Scripture:  Ps. 55:22 NKJ -  Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you….In our world today, there are pressures on every side in this fast-paced journey.  People seem to carry their burdensome past for many years, seemingly,  without clues as to how to gain relief. Many say, “I’m fine.” Is that really what is true? From an external view, we see something else.  Perhaps, you should tur...  Read More

Scripture  Jeremiah 17:9-10 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.  Psalm 51:10 - Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  Proverbs 28:13 - He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: bu...  Read More

Scripture: I Corinthians 15:54b – 55 - Death is swallowed up in victory.”  O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”Bees and I have never gotten along.  I was stung once when I was nine, while away at a week-long summer camp—but that was my fault.  I had “smacked the proverbial bull,” as they say, by witlessly tossing a volleyball at a hornet’s nest affixed to the side of our...  Read More

Scripture: (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others; it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.Love is an essential part of life; it is a bas...  Read More

Scripture:  1 Corinthians 2:9 HCSB  - But as it is written: What eye did not see and ear did not hear, and what never entered the human mind – God prepared this for those who love Him.How many times have you said something will never happen … then when it doesn’t, you seem to be caught off guard? What’s the saying – NEVER SAY NEVER!! Yep, it’s true. Our own sinful ways cause us to believe this lie...  Read More

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.I am a work in progressMade new through a divine processBecause, I accepted Christ as my Lord and SaviorI’m identified and sanctified as a new creationThe Lord chose to take me as I wasA filthy sinner who needed to be cleansed and washedImmediatel...  Read More

Scripture: I Thessalonians 5:17 NKJ -  PRAY WITHOUT CEASINGMany will agree that it can be challenging to hear God when so much clamor is happening in our midst. Today's wild football game parties, backyard cookouts, or holiday public fireworks displays are among the many circumstances that bring along overbearing clamor.  I recall my college days while residing in my dormitory room. There were con...  Read More

Scripture:  James 4:7-8 - Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.As we live out our Christian life, we will be tested as we walk with God. Before I invited Jesus Christ into my life,  I can remember times when I found myself in trouble...  Read More

Scripture:  Psalms 42:11 -  Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.Hebrews 6:19a – Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul.An acronym for hope is holding on to a powerful expectation.  No matter what we are facing, there is hope for our future. The object of our hope...  Read More

Scripture:  Matthew 24:42 - Be prepared, because you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.  Few Christ-followers would deny that we, of all people, should value what our Lord values, and our God “wrote the book” on preparation! Before the Israelites could cross the Jordan River, heading into the Promised Land, their leader commanded them to sanctify themselves, for the Lord was about to do wond...  Read More

Scripture: (Matthew 7:1-3) Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgement you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?Olympic gold medalist, Simone Biles, withdrew from the 2021 Olympic games allegedly to work on her mental health. ...  Read More

Scripture:  Galatians 6:9-10 - And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.Are you one of those that began to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with excitement and energy, but now have or seem to be feeling like you want to quit?  The...  Read More

Scripture:  Psalm 16:8 - I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.Living in Christ, for Christ, takes some staying power.  I am often reminded by the stand made by  the Hebrew boys in Daniel.  They were in a foreign land and refused to bow down to heathen practices.  They were determined not to be seduced by the delicacies of the king’s food or to ...  Read More

Scripture:  Galatians 5:22-23 -   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.A definition of self control is to grab, hold, strength, mastery.  It is the ability to restrain passions and appetites. When you invited Jesus Christ into your life, you received the Holy Spirit and the fruit ...  Read More

Scripture:  Philippians 4:19 (NKJV) - And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.James 4:3 (NKJV) - You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.A need by definition is something that is necessary for the survival of a person (Microsoft Bing) and a want indicates something that a person wishes or desires to p...  Read More

Scripture:  2 Corinthians 10:3-5 - For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,We are in spiritual warfareWhat weapons are you using to prepare?We can’t...  Read More

Scripture:  Colossians 2:15 - Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.Storms and floods are often likened in Scripture and in Christian hymns to trials and adversities—and for good reason!  When you’re going through them and they appear to be intensifying to the point where your heart cries out to your Lord, ‘How LONG?  When is this...  Read More

Scripture:  Psalm 51:1-10 - Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,and done this evil in Your sight—that You may be found j...  Read More

Scripture:  Colossians 2:15 - Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.Storms and floods are often likened in Scripture and in Christian hymns to trials and adversities—and for good reason!  When you’re going through them and they appear to be intensifying to the point where your heart cries out to your Lord, ‘How LONG?  When is this...  Read More

Scripture:  John 10:10 -  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.How do I get victory over the enemy?Despite salvation, evil offers no sympathyI am unprepared to do the work of the LordFailing to call on Him sooner for spiritual supportSpiritual warfare remains in front of meOften, my meth...  Read More

Scripture:   Exodus 14In 1972, the year I graduated from Eastern High School, I recall how excited I was to get my driver’s license!  To make sure I passed the driver’s test, I went to the Easy Method Driving School.  I had eight lessons at $18.00 per lesson.  I read through the manual several times so that when I drove the Easy Method car, I could apply what I learned from their book.  A month pr...  Read More

Mark 9:23 (NKJV) - Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.Mark 10:27 (NKJV) - But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible…”My Dad recently had surgery – a total hip replacement. At the young age of 85, he wasn’t a prime candidate for such a risky procedure. Dad’s age coupled with ...  Read More

Scripture:  Proverbs 17:22 -  A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.When was the last time you really laughedOr do you only remember the moments you are sadCertainly, engaging in refreshing moments are worthwhileYet, I’m fooled that something must happen for me to smileSurely, a smile doesn’t mean everything is alrightYet, it represents my hope for the future ...  Read More

Scripture:  I Corinthians 1:31 (NASB) -  Just as it is written, “Let Him who boasts, boast in the LORD.”     Self-praise has been described as being “a twisted human perversion of true praise.”  Excepting perhaps the setting of an employment interview, where has tooting one’s own horn ever gotten the individuals who have indulged in its practice? It certainly does not please the heart of God.  I b...  Read More