My Online Faith Journal

    In his book "Captured by Grace" by David Jeremiah he wrote these words, "In the end, we must acknowledge the darknes within us and the light that comes only from God. Both are unrelenting, and both define every moment of life.  Every atom in our bodies is infected by the disease of sin, but every atom likewise be covered by the grace of God.  The vilest offender can reap the deepest joys of heaven."  Earlier, Dr.Jeremiah pointed out in his book that Paul the apostle called himself the "chief" of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15) because he had been a persecutor of christians and had christians condemned for their faith.     In fact, it was on the road to Damascus that we find Jesus confronting Paul.  He tells us the story in many places, but it is first found in Acts 9 where Paul, who is then called Saul, is on the road to Damascus and he ssees a bright light.  Jesus asks Paul, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"  He then tells him that he must

      I read recently where a believer was complaining that life seems unfair.  He was complaining as the psalmist does in several of the Psalms that the unjust seem content and unbothered by their unjust acts while the righteous sometimes suffer.  He asked for an explanation of this.     It is true that life is unfair at this time.  There are some people, famous athletes, dictators, the rich and famous who are not living according to God's commands and appear unbothered by it.  The Bible declares that they are getting their reward in full now (Matthew 6:16).  So when the cameras stop filming and the awards lose their tarnish then it is gone forever.  These people have not laid up any treasures in heaven.     While the righteous are guaranteed that they will be persecuted on this earth because Jesus was persecuted.  Jesus, in fact, never promises an easy road as a believer.  Jesus told his followers that they would enter through a narrow gate that many are missing (Matthew 7:13-1

     A few weeks ago, my family and I started going to a Wesleyan church and the pastor was in the middle of a series asking the basic question "Are you a fan or a follower of Jesus?"  I really enjoyed the services and got a lot out of it.  It is a good question because being a follower of Jesus is a high calling that requires dedication and trust in God.  So, our family decided to keep looking at some other churches, so we went to a new church this week, in a different town with a different pastor and guess what question he was asking?  The same one: Are you a fan or a follower.  Not only that, but the passage was in Luke 6, which is a chapter I had looked at the day before.      So, now I am starting to feel a little paranoid and maybe a sense that someone is trying to say something to me that I didn't get the other three messages.  The pastor at the Summit Church in Kernersville pointed to the question in Luke 6:46 "And why do you call Me "Lord, Lord "

      A lot of times when you mention prophesy, people get a glazed look in their eye like you are speaking another language and try to end the conversation as soon as possible.  They have in mind people who try to predict Jesus coming to the day and hour or someone who is extreme in their views at worst and at least someone who is talking about something that isn't very practical.  If you ask people about Old Testament prophesy you will probably get the response that they don't know much about it or blank stares because they haven't read it or if they have they don't know what they have read.       There is that struggle with some of the Old Testament if we are going to be completely honest.  And since this is my blog, I will be honest.  Some of it is very difficult to understand and every harder to find out how to apply.  Which is why many busy christians don't bother with reading it hardly at all.  Which in some ways is a shame because if you plum the depths of

     I started a new book today called "The Warfare of the Spirit" by A.W.Tozer which has a quote in it that I would like to share with you.  It says, "Our Lord did not think about money the way His professed followers do today; and more particularly He did not give it the place our religious leaders give it.  To them it is necessary; to Him it was not. He had nowhere to lay His head, and we have made poetry out of His poverty while being extremely careful not to share it."  (Tozer, p.6).      I thought about what Tozer is saying there and what he says later in this chapter.  Already I am only a few pages in and I feel challenged.  Tozer does that for me.  The man simply doesn't preach like a modern day preacher who panders to others.  He speaks about the reality that Jesus was persecuted by the world and told us that if we reflected Him that we would also be persecuted.  It just seems to me that the church today doesn't preach that message.  It speaks abo

Jesus said in Matthew 6:20-21 "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where thieves do not break in or steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."     So when I read this verse, a couple of thoughts go through my mind.  The first is the most important "Do I do this?"  The verse is interesting in that the person who Jesus is speaking to is not passive.  The NASV uses the words "lay up for yourselves".  I have a tendency to look at the original greek or hebrew to understand words in the Bible better.  In this case, it isn't all that helpful.  It is what it says.  Which is that the person should be actively storing up treasure or things that you would put in a treasury in heaven.      So, again, I ask "Am I doing that?"  And I come back with the answer "Yes and no."  I mean, I try to lay up treasures in heaven.  I really do try, at least some of the time.  But, to be completely honest, there are days

The veil that is mentioned in the Old Testament was a veil that God commanded Moses to created between the holy place and the Holy of Holies where a priest entered only one time a year and that with a sacrifice.  This is mentioned in the Old Testament and also in Hebrews 9:2-10.  The priest would offer up a sacrifice for himself and for the people before entering the Holy of Holies.  This place in the center of the temple represented where God dwelt. It is interesting that when Jesus died on the cross, it says in Matthew 27:51 that this veil was torn.  It was torn from top to bottom.  From God to men because of what Jesus did.  The way to God was open now to anyone at any time because of what Jesus did.  I wonder to myself what those Pharisees and Sadducees that saw the veil torn would have made of it.  I wonder to myself if they tried to sew it back together.  It seems to me that in a sense man is still in many ways trying to sew it back together, so that we can come to God on our