Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, November 30, 2021.

Naturally, as parents, we want to protect our children.

But there comes a time where we must prepare them and let them know that the world is nothing like our home and equip them to confront its cruelty.

We must make it clear that, not only for our children but for everyone that steps out our doors, they are stepping out into a warzone.

So, my goal as a husband, father and the head of my house is to make our home a sanctuary and, to the extent I am able, ensure that the war out there is not happening in here.

That war is with but one enemy – Satan and I discern He has only one attack – calling the goodness of God into question. That means:
Who God is (life)
What God says (truth)
What God gives (good)
and as a product of these;
Who I am (identity) and
What I should treasure (heart / value system)

Establishing peace and safety in my home and equipping my family to win the battles they're confronted with outside of it is to establish the truth of God's goodness.

Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, November 18, 2021.

I have heard the question asked many times, "How am I supposed to choose Christianity among so many other religions?"

First off, you're mistaken. You can't choose to be Christian.

It's not a matter of picking the belief system that gives you the best deal. It's all about what happens when you hear the Word, whether faith is kindled -whether you hear and believe.

So, the real question is have you truly heard the Word and then, how did you respond?

That's why it's imperative, for those of us who do believe, to preach the unadulterated Word and live it in the power God provides, so to provide more opportunity for people to engage with the true Word.

What's key is the Word, expressly communicated in the person of Jesus Christ so that even babes can understand. Because salvation is His work alone. It is the gift of God alone, for His glory alone, therefore received by faith alone, in Christ alone as imparted by the Word alone.

You do not choose God. He chooses you and His choice is revealed by your response to His Son, Jesus, the Word in flesh.

What we can evaluate is our response. What kind of heart and ears are we hearing with -ones that are obstinate and seek our own desire or those that yearn for righteousness and receive the gift?

Even if you are in doubt and unbelieving, you can ask God for a heart for Him. That's the kind of prayer He's eager to answer. #seek

Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, November 15, 2021.

Sometimes I'm frustrated by the things I still struggle with and it makes me wonder whether I've truly been born again.

But as I ask and seek about that, I find the key to properly evaluating my regeneration is not whether my old nature is still visited by old temptations but whether I now have a new nature indicated by a new heart with new yearnings for God and that confesses Jesus as Lord.

While I am a new creature, the old man remains. And, whatever we feed, we strengthen. Therefore, I starve the old and feed the new. I will never be completely free from temptation until I'm with the Lord but I can weaken the flesh and strengthen my ability to resist it.

Don't confuse this with the demonic talk of feeding the good vs bad wolves.

The wolves approach depends on your strength and your evaluation of good and evil. The new creature depends on God's.

Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, October 18, 2021.

I struggle with tunnel vision. I will set my sights on an outcome at the expense of everything else.

I can be so focused on what I'm trying to do for the future that I lose what I have now: precious, irreplaceable time with loved ones and friends, enjoyment of the moment -life.

I must be careful not to make an idol out of my plans, putting all my hope and trust in them but instead "trust God who gives us richly all things to enjoy". (1 Timothy 6:17)

I repent.

So, here's some questions I've decided to ask myself daily to make sure that my stewardship of this wonderful gift called life includes enjoying it every day.

What questions would you add?

Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, October 12, 2021.

I don't know about #BelieveWomen, but I do listen and it makes me both sad and angry that women walk around in fear of being attacked or sexually assaulted. When I consider that women I love are subjected to this; my wife, mom, my sweet nieces, friends and sisters in Christ, my anger is multiplied by orders of magnitude. It's become something I am constantly aware of.

Just this morning, I arrived at the gym when it was still dark. As I pulled into a parking space, there was a young woman sitting in her car with the door ajar and her foot on the ground. It appeared as though she was still getting things together to carry them inside. When I drove up and she noticed that I was a man, she put both feet back inside the car and closed her door.

I understood the gesture right away. It was so brief and fluid that you would have missed it if you weren't paying attention or if you didn't care. I purposefully avoided any sudden movement that could be interpreted as aggression. I left my truck running with the interior lights on and the brake lights depressed to indicate that I wasn't getting out immediately. Shortly thereafter, she got out of her car and I was careful to stay put until she hurriedly made it all the way into the gym.

It is heartbreaking that this is the world she and other women live in, one where THEY KNOW THEY ARE NOT SAFE. A world that I, as a man, have contributed to by participating in a system of value that reduces people, women especially, to things to be used for our personal satisfaction and pleasure. I participate in this system whenever I look upon a woman and by reducing her existence to whatever physical attribute has caught my attention at the moment, taking the liberty to give myself visual access to her body with complete disregard for her as a person and lewdly imagining how I want to consume, use and discard her for my momentary enjoyment as though she were some worthless, disposable toy. All of this happens in a mere moment and with just a look. And every time it happens, it adds to the great swell of violence, lewdness and insecurity that women live in.

I repent!

"Lord, I deeply regret my contribution to the danger and insecurity that women suffer, the harm I have done and the separation I have caused between women and the truth of what You created them to be. Please give me Your heart that I may believe about them what You say. Help me, Lord, to see women as You see them: as co-rulers of the earth, co-creators, co-heirs, the other half of the same whole, fellow vessels through whom precious gifts from God flows. I ask these things to further the work of my elder brother, your Son, Jesus Christ to reconcile all creation, including women, to You. Amen."

The real solution to the problem of violence against women will take much more than tactics, it requires a change of heart and a whole new system of belief and value.

Men, we must be born again.

Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, October 5, 2021.

Belief is to place your trust in something.

Faith is the certainty of an outcome based on a belief that results in action.

I believe:
– God is Love,
– that the Bible is divinely inspired and accurately represents God,
– that Jesus is God's manifestation, His Son, the Christ who has come to deliver us from the oppression of our corruption, from harming and being harmed and to give us true life through the knowledge of the Father
– and that there is nothing more pure, wonderful, powerful and true.

Therefore:

To the extent that I am able, I give up my life: my way of living, my pursuits, my value system, and put all my trust in Jesus, submitting myself as a servant to His Kingship, with the expectation that He will establish an eternal Kingdom of peace and righteousness for His people, and that He would provide a microcosm of that now through me by changing my nature, giving me His heart, instructing me in The Way of the Father, so that I live in such a way that glorifies and represents Him, that produces life and not death, that loves people and draws them into His peace, inexpressible joy and life everlasting which neither fail nor can be taken away.

Originally posted on Facebook on Friday, October 1, 2021.

Hell is intended for the demonic, not the lost.

I don't want to spread hurt or harm, do you? If not, hell is not intended for you.

Hell is reserved for enemies -those who promote darkness.

But, in the day of wrath, everything entangled with the demonic will be destroyed so to forever put away death and suffering and to establish righteousness and peace.

God reaches out to us for this very reason: so that we are not unconsciously allied with the enemy and fall victim to wrath that is not intended for us.

In His love, God provides instruction and the means to not only extricate us from darkness but to usher us into His marvelous light and life that truly satisfies through Jesus, His Son, the Christ.

What wonderful news!

This turns Satan's claim on it's head that God wants to keep you from something good. When in truth, God wants to give you the best (Himself) and keep you from harm! #gospel

Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, August 2, 2021.

I sometimes have days like today where I wonder what's the point of it all -whether anything I do matters. If I can be honest, as I examine myself, I find the thought to be fueled by feelings of inadequacy and a desire to do something noteworthy, to do something significant, to do something BIG –to be recognized. But not every feeling, thought or desire comes from a good place, not even those desires for supposedly good things. It is why we must be diligent to test every spirit by the Spirit, to discern whether it is of God or not.

In the process of bringing my thoughts captive, the Holy Spirit, through the indwelling Word, brought to mind the Apostle Paul's likening us individually to parts of a corporate body (Roman 12:4, 1 Corinthians 12:12, Ephesians 4:4, 16). I find the allegory especially applicable and helpful when considered in context of our more recent insight into biology. I think it appropriate to further apply Paul's analogy to our current scientific understanding and to think of ourselves as individual cells. And, do you know what kind of cell thinks of itself without consideration of the rest of the body and concerns itself with its own individual increase (doing something big)? A cancerous one.

This further brings to mind Galatians 5:26 "Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another." and Ephesians 4:16 "[…] 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."

Self-seeking or a desire to exalt oneself in any way is not of God. (Matthew 23:12)

In light of this correction by the Holy Spirit, I repent and denounce the pursuit of my own recognition. And instead, I redirect my attention to and place my faith in Christ and recontextualize myself as a part of His body. I concentrate on and pray for contentment to pass along what I have been given, however seemingly insignificant, to my fellow members of the body AND trust Jesus to make the most of it for HIS work.

(Photo courtesy of Big Think.)

Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, July 27, 2021.

One day my family was out for a walk along a sidewalk that runs directly beside a road. Usually on these treks, my wife and I tried to put ourselves between our kids and the road. On this particular day, our youngest, who may have been five or six at the time, got excited about something he saw in the road and bolted toward the street. At that very moment a car was coming and in a split second I grabbed him by his neck and snatched him out of the road, just in time. With my hand still around his throat, I scolded him.

I'm am an imperfect father and there's a lot about that incident I regret. Shortly after the incident I kneeled down, hugged and apologized to him because I knew that I had scared him. But, was I rough with my son because I was angry with him or because I did not love him? Far from it! His life was dear to me and I was willing to use every means at my disposal to save his life. And, I was angry, not at him, but at the threat to his life.

I find myself ashamed and heartbroken today for our failing as so-called Christians, for the damage we're doing by using Christ's name and the church to justify ourselves and further our own interests rather than ministering, healing and binding up. I am very angry! But, the Holy Spirit impresses it upon me to remember that I am dealing with those God loves. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son; that whosoever believes in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting…" -John 3:16. If in my anger, I desire anyone's harm, I am in sin and that spirit is not of God. (Luke 9:55)

All that I do must flow out of God's heart for people. God loves them and His desire is that they may live and not perish. Whatever our gift, whatever our ministry, this is its fountainhead: God's love expressed in the person of Christ. I could preach the most powerful sermon, I could articulate the most profound exegesis, I could give the most compelling argument, I could be indisputably factually correct, but if I fail on this one point; to express the love of God, I'm dead wrong. Because, that's the whole point.

So, whether we're of the same mind, walking by the same rule or if I'm compelled to snatch others out of the fire, whatever I do should be done in love. #preachingtomyself