Good morning! The fruit of the Spirit is important for us to have working in and through us to exude godly qualities. It's easy to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled when things are good and trouble free. Anyone can be those things for a little while, but what happens when everything falls apart? What happens stress overtakes you? When tough times come, it can reveal what is truly inside of you. How much love do you have whe

Good morning! Like I talked about yesterday, our greatest temptation is to doubt the word of God. Hope keeps faith alive. Joy keeps you strong even in weariness. Believing helps you to resist the temptation to doubt. Are you filled? God desires to fill you with all hope, joy and peace through faith-believing so that you may abound in the power of the Holy Spirit. Do not be arrogant or be deceived. None of us have arrived to a place where we cannot be tempted. Some things happ

Good morning! Your greatest temptation is to doubt the gospel. Your greatest struggle is to believe everyday that the gospel is true. Many of the disciples lost hope and doubted what Jesus said would happen concerning His death and resurrection. Two men were walking along the road very sad. Jesus appeared to them and started walking along with them asking why they were so defeated. He opened the Scriptures to them as they walked along. Their doubt blinded them from recognizin

Good morning and happy Resurrection Day! Many have claimed to be the answer for humanity. Many have claimed to be a god. But only Jesus gave us provable evidence to see He alone is God. All claiming to be a god have died, but they stayed dead and you can visit their graves. But Jesus raised from the dead and is alive. You can visit His borrowed tomb and it is empty. The Bible records 500 witnesses saw Jesus after He rose from the dead. That's a lot of people to have seen such

Good morning! Today is often referred to Silent Saturday. It was still and quiet after the chaos of the days before. Seemingly, nothing was happening. For those who had trusted in Jesus, hope was faded and all looked lost. But God wasn't done. Everyone who witnessed the multitudes of miracles were now doubting what they believed. Just a few days before, they were crying, "Hosanna!" and now had changed their minds to cry, "Crucify!" It only took four days for the spirit of ant

Good morning! It's always been strange to me how we call it Good Friday when something so horrific happened that day. But it's good because of what Jesus did for us. What kind of love is this to be brutalized and die like this for people who dare to crucify their Creator? God's love is unparalleled and Jesus' obedience is unmatched. Everything we needed was accomplished on the cross. We have forgiveness through the cross. We have the hope of salvation and eternal like through

Good morning! Today is known as Maundy Thursday. It was a busy day for Jesus. He was preparing for the last day of His ministry and His crucifixion. He prepared the Passover meal for the disciples, served them, took communion with them, washed their feet and gave them a new commandment. They were to love one another and serve one another. By their love and service, people would know they were His disciples by loving the way He loved them. Of all the things He could be concern

Good morning! Jesus talked a lot about forgiveness because He was going to need to forgive a lot this week. He had to have a reserve of forgiveness built up in His heart to be readily able to forgive instantly. Even the most heinous of offenses. One of His best friends, one of the twelve who followed Him everywhere and even would sit next to Him at the last supper table, would be one of His greatest offenders. Judas was a thief. No pretty way to say it. He always had his hand

Good morning! Today, Jesus focused on building on prayer with faith and forgiveness. Not only should we pray, but pray with faith believing that God will answer. Have faith in God. It's not a suggestion, but a command and an invitation to trust God. Faith can move mountains. Sometimes we face a mountain of debt or circumstances that seem impossible. Faith in God removes your doubts because it gives room for possibility. In ourselves, we often do not have the answers, but in G

Good morning! As we look at Holy Week this week, we see what Jesus took seriously and is important. Today, His focus was on prayer and order in the house of God. How we treat the temple is important and what we allow to go on there is a reflection of our heart. Not only in the house of worship, but it starts with us individually. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So, what we allow in our temple is important and will reflect the posture of our heart to the Lord. Do you hav

Good morning! Today is known as Palm Sunday and is the start of what we call Holy Week. It is the week leading up to Resurrection Day or Easter, as it has been called. This verse is Jesus fulfilling a prophesy about him found in Zechariah 9:9. He came in riding on a donkey colt into Jerusalem as a king would enter in a procession. He didn't come on a prized horse and chariot. He came as a humble man on a lowly beast of burden. Those who knew the Scriptures and the customs of

Good morning! As we prepare for Holy Week, it is important for us remember the definitive truth that Jesus is the only way to salvation. Beside Him, there is no other and no other means by which we can be saved. God made it abundantly clear for everyone to understand. We don't have to wonder if we did enough good works or if we were good enough to make it. God has leveled the playing field and said no one is good enough nor can anyone save themselves through works. It is only

Good morning! Sometimes things happen that are just a mystery. There is no answer, no reason, seemingly no purpose or any way to make sense of it. But God will work it out in due time. Don't lose hope or your faith over the unknown. You don't have to go to hell over a mystery. When you love God, He is working for you, not against you. You may not see the why, how, when or where in the moment, but trust Him. He will turn things around in a way that will be for your benefit and

Good morning! God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through His divine power. He did so by the knowledge of Christ who called us by glory and virtue. That is what Peter wrote before this verse to give us context. Through this knowledge of Jesus and by God's divine power, we have unmatched and priceless promises of eternal life, righteous living and eternity apart from sin. We are given a new nature that is without corruption. We are a new creature in

Good morning! The promise of God's faithfulness to a thousand generations is a great motivator to keep His commandments. But it all means nothing without love. The Pharisee's in Jesus' day memorized entire scrolls, but had hatred in their hearts and corruption. Knowing God's word is one thing, but loving Him will enable you to keep it. The devil knows God's word too. He's great at quoting it and twisting it to deceive and manipulate. But Jesus loved the Father and perfectly k

Good morning! To sanctify means to set apart for sacred use. It is often used interchangeably for "holy". So, we should set apart our hearts for the sacred use of a dwelling place for the Lord. We have to have Him before we can defend Him. I can't defend what or who I do not know. But it is easy for me to defend what I am well acquainted with. The more I know about it, the better I am at defending it. How well do you know Jesus? How deep is the well of hope inside of you? I k

Good morning! I hear a lot of people saying, "Why would a loving God ever send anyone to hell?" My reply is, "He doesn't. Your choices and rejection of Jesus is why anyone goes to hell." God has done everything to gives us eternal life and forgiveness through Christ. Heaven is not fair. Through Christ, God gives us forgiveness and eternal life we don't deserve and spares us from the judgment we do deserve. God's plan from the beginning had redemption in mind because nothing c

Good morning! How often do you bless the Lord? I don't mean put an extra offering in the plate at church or do some deed, but just from your heart, express out loud a blessing to the Lord out of gratitude for who He is and the things He gives us. He is so good to us! In life, we experience trials, hard times, discomfort, grief and pain. Sometimes, we can feel alone, especially when we're going through something others have a hard time understanding. But God, the Father of mer

Good morning! This is a powerful prayer. Daring to be laid bare before God in the inmost parts of your being. Kind of scary to be that open and vulnerable before the Lord. But, He already knows those things, so we're only fooling ourselves if we think we can hide it. Purity requires honesty. If we really want to have a pure heart and mind, we have to be completely honest with God. We have to be willing to expose the parts of ourselves we protect so vigorously. We can't be lea

Good morning! God is always faithful and it is impossible for Him to lie. He is truth. His track record is perfect, it's our understanding that is lacking. We don't always understand what or why He does what He does or does not do. But He is eternal and sees beyond the moment. We see moment by moment; God sees all time, past, present and future. He has done great things; we can see this in His word and through personal testimony of others. We have to remember and look at the