Paul here commands Christians to rejoice in the Lord always. At first glance this might seem strange to us. Are we really supposed to rejoice in the Lord always? Is that even possible? What about if a loved one dies? How can we rejoice then? The first thing to keep in mind is that Paul is not really talking about an emotional high. Emotions are fickle, and sometimes can even be changed by what we ate that day. Instead he is referring to an attitude that we need to posses. We need to have a postive attitude, one of thanksgiving and of joy. Read the rest of this entry »

Last summer, soccer became an obsession of mine. I wanted to be a really good soccer player, so I trained and trained. I was working fifty hour weeks, but I still found time both to run and also to get touches on the soccer ball. I just loved the game of soccer. When I wasn’t working or training, I would watch soccer games on television or play video game soccer with friends. Every minute of spare time I could find was devoted to the game of soccer. Read the rest of this entry »

“You can not get up from the table until you finish your green beans,” the mother said to her son. “I don’t want them. They are yucky!” the son insolently replied. “They are good for you, and you need to eat them. You have to clean your plate.” Unfortunately for the mother, the battle of wills had just begun. This scenario of mother and child has happened countless times. For many children there are always some parts of their dinner they do not want to finish. They want to pick and choose what they eat. Often times its vegetables, and they ignore the part of dinner that is healthiest for them. Read the rest of this entry »

Right after Adam and Eve committed the first sin of mankind, they heard the Lord coming. Knowing that they had directly disobeyed the Lord, the hid from Him, not wanting Him to see them. They claimed it was because of their nakedness, but truth of the matter is that they knew that their sin would cause a rift in their relationship with God, that God would be angry with them. Instead of apologizing to the Lord and finding out what they could do to make it right, they hid from Him. They tried to avoid Him. Even when they had been found out, they tried to place the blame elsewhere instead of just being up front with Him. Read the rest of this entry »

Joseph was truly a great man of God. Here he is, a slave in a foreign country, and all of the sudden he is being seduced by his master’s wife. Considering Potiphar was a man of considerable means, his wife was probably considerably attractive. On top of that, he was sold into slavery by his own brothers after recieving a dream from God. No one here knew anything about him or about his God. It would have been easy for him to fall into temptation here. No one would have to know. And yet he resisted temptation. Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel was a man who could have easily stopped trusting the Lord. He was captured from his home people, and might have even prayed to the Lord for protection. He was a talented and attractive young man who was being groomed to be a lead official in the most powerful country at that time. Few Jews back home and even fewer here were truly diligent about seeking the Lord. The Babylonians had no respect for God. Daniel could have easily allowed himself to slip into the Babylonian ways without more than a few passing thoughts about God. Read the rest of this entry »

As Christians, it is important that we find strength in numbers. God created the church to serve a very specific purpose. He knew that we needed one another, and that as a unit we would work better than as individuals. Each of us have different strengths that play off of one another. When one is weak, another is strong. One of the biggest mistakes Christians make is to go off on their own and try to fight spiritual battles all on their own. Read the rest of this entry »

While coaching my sports as a child, my dad had a saying: “No pain, no gain.” I hated this saying. It made no sense to me. I thought there was a lot to gain by avoiding pain. Having pain was no fun. Unfortunately I learned that my father was right. In order to get stronger, faster, and better I had to work until there was pain. I had to push myself to the limits and beyond. It was only in doing this that was able to improve. There was no way around it. Read the rest of this entry »

In times of economic instability, it is hard for people to trust in the Lord to provide. Instead they worry about whether or not they will be able to pay their bills, put food on the table, and keep a roof over their head. There are many sleepless nights wondering how things are going to be paid for. What starts out as a simple question becomes an unanswerable question. The stress is felt in our entire bodies. The physical effects are almost suffocating. We are distracted from our meditations, our prayers, and even our daily “housekeeping” tasks. Worry is a dangerous companion. Read the rest of this entry »

What we think is what we are. Our actions and our words all flow from the thoughts that we have. There have been many times where people say something, and then say, “I should not have said that, I did not mean it,” when they realize they have been mean. The problem is not in what they said. It is in what they thought. The words could not have come out if they did not originate in the mind. Our mind is the starting point, so it is important to control what we think. With that in mind, the question that we need to ask ourselves is this: what am I thinking? Read the rest of this entry »