Faith Matters Podcast

Just as a cold glass of water after finishing summer yard work refreshes and revitalizes us, manna provides us with the strength to keep going. This provides us with what we often refer to as a fresh wind. Many people know about the 80/20 principle; 80% of the value of your work comes from 20% of your time and effort. Sometimes it’s 70/30 or 90/10, but the general point is that a majority of your...

The Loudest Voice in Your Life Is it possible that what we perceive to be relational, emotional, and spiritual problems are actually hearing problems—ears that have been deafened to the voice of God? And it’s that inability to hear His voice that causes us to lose our voice and lose our way. Let me make a bold statement: Learning how to hear the voice of God is the solution to a thousand problems!...

Come Closer God has an outside voice, and He’s not afraid to use it. But when God wants to be heard, when what He has to say is too important to miss, He often speaks in a whisper just above the absolute threshold of hearing. My dictionary defines whisper as “speaking very softly using one’s breath without one’s vocal cords.” The use of breath instead of vocal cords is significant. Isn’t that how...

A Hiding Place Have you ever tried to quiet a loud room? Attempting to yell above the crowd usually doesn’t work, does it? It’s far more effective to shush the crowd with a shhh. That’s the method God employs. His whisper quiets us, calms us, stills us. That’s why chronic noise may be the greatest impediment to our spiritual growth. When our lives get loud, with noise filling every frequency, we l...

When I first toured the Capitol more than two decades ago, our guide revealed a secret that wasn’t really a secret: the whispering spot. He stood on one side of Statuary Hall while our tour group stood on the other side. Then he spoke in a whisper, and sure enough, we could hear the echo of his voice all the way across the room as if he were mere inches away. When I look through the Bible, I see w...

What God Wants Us to Hear the Most You aren’t the mistakes you’ve made. You aren’t the labels that have been put on you. And you aren’t the lies the Enemy has tried to sell you. You are who God says you are. You are a child of God. You are the apple of God’s eye. You are sought after. You are more than a conqueror. You are a new creation in Christ. You are the righteousness of Christ. All our iden...

Just as refreshing a fire requires the feeding of kindling to the flames, we too must feed ourselves in order to refresh and revitalize our minds, bodies, and spirits. This requires fresh manna—fresh provision, new thoughts, new ideas, new business, and this can be found only within the Word of God. Manna is daily. God provided manna for the children of Israel during the forty years that they wand...

Once we have refreshed our vision for the road ahead, we must also rekindle or refresh our fire. To refresh your fire is to strengthen what remains to ensure that your foundation remains sturdy and will be able to sustain you for the long haul. Through the process of tempering, steel and other metals are put into intense heat where they are purified and strengthened. As the heat is applied, the im...

Just as we previously discussed, starting fresh doesn’t mean that you have to rid yourself of everything. It doesn’t mean that every aspect of your life is unusable. Sometimes refreshing starts with simply having a refreshed perspective on the world around you. Maybe you just need a fresh vision! A fresh vision can provide: Clarity Planning Blueprints Future Success Wisdom Too often we find oursel...

Refresh – To give new strength or energy to; reinvigorate. When was the last time that you started fresh, or felt the need to refresh yourself? We hear this concept a lot. “It’s time to wipe the slate clean.” “It’s time to start fresh.” “Time to start over.” Time for new beginnings, which sometimes means the closing of doors and opening of others. Having to refresh can be viewed as a positive or a...

Going Deeper In Prayer To be successful at anything, there must be a burning desire. Whether your goal is to practice medicine or to dominate a certain sport, without love for what you want to do, the flame will go out and it will be just too challenging… and overall, draining. You must also keep in mind that desire does not appear out of nowhere. You are initially intrigued by something. A mild c...

Fellowship Some Christians today view fellowship as optional. Many don't consider belonging to a Christian community as essential to living a Christian life. So many people in the church view fellowship with other believers through a “take it or leave it” mentality. Even Sunday morning worship services are all too often looked at as a “nice to have” or something we “should do if time allows”. This...

Repentance To return to God, we must turn away from competing lovers. Just being real here - some days I have no time for prayer but amazingly find hours to scroll on a social app. If you feel something has crowded into your private space with God, show it to the door this week. Turn it off. Once and for all. One thing many Christians miss when trying to get their fire for God back is their need t...

His Word When you initially trusted Jesus with your life, do you remember the fervor you felt for the Lord? Do you still recall the thrill and passion you experienced? But then reality crept in. School. Work. Relationships. Our devotion to God can become ordinary and less fervent simply because life happens. But more than anything, Satan adores apathy in Christians. It's time to change your faith...

The Gospel Many of us wish we could constantly be fired up for God. We want a stronger desire to follow Him, we long to submit to Him, and we really do want to share Him with others. But life’s roadblocks can get in the way. The question is... Despite all of those roadblocks, how can your devotion to God be stronger? How do you ensure that it endures regardless of external circumstances? Perhaps y...

SUPERNATURAL HISTORY “While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” LUKE 2:6-7 (ESV) In the Gospel of Luke, no sooner has the author introduced himself as a detail-oriented historian (Luke 1:1-4) than we are immediately ushered into an...

REJOICE WITH THE ANGELS “Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.” LUKE 2:4-5 (ESV) Jesus’ birthplace had a rich biblical history before it was ever visited by angels. It was Bethlehem that had once been stir...