Practical Faith

How do we know that everything in the Bible is true? How do we know that Jesus did all the things that the Bible says He did?

Our faith isn’t about us – it’s about the thing we are putting our faith in.  In this case, our faith is not in our own strength or abilities, but in the nature and character of God.

“Faith is living as if the promise of God for the future is certain and the power of God for the present is real.” – Dr. Gary Cockerill

Ephesians 6:16 says, “Take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”   When I recently read this verse, I thought, “how is faith like a shield?”  

So often in life, we don’t know what to pray for.  Particularly when the circumstances seem overwhelming , we come to God, and we are… wordless.  Flip open your Bible to the Psalms, and you will find 150 sample prayers that hundreds of millions of believers have lifted up to God over thousands of years.  

John Ortberg: “If a person wants to grow spiritually, what would your advice be?  Where should they start?” Dallas Willard: “Do the next right thing you know you ought to do.” 

God calls each one of us to do lot of different things – big and small – all throughout the course of our lives.

James 5:16 teaches us to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another.  We need each other.  We cannot battle our sin alone.  But I submit to you that confession and prayer within the community of faith does not have to wait until sin has already occurred...

Today, I have a question for you to consider, followed by a story to share.  Here’s the question: should I do good, even if I have the wrong motives?

The best gift we can give someone is passion for the Word of God! Whether it’s our own kids, our friends and families, our coworkers, or someone we’re discipling...

Meghan Gross leads us in a brief reflection on the brevity of life, and asks, "What if we daily lived with the recognition that life is short and death is real?  Because if we really know that we are going to die, we’ll change the way we live."

Today’s episode comes courtesy of Meghan Gross, recorded in 2019 when she was a Church Leadership major at LaGrange College and was completing an Internship in Pastoral Leadership at Christ Community Church in Columbus, Georgia.

Last night, I sat down and wrote my wife a letter, and something quite unexpected happened.  I found that in the act of focused thinking about her, I found myself adoring and desiring her more and more!  These focused moments of concentrating on and listing out all of her amazing qualities, her character, her personality – I was falling in love with her all over again!

Several places in the Bible, we are instructed to “put on Christ.”  Have you ever wondered what that actually means?  How do we “put on Christ” in our lives?

There are multiple different modes of prayer, and they can all be employed regularly in our lives to create a more diverse and complete relationship of communication with God.

Confession time: I do a bunch of unreligious stuff in prayer.  Sometimes I speak to God in real, raw, unfiltered ways that I wouldn’t ever be able to speak to another person.  But all these unfiltered, unreligious things I do – with God.  In prayer.

How do we corral all our scattered thoughts during prayer?   I have five suggestions here that can make the reality of distractions in prayer easier to manage:

Oh God...  what if all I do is raise “good” kids?!  Do I want good kids, or do I want faith-filled kids?  Do I want polite kids, or do I want Spirit-led world-changers?  Do I want well-behaved kids, or kids who know and love Jesus with all their hearts and minds?  I know we don’t have to choose – we can have both – but, Lord, in my parenting, have I focused more on behavior and conduct rather than...

“I don’t know if God is real,” he said.  He was 9 years old.  Such honesty.  Such genuine, pure, honest thought, verbalized.  No pretense.  No past animosity towards the church, no legalism or any of the other things that people wrongly blame God for.  Just pure, honest doubt.  But for a moment, I panicked on the inside.

It was my very first missions arrival ceremony; I should have been out with everyone else, cheering on the beginning of a new field service...  Instead, I was down in my office with the door closed, experiencing a significant spiritual assault...

Have you ever wondered why God sent Jesus to the place and time that He did?  Why Galilee in the 1st century?  And what that means for us - why God chose the times and places of our lives that He did?

The Bible is a mine whose treasures can never be fully and completely exhausted; I love the new insights to be gained every time it is opened!  As followers of Jesus, we delight in the Word of the Lord, for from it flows help, health, encouragement, instruction, solution, challenge – and life from the Author and authority of life.

A healthy Christian marriage is itself a tremendous witness for Jesus in the world. 

A solid Christian marriage is one of the most spiritually impactful institutions there is: a man and woman who are committed to loving and honoring each other in the Name of Jesus for the rest of their lives is extraordinarily powerful for the glory of God and the expansion of His Kingdom on the earth!  On today's episode of Practical Faith, I want to share 6 more pieces of practical marriage...

Dianna and I have been blessed through the years to be able to do some marriage mentoring with a number of wonderful couples ahead of their wedding days.  We’ve spent many hours together with engaged couples – talking, sharing, laughing, praying, answering questions – exploring God’s best for Christian marriage together.  We’ve done Biblical studies with couples, and book studies using a variety o...