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I’m currently reading an excellent book by Matthew Aaron Perman entitled What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done.  I highly recommend you get a copy.  So, today I want to share a couple of paragraphs from the book. 

“Teaching morals alone will not result in morality. You…

I’m a firm believer in studying the Bible every day.  To be honest, I don’t do it every day but it’s my desire and I attempt to make the effort.  The reason we read and study our Bibles every day is that they bring us the very words of God.  As Moses told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 32:47 about the Word of God, “These are no idle words for you, but your very life.”  I could go on and spend pages writing about the benefits of Bible study.  Instead I want to give you 5 books that I believe…

Praying for Others

I try to start most of my days in the Scriptures and praying.  I don’t hit every day but it’s a habit I feel is worth working on. I use a journal because it helps me to focus and I like to write out my prayers.  Reading, studying and meditating on Scripture is a rich time for me personally.  However, I also like to pray for others, but sometimes I’m not always sure what to pray for.

So, I decided, “why not pray for them what the Scriptures are teaching me.” …

“I don’t understand why I have to learn this stuff!”  If you haven’t heard your kids say this yet, just wait, school only started yesterday.  I was one of those kids.  I just didn’t care much for school.  I was too busy playing baseball, tennis and blowing up green army men with firecrackers.  School was not a highlight for me growing up.  Of course my lack of desire for learning spilled over into my spiritual life as well.  The Bible seemed boring and irrelevant as did most of church and…

Need to Change Something?  Find an Accountability Partner (Part 1)

“Ok, I am going to hold you accountable to do what you said you were going to do!”  In a tone that never had much grace this is how my friends and I would attempt to “encourage” each other in our walk with Christ and in trying to live out our spiritual disciplines.  I used to think that accountability meant railing on someone for not doing what they said they were going to do but then I read something that…

First, you have to understand that my cluster of neighbors are all “do-it-yourselfers”.  We cut our own grass, we rent an aeorater together in the fall, we plant, weed, clean gutters, power wash, and even cut down our own trees at times.  But the other day while I was walking my dog I saw “the sign” in my neighbor’s yard…”This lawn serviced by Virginia Green Lawn Care.”  This is one of those companies that pull up in front of your house, unroll a huge hose attached to a gigantic tank…

There is one discipline that you absolutely, positively, without a doubt, no excuses have to master as a follower of Christ.  That one discipline is daily Bible reading and prayer.  It is so simple yet so incredibly hard to master.  Here is how it goes:

1. Open your Bible
2. Read
3. Apply

Three EASY steps.  Seriously, it does not have to be complicated.  You do not have to get out your concordance, Confession or Systematic Theology textbook. …

Perseverance is one of those words that seems to spark fear, courage, anxiety and some mystery all at once. Most people want to know “how to” persevere.  Do I just suck it up and keep going?  Or is there something more to it than that?  I believe that “our perseverance” is built upon “God’s perseverance”.  I don’t believe we can do anything in and of ourselves, by our own power.  Anything we do must be done through the power of the Holy Spirit.  The following passages give us a Biblical…

Sometimes I have to go out to my shed to get something when it’s dark.  I usually forget to take a flashlight, so when I get there I’m just frustrated because I can’t find what I’m looking for because it is so dark. 

In John 8:12, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  Jesus is the light of the world.  But why do we need a light?  Because the world is actually a dark place because of sin and satan. …