MIND OF TRUTH

  I thought I would start sharing the books I'm reading. It's so important to be a reader. If you're not, it may take some time to develop the discipline, but it's worth the time. One good result of reading more is spending less time engaging in unhealthy activities like boredom or mindless streaming. Have an open mind when you read. Give the author an opportunity to share their thoughts with you. Make it a point to read books outside your own tribe or worldview. I've found this helps me grow and it serves to strengthen the foundations of my own beliefs. A good alternative to buying books is a library app like Libby. You can connect to your local library and download e-books and audio books. Here are a few books to start the list. Enjoy !

I heard an old preacher say, "Forget all the little prayers you've learned, forget the little cliches and important words." He was encouraging people to pray for one another and let go of all the normal things we say when praying. Here's the thing, often we pray those things because we're uncomfortable or we're praying out of our own self. When we allow the Holy Spirit to join us in the prayer and give us his words, then we're praying on another level. We say we know God but have a hard time talking to him. We say the same memorized phrases over and over again. I can't imagine doing that with my wife. We can know God and have a conversation with him. It takes time and it takes us setting aside our way to get there. I've led several small groups over the years, and before the prayer time, I would instruct everyone that we were going to just wait and not pray until we felt the Lord gave us something specific to say. It was a little awkward and diffic

Thinking about the lyrics of this worship song..."Jireh, you are enough." The name for God Jehovah-Jireh means God will provide. How do we get to a place where we really know, feel, and believe that God is enough? I don't think we doubt God is enough or that he can meet any need, we just doubt he will come through and provide for us specifically. How do we believe that God will come through for us? We've all experienced doubt. We can all recall times when we felt God let us down. Someone may say that God's ways are above ours and we may not always know the why. I get that, but it doesn't always sit well with me. Our God wants to be known. He wants to have fellowship with his people. God told Abraham "Shall I hide from my friend Abraham what I am about to do?" (Gen 18:17). Would God hide from me his reason for withholding some things? I don't think he does. If I have doubts and if I feel God has let me down, then the fault is with me. It's a

I finished a good book last week,  Grounded by Diana Butler Bass.  In the epilog Bass shares this quote - " Questions are my classroom. " Curiosity leads to learning. Jesus literally tells us to learn when he calls us to be disciples (Mt. 28:19-20). Lately I feel like I've been questioning everything. Curiosity will take you to a new place and asking questions takes courage. You may find there is no good reason for some of the things you do or believe. You could also find your faith strengthened and renewed. Sometimes we need to put "Our" version of Christianity into the furnace and allow the Holy Spirit to burn away everything that is not true. To be honest, I encounter too many people who are far too certain about their beliefs. Growing up there was an old song I heard people quote saying "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it for me." I understand the meaning behind this, but I won't settle there when God has invited into such a wondero

Reading Genesis 12-13 today. What a blessing it is to read the narrative of ordinary people trying to find their way in life and doing their best to obey God. In these stories we see how God intervenes and we can learn something about our own life. In Gen 12, Abraham, on his way to God's promise, makes camp in a place between Bethel and Ai. Then due to a famine, Abraham moves his family to Egypt. Abraham, who is still young in his faith, makes a few mistakes at this point. Just like all of us. First God did not tell him to go to Egypt, so Abraham gets off track. Second, Abraham did not look to God for provision during the famine and instead looks to Egypt to save his family. Third, Abraham lies to Pharaoh about his wife. The results are that Pharoah's household is cursed and Abraham, his family, and all their possessions are forcibly removed from Egypt. What does Abraham do at this point? Gen 13 tells us that he returns to the campsite between Bethel and Ai, the place where he

I love the church. They will always be my tribe and my community, but since the world changed in 2020, I've been away from organized church. I thought it would be temporary, but I don't feel like the Lord has released me to go back yet. Maybe some of you can't comprehend a time in which the Lord would direct someone to not go to church. It's OK, you'll be alright. This experience has given me some new perspectives. Empty space can be hard to endure. Nature abhors a vacuum. We instinctively want to fill empty space with what we know and what makes us comfortable. But sometimes we need take a deep breath and see how the Holy Spirit has create that space for a reason. There are some things we can only learn in an empty, quiet space. Learn to delay your own instincts and quite other voices to hear what the Holy Spirit desires. Learn to wait on the Lord in all things. In the Old Testament we see a pattern evident in David's life. He had a habit of seeking the Lord, o