“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.” -1 Corinthians 6:19 The Greek reads: “the ‘in you’ Holy Spirit.” I love this! Throughout the Old Testament there is the ‘upon you’ Holy Spirit. The…
Category: Life in Jesus
Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature. -2 Peter 1:4 To listen to some people teach you would think that since believers are partakers of the Divine nature, that somehow…
“If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land” -Isa 1:19 In the original Hebrew the word for “willing” in this verse means “to breathe after”. To breathe after something is to desire it with all your heart. h0014. אָבָה…
“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” -Hebrews 12:2 The instruction is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Failure to follow this simple instruction is the root of more problems than we probably realise. My personal experience is that…
I was listening to Alistair Begg preach on the life and ministry of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He recounts an incident early in the ministry of Lloyd-Jones where he was being brought to a church to preach and they had made a great big poster of him…
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.” -1 Peter 4:8 Love covers a multitude of sins, not in the sense of hiding them, but in the sense of not counting them against others. We’re not pretending that sin doesn’t…
“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether…
“Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.” -Jeremiah 23:16 There seems to be a…
“But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” -Revelation 2:4 The saddest thing that can happen to a child of God is when we find it easy to talk all about Him but our hearts have ceased to burn for…
” And to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” -Hebrews 12:24 I keep thinking how Jesus speaks a better word. Not just in the fact that His blood totally…
And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. -Revelation 5:9 One of the…
“Your lips drip nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your lips. “ -Song of Songs 4:11 What do we find on the lips of the bride of Christ? Nectar, milk and honey! Nectar is what bees collect to make honey. The sweetness of…
I think there’s nothing more beautiful than innocence, and nothing more able to restore innocence than the blood of Jesus Christ when it has been lost. The beauty of innocence is found in its transparency, its openness. Thus Jesus points to our need to be…
The last few years I’ve been in relentless pursuit of Jesus. I’ve written about it extensively on my blog because pursuing Him has been the passion of my heart. Recently, God began to speak to me in greater depth about “pursuit” and “pressing in”. Both…
I’m praying often that God would fill me with the Holy Spirit. He’s the water of life and I’m pretty thirsty! One day I was praying and I asked the Lord to fill my “canister” with the Holy Spirit. Canister was a strange word for…
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God…” -Romans 12:1 Where did we get the idea that all that Jesus is asking for is our heart? Yes, He wants my heart-…
I became a born again Christian in the summer/fall of 1984. I like to say that God caught me by surprise because I had no clue what was going on with me! All I knew is that my life was in transition and I was…
“Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom”. -1 Cor 1:22 The same is true of people today. There are certain segments of the church that are all about wisdom and teaching and there are certain segments of the church that are all about signs…
“So teach us to number our days that we might get a heart of wisdom.” -Psalm 90:12 Only God knows the number of our days. He actually knows exactly how many we have left on this Earth! It only makes sense then, to ask Him,…
“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”” -Matthew 4:17 Why are we afraid to tell people to repent? The entire Bible, from the beginning to the end, points out the importance and need of it.…
Have you ever been with somebody who doesn’t communicate their expectations? Well, Jesus isn’t like that. He totally spells out what it means to love Him, and what His expectations are! Here’s a couple things that Jesus said about our love for Him… “If you…
“Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.” -Exodus 25:40 As Moses was being instructed by God concerning the construction of the Tabernacle he was told to be sure to make it according to the…
“By your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation.” -Revelation 5:9 We only purchase that which we want to possess, and so it is with God. He purchased us from every tribe, language, people and nation with the goal…
“You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” -Hebrews 1:9 Jesus was the most joyful person who ever walked the face of the earth. He was supremely, gloriously,…
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” -Romans 14:17 The Children of the Kingdom are righteousness, peace and joy. Are you giving birth to these children? You should be!…
Jesus had a secret, and He’s trying to teach it to me. Like everything about Him, it’s an Open Secret. He’s not trying to hide it from anyone. It’s as plain as can be in the Word of God. “So Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I…
“His speech is most sweet, and He is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend…” -Song of Songs 5:11 Many know the Jesus of religion. That’s not the Jesus I know. The Jesus I know is altogether desirable. His voice is…
“And the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.” -1 Samuel 10:10 Looking at 1st Samuel 9-10, Saul was just living his life, just going through his day, when He got a Word from God through Samuel. Suddenly the Spirit of…
“Do not make us cross the Jordan River and settle there.” -Numbers 32:5 In Numbers 32 we see some of the Israelites telling Moses they don’t want to cross the Jordan River. When I read this I was astounded! It was God, after all, who…
“You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.” -Song of Songs 4:9 Many years ago the Holy Spirit gave me some dating advice. He said, “It’s not…
God used brokenness as a catalyst to surrender, and surrender as the path that led straight to His heart. The most beautiful place in Jesus is the place of surrender. The day I was shattered was the day I started to live again. I walked…
“He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” -Hebrews 11:6 I’m in total pursuit of Jesus! Here’s what I’m learning… God rewards those who diligently seek Him. It actually matters, that He matters to us! Jesus notices when we’re in relentless pursuit of Him,…
“My sweetheart, My Bride, is a secret garden, a walled garden, a private spring!” -Song of Songs 4:13 There is no one more romantically intimate than Jesus Christ! We’re His secret garden. I’ve been meditating on this for almost a year now, thinking how I…
This is something I shared with a friend from my journal and decided to share it publicly to encourage you in prayer. I had a very intense and prolonged season of prayer where I would go out to the Salmon Creek Greenway near where I…
“Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” -Psalm 85:6 I’m in the midst of the greatest spiritual revival of my life. It started in mid 2017 and is still going strong! So explosive has the Holy Spirit’s work in…
I was praying for someone to be able to “see as God sees”. It was revealed to me by the Holy Spirit that this person was being “driven by fear”. It occurred to me that our eyes can be WIDE OPEN because of FEAR or…
I’ve been writing a lot about the adventure I’ve been on for the last year. Today I want to take you back in time to when I was 27 years old, dirt poor, but totally in love with Jesus. He was all I had, and…
In my previous post I talk being vulnerable. It’s important to point out that Jesus didn’t leave me shattered and broken and vulnerable in woundedness. Jesus comes to heal the brokenhearted, He doesn’t leave us brokenhearted! There’s a vast difference between being “vulnerable in woundedness”…
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the most miraculous thing that has ever happened in my life occurred this year. Out of the worst pain and brokenness God brought emotional healing so deep that I have no scars to point to! He used brokenness as…
“The lines of my boundary have fallen in pleasant places; surely my inheritance is delightful.” -Psalm 16:6 One of the most beautiful things about surrender to God is that no matter what happens in life you’re guaranteed to end up in Pleasant Places! As I’ve reflected…
I was out praying and enjoying the view of Mt Hood when this verse came to mind: “The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.” -Psalm 97:5 Imagine if God melted Mt.…
“…to give them beauty for ashes.” -Isaiah 61:3 It wasn’t that long ago that I went through such painful devastation that about all I had left was a pile of ashes. Think about what ashes are… Ashes are what’s left after there’s NOTHING left. Ashes…
For the purpose of this post, when I speak about “THE PRESENCE” I am talking about the manifest presence of God where we are able to sense His pleasure, favor and blessing on us. Long before David had the palace, he had THE PRESENCE. As…
You see them everywhere… engraved in sidewalk brick, etched in park benchs, scattered along the coastal path I’m walking today… Memorials to those who loved it here, but are no longer here. My family has a bench with my mom’s name on it in Door…
This is the time of the year we hear about the “Christmas Story.” We’ve all heard about the shepherds keeping watch over their sheep at night, the Christmas star, the wise men, the baby Jesus- That’s the Christmas story most have heard. You never hear…