When we are obedient to God, nothing can touch us that does not come from God Himself. The armies of Egypt, symbolic of the armies of Satan, are no match for a God jealous to care for His beloved people. Resting in God's full protection in spiritual warfare, we may put on His full armor and stand firm, knowing that we will triumph in Him.  Read less

One of the marks of maturity is the ability to put off immediate reward for the sake of a future goal. Likewise, the willingness to put off temporal reward for the sake of eternal reward is a good mark of Christian maturity. The Scriptures teach that someday we must all appear before the bema seat of Christ. In ancient Greece, the bema was the grandstand where judges gave out honors to the winners of athletic competitions. Thus, it is before the divine "bema" that we will all appear. If we compete according to the eternal rules, we will gain the honor of reward from the eternal Judge. As Paul wrote, we must set our minds "on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2).  Read less

One of the marks of maturity is the ability to put off immediate reward for the sake of a future goal. Likewise, the willingness to put off temporal reward for the sake of eternal reward is a good mark of Christian maturity. The Scriptures teach that someday we must all appear before the bema seat of Christ. In ancient Greece, the bema was the grandstand where judges gave out honors to the winners of athletic competitions. Thus, it is before the divine "bema" that we will all appear. If we compete according to the eternal rules, we will gain the honor of reward from the eternal Judge. As Paul wrote, we must set our minds "on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2).  Read less

"Nobody cares what your dad thinks." I'll never forget hearing those words. They came from a young skeptic having much fun with us know-it-all Bible college freshman. We'd been cloistered in the Christian world so long; we rarely encountered anyone who didn't believe the way we did. And so when our faith was held up to the spotlight, our arguments fell flat. Eventually this guy read C.S. Lewis and other apologists and became a solid, Bible believing Christian. No thanks to us, though. But I'm grateful for my experience with him. It sharpened me and forced me to really wrestle with the beliefs handed down to me from my parents. I was grateful to have grown up in a house where we had lively discussions about real issues. I was allowed to have doubts, to question, to pursue the truth on my own. I write all of this to ask you, young Christian is that faith you're carrying, is it your own? Do you believe what you believe because you know it to be true? Or do you just go along, nod your head and never investigate the claims of Jesus on your own? Here's a piece of advice. Take ownership of your faith. Don't live out a hand-me-down, borrowed faith. Know what you believe. Know why you believe it. Investigate. Doubt. Question. Wrestle. Read. Learn. I think of Timothy. Paul said that he had a "sincere" faith. Some versions call it an old-fashioned word, "unfeigned." That means not fake. Timothy had a believing mom and grandmamma who faithfully taught him the Scriptures. What a gift that was! But what was in Timothy was Timothy's faith. It wasn't Mom's faith. Because the people at Ephesus who looked up to him as their pastor—didn't care much about Timothy's mom's faith. Just like the people God has called you to serve don't care much about what your Dad thinks. They want to know, what do you believe?  Read less

When we speak, teach, or preach to the unsaved, we are not speaking to those who are merely blindfolded; we are speaking to those who are blind. It is not as though we can appeal to them to remove their blindfolds. Rather, we must appeal to the Lord to remove their blindness through the power of His Holy Spirit. "The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Therefore, it is foolishness on our part to attempt to minister to others without first praying fervently for that ministry, asking the Lord to draw those hearts to Christ.  Read less

It has been said: God does the work of God and man does the work of man. Man cannot do the work of God. God will not do the work of man. Paul's exhortation to the Corinthian believers certainly supports this. The Corinthian church had split into factions, following different men. Some said, "I follow Paul." Others said, "I follow Apollos." The most pious among them disdained to follow mere men and said, "I follow Christ." Using the imagery of a husbandman, Paul says, "I planted (brought the message of salvation), Apollos watered (taught you more advanced things), but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). Pursue the work of man with all diligence. And rest in the work of God.  Read less

When we become Christians, we exchange our citizenship on earth for citizenship in heaven. Therefore, we live according to the value system in heaven, not the value system on earth. On earth we look out for ourselves, and we satisfy our own wants and desires. In heaven we look out for the welfare of others. This does not mean that we neglect ourselves and our families. Other passages in Scripture indicate that we are to love our spouses, children, and parents and care for their needs, which brings this teaching into balance with other truths.  Read less