Scripture-centered reflections to help you quiet your mind, encounter the presence of Jesus, and live with greater peace, hope, and faith.
The apostle John testifies Jesus, who died and raised from the dead, is God in the flesh. I have seen the Son of God and walked and talked with him in real-time. The bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Near the end of his…
Our minds are always dealing with thoughts, causing panic and anxiety. We are overwhelmed with thoughts of darkness and death, causing deep fear for our survival. Our thoughts and feelings rob us of any hope for living life. We wonder is there any way out of the palpable despair we feel in our soul. Yes,…
What I enjoy most, being a pastor is the honor given me to listen to the stories of everyday people. I hear the secrets and struggles that not even family members may have heard. I let each one know how deeply touched I am that they would entrust me with their deepest thoughts. So I…
Attending the University of Arkansas, there was an all-you-can-eat Tuesday night pizza buffet. It was nearly fifty years ago, but I remember it like yesterday. It was not the pizza or low price that stands out today. It was the Razorback basketball game I attended after consuming far too many slices of pizza. I do…
As the weight of the world overwhelms, release your cares into the hands of God. In the hundreds of anxious thoughts residing in your head, let your heart contemplate prayerfully on the one idea of God’s love for you. “Throw all your worry on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) Let go…
Richard Rohr writes, “We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness.” The apostle Paul helps us understand, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because…
The conversion and transformation of my heart and mind to Christ is a moment-by-moment process of letting go of my self-centered thoughts and replacing them with God-focused thoughts. As I become fully conscious and aware of Christ living in me, I mindfully release the control of my self-conscious way of life back to God. I…
Richard Rohr understands a timeless truth, if not now, when? “The way you are is the way you will be. How you do life today is how you will probably do life tomorrow. If you are unhappy today, you will likely be unhappy tomorrow.” It is essential to understand you will never be any more…
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord…
There are buzz words that stir me to question the validity of your walk with Christ. When hearing particular phrases, I stop listening to you and start judging your heart. Your interpretation of being a Christian is suspect to the scripture I hold dear, and I need to warn and advise you to escape the…
Letting go of the voices in my head is the pathway to inner peace and the presence of God. Always thinking about my problems is part of the problem of comprehending the voice of God within me. A newspaper once asked a question, “What’s wrong with the world today?” and a reply came back, “Dear…
The Genesis narrative is paradise lost. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the tree of “self-knowledge,” which separates us from the Creator of life. In the narrative, we become like God, knowing and experiencing life from a god-like perspective. Humanity now searches for the meaning of life through personal experience and…