The Roe v Wade decision has made it clear we have a lot of work to do. Will you stand with me and begin to pray for true revival and renewal in your own life, and then for God to pour out his Spirit in our nation? This will only happen when we the people of God turn our hearts toward him and start seeking his face and walking in obedience to his word.

Have you ever noticed that when you indulge in sin you become like Adam in the garden? You hide from God. You hide from his word, from worship, from spending time with him, from going to church or being around anyone that reminds you of him. This is the destructive nature of sin.

Anger is an emotion and emotions are not sinful. It is what you do with them that matters. If you see something that produces righteous anger in you, then express that anger to God in prayer. Remember our fight is not physical, it is spiritual, so when you see things going haywire, recognize the spiritual forces which are at work behind the scenes and get angry over that.

Today as I sit to write, I want to talk to you as a parent. This an open letter written in two parts to two separate audiences. The first part is written to pastors and leaders of churches of all sizes, whether large or small. The second part is written to the congregants of those same churches, whether large and small.

Whether you recognize it or not, there is a forgotten population of people that are being left out of churches, left out of ministry, and unfortunately in many cases are not even welcome in the church at all. I know you may gasp when you hear that statement but unfortunately, I've heard too many stories and experienced myself first-hand that this is true. The population I’m referring to are people and families with disabilities.

If you are not aware, there are mainly two types of disabilities: there are physical disabilities and developmental disabilities. Developmental disabilities for example are people that may have autism or Down syndrome or some other type of developmental delay. Unfortunately, these people or these types of people are not welcome in many churches across our country.

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One of the most difficult things for people to understand is the love of God. Even if you settle on “God loves the world,” when you make it personal it can be a struggle to fully grasp that God loves you. This barrier affects people before they come to faith in Christ, and it can hamper people after they come to faith in Christ. God’s love can seem unrealistic, and the sense of being unworthy of this type of love can cause you to run from it or simply reject it. You can easily fall into the trap of wondering, why would God want to love me? 

When you come to the book of Jeremiah, God makes a definitive statement about the nature of his love.

“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness’” (Jeremiah 31:3).

As you continue reading the rest of this article, I want you to ponder this one question. What does it mean that God loved us with an everlasting love? According to God’s own words, this is how he has chosen to love us. But how do you take that truth and make it personal? Without question this is one of the most important truths you must learn from Scripture, because this will affect the rest of your life and your relationship with God.

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If you choose to be impulsive and reckless with your words, not carefully considering your thoughts and actions, and not considering the consequences of the things you do, then you will "live by the sword and die by the sword." Let's explore more about what Jesus meant when he said these words.

The 'rivers of living water' Jesus was referring to is the Spirit of God working in and flowing out of the life of a believer. Up until this time, the Holy Spirit would come upon a believer and then depart. When Jesus makes this statement, he is shifting the paradigm, letting us know the Holy Spirit would no longer just come upon a believer but would dwell within the believer.

When you think about Mary and Martha, we should acknowledge both of these women for their great faith. They were both committed to the cause of Christ; they were both loved by Jesus, and they were both true believers.

It seems for the last two decades, and this could be longer, that church growth has been all the rage. As I look at the various ways and methods people use to grow the church, I am beginning to wonder if we have got this whole thing wrong. Have we fallen victim to a worldly mindset with how we measure the success of a church?

Since we are all going to face grief in this life, the question is when grief comes, where do you go for comfort? Thankfully God knew you would experience grief in this life, and he has provided numerous Scriptures for grief which are able to comfort you as you walk through the challenges of this life.

There is no curse in giving birth to children. While the pain in childbirth is a reminder of the sinful decision made by Adam and Eve, it is not a curse (even though some women may want to curse in the middle of giving birth). We see from the Scriptures that even through the pain in childbirth, it is soon replaced by great joy when that child enters the world.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’” (Matthew 28:18).

When you think about Jesus, especially after the resurrection, we recognize that he has been given authority. This verse is one that I have quoted many times and I have heard lots of people quote both in and outside of the pulpit. While it is great to recognize the authority Jesus has, what does that really mean for you and me? Does it matter that Christ has all authority and more importantly what are we supposed to be doing with it?

When you look a little closer, Jesus connects some activities to his authority. I want to share with you four things every believer, which means you, should be doing with the authority found in Christ.

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Imagine the difference the church would make if we stopped thinking so highly about ourselves and started putting the interests of others ahead of our own. This may not be popular, but this is what Christ did and this is what we are called to do.

Faith has to do with confidence. But it doesn’t stop there. Faith in its truest from is when you have confidence in God to the point that it causes you to act, which reinforces our initial point about faith.