During World War II a South Sea Islander proudly displayed his Bible to an American GI. “We’ve outgrown that sort of thing,” the American replied.
“It’s a good thing we haven’t,” smiled the native. “If it wasn’t for this book, you’d have been a meal by now!”
Do you ever find yourself feeling restless or uncomfortable when you hear someone else quote the Bible in public? Do you find yourself at times living like the American GI, as though you’d “outgrown that sort of thing?”
The truth is, you never outgrow your need for the word of God because you never outgrow your need for the voice of God. Ever since the days of Eden, however, the enemy has tried to stand between us and our most authentic source of life.
Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Why is it so important to hear God speak? [click to continue…]
I owe you an apology.
When I get on a soapbox, I like to warn people ahead of time. And in the last post, I sort of forgot.
That said, (and apology accepted, I hope), it’s important to me that people learn to take the truth of God’s word and apply it to the many facets of their lives. So I thought I would show you how I approach that. In the previous post I shared 12 specific areas of application. Today, as advertised, I want to show you an in-the-raw, unedited example of how I used those 12 areas to apply spiritual truth to my life two days ago.
(Disclaimer: I don’t go into this level of detail every single time I crack open the Bible. But if I want to get the most practical benefit and direction, this is what I do.)
What follows is straight out of my journal. You’ll see a couple of observations from a familiar passage. That’s important, because you can’t apply truth you haven’t yet focused on. Then you’ll see how I applied it.
What is important is not my details, but your process of discovery and application. This is just an example. But for what it’s worth, in the next post I will take what I have applied to my life here and turn it into an article that hopefully applies it to others.
Okay, here goes… [click to continue…]
Want to spend a little time in a lab?
Forget the white coat, safety glasses, and things that smell like they’d melt your skin if they ever touched it. This is a different kind of experiment.
In four days I’m going to post a new article about a yet-to-be determined subject. Today and two days from now, I’d like to show you how I get there.
The article will be an outgrowth of something that is a passion of mine: taking truth from God’s word and applying it in a practical, relevant, way – first to my life, then to the lives of others.
There’s a lot of talk in Christian circles about revelation of God’s truth. What’s often missing is relevation – making that truth relevant to specific life issues and dimensions. That’s what I want to show you today – how I apply God’s truth to the power bill, or my relationships with friends or students, or my goals or time management or weaknesses or any other issue that presents itself. [click to continue…]
It’s one of the most amazing transformation stories in history.
From dufus to discerner.
Pathetic to prophetic.
Simon, the wishy-washy to Peter, the Rock.
This fisher became a fisher of men. And the guy who was nearly always getting it wrong ended up writing two books of the New Testament under the most powerful level of inspiration there is.
“He who has ears, let him hear,” Jesus said (Matthew 13:9). Peter learned to listen to God. And if that guy did, you can, too.
I want to show you three ways Peter learned to hear God’s voice. [click to continue…]
I owe Peter an apology. And if the Lord will let me, when we link up in Heaven, I plan on delivering it. I ragged on the man for many years. Laughed at him. Mercilessly dissed him for being the guy who was always making a verbal fool of himself.
But a couple of years ago, I made peace with Pete. And I promised I’d never criticize or mock him again. Why? Because Peter was the one who was willing to make a mistake if it meant learning. Or leading. He was the one who got out of the boat to at least try walking on the water. He was the one who was willing to say what everybody else was thinking. And he, Christianity’s biggest failure, was the one who looked Jesus in the eye after denying Him and said, “Yes, Lord. You know I love you” (John 21:17).
In Matthew 16, this fisherman/disciple speaks out twice. The first time, Jesus responds by saying, “Peter, only God could have revealed this to you.” The next time, Jesus is in his face, saying, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s” (Matthew 16:23).
One minute, Peter is hearing something that is doubtless a revelation from God Himself. The next, he is hearing from Satan.
Uh oh.
[click to continue…]
