Thankfulness is a feeling of appreciation for favors or blessings, especially from God. About gratitude, God inspired these instructions: “Don’t worry about anything but pray about everything. With thankful hearts, offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel,” Philippians 4:6-7, CEV. In the world around us, people always seem to want more. But a spirit of gratitude while praying produces peacefulness and contentment. Thankfulness o ..read more

When Jesus Christ gave Himself up as a living sacrifice, it was so that the Father’s will would be done. But where do we find God’s will mentioned in the Old Testament? The Hebrew language uses different words than we do in English, so when we look for God’s will in the Old Testament, we find different phrases with a similar meaning. King David, and others, delighted to do God’s will, to obey Him. In fact, God commands that we do so. In Deuteronomy 6:5 we read, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength,” NKJV. This is an important sta ..read more

Having served in the army during the Vietnam era, each time I see that poignant image of Vietnamese children screaming in panic as they flee from a napalm attack, it transports me back to my own experience in a very visceral way. I feel their anguish and their pain. A few years ago, when I saw a photograph of a little boy named Aylan, killed trying to escape the mayhem that tore apart Syria and looking so similar to my own grandson of the same age, again, I felt that same sense of loss and pain. In such a hard-hearted, arrogant world, we are called now to be the antithesis:  “Let all bitt ..read more

It all started when Satan and his angelic followers allowed a sliver of suspicion to enter their minds. It ended in defiant rebellion against the family of God. Satan then planted the seed of suspicion that God was holding something back from Adam and Eve, leading them into disobedience. Cain became suspicious that God preferred Abel’s offering. His anger precipitated murder. Suspicion is a primal fear that someone will take what we think should be ours. And suspicious mistrust has challenged the best of us. How can we overcome it? As children, we start out wanting to believe the best. But ver ..read more

God’s Church is central to His plan of salvation for all mankind as a precursor of the “pouring out” of His Holy Spirit on all humanity. But that profound impact is difficult to grasp because let’s face it, the Church is weak, insignificant, and mostly ignored by the world today. What can we do now to ensure that we stay strong and don’t fall prey to discouragement? There is a process to help us succeed. The beginning of the book of James gets right to it: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience,” James 1:2-3, N ..read more

How does spiritual denial affect our preparation for Christ’s return? The apostles Peter and Paul initially felt that Christ would return in their lifetime. Much later, realizing he would die before Christ returned, Peter worried that God’s people would grow slack and forget the intensity needed to endure. Have we lost our spiritual intensity? We may know what is right, but do we act on it? Or do we justify our lack of energy for God’s way of life? Once, while browsing a gift shop, I found a miniature baseball bat that had printed on it: “Attitude Adjuster!” It was a laugh, but more importantl ..read more

God’s Church is central to His plan of salvation for all mankind as a precursor of the “pouring out” of His Holy Spirit on all humanity. But that profound impact is difficult to grasp because let’s face it, the Church is weak, insignificant, and mostly ignored by the world today. What can we do now to ensure that we stay strong and don’t fall prey to discouragement? There is a process to help us succeed. The beginning of the book of James gets right to it: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience,” James 1:2-3, N ..read more

Good works are important to God. God’s plan of salvation, as presented through His Holy Days, is a study in contrast between the evil works and schemes of Satan, and Christ’s good work of redemption and salvation. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them,” Ephesians 2:10, NKJV. “Good works” may be described as action taken on behalf of and for the benefit of others (be they in the Church or outside of it), motivated by the working of God’s Holy Spirit and displaying God’s law and love in action. Why are good ..read more

God’s law is an infinitely complex and beautiful system that orders all spiritual life. It’s described by scripture, but it is ultimately defined by Jesus Christ. God’s character is eternal, and that’s how it’s recorded in His law. The Christian world-at-large generally relegates the law to a mere curiosity, claiming that it has been done away. Judaism, on the other hand, meticulously catalogs all of the laws, debating them and adding additional requirements to protect the law. Our tendency is to break the law into buckets: the moral law, sacrificial law, civil law, judicial law, and health la ..read more

Thankfulness is a feeling of appreciation for favors or blessings, especially from God. About gratitude, God inspired these instructions: “Don’t worry about anything but pray about everything. With thankful hearts, offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel,” Philippians 4:6-7, CEV. In the world around us, people always seem to want more. But a spirit of gratitude while praying produces peacefulness and contentment. Thankfulness o ..read more