The Bible Speaks to You: Think, Pray, Love like Jesus

377 – Where does your confidence come from? Are you a confident person?  Or do you sometimes feel a lack of confidence in yourself that keeps you from accomplishing things or even attempting to do something?  Or maybe you’re confident about some things and not so confident about others. All too often, we get our confidence or lack of confidence from external factors like...family heritage, educati...

376 – Is longsuffering good or bad? You’re probably familiar with the word longsuffering.  It’s in the Bible, at least some translations of the Bible, multiple times. Sometimes it’s translated as patience. And longsuffering is usually considered a virtue in the Bible. We are supposed to be patient with each other and not over-react when things don’t go the way we want. But sometimes in the process...

375 – Do you ever tell God you Love Him? When you’re going through a challenge, one of the most comforting things to remember is that God loves you. And it’s not just saying the words that help, but actually feeling God’s love and care for you in that particular moment. But love is not a one way street.  Love comes and goes in both directions in a healthy human relationship, and this is even more...

374 – Are you using your spiritual riches? Have you ever felt you didn’t have enough money to pay the bills, to buy food, to pay the rent, or whatever it might be?  Maybe your job wasn’t paying enough. Or you’re not charging your customers enough for the products or services you provide or not enough people are buying your products or services.  Maybe you didn’t get your share of an inheritance. M...

373 – Have you experienced God's redemptive grace in your life? What did that feel like? How did it transform your life? One of the most often quoted verses in the Bible is from Chapter 2 of Ephesians For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God —(Ephesians 2:8  NIV) But if you talk to enough people, it’s pretty obvious there are...

372 – Have you noticed? A spiritual awakening is taking place. In spite of all the negative and evil influences in the world today, there’s a collective spiritual awakening going on in the lives of those who love and follow Christ. Sometimes it’s subtle, quiet, personal, and almost unnoticed. Sometimes it’s loud and clear and obvious to anyone who is halfway paying attention. The Holy Spirit is at...

371 – Are you willing to let Jesus upset your apple cart? What happened to you the first time you encountered Christ?  Or maybe a better way to ask it: What happened to you first time you took the message of Jesus seriously, accepted it, and tried to live it in your life? When you accept Christ into your life, it should have a profound effect on you. Something changes.  The commitment to follow Ch...

370 – Have you ever felt it's too late to do what God wants you to do with your life? ...that you missed the opportunity God gave you? Or maybe you never got a clear message from God about what your purpose was. Or maybe you have heard God’s voice tell you exactly what to do, but you haven’t done it for whatever reason.  And now it feels too late to start, to try again, or get back on track....

369 – Where does your spirituality come from? Have you noticed? A lot of people these days are talking about spirituality, but they don't all mean the same thing when they use the word spiritual (or spirituality). What is spirituality? Where does it come from? Is it something you make happen?  Or is it something that's already there, but you have to discover? In this week's episode:...

368 – It's true, nothing can separate you from God's love Have you ever felt separated from God? Maybe because you did something you know you shouldn’t have, or maybe something traumatic happened you had no control over. Or it could just be a feeling you have for whatever reason. When God seems far away, it’s hard to know what to do or where to turn for help.  In this episode, we’re goin...

367 – Are you letting God into every part of your life? Or do you let God only into some parts of your life? There's no need to be hesitant to open up completely to God. You don't need to be afraid of something you've hidden deep inside you.  Your past mistakes and insecurities, any doubts and fears you may be embarrassed about or ashamed of, are no match for God's love for you...

366 – What is your spiritual identity?  How do you figure out what it is or what it even means? And why do Christians make such a big deal out of this?  In this week’s episode I’m talking with Clint Riggin about why understanding who you are spiritually is so important and the freedom it brings to your life. We talk about: What it actually means to surrender your will to God's will The only r...

365 – What will be the fate of today's corrupt leaders? When will justice catch up with them?  Are the standards of integrity, honestly, and love for God and mankind out of date?  When will the moral and spiritual laws of God take their rightful place in the life of nations and the world? In this week’s episode, we’re going to take a look at several leaders in the Bible who blatantly disregar...

364 – How can you show Jesus how much you love him? There are so many ways to show someone you love them.  You can tell them directly: I love you You can show your love by how you act and how you treat them You can listen to get to  know them better You might give them something or do something for them Or just spend time with them Now think of how these things apply to how you love Jesus.  But Je...

363 – What do you do when all hope is lost? Have you ever been in a situation where the outcome was exactly the opposite of what your hopes and expectations were? Things just went from bad to worse. You poured out your heart to God in prayer, but it didn’t really seem to do much good. Everything kept getting worse until it was all over and there wasn’t even a glimmer of hope. But then, in the most...

362 – How do you pray for world peace? On a scale of 1 to 10, how concerned are you about the way things are going in the world today?  Everywhere you turn, it seems like there’s turmoil and chaos, wars and violence, plus a host of other serious issues. When will it ever stop? Will it ever stop? Is there any way to find peace in this world of chaos and even more importantly, bring some peace to th...

361 – Would you like your prayers to be more effective? Of course! Sometimes it feels like God hears and answers your prayers almost immediately.  Other times you pour your heart out to God and you’re not sure it makes any difference.  So is there a best way to pray? What is the most effective prayer approach?  Well, there’s not a secret formula or a set of words or phrases that that make your pra...

360 – FREEDOM FRIDAY What would you do if you were the gatekeeper for an important event? You could only let in people who were authorized to be there, people who had tickets or an invitation.  You would be in charge of who got in and keeping out the people who weren’t supposed to be there. In this episode of Freedom Friday, we talk about You are the gatekeeper for your mind of all the thoughts th...

259 – Have you ever read the New Testament Books in Order of Date Written? Have you ever read through the entire New Testament from beginning to end?  What did you learn from doing this? How did it strengthen and encourage you?  Well, you’re probably very familiar with many parts of the New Testament, lots of the stories, and inspiring verses. But when you read it as a whole,  you get a much bigge...

358 – FREEDOM FRIDAY How does it feel when you make spiritual progress in your life? It’s pretty exciting isn’t it?  You feel like you’ve finally had a victory over the guilt and sins of the past, or a challenge you’ve been facing. But then sometimes, right on the heels of that spiritual progress, you fall back into the old patterns of thinking and acting. How do you hold onto your spiritual progr...

357 – How do you explain God's wrath in the Bible? Have you ever read some of those passages in the Old Testament where the text basically says God told the Children of Israel to kill all the inhabitants of Canaan, or other enemies, including the women and children, even babies? But in the New Testament, Jesus brings a very different perspective to dealing with your enemies. Instead of killin...

FREEDOM FRIDAY Are you hungry and thirsty for spiritual things? Have you ever been really hungry or really thirsty?  Why does that happen? It’s because your body is telling you need to eat or drink something. Hunger and thirst tell us there’s something we need that we don’t have.  Jesus said we will be blessed when we hunger and thirst for righteousness, when we realize the need in our lives for t...

355 – What is God teaching you? When was the last time you felt like God taught you an important lesson? Was it when you did something really well and you felt God showed you how to navigate all the different things that had to happen for a good outcome? Or did you make some mistakes and God taught you a better way to take care of the situation?  The real question is: What did you do next? What di...

Welcome to Freedom Friday 354 – Jesus said: The kingdom of heaven is at hand Do you believe him? Most people think heaven is somewhere you go after you die. When you start seeing yourself from the perspective that heaven is at hand, the shame and guilt from you past will begin to dissolve. In this episode: Jesus promised that the kingdom of heaven is at hand You can't see it with your materia...

353 – When you’re facing a serious challenge... Do you tend to run away from it, ignore it, or face it so you can deal with it? The best solution is to face your challenges head on, ask for help if you need it, and do what you can to find a solution. In today’s episode we’re going to look at several examples in the Bible of people who faced their challenges some who tried to run away from them.  A...