Fasting is a practice that has endured for thousands of years. Fasting appears often in the Bible. Among other things, it is used as a tool of focus, an expression of grief and a sign of humility. What seemed to have been a common occurrence in ancient days has now become far less mainstream. So, do all of the biblical references to fasting in both the Old and New Testaments mean we as Christians should be engaging in this practice regularly? If we should be participating, what circumstances bring on appropriate times to fast? Just as importantly, how should we fast? Are there time frames that ..read more

Our world is such a cynical place. Sometimes it feels like every time you turn a corner, you’re met with frustration, unrest and a lack of trust. Because we have so many platforms through which we can speak, we do. When we speak, our words and sentiments are often full of accusation and vitriol. We harshly address “those people.” You know the ones. “Those people” on the other side of this or that issue whom we often label as uneducated or ignorant, as members of the wrong party, wrong belief system, wrong ethnicity or wrong culture. We speak to be heard, and we neglect speaking so others will ..read more

In Part I, we talked about the great power of the solemn promises in the Bible called covenants. We observed how God had made several of these solemn promises, and that several are specifically labeled as “everlasting covenants.” As we look at Bible history, we can see that all of God’s promises have already been made and are already functioning – except for one. This one promise yet to be unfolded is the “New Covenant.” While this promise is clearly defined in Jeremiah, it is alluded to in several other books of the Bible. So, is the only difference between this New Covenant and God’s other p ..read more

As Christians, we take great comfort in knowing that God is a God of unfathomable wisdom and integrity. We may be faced with things in life we never saw coming, but God is never caught off guard. With His foresight and eternal wisdom, He is not only prepared for anything, but He has preplanned for everything. God is also always as good as His word. He does not make a promise and then haphazardly decide not to keep it. In the Bible, covenants are really solemn promises. Throughout Scripture, God has made many of these promises with the description of being “eternal.” One such covenant was the L ..read more

In Part I of our two-part conversation about influence, we began to uncover just how broadly and how deeply the power of influence runs. In our world today, influence has taken on a new – and in some ways even more significant meaning – than ever before. Now because we have social media, we have created a space for influencers to arise within our midst. Sometimes these individuals appear on the scene from very unlikely backgrounds. The vast majority of the most popular of these influencers have been given our attention because they are famous. Curiously, much of their influence is not based on ..read more

Influence. We are all touched by it in countless ways and countless times each and every day of our lives. Influence comes from all corners of life. If we are partial to someone, we generally accept their influence positively. If we are at odds with someone, we generally look down upon their influence. Either way, they influence us. Influence comes from advertising and social media. It comes from politicians and educators. It comes from books, movies and shows. It comes from those who enforce and those who break the law. It comes from our superiors, our peers and our subordinates. Influence ha ..read more

Let’s begin by stating the obvious: the world is a mess! Now, we all know the world has been a mess for a very long time, so the question is, is this even news? The answer is yes, it is! Our present-day mess has everything to do with the ability to be connected with as many perspectives on and interpretations of truth as we would like. We can now easily and often categorize, judge or ignore anything and everything that doesn’t fit into our personal world view. All of this brings us to a place where we effortlessly define good and evil according to preference and not principle. We believe Jesus ..read more

Everyone experiences loss in their lives in one way or another. How we attempt to cope with those losses depends upon several things. First, the kind of loss we are facing can dictate whether our response to it is mild, strong or severe. Second, our cultural environment offers up expectations as to how our mild strong or severe responses are to be displayed. In biblical days, grieving over difficult losses was often displayed in a very outward, very public manner. The Bible is full of examples of such public crying, wailing, renting of clothes and despair. For many of us in our present-day min ..read more

Every serious Christian knows about God’s holy spirit. We not only know about it, but we also often talk about what we believe to be its effects upon our lives. Christians speak of being provoked, directed, protected and guided by the spirit. Some of us claim the spirit speaks to us, or perhaps to our pastor, for the purpose of giving us not only instruction, but prophetic utterances regarding our lives as well. In short, our brand of Christianity or denomination has much to do with how we believe the holy spirit works. So, how does it work? Who is right, and who may be mistaken when it comes ..read more

We don’t know much about the spiritual world, especially before the creation of humanity. What we do know is that it was an entirely harmonious world with loyalty and obedience to God at its center. God foreknew that when pride crept into Satan’s heart and was exposed, it would lead to a massive shift in the way things would run. In heaven, it would no longer be business as usual, for now the lessons of sin and disobedience would be unleashed. These painful but necessary lessons would – under God’s power and providence – ultimately bring the whole of His creation back into the harmony it had l ..read more