Soul Talks with PB

Prayer is the privilege that God has given us so that we can communicate with Him at any time. If you think about it, it is indeed an awesome privilege. But sometimes people don't appreciate this privilege. They take it for granted. If ever they do pray, it is often very shallow, routine, and sometimes insincere. How can we respond to this awesome privilege in a way that glorifies God? We must lea...

Knowing about God and His kingdom is a gift. He allows us to know the truth so that we can grow in our faith. If we are faithful with what we know about God, He will reveal more to us. If we are unfaithful, we will lose what we think we know about God. This is a principle that is important to understand and remember. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/soultalkswit...

God creates us for relationships. But not all relationships are good for us. Some of them are detrimental to our spiritual lives and can harm us or make us ineffective and unproductive. Ironically, the detrimental relationships that the Bible warns us about are not with regard to unbelievers or the people in the world. The apostle Paul says in 1 Cor 5:9-10, "I wrote to you in my letter not to asso...

We've all been there. We find ourselves in situations where we are being unfairly treated by people. We feel angry and we want to fight back. We want to defend ourselves, to show those people that they are wrong and we are right. The more we plan our counterattack, the more we feel miserable inside. It's like a no-win situation. What can we do? Of course, we can pray. But how do we pray? --- Send...

God wants all men to be saved, but not all men are saved. Why? It depends on how people respond to God's word. The word of God is the means of grace whereby people can be saved. It is also the means of grace for their spiritual growth. If we don't choose well our response to the word of God, it will affect our actual experience of God's salvation. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.sp...

People try to find their joy and happiness in the things of the world. But believers find their true delight in the Lord. However, because we are not trained to be thankful, a lot of believers feel that they too must find their joy and happiness in the world. They do not realize that everything we need for a life of joy and fulfillment is found in the Lord. --- Send in a voice message: https://pod...

We all have a need to belong. God knows this. That's why He created the family of Jesus so that together we can belong to Him and to one another. However, some people do not understand this. They think that being a Christian is just a personal decision. We don't need to think about others. We can have a relationship with Jesus all by ourselves. But this is contrary to the vision of Jesus for His c...

Many Christians fall into the trap of not being mindful of their spiritual lives. They live each day unaware of the condition of their souls. Consequently, they fail to address issues or concerns early on that might affect their relationship with the Lord. We should practice the Prayer of Examen daily so that we would be aware of God's work in our lives and so cooperate with Him more faithfully. -...

Very few people are aware that they are self-righteous. They usually think that they are just right and others are wrong. They fail to see that their sense of being right is actually what is wrong. They tend to look down at others without looking at themselves first. It is obvious to people that they are being self-righteous but they are oblivious of it. Moreover, correcting a self-righteous perso...

Many today are longing for the approval of those around them. They strive to become successful. They want to accomplish things so that people will admire them. They accumulate worldly wealth so that they will feel secure. But whatever people think about us, what is important is how God thinks about us. Being successful is nothing if God sees us as fools. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcas...

In a normal relationship, when we fail to listen well to each other, there will be problems. How much more when we fail to listen to God. Some people think it doesn't matter much if we listen or not to God's word. Nothing seems to happen immediately anyway. But what they don't understand is that there are dire consequences. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/soult...

One of the most difficult experiences in the Christian life is when you feel like God is absent or far away. Those who go through such experiences describe it as confusing, difficult, doubtful, depressing, etc. Those who are more experienced in the spiritual life call it the "dark night of the soul". It's a temporary experience that can result in either deeper faith or unbelief, even backsliding....

Whenever we place ourselves in a situation where we can encounter God's message, it's important to have the right expectations. Sometimes people don't expect anything, so they don't get anything out of the experience. Others expect wrongly, so they do not get what they expect. But with the right expectations, our encounter with God's message can be life-transforming. --- Send in a voice message: h...

Our ability to desire is basic to our humanity. God gave us this ability so that we will first desire Him and as a result find in Him the fulfillment of all our other desires. The apostle Paul said in Acts 17:26-27, "From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so t...

When we are hurt physically, we know sooner or later we will be healed by God's grace. But when words hurt us, it seems to be a totally different experience. It's hard to recover from hurtful words. It affects us deeply in our hearts and we can't seem to get back to being normal again. The cruel words stay in our minds and they keep on repeating like a "last song syndrome." --- Send in a voice mes...

We all struggle with doubts once in a while. We often feel guilty when that happens. But what if our doubts are actually stepping stones to deeper faith? The very nature of faith requires the presence of some kind of uncertainty. Our questions can lead to a deeper understanding. It can lead to more trust and hope as we step out in faith. But first, we must accept our doubts as legitimate expressio...

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we feel like running away. We want to quit and leave everything behind. Maybe there is too much pressure. Maybe you're having a hard time dealing with people. Whatever the reason, it's important to understand that running away is a choice, but it's not the only choice. We can run to the Lord instead. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.sp...

Sooner or later, we will all experience sorrow. There's no need to feel guilty about it because it is only natural. But how we respond to sorrow is crucial. Many try to escape it by indulging in activities that can make them forget. Others self-correct themselves with all kinds of Scriptures so that they will not feel the pain. Some blame God and they become bitter toward Him. A better response is...

When faced with evil, sometimes we don't know how to respond. Our first instinct is to be angry. We lash out against those who are doing evil. Sometimes it works; often, it doesn't. Usually, it worsens the situation because the evildoers will not give up. Others will leave, which is what the evildoers want since they can now be free to do what they want. Finally, some will freeze and do nothing. I...

Sometimes we imagine that we have to be a great saint in order to have great faith. Perhaps this is a reason why we are timid when we pray. We cannot pray bold prayers because we think we don't have enough faith. But what does it mean to have great faith? We might be surprised to learn that great faith is not so far from all of us. We can all have great faith once we understand what it looks like....

God has allowed both weeds and wheat to grow side by side in the church. The weeds are those who come to know God but eventually they stop obeying Him and start living sinful lives. They still claim to be Christians but their lives do not conform to that reality. The wheat represents those who continue to be faithful to God in spite of the challenges. Christians who continue to love and obey God a...

Whether we like it or not, we are building our lives through every choice that we make. Many people are foolishly building their lives toward future catastrophes without even knowing it. By rejecting the claims of Christ right now, they are unknowingly setting up themselves for future failure. But is there another choice? Of course! By obeying Christ today and every day, we can build our lives wis...

Sometimes when we look around us, we envy those who don't seem to care about God but are actually happy or are doing well in their lives. It makes us think, "Why are these people doing well when in fact they are disregarding or rejecting God?" It may create doubts in our hearts. We may ask, "Is following and obeying God really worth it?" Before we conclude wrongly that God is unfair, perhaps it wi...

We have an invisible enemy working behind our visible reality. That visible reality is called the "world" in the Scriptures. This does not refer to the beautiful world that we live in (e.g. the mountains, the sky, the seas, etc.). It refers to the systems and philosophies of the world. We must understand the nature of "this" world as the Bible describes it so that we can understand also why we str...

We all want to change to become better people. But often we do it in the wrong way. We start by changing behavior. We do this to ourselves as well as to others. In psychology, this is called a behavioral modification. We use techniques and strategies to change behavior so that people will become better. Although there is some good to it, by itself it will not be effective in the long run. People h...