Wisdom Matters

Praying for miracles we don’t know we will receive takes courage. Waiting for God’s answers, whatever his answers will be, takes strength. A courageous heart is essential to live with the hope of heaven when heaven is the only hope left to us on earth. Psalm 27 is about leaning on the hope of our salvation. We live with that hope every day if we are a Christian. Hope in our salvation gives us a pe...

Most days of our lives are manageable and easy to navigate. We seek God’s word and his will for the day. We pray for his Presence and can sense his peace. God’s Spirit provides our direction and our sense of God’s favor and strength. There may be a momentary need that causes us to pray quickly for his advice, his words, and his thoughts. While most of our days are manageable, every life has days,...

Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness to do good things that would have shown the world he was capable of miraculous works. Studying the temptations of Christ is important for our spiritual lives because they are examples of the way Christians are tempted today. If you have a strong walk with the Lord, you are probably not going to be tempted to commit an awful crime or willingly do an evil thing....

We can be faithful to God because he is always faithful to us. From Genesis to the book of Revelation, we see God present in the lives of those who trusted in him. Even when the nation of Israel was taken into captivity, we saw the Lord’s faithfulness to Daniel and his friends. Even when King David sinned, we saw the Lord’s faithfulness to redeem his life.  Paul had likely caused the murder of inn...

You have probably heard someone invite a person to church saying, “Your life will be so much better if you just get involved.” Maybe you’ve heard someone say something like, “God wants you to have the best life possible. You need to come to church with me.”  Truthfully, I’ve probably said things like that to people in the past. Sometimes our good intentions or personal experience stand against the...

One Sunday my husband, Jim, was preaching a sermon on patience and I was teaching my Sunday School lesson on the topic of grace. He and I laughed about that and decided we should both be calling in sick! Jim has a lot of grace, but neither of us is very good at waiting. In fact, few people are.  Waiting on the Lord is the most difficult wait of all. I’ve rarely known God to hurry things along. As...

I decided to create Wisdom Matters because so many people I knew ended their day with the evening news and then struggled to fall asleep. There is increased anxiety and worry among God’s people and a sense that God’s family is moving in some wrong directions. Christians don’t need to worry, but we do need to seek God and his wisdom. Jesus told his disciples, “You will hear of wars and threats of w...

Moses was teaching the Israelites how to go into battle whenever it became necessary. He taught the people not to fear, panic, or be in dread of their enemies. Moses taught them to allow the Lord to “go with them” and that God would fight for them and give them the victory. The most important lesson Christians can learn from Scripture about controversies, battles, warfare, and even the daily irrit...

This verse always reminds me of the guards standing outside Buckingham Palace. They are known for their uniforms, those tall hats, and for remaining focused and immovable for their entire shift at their post. The tourists do some crazy things trying to draw their attention, to no avail. Those guards are an image for our Christian faith. Paul told the Corinthian believers to be “watchful.” Corinth...

You have probably heard that “there are no atheists in foxholes.” Most of us can remember a circumstance when we prayed with passion and desperation. “Foxhole prayers” are important, and we can know that God hears every heartfelt word we utter. We can also know that God’s answers are not always what we wanted or asked him to give. Often in a crisis time, we look for verses from the Bible that will...

The more we focus on God and live in his truth, the less we will struggle with the temptations of this world. Also true is that as long as we are in this world, we will never be able to live without the temptation to sin. The Apostle Paul wrote, “God is faithful and he will provide a way of escape,” but he also wrote in his letter to the Romans, “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the...

Have you ever spent an entire day alone and separated from the noisy world, simply for the purpose of meditating on God’s reality and then praising God for the specific ways he has led and preserved your life? The magnitude of listing his blessings in our lives is endless, which oftentimes keeps us from ever making it. Moses was praising God for bringing his people across the Red Sea on dry land a...

There is a large yield sign at our exit on the tollway. We are always pleasantly surprised when drivers actually stop to allow us off the ramp and into the lane ahead of them. Yielding is not something most people are naturally inclined to do. Yet Scripture teaches us that yielding is one of the most important aspects of our spiritual strength. God told his people if you will stop and allow me to...

It’s been said that the Holy Spirit has a strange affinity for the trained mind. But it is easy for people to think that because they know a lot about God, they know God. We need only remember the Pharisees and Sadducees to know the truth. God stood next to them, they heard him teach, they saw him do miracles, and yet they didn’t recognize his Presence in the man named Jesus. Spiritual wisdom is a...

All of us realize our human bodies need to rest. God created us to work and created us to sleep. God also created us to enjoy our lives and to enjoy our God. We need time with God just as much as we need time to sleep. It’s good to be strong physically, but it’s crucial we stay strong spiritually. Isaiah made the point that even young people grow tired physically. Then he described the strength th...

God’s wisdom transcends human reasoning. Jesus told his disciples that a true leader is a person who serves. He said the greatest person in the group was actually the one who made himself the least. His statements stand opposed to human logic, yet we know his words are perfect truth. Jesus didn’t choose the trained church leaders of his day to become his disciples; instead, he chose faithful men w...

The Apostle Peter received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and devoted his time to sharing the gospel message with everyone he could. He was preaching in Jerusalem after Pentecost, helping the people understand that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah. He pleaded with them to accept the gospel message and be saved. Scripture says about three thousand people were added to the Christian faith in just...

Everyone who becomes a Christian is guaranteed an eternity in heaven. One of the most common struggles we have as Christians is balancing our guarantee of salvation with our calling to live holy lives free of sin. Christians have always been tempted to casually accept some sins because we know we have already been forgiven of them. Paul told the church in Rome, and every Christian who reads his wo...

You have heard it said, “Don’t tell me I have a friend in Jesus until you show me I have a friend in you.” That phrase isn’t from Scripture, but I kind of wish it was. It certainly is a good application of the verse that says “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Mark 12:31).  Ananias was probably part of the group that had fled Jerusalem after Stephen had been stoned. He knew Saul of Tarsus...

We have all experienced a public prayer that felt a little too public. I cringe on occasion when I hear someone say, “We need to pray for so and so . . . and let me tell you why!” Sadly, a prayer request time can quickly deteriorate into gossip if we aren’t very, very, careful. The sin of that type of prayer has driven many who need prayers to hesitate with their requests. Why does prayer time wit...

When you need prayer, whom do you ask to pray for or with you? Why do you ask that person? When others need prayer, do they ask you to pray? Those questions are important because they speak to the way others perceive your walk with the Lord. There are people whom we believe can sit at the Lord’s feet and talk to him about our needs. They know God in a deeply personal way. They know God’s word so t...

Sometimes talking about the power and strength God gives our lives can actually hurt our souls. There are days or seasons when circumstances seem to drain our spiritual strength and even our faith. Problems in our earthly lives can sometimes cause us to question the value or reality of our spiritual lives. Every Christian has struggles in this world, and often those struggles cause moments of spir...

The Spirit of God indwells the life of every Christian. Paul was very clear about that fact when he said, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”  We were given the person, the power, and the purpose of Jesus when his Holy Spirit came to indwell our lives at the moment of our salvation. Jesus told his disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me wi...

Have you ever seen the phrase in Scripture “And God said” and wondered how the Lord spoke to that person? How did they know it was God? Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t seem to speak to you or others that way today? God still speaks to his children, but we have his voice in a way that those in biblical times did not. Most of us have several Bibles on our shelves, not to mention access to God...

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” —Philippians 4:13 Have you ever stepped out in faith only to fall flat? If so, you are part of centuries of Christians who understand, having done the same thing. It's difficult to trust Paul’s words when we have lived with past failures. How do we conquer our doubts when we are abundantly aware of our weaknesses?  Actually, being aware of...