with repentance: a renouncement of our own kingdom, our own power, our own knowledge of good and evil (earthly wisdom), our own effort, our own way—a complete surrender to Jesus.

It is walking according to His Spirit by His power with His mind—the mind of Christ, that His will, not my will, be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So, my work is believing Jesus.
It’s not a work. It’s an anti-work.
Not a doing, but an undoing.
It's resisting the tendencies of my flesh—a putting to death of self, that Christ may live in me.

I align my dominion to His by allowing the increasing revelation of Jesus Christ to illuminate and drive out every area of rebellion in my heart.

If you haven't noticed, there's a theme:
Him.

It is by grace—His work, not ours.

"This was the LORD’s doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes."
— Psalm 118:23

Does my dominion, in every respect, represent His Kingdom and expresses God's glory?

The good news is, because of Him, we can.

#Kingdom #Glory #RightlyDividing #Gospel #PerfectOurLove

Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, September 25, 2025.

I don't feel particularly loved by my father at the present moment.

But I know without question that he loves me.

During #StarkvilleBibleU this past Tuesday, we were discussing John 4:48 where Jesus said, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."

We were exploring the contrast between the people of Cana who Jesus just spoke of, and the people of Samaria who simply heard and believed (John 4:42).

The question was "What is the level of faith that Jesus requires?"

Take note:
– "the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did" (John 4:45)
– "the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word" (John 4:39-42)

There's a difference between faith that comes from what you "see" and faith that comes from what you "hear".

The brothers likened it to how our children experience our love as fathers. Do they believe we love them on the basis of what we do for them? Or do they believe our love on the basis of our witness: who we are with them?

The faith Jesus requires does not come from outward perception. It comes from the Holy Spirit doing something in us by way of the Word. The mark is receiving the witness of Jesus and seeing Him for who He is: Lord. (1 Corinthians 12:3)

"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
– Romans 10:17

Saving faith births something in us so that we know, even when we don't feel it.

"And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!'"
– Galatians 4:6

Just like with my earthly father, there are sometimes seasons of silence. I don't always feel His love, but I can always know.

"And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him."
– 1 John 4:16

#Know #FaithBeyondFeeling #perfectourlove

Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, September 25, 2025.

I was praying for correction and was convicted this morning through the following words from Francis Chan.

“When I first started preaching, man, I would just lay it out. I believe I still do, but I would just teach the word of God and if people got angry and walked away sad, I would be like, ‘Yeah, showed you,’ you know?

And man, I had people walking out of the sermon as I was speaking and there was a sense of pride.

And later on I realized, man, a lot of them were not offended by God’s word. They were offended by me and my lack of love in the presentation.”

Oof.

He continues to explain that the point is not to be convicted but rather repentance that leads to life.

I repent.

Sometimes, I can be so focused on destroying an idol, that I forget about loving the person holding it.

I repent.

As a soldier for God, you war differently when you're fighting for what you love rather than destroying something you hate.

I am sorry for being more focused on killing a thing than pointing people to the life Jesus came to give them (John 10:10).

Conviction is not the goal, repentance that leads to life is. (2 Corinthians 7:9-11)

It's not the Gospel if I preach what's bad without preaching the hope of better—the good news of life available in Jesus Christ.

I will strive by the grace God gives to always keep His love and life in view.

#perfectourlove

Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, September 23, 2025.

None of us are objective.
However all of us are rational.
And we only reason to rationalize what we want.

The only thing that will change what we want, and thereby how we reason, is a heart transformed by the Holy Spirit through the message of what God wants: the Gospel.

But,
"If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"
— Matthew 6:23

We are seeing the Gospel (light) molested and leavened into a counterfeit gospel (darkness) in yet another feeble attempt to get what we want, but in God's name (James 4:1-6).

So, I will confront counterfeits and preach the unadulterated Gospel: Jesus Christ—The Way, the Truth, the Life, the Door, the Light of the World, the True Bread (2 Timothy 4:2) without the leaven of our worldly desires that people may have Life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

#Logic #Reason #TrueBread #Idolatry #Gospel #PerfectOurLove

Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, September 23, 2025.

Charlie Kirk Post Response #3 – "Not a Soldier of the Faith"

I hear from some of your responses that I cannot say "Charlie Kirk was not a soldier for the Faith" and asked what possible basis could I have for such a statement.

I am not saying that Charlie Kirk was not saved.

I sincerely hope that he is in the presence of the Lord.

When I say he is "not a soldier of the Faith", I mean he is not the champion, symbol or standard of Christianity that many try to make him out to be, because he had other loyalties—loyalties that are in direct conflict with the Faith, communicating what God did not, and causing harm to people whom God loves.

"No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier"
— 2 Timothy 2:4

That's the basis.

Look, Charlie Kirk could have been a media personality with a radio show who said some deeply hurtful things for ratings, but off-air and in other respects was otherwise a really cool dude. He could even have had a sincere desire to share the Gospel.

But,
"No servant can serve two masters…"
— Luke 16:13

I'm not trying to make the guy out to be a monster, and he most certainly did not deserve to be murdered. He just doesn't belong as the face of Christianity. That's a place reserved exclusively for Christ (John 12:32)

If there's any lesson here it's that, as Christians who desire to live for Christ, it pollutes our witness and complicates our legacy when we take up any cause other than Christ.

Whether it's:

– Conservatism
– Social Justice

we must PUT IT DOWN.

Our hope is in none of those things. Do you believe Jesus? He said, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17), and the kingdom is not out there [in political movements, policies, or governments] but "the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)

If the kingdom of heaven came just to the hearts of those in the church it would change the world.

"Not a soldier of the Faith" is less a statement about Charlie Kirk and more a statement about our idolatry.

Repent.

Look to Christ alone. And let's come together in Him.

"from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
– Ephesians 4:16

#NotASoldierForTheFaith #Idolatry #PerfectOurLove

Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, September 22, 2025.

The next hardest part of working through conflict is maintaining confidence of better things concerning those we are in opposition with. To be clear, our confidence should never be in the person themselves (Psalm 118:8) but in God and what He can do in them.

So, when I engage with people—especially during disagreement, it shouldn't be to destroy but to reconcile, with the hope of who they will be in the hands of God.

"But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner."
— Hebrews 6:9

#FightingWithConfidence #DyingToWin #SpiritualWarfare #PerfectOurLove

Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, September 21, 2025.

I had a beautiful moment of church with a dear brother yesterday that revealed an idol that I needed to confess in my life.

That idol was: "what it should look like". I had a vision of what my life has to look like for me to consider it good.

"When I have…",
"When I can…",
"When I get to…"

And here's where it became idolatry: I placed my hope in it. I was metaphorically holding my breath until "I arrived".

I am overlooking and dishonoring what I have, because I'm distracted by what I hope to get.

But God is good all the time.

With deep sorrow, I confess that I've dishonored You God.

It is good wherever You are because, no matter what's happening, I get to do it with You, to know You in new ways and to contribute it toward Your glorious work.

I repent.

I want to be free of the bondage of my lowly vision and expectations, and be free to enjoy You, the greatest treasure and highest good, wherever I am.

Amen.

#TheIdolOfWhatItShouldLookLike #Idolatry #Confession #PerfectOurLove