Category: Living by Faith

Reasons why we obey God

I ask myself, “Why should I obey God? What’s my motivation to do good?” I ask myself this because I find that motivation drives much of my behavior, good or bad. I also find that some motivations are more powerful than others, as love is a greater motivator than fear.

The Basics of Prayer

Prayer is discussion with God. It is motivated by different causes and takes different forms. Most often prayer is an appeal to God to change a difficult or helpless situation. Sometimes God changes our situations as we request (i.e., concerning employment, health, finances, family matters, etc.), and sometimes He leaves the difficult situation and seeks to change our attitude (2 Cor. 12:7-10).

Helping the Poor

It’s a fact of life that the poor always exist (Matt. 26:11). There are differing degrees of poverty, and some of the poorest in our society are homeless. There are various reasons why a person becomes poor. Some are poor because of their own bad choices (Prov. 24:30-34; cf. 13:18; 23:21), while some are poor because of the bad choices of others (Mic. 2:1-2; cf. Jer. 22:13; Jam. 5:4). Some look for a hand up, while others want a hand out. Our ability to help is sometimes hindered by our lack of resources, and other times by the recipient’s unwillingness to receive what we offer.

Bible Promises that Strengthen our Faith

The Lord permits us to face trials in order to develop our Christian character (Jam. 1:2-4). He also gives us promises that are rooted in His character that we might learn to trust Him as we walk with Him. The tests of life are inevitable, but how we handle them is optional.

God’s Favor Toward His People

God’s favor refers to the goodness and blessing He sows to others. God’s favor is based on His sovereignty, for He is under no compulsion to act, but does so according to His good pleasure, freely, from the bounty of His own goodness. His favor is often accomplished through the agency of other people as well as through circumstances.

Living in Babylon

Daniel was born into a good family of noble birth in Judah (Dan. 1:3-6). In his early years he witnessed the spiritual and moral decline of his country. Idolatry was rampant in Israel to such an extent that human sacrifice had become acceptable (Ezek. 16:20-21). As a result of Judah’s spiritual decline, God brought judgment upon the nation through Nebuchadnezzar, a Babylonian king (Jer. 25:8-9; Dan. 1:1-2), who besieged Jerusalem in 605 B.C. and transported many captives to his homeland.

The Plain Interpretation of Scripture

     We live our lives on the assumption that language—whether written or spoken—serves as a reliable vehicle for the expression of ideas.  Our survival and success depends on the plain use of language whether we’re reading the words on highway signs, food packages, or work documents.  A nonliteral reading of the instructions on a … Continue reading The Plain Interpretation of Scripture →

Religious Syncretism

    Several years ago I had a strange conversation with a young woman who was in graduate school and finishing her degree in Social Work. The woman became excited when I mentioned I was in seminary and she proceeded to tell me about the Baptist church she was attending. She’d been active in her … Continue reading Religious Syncretism →

Jesus is God

     Does the Bible teach that Jesus is God?  Yes, the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is God.  He is properly identified as one of the three Persons of the Godhead, commonly referred to as the Trinity.  There is God the Father (Gal. 1:1; Eph. 6:23; Phil. 2:11), God the Son (John 1:1, 14, 18; 8:58; 20:28; … Continue reading Jesus is God →

Walking with God

Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. (Gen. 5:22-24)        The genealogical record of Genesis … Continue reading Walking with God →

I Am Barabbas

One morning in the summer of 1988, I was sleeping on some grass and woke to the sound of children walking past a fence near the alley where I’d slept the night before. Years of bad choices and heavy drug use had caught up with me and the few weeks I’d spent living on the streets and at a homeless shelter were enough to awaken me to the despair of my situation. Worldly living had produced such a darkness within me, there were times I had considered suicide as a solution to end the misery that was my pathetic life. From the time I started using illegal drugs until that morning on the grass, I had not been living as a righteous man, but rather as the wicked, which “are like chaff which the wind drives away” (Psa 1:4). My life at that time epitomized worldliness, as I had rejected God's authority over my life, and that came with harmful consequences.

Learning to Live by Faith

Everyone lives by faith; it’s a fact of life. We trust in things and people in order to live from day to day. We trust in chairs to support us, cars to transport us, employers to pay us, telephones for communication, and so on. Over time we learn that some things and some people prove more reliable than others. Unfortunately, everything and everyone in this world eventually fails, as everything wears out and winds down. The only exception is God and His Word (Deut 31:8; Matt 24:35).