Genesis 1:27–28 — “27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Have you ever looked at the sky and thought, “Wow, that is beautiful”? Or maybe you watched the grass flowing in t

No one wants pain and suffering. We would rather run far away from it, and yet it can be one of God's good gifts. He is not the cause of pain and suffering. We live in a sin-cursed world which automatically includes hard things. However, God sometimes allows these trials to teach us things that cannot be learned any other way. What, you might ask, are these things that I can learn? Well, I'm glad you asked! First, we can learn to be more understanding and compassionate! It is

What God Wants Matthew 28:19-20 says: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” As one who has accepted Jesus, I hold a responsibility like no other–the greatest commandment EVER given has been given to me personally. God entrusts me with the commandment and knows that I can fol

The world may pass by and say, “what a worthless glob of clay. How will you ever make it work?” Jesus doesn’t say a thing but continues to mold and fashion His child. Then softly He whispers, “They are Mine.” The world doesn’t understand, but our Father does. Our Master Potter knows each detail of us. Even when we fall, Jesus picks us back up, takes us to His wheel, and makes what is ugly, beautiful again. And because we are His, we are a vessel fit for the Master’s use. It d

WHAT IS BIBLICAL HOPE? Most of us can remember as children hoping that we would get a certain toy or game for our birthdays or Christmas. Or maybe for some of us, our hope was that our parents would quit arguing. As adults we also have our hopes, such as a raise in our salary or just the hope we can keep our jobs. As senior citizens, maybe our hope is that we will have enough income to pay our bills. But when we see the word “hope” in the Bible it has a different meaning. In

In peace I will sleep Life is not always very relaxing. We often find ourselves just trying to stay afloat in the overwhelming waves of life. Frankly, we’re trying just to make it to the end of the day! David was a man who faced a lot of highs and a lot of lows. From killing Goliath, to being chased by Saul, to becoming king, and then later committing adultery with Bathsheba, David’s life was not the epitome of an easy-going life. Despite all of this, we find David proclaimin

Imagine you have an appointment with your doctor, and you are told to be there 15 minutes early. So to make sure you are on time, you arrive 20 minutes early. You get checked in and you go sit down in the “waiting room.” Time goes by and you check your watch and finally 1 hour later your name is called. You then follow the nurse to a very small “waiting room.” She checks your blood pressure etc. and then says “the doctor will be with you shortly.” You smile and think to yours

In Biblical times, sheep were often put into a sheepfold or an enclosed area especially at night for their protection, and there was only one gate to the sheepfold. There could be more than one flock of sheep in that enclosed area. So, when the shepherd would go to get his flock, he would go to the gate, and by his voice only his flock would follow him. In John 10:3-5 Jesus is speaking, and He says the sheep hear the shepherd's voice, and he calls them by their name. The shee

God’s Word often uses sheep to portray people. Sheep are animals that often stray, and the Shepherd has to go and bring them back. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him (the Messiah, Jesus Christ) the iniquity of us all." This a prophecy of Jesus Christ who would pay the price for our sins on the cross. We find in Matthew 9:36 that as Jesus went around preaching, He was moved with compassio

The Faithfulness of God Genesis ends with the story of Joseph, the beloved son of Jacob. Throughout his story, you see the faithfulness of God as He orchestrates everything for Joseph’s good. At the beginning all the pain, rejection, and false accusations don’t make sense. We wonder why God would do this to someone who loves Him. And we ask ourselves the same question… why did this happen to me? But the story doesn’t end there. The story ends with Joseph being raised to secon

Have you ever been in a situation, or may be in one right now, where you have lost the fight against sin? You have fallen into anger, lust, deceit, worry, or some other kind of sin, and now you feel like a failure, unworthy of God’s grace? My friend, you are not alone! The great apostle Paul dealt with that same issue that all Believers deal with, and that is our sin nature. “18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what

As believers in Jesus Christ, we are blessed beyond more than we can imagine. Our sins are forgiven! We are adopted into God's family! We have an eternal home in Heaven! And before we enter Heaven, we have the very presence of God indwelling us, guiding us, comforting us, growing us to be more like Him! Only Jesus can quiet our hearts and minds with His peace as we learn to cast our cares on Him and be still before Him! "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not g

Oftentimes in the Christian life, we find ourselves battling between two choices, pleasing God or pleasing self. We feel the pull towards pleasing ourselves. In fact, before we were a believer, that is all we ever knew. But, as a believer, we should be able to stop and think, “Is this really honoring to God?” Ever since Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, humans have had desires contrary to that of their Creator. This can be seen all the way back in

Time and Love Time is a precious thing. It is something that cannot be reacquired. Once it is used up, it is gone. That raises the question, are we spending our time on what really matters? Many things in our world today are constantly trying to catch our attention. That new car, financial strategy, celebrity, goal to attain, or company to invest in, are all examples of things trying to catch our attention. These things are not always bad, but, when we start prioritizing them

How can I live my life, when I’ve done so much wrong? How can a God so perfect love me after all? “The wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23a We deserve hell, the real place of eternal fire and burning. But why don’t we get that? It's because of a gift - Romans 6:23 - for the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord - given by a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. “The Lord,

As I have gotten older, I have begun to appreciate the little things more. Those things that I once took for granted in the moment, I now wish I could go back and enjoy again. Those seemingly small, insignificant little details that ran in the background, now feel so clearly out of sight. While the natural inclination is to want to have the past back, that is simply not possible. However, you can learn from the past, and that is the key. Instead of focusing on the negatives o

Earthquakes are scary events when the ground shakes beneath us. Sometimes life can feel very much the same way when we receive unexpected bad news or things go in a very different direction than we were expecting. But if we know Jesus as our Savior, then we are on solid ground no matter what comes our way! John 10:28-30 reminds us that as His children, we are eternally secure in Him! Absolutely nothing can separate us from His love according to Romans 8:38-39. He will never l

God Sees You Do you feel alone? Do you feel forsaken or forgotten? Do you feel the pain and numbness of grief? Do you also know that our Lord has felt these things as well? One of the names of God is Adonai El Roi. Adonai El Roi means “the LORD, the God Who Sees Me.” Genesis‬ ‭16‬:‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬ “So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, 'You are a God of seeing,' for she said, 'Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.'” Adonai El Roi looks after you. He sees yo

Temptation to sin usually starts out very subtle. We may not even realize it as temptation at first. But "little" sins can lead to "bigger" sins until we find ourselves very far away from God. We might think "I would never do that", but the truth is that we all have "desperately wicked" hearts according to Jeremiah 17:9. To fight off temptation, we must spend time with the Lord Jesus Christ through His Word and prayer. We are reminded of this in Ephesians 6:10-20 which tells

Psalm 23:4 - “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Are you in a season of loneliness that feels like a lifetime? King David of Israel was faced with many trials and tests. From the killing of Goliath, to being sought after by Saul, to then becoming king of Israel, he was known as a man after God’s own heart. However, David still had his own struggles. We find over and