We can look and act like Christians but only someone who has been with Jesus can truly be different from the world. Maybe we shouldn't ask ourselves that question, maybe we should ask others if we behave as if we have been with Jesus.
We have lost the original intent of the word awesome. Have we also lost the impact of awe and wonder in our lives? True restoration is tied to our awe and wonder of God. We can take a look at the early church to see the impact of awe and wonder on our spiritual journey.
Worldly restoration is bringing something back to its original condition. Biblical restoration makes things better than the original. When God works, it is always better than we could imagine!
We all have regrets. We are human and we all make mistakes but do we need to fear our mistakes and our regrets? If we leave our regrets in the hands of Satan, then yes, we do need to fear them, but Jesus calls us to release our regrets and our mistakes into His hands for full restoration! We can look at Peter's experience to discover Jesus' plan for restoration through our regrets.
Who doesn't want to be successful? The problem is, whose idea of success are we using to define us?
Job reminds us how our pain and suffering in this world are related to the goodness of God and what He sees in us.
Do you fear saying yes to God because the cost might be too high? We look to the story of Esther and realize that no cost is higher than God's ability to redeem.
One of our fears is that we are never enough. But what is at the root of our fear of never being enough- could it be our lack of being in control?
Are we so comfortable and safe inside our own truth bubbles that we can't see real truth even when it is right before our eyes? It happened to King David and several others throughout Scripture. They could teach us about the danger of fearing truth.
What if our disappointments are really God's appointments for something better? We look at Joseph's life to learn how to move through disappointments with purpose towards a hope-filled future.
The Bible is full of verses telling us not to fear, so why do we have fear at all? We go back to the Garden of Eden to discover that fear has a purpose in our lives.
The Book of Judges is a wild ride full of ups and downs and twists and turns, but how does it matter for us today? It matters because we are on the same roller coaster ride as Israel was all those years ago.
The power of the local church and its body of believers is not found in its finances; it’s not found in vision statements or ministry plans; it’s not found in buildings, in pastors, or programs, or anything else that comes from the hand of man. Our only true power is found in the power of prayer.