Thinking of ANSWERED PRAYERS from a Biblical perspective hits play on a stream of images rolling through our mind’s projector. We see stories of Diseases Destroyed. Sight Restored. Food Produced. Seas Parted. Attackers Defeated. Death Reversed.    We see GOD at work in those bring-in-the-band answers to prayer. Start-the-parade answers to prayer. Shoot-off-the-fireworks answers to prayer....

William Shakespeare had life in the 21st Century pretty much figured out when he wrote in 1599: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”    EXACTLY! That IS the reality of life on earth in the 21st Century.    Millions of people, good people, are acting on the world’s stage. Playing one role at work. Another at home. Another at church.   ...

THIS JUST IN FROM OUR GLOBAL ONLINE TRIBE: When I am buried in a burden caused by a circumstance or by another person, I feel trapped by Satan with no way out. What should I do when that happens?    This is a great question because Satan loves to use our painful circumstances and problems to drop us into his dark and dirty prison. And you’re not alone. Every believer faces this challenge...

My biggest breakthrough in trying to fully RELEASE CONTROL of my life to God came when I realized I had done nothing with my salvation. Nothing for God. Nothing for those who do not know him. NOTHING!    This is when I came face-to-face with an unpleasant reality—I was ignoring the gifts and blessings God had given me. That crushing dose of humility sent me crashing to the lowest of lows....

Before fully RELEASING CONTROL of my life to God, I worked relentlessly to manage every part of life. I wanted to keep everything in motion like a circus performer’s frenetic effort to spin multiple plates on sticks simultaneously. In my case, the plates were my CEO job. My money. And my mansion. I worked very hard to keep those plates spinning at the same time without any of them dropping to their...

Our worldly culture tells us to endure the constant pressure of life’s UNCERTAINTY until we feel good again. To focus on the world’s “bright and shiny” trappings until our doubt disappears. To replace UNCERTAINTY with the world’s “certainty.”    Even though all of that is a LIE, I can see how we keep falling for its deception.    We allow UNCERTAINTY to hang around, in part, because...

In the years AFTER I gave my life to Christ and BEFORE my complete surrender, “I’ll get around to it” was one of my favorite excuses for putting off the day I would fully RELEASE CONTROL of my life to Christ.      Maybe that’s YOU today.    It’s dangerous to put off releasing control to God and assume that responsibility ourselves. It produces extreme pressure to make...

I was swimming through the book of Proverbs this morning when God zoomed in and grabbed my attention with a new way of looking at a verse I have read many hundreds of times:    “A sensible person gathers the crops when they are ready; it is a disgrace to sleep through the time of harvest.” Proverbs 10:5 (GNT)    I am sure this verse showed up today as part of my current focus on...

Early in my faith walk I SO wanted to be one of those “GOOD CHRISTIANS” who never entertained a dark thought or made a mistake. Never had a bad day or let someone down. Never felt the chill of fear or the winds of worry. I yearned for this idealized picture of peace and joy that had formed in my mind. I just couldn’t figure out how to get there.    Later it became clear why I could not get...

All of us want “quick answers” to the tough questions surrounding our faith walk with Jesus. Questions about what to say and do. Questions on how to obey. Questions about how to live.    That is certainly the case when it comes to the spiritual imperative of fully RELEASING CONTROL of our life to God. But quick answers to our spiritual questions are elusive because they are an illusion....