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battle cry
As I write, war rages throughout our nation. Few, if any, would dispute the reality of the unrest, though there is both passive and vehement disagreement on nearly everything else. Who is the enemy? What is at stake? What is our strategy? How do we engage? Are we battling disease? Racism? The Establishment? Is this about an election cycle? A people group? Individuals? Are the core issues political? Social? Spiritual? And, at a personal level, where do I fit within the bigger picture? What do I believe, where do I stand, and what price am I willing to pay? Always of a reflective nature, I find myself sifting through countless…
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Reclaiming Hearts
Finding Freedom, part 2 Read part 1 here: Releasing Secrets For a solid chunk of years, I lived out a faith that was devoid of power. I loved Jesus, but I wanted more than experienced His words to be true. I modeled my lifestyle after much of the church: I tried to be good, I tried not to offend, and I had next to no impact on the world around me. I would’ve been embarrassed to admit that my sincere belief lacked the power to change me, but that was my sad reality. No wonder I was a reluctant evangelist: I had little worth sharing. The problem wasn’t Jesus, though.…
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Releasing Secrets
Finding Freedom, part 1 **The posts in this series include sensitive content. Please read with discretion and preview before sharing with younger readers.** There are some topics within the body of Christ that are rarely touched. They might be seen as too divisive, extreme or eccentric; or they may simply be left alone out of ignorance, or perhaps fear. One of these is the concept of deliverance. Defined simply, deliverance means to rescue, or to set free. In a spiritual context, deliverance is the act of setting a person free from the grip of the enemy, free to love and worship and walk with God in a full and unhindered…
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Never Again
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. About 75 years ago, some 6 million Jews and others whose lives were declared to have no value were exterminated by Nazi Germany. In the decades since the tragedy now known as the Holocaust, “Never again!” has been the rallying cry. Today, less than 100,000 voices remain to testify to their personal experience of surviving these atrocities. Without effort and intentionality, our world stands in danger of allowing their memories to perish with them. Some years back, my pastors sat across their dinner table from an Israeli Messianic Jew, a friend of theirs, and discussed the legacy of the Holocaust. He asked them if…
