35: The Woman with the Alabaster Box

The story of Jesus that touches my heart more than any other story is the account of the woman with the alabaster box of perfume that she poured out on the feet of Jesus. Of all the women in the Bible, I relate to her the most because of her unabashed gratefulness to Jesus and…

Read More

34: A Balance of Grace and Truth

We hear about the need to “balance grace and truth.” This phrase implies that grace and truth are polar opposites on either side of a see-saw, and we need to make sure we keep them balanced. In other words, truth is synonymous with law, and we need the law to make sure we don’t sin…

Read More

33: Front Line

A few years ago I had the opportunity to share the Gospel of God’s grace with a large youth group. I poured out the scriptures regarding the cross and the love of Jesus for all of us. I taught them about how Jesus had made them perfect and removed their sins as far as the…

Read More

32: The Greatest Commandment

Have you ever been around other Christians who really seemed to love God a lot, and it made you feel condemned? Well, at one time I was one of those Christians who made others feel unworthy.  Years ago, before I had the revelation of grace, I was leading a conference and told the women that…

Read More

31: The Love of Christ

So often we hear that we need to love Jesus more, and our focus becomes doing more to show Him that we love Him. However, the apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they may know the love OF Christ – not the love FOR Christ. He prayed for them that they might comprehend the…

Read More

30: The Love OF The Father

The Apostle John said, Do not love the world or the things in the world. (1 John 2:15) 1 What makes something “worldly”? What was John talking about in this verse? He goes on in this passage to define “worldly” and give the reason that people love the world. If anyone loves the world, the…

Read More

29: Fruit

Christians love to talk about bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Have you ever thought about how bearing fruit works? Have you ever tried to be patient? Have you ever done your best to love someone who seemed completely unlovable? Have you ever tried to be kind to someone when they were stepping on your…

Read More

28: The Blame Game

Have you ever wondered why bad things happen? A story found in John 9 goes right to where the “rubber meets the road” regarding the reason that bad things happen. Is it because God is punishing us for our sin? We know that there are natural consequences for foolish actions, but Jesus simply points out…

Read More

27: Where Is Our Focus?

Many of us are more conscious of the flesh, conscious of sin, and even conscious of satan than we are of the resurrected Christ and what He has accomplished. Why are we so sin conscious when Jesus has removed the sin barrier? The biggest obstacle in the church to living the abundant life that Jesus…

Read More

26: Fear of Punishment and Consequences

If there is any doubt that the cross has removed all of our sins – past present and future – we will doubt whether God has good in our future, and we will attempt dead works in an effort to cleanse our conscience to obtain good standing before God, or we will do just about…

Read More

25: God Is On Our Side

We can’t have true, resilient, long-term peace in our lives in all circumstances until we have peace in our conscience. It’s the peace that sustains all other peace. It’s the peace that reassures us that no matter what — even if we face consequences for our own sin in this world, •  GOD IS ON…

Read More

24: Does Sin Matter To God?

We have been declared innocent in the courtroom of heaven, and the Holy Spirit is here to remind us that we have been made righteous. However, this doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit isn’t there to help us when temptation comes. He loves us and wants to protect us and others from being hurt by our…

Read More