How to Get More Joy

John 15:11 (NIV) I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Everyone in this life strives to be happy, but happiness is very elusive and fragile because it is totally dependent on what happens. If good things happen, we are happy. If bad things happen, we get anxious and sad. Bad things outweigh good things. For example, if you had the means to buy that new car you always wanted, that would make you happy. But if two days later you

Rooted!

Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV) So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

If there is one thing that I've learned since moving from a big city to a more country-like setting, it's about root systems. I knew nothing about plants, flowers or weeds for that matter but having them all around me now, I can appreciate why the Word of G

Know Whom You Have Believed

2 Timothy 1:12 (NIV) That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

The Apostle Paul came to know Jesus in a very unusual way. While on his way to persecute Christians and throw them in jail, Jesus appeared to Him. The brightness of His appearing knocked Paul off of his horse and made him blind. After realizing that he was going a

Be Careful Who You Listen To

Deuteronomy 13:1-3 (NIV) If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.

We live in an age where we

He Understands

Deuteronomy 10:1-2 (NIV) At that time the Lord said to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”

It must have been so frustrating for Moses to deal with all of the exiles that came out of Egypt when the Lord used him to deliver them from slavery. You would think that they would be

Math Not Allowed

Deuteronomy 4:2 (NIV) Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

In life, there are many times when we need to add or subtract from the things that we say. Sometimes you need to add context to something you've said and sometimes you need to take back (or take away) something that we have said in haste or that wasn't true. We add and subtract from things that we have stated all throughout our liv

Being Taught What to Say

Exodus 4:11-12 (NIV) The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, He told him that He had chosen him to deliver His people from slavery in Egypt. This was shocking news to Moses and he felt totally unqualified to do it. He gave God the excuse that he had a s

Keep Your Lamp Burning

Psalm 18:8 (NIV) You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

Back in the time of the tabernacle that God instructed Moses to construct, the Lord commanded that the lamps of the lampstand be kept burning continually. The light was never to go out on them. This lampstand was the only source of light in the tabernacle. We now know that the lampstand was meant to represent Jesus, the light of the world (John 8:12). Jesus proclaimed to be the light of

Mercy Preferred

Hosea 6:6 (NIV) For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

I believe that the majority of the people in this world don’t really know what Jesus is all about, including many who profess to know Him. Many people who self-identify as Christians are religious. Religious people do the right things on the outside, such as going to church, giving money to charity, being righteous in public (but not privately), and endeavoring to look

He Is All You Need

Exodus 33:11 (NIV) Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

Moses had a very special relationship with God. The Word of God tells us that the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks with a friend (Exodus 33:11). Moses was allowed to approach God’s presence when everybody else was prohibited from doing so (Exodus 24:1-2). What mad

Be Very Careful

Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV) Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

One of the things that a lot of believers do not think about is how they are living their lives. What I mean is that even though Christians generally stay away from what we all consider to be big sins, many are careless in a lot of other areas. The scriptu

Praise from Unlikely Sources

Daniel 6:26b-27a (NIV) “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth.”

If you read the portion of scripture above without knowing the context, you would assume that it is one of the servants of God in the Bible that loved and feared Him. It is a beautiful tribute of praise to the God who is worthy of it all. But when you

Independence Through Dependence

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Romans 6:20-22 (NIV) When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to h

Credit Where Credit is Due

Daniel 2:27-29 (NIV) Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these: “As Your Majesty was lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going t

The Lord's Concern for You

Exodus 4:31b (NIV) And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

The Hebrew people had been in bondage in Egypt for a long time and the situation was getting worse. God had confided many years before to His servant, Abraham, that his descendants would suffer and be oppressed in Egypt for 400 years (Genesis 15:13). This happened because the people of God had started picking up the habits and customs of t