There is a Geico commercial that features a man in his garage obviously organizing it. In his hand is a lamp that he is rubbing with a cloth which (naturally) summons a genie. True to form the genie asks the man, “What is your wish?” Getting over his initial shock and joy at having found a genie he asks, “Ok, I wish I had a million bucks.” Poof! A million male deer (bucks) appear in the man’s garage and yard. Although this is a more humorous take on genies taking wishes literally, I find that it tends to be true…
Browsing: faith/ spirituality
Your greatest ministry will most likely come out of your greatest hurt.
5 Reasons Your Prayers Aren’t Being Answered: The truth is that our prayers are always answered, we just may not like the answer that God gives.
Do you remember that song Lionel Richie and the Commodores sang back in the late 70’s…”Easy Like a Sunday Morning?” It is Sunday morning at the Predmore house, and like any other Sunday morning (or any morning for that matter), it is anything BUT easy. There is the typical struggle to wake up 4 sleepyheads. There is the struggle to get in a little bible study and prayer amidst the noise of the television, kids arguing, and the dog barking. Then comes the “gentle” reminders to please stay seated while eating your breakfast (apparently the morning memory span is about…
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. – Proverbs 11:2
The Bible clearly explains that in order to overcome spiritual battles, we have to fight with spiritual weapons. Here’s how you can fight your battles God’s way.
For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. (Matthew 6:8) Quite recently, I found myself thinking about what else I could do to try and speed up the answers to some prayers of mine. I thought of fasting more, maybe a prayer vigil, praise God more, perhaps sow a big seed at church etc. If you notice, none of the things mentioned in my list are wrong. For example, we should praise God often and we should be aiming to fast, pray, and give as much as we are able to. But the error is…
When God Refuses to open a door.. Don’t lose hope. He’s working it out for you. Even when it feels like the odds are stacked against you.
“I just don’t want to be judged”, she said, “I’m not like you, I don’t have it all together yet.” I smiled and thought… “by whose standards, because honey I am far from having it all together” What is so discouraging is how so many people feel the exact same way about attending church. Anxiety creeps in when they envision some picture perfect museum of holy togetherness picking apart every piece of their flawed lifestyle. As they choose their seat in the very last row of the sanctuary hoping to be unnoticed. And this idea is so paralyzing that it keeps…
How Do You Know When It’s From God? For starters, it won’t go against His word. You will feel more grateful than guilty.
When you’re busy thanking God in all circumstances, you don’t have time to worry or complain.
The enemy uses our past to cause confusion and disorder in our lives. He is the record keeper of the past. He torments us with feelings of shame, guilt, condemnation, and a host of other seriously awful feelings. He loves to remind us of things we have done to keep us from feeling deserving of God’s love and grace. Even things we may have had no control over he will use to make us feel at fault. The enemy reminded me of every awful thing I had done since I was like seven, yes, there were things upon things. He shamed me and…
Following Christ is not always easy, but it is always worth it. “Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you.” (1 Peter 4:4) If I can be honest, following Christ can be hard many days. It seemed since I became more intentional in my relationship as a Christian I was often the only believer in the room; friends were more distant, the trials increased, and not many of my loved ones shared in my excitement or beliefs about Jesus. “So you must…
I love the fact that Valentines Day will always be a special day in my life regardless of my relationship status. Six years ago, I remember sitting in a church service thinking to myself ‘But why God? Another Valentines Day and l’m still single! Seriously though God, what happened to you giving me the desires of my heart because l don’t understand where my saved younger version of Richard Gere with a slight hint of Sheldon Cooper is right now’. I was feeling very sad and broken, I might have been in tears, okay l was crying but then the most amazing thing happened to me! There l…
“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1 Have you ever had a moment when you’re trying to push a door open and then you look up only to realize it says, “pull?” I have done this a time or two – trying to force my way into a department store hoping there are no prying eyes around when I realize my foolishness! Ironically, people use the idea of an ‘open door’ all the time when referring to moments of victory in their life. Undoubtedly, God can allow circumstances…
The only thing harder than waiting on God, is wishing you had.
I have learned that faith is like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it becomes.
“Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.” (Micah 7:8) Getting back up after a fall is never easy for it requires a great deal of stamina to pull yourself up from a horizontal position to a vertical position. I remember viewing a Track and Field meet on television and watching two seasoned female athletes compete against each other. It was obvious from looking at both of them that they were in superb physical condition and had prepared themselves for this hurdling competition.…
I was in disbelief. Did I just stand up and pledge $2,000 to help build our new church? My inner voice was screaming… “Are you crazy? Did you just stand up in front of all these people and say you’d give $2,000? You know that you can’t sit back down, people are watching you. You do know that you just made a vow to God and He doesn’t take vows lightly.” I felt faintish, but I couldn’t turn back now. Over the past year, I sowed a seed here and there. My balance owed was $1,400. That spring, I received…
If you are having a hard time moving past a painful time, I encourage you to lift up this prayer:
