Walking with the Way

There was a verse that stood out to me this week that caused me to reflect back on a conversation with a friend who was disappointed at the reputation of Christians as a whole "the church".  She felt that if the church worded things better, or had more tolerance of other people, we, as a whole would have a better standing in society. First of all, when someone starts to say anything in the form of a blanket statement against the church, I bristle. Why would I bristle?  Because the Bible tells us that we, the church, are the body of Jesus! (Rom 12:4-5,1 Corinthians 12:12, 27, Eph. 5:30, Col. 1:18, 24, to name a few). So, for one to say they don't like "the church", they are grouping every Christian around the globe, basically stating they don't like Jesus!  Right?  After all, we are like the body of Christ!  And here is something to think about, God loves his church like a husband loves his bride!  And like a husband, God will defend the honor of his bri

One week of "lockdown" complete! How is your daily Bible reading coming along?  Do you have more time to read now that everything has been canceled? I would love to hear what has stood out to you in the reading! On Friday, a distant friend called to check to see how I was doing with the new way of life due to the coronavirus.  She was busy watching her granddaughter and was also listing her concerns with other family members and how she was helping them. She ended with, "I hope the man upstairs sees how hard I am trying to help everyone and gives me extra credit for it, and lets me in!" Well...that's not exactly how it works...but I didn't feel it was the time to get into a theological discussion, so we signed off with love and good tidings. However, I was left reviewing in my head that nothing we "do" will earn our entrance into heaven, except the "doing" of having faith in Jesus and what he did on the cross.  That's it!  Every

Was your church service canceled today? If so, maybe, like our church, you can watch your service online.  And since you may have a lot of extra time on your hands, now that much of your busy schedule has been wiped clean, you can watch some interesting videos that I will be including in this blog! I find it so interesting when God seems to talk to me using a theme that keeps coming up in my daily reading and continues in other areas as well (i.e. YouTube). It was recommended to me that I should watch a movie called, "American Gospel: Christ Alone" I did not see the whole movie, which is 2 hours, but I watched a one hour version that was very interesting.  It's a documentary critiquing how the Gospel in America has been diluted down or even lost in the teaching of prosperity or morality.  It's definitely worth watching so here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU&t=2747s I found it interesting that one of the pastors on the film said

We are flying through the letters now!! There is so much to comment on!  I would love to hear what is standing out to you!  Please share in the comment section! For me..something I read on Friday stood out.  When Paul was writing to the Philippians he was talking about those that are enemies of the cross. "Their mind is set on earthly things."(3:19)  That was a convicting statement!! What is my mind set on?  What do I think about the most? I love how Paul refocused me!  "But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." (3:20-21) Again, I am asking myself questions...do I eagerly await the Savior?  Why not?  Why do I keep getting caught up with the hear and now? Why don't I keep that heavenly perspective? Our reading this week was as if God was trying to r

In light of what I commented on last week, it doesn’t surprise me that the verse below stood out to me this week. “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” (Eph. 3:16). The Holy Spirit will strengthen our “inner”being. I liked reading that!! I often feel very weak physically but more often, I feel very weak with things like self control, patience, trust, you know, those inner things. I know what to do to improve my physical weakness; eat right, exercise, get rest.....but how do I fix the inner weaknesses? Paul gives such hope with his prayer for us! By the power of the Holy Spirit, I can have power over those inner weaknesses! Like I mentioned last week, we are not guaranteed a life without physical ailments or healing from those ailments, but Paul encourages us with something very special! He reminds us that by the Spirit’s will, we are strengthened in