When the Lord puzzles us is an experience all believers face at some time along their faith journey. While the Lord sees the bigger picture of what He is doing and where He is going, that isn’t always that clear to the sheep of His pasture. The night before His crucifixion, Jesus gathered His disciples …
New seasons in life often mean times of change. We all have our favorite seasons, but without changing the seasons, there would not be a growth and production cycle. Winter is my least favorite season, but the ground could not rest without it. Spring is a wonderful season when seeds are planted and begin to …
The danger of overconfidence is something we may dismiss until we are caught up in failure of our own making. The Bible often connects pride with overconfidence, leading to our downfall. Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. [1] Through faith in Jesus as our Savior, we have everything we need …
A warning of a test helps you to prepare so you are not caught off guard. How we respond to the warning is often influenced by our blind spots. We can over or underestimate our abilities for the upcoming test. Jesus had celebrated Passover with His disciples. Afterward, they began to argue about who was …
The disciples did not understand servant leadership. Jesus had just told them that one of them would betray Him. This led to an argument about which was the greatest. Perhaps this happened because they were speculating over who would betray Him. This was not the first time they had argued over this topic. Luke 9:46 Then …
In Scripture, we see how God can turn what was meant for evil into good. As we look at the evil that seems to permeate our culture, we can begin to doubt God. Has this evil taken God off guard? No. We must trust that He is at work against evil. During this Lenten season, …
God has long-term plans for His people. As sinful humans, we tend to think in the short term. We like our plans to come to fruition quickly. It was the same with the exiles. False prophets predicted they would be back in Jerusalem in a couple of years. These false prophets were popular because people …
The battle between good and evil has continued since satan fell into sin and was thrown out of heaven with his fallen angels. Revelation 12:7 Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. 8 And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced out …
Paul ends our text with the recommendation to overcome evil with good. Romans 12: 21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. [1] Paul has given us a way to react to those who do evil to us. It is a very counter-cultural, unexpected way to respond. As we believe in Jesus, …