Self-Examination

What’s the best way to CLOSE out this month’s series on “Recognizing Our INADEQUACY Without God?” With a message on our need to OPEN up.    God tells us to OPEN UP and examine ourselves regularly to discern which direction our faith walk should take.    “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me […]

I spent the day yesterday hustling down the freeway running through California’s spine with a throng of people trying to escape their Covid Cocoon and chase whatever kind of NORMAL awaits them on the road ahead. Along the way I resisted stopping at the first two IN-N-OUT Hamburger stands I encountered; but succumbed to the

We’re playing the PRIDE CARD today as we head into the home stretch on this month’s exploration into RECOGNIZING OUR INADEQUACY without God. Please keep an open mind and strap yourself in for the ride.    Nobody should be surprised to see PRIDE show up in the context of recognizing our INADEQUACY without God. Heck,

The CHRISTIAN BUBBLE is a “safe haven” Christians seek to minimize or avoid contact with the “world.”    I get it. Bubble wrap keeps things from breaking or changing shape. Consider the compelling difference between transporting an antique vase across town loose in the back seat or bubble wrapped in a box. I chose the

How crazy is that thought for a Christian? I mean, c’mon…making decisions about your faith like it was a lunch order? Really? Yep. That was how I was thinking early in my faith walk. Ouch.    I had elected myself as BOSS and put myself in charge of making every decision in my life as

You get cut…blood comes out. You squeeze a tube of toothpaste…toothpaste comes out. You wash a load of clothes…dirt comes out. Here’s the first step in allowing God to determine and animate what comes out when life squeezes us: Recognize our INADEQUACY without God. Otherwise, we will be tempted to play BOSS and try to

God gives children a natural curiosity about life and its wonder. He gives them a quizzical and probing nature. He gives them a spontaneous bent and joyful heart. And then, like magic, it seems to vanish in the night as we grow up in a cynical bubble with oxygen infused with doubt and fear. Worry

It is IMPOSSIBLE to fully recognize our INADEQUACY without God if we do not have Christian HUMILITY running through our veins and invading our soul. That’s why it is important to regularly check in on ourselves by asking: “Are YOU a HUMBLE Christian?”    Here’s a snapshot of what Christian humility IS: Respect for the

We’re a couple of weeks into exploring the need to recognize our INADEQUACY without God and I can feel the Holy Spirit working in my life and in the lives of many other members of this ministry’s 1.2 million-strong global online tribe. The comments and questions that are coming in bear that out. Here’s an

One of the biggest BARRIERS to recognizing our INADEQUACY without God is wrapped up in our DESIRE. But it is not the obvious, on-the-surface signs and symbols of our desire. You know…things like playing boss of our life. Chasing money and success. Pursuing pleasure and power. No, not that kind of desire. I’m talking about