Pressure Points
Pressure Points
We all feel it. Pressure. We feel the pressure of our hopes for the future, the expectations of others on us, the pressure to make all the right decisions at the right time, the pressure of family, the weight of disappointment and the pressure to do the right thing in every situation. Jesus faced this same pressure, but he handled it different than we do. He was able to walk with a peace that didn’t let the outside pressure of life rattle him. The question is how?
You Got What You Paid
You Got What You Paid
The death and resurrection of Jesus touched two dimensions, the spiritual and the physical. Have you ever wondered why Jesus left the scars on His body after His resurrection?
The Paradox Of Peace
The Paradox Of Peace
What does it mean when Jesus said “I didn’t come to bring peace, but a sword.”? We think of peace as a feeling, or the absence of turmoil, or the ability to be calm in the most turbulent waters of life. That’s part of it. If Jesus really is the Prince Of Peace, maybe the sword He brings is to cut out and destroy the things in us the bring fear, anxiety and death. Maybe it’s as we allow Him to bring a spiritual “sword” to our life that we actually carry more of His presence, which is peace, in our lives.
The Lion And The Lamb
The Lion And The Lamb
Jesus is described in many different ways throughout the Bible, and two of them in Revelation 5 are as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Lamb that was slain. But what does it really mean, and who cares? These two names of Jesus point to two different sides of Jesus’ character that can literally change your life, your relationships and your future.
New Not Next
New Not Next
God wants us to remember what He did, but forget how He did it. He wants to do a new thing in your life, not the next thing, but here’s the catch. New things are always different than old things and new things are next things.
The Power Of Praise
The Power Of Praise
One of the reasons that we spend so much time living a defeated life is that we fail to understand or practice the power of praise. Time after time in the bible God demonstrated that when we praise Him for who He is and what He’s done, when we declare our gratitude and proclaim His faithfulness, He works in the spiritual realm to bring victory, freedom and revelation. Worship has the power to change the atmosphere in your life, your work, your family and your city.
Flip The Switch
Flip The Switch
So many Christians are living an anemic faith, the atmosphere around them lacks passion, power and influence. The good news is that God has created a powerful tool to increase our faith and power, it’s called fasting. When we fast we flip the switch and turn the tables on the enemy.
Hope Comes The Hard Way
Hope Comes The Hard Way
Often we believe that in order to have hope we need to see an absence of struggle or conflict on the horizon… smooth sailing ahead. The way we think of the birth of Jesus doesn’t help either, we hear phrases from our favourite Christmas carols in our heads and we risk losing the reality of the events of that night. Jesus came into the world through pain and struggle and his birth triggered a storm that the prophet Simeon told Mary “would pierce her soul.” Hope isn’t the absence of pain and struggle, it is an anchoring to Jesus, the one who calms the storm and walks on top of the waves and the one who can bring us through whatever we face today.
It's Small But It's A Start
It's Small But It's A Start
Have you ever felt you don’t have enough? Maybe you look at your resources, your job or your relationships and you assume that God can’t use you fully until you’re in a better spot. The bible actually says the opposite, that we are made strong in our weakness and that God isn’t asking us for what we don’t have, he’s asking wants to use the small things to demonstrate His great name. The bible is clear that we aren’t to despise small beginnings, but rejoice in them because they are the seeds for the glory of God to be revealed in and through us.
Get Your Priorities Straight
Get Your Priorities Straight
Have you ever felt like you’re spinning your wheels, stuck in the same ruts, never seeing lasting breakthrough? We want to see breakthrough and blessing but overlook the power of our priorities. God says that he won’t be second, that he can’t be second but most of us live our lives with God at the bottom of our priority list. It’s time to get our priorities straight so we can see the breakthrough we need.