The LORD said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city.”   Ezekiel 11:2

The sun never sets on evil, and alarmingly, there are people as intent on evil actions as there are those committed to good. Like roaches under the cloak of darkness, hideous human hearts are secretly hatching evil schemes. The worst kind of evil is disguised in the robe of religion. They blame their terrorist tirades on a god of their making. They worship an idol of violence at the altar of racism, anger, unforgiveness, and hatred. There is no reasoning with religiously driven people warped in their warring ways. The realities of our world are riddled with religiously motivated people bent on evil. These religious fanatics are, of course, deceived and delusional.

Satan is smiling at these acts of atrocity aimed at innocent people. What better strategy for hell than for people to murder in the name of religion? This plan sends people to hell for eternity and causes others to experience hell on earth. It is a hellish nightmare that is plaguing more and more of the modern world. It is the antithesis of true religion. Unfortunately, engineers of evil are engaged every day in the execution of evil acts. They spend time, money, and energy like an aggressive investor in a business project of monumental proportions. Their return on investment is measured by the evil outcomes of fear, intimidation, violence, mayhem, and murder. However, there is an unseen battle raging that is even more decisive. It is the battle for the souls of men and women.

A person who comes to Christ in confession and repentance does not condemn others who hold different beliefs. Condemnation is for cowards, not for Christ followers. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus (Romans 8). An individual “in Christ” has new weapons in their arsenal of faith. Hate has been replaced by love. Violence has been replaced by peace. Death has been replaced by life. Retaliation has been replaced by forgiveness. Prayer is the primary weapon in spiritual warfare. A tsunami of prayer will penetrate the pride of those stuck in the sick and seductive talons of terrorism. Heaven’s call is for followers of Jesus Christ to rise up in a powerful proclamation of prayer. We are the Body of Christ. When one member of the body suffers, the entire body suffers. Faith is not isolated; it is committed to the community of faith. Our friends in the faith who suffer under the tyranny of terrorism need our unprecedented prayer support.

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – Plotting Evil →

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.   Romans 12:6a

Know and understand your strengths, for it is best to behave how God created you. By God’s grace, He places within you giftedness to carry out His plan. This is called your core competency. You may be a gifted leader, so lead. You may be a gifted coach, so coach. You may be a gifted counselor, so counsel. You may be a gifted administrator, so administrate. You may be a gifted networker, so network. You may be a gifted writer, so write. You may be a gifted teacher, so teach. You may be a gifted servant, so serve. You may be a gifted artist, so create. You may be a gifted communicator, so communicate. There is a long menu of gifts, and you probably represent several of them. Study your gifts, and you will discover your strengths.

Become comfortable with and accept the one thing you do naturally. It is effortless because God has engineered you for this. He gave you the skills and abilities to innovate, create, and produce these desired outcomes. However, make sure you do not confuse passion with strength. If you have the passion to speak, it is imperative you at least have the raw skill for speaking. Many of the technicalities of communication can be learned, but don’t try to make yourself become someone you’re not. Synergy for life and work come as you align passions and strengths. Take the time to understand what you do best and where you have the most energy, and then position your responsibilities at home and work to mirror that ideal. Do not be afraid to change and try new things.

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – Strengths and Struggles →

Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword. Revelation 6:4

God’s peacekeeper is His son Jesus Christ. His first provision of peace is between God and man. When we trust Christ alone as our Savior and Lord, we are at peace with our heavenly Father. Before we placed our faith in Jesus we were in conflict with the Almighty. Our soul was restless, at odds with its Creator. But once we surrender our selfish ways, we enjoy the selfless way of peace with God. Once we make peace with God, we enjoy the peace of God. We look to Jesus alone as our keeper of the peace.  His gift is to rest in His grace.

The anti-Christ will offer a counterfeit peace that looks good on the surface. It’s alluring and exciting, but only offers a temporary escape. In the days of tribulation on earth, Jesus describes an anxious world obsessed over “wars and rumors of wars” (Mark 13:7). These rumblings of a peace-less people prove to be a harbinger of what’s to come: world war, famine and judgment. A promise of outward control offers a false sense of serenity—only Jesus gives inner peace.

“He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin” (Malachi 2:6).

The peace of Jesus gives us peace with ourselves. The guilt of past sin is gone. If we shame ourselves over issues Christ has already covered by His thorough cleansing—we sin. The demons of depression have no jurisdiction over the Justice of the Peace–Jesus! Trust in Him empowers our tranquil soul. When we behold our Prince of Peace in uninterrupted worship, we receive His radical peace-loving assurance. Our peacekeeper Jesus is our loyal ally. Our flesh mopes around afraid, but we have no need to fear, since Jesus is near. He is our peace!

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So David inquired of the LORD, and He answered, “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees.”  2 Samuel 5:23

God’s will is not always a straight line and often, it requires deviation in direction. It may feel like three steps forward and two steps back. Following Jesus may seem like you tracked down a path that was not a part of His plan.

However, His plan is an adventure that cannot be confined to “point A to point B” thinking. God is so much more creative than to give us a predictable path that we can control. His will keeps us trusting and praying. It keeps us looking to the Lord for direction and discernment. This is why we get confused at times. We strike out in one direction, and then feel led to move in a different direction. Sometimes He leads us down an entirely different path than where we started. The adventurous part of us likes this, while our cautious and security-seeking part grows fearful. Depending on your temperament, you can either become unfocused because you thrive on adventure or you can become afraid because you like things in their place.

So what is God up to? How do we harness the Spirit of the Almighty to lead us into His great adventure? It is imperative that we listen intently to the Lord. We are compelled to follow Christ, thus we desperately need His marching orders.

But the noise of life can easily drown out the Lord’s tender call. His voice will not compete with cluttered living that gets in the way of listening. His voice is pure and plain, and He longs for our undivided attention. He wants us to turn down the racket of modern day conveniences, and come to Him. When we’re stuck in one of life’s traffic jams, and the voice of the Lord is drowned out by the noise around us, He’s right there with us—inviting us to listen.

He knows you can’t handle His entire plan at once, so go with what He gives you. He doesn’t bless a perfect plan; He blesses obedience and trust. Go with what you know today, and trust Him with what you don’t know about tomorrow. God’s work is in the here and now. Reality is where you passionately pursue Him. So don’t be shy to go where God says to go, even when it doesn’t make sense. He is positioning you for success.

Lastly, do not be afraid to engage the enemy as you follow Christ, but confront him in prayer. Fight the unseen forces of evil by faith. The devil will try to distract you from following God’s will. He will tempt you with the allure of wealth, women (or men), and wine. Do not become sidetracked by Satan. Put on the full armor of God. Lean into the Lord, and listen to His trustworthy voice. Dismiss the sultry voice of self-deception. The enemy is the great imposter. He disguises his voice to sound like God’s. Indeed, be so in tune with the voice of Jesus that a counterfeit sounds like a shrill fire alarm you want to avoid.

Above all else, follow the Almighty even when it seems like you are going in a big circle. Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I trust You to lead me on the path that draws me closer to Christ.

Application: In what area of my life do I need to stop striving and rest in the new route of God’s will?

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Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD…”  1 Samuel 20:42

Sworn friendship in the name of the Lord is serious and based on faith. When Jesus Christ is the central figure in a friendship, there is fidelity. Loyalty based on the Lord is an extremely strong bond for friends. There is no wavering of commitment when Christ is central to the friendship. A friendship based on the Lord takes on the Lord’s attitude toward friendship. He sticks closer than a brother. He never leaves or forsakes His friends. Jesus personified friendship as He served His friends, forgave His friends, loved, taught, rebuked, prayed, and gave to His friends.

Sworn friendship is committed, especially during dire circumstances. There is a commitment to always be there for the other person. It seeks out the very best for a friend during hard times. This is when friendships require an exorbitant amount of time, money, and effort. They become high maintenance when they become caught in a crisis. The crisis situation may be of the friend’s own doing, or a result of forces outside of his control. Your friend may be on the brink of bankruptcy because of poor financial decisions. You serve him even though he suffers from self-inflicted wounds. Your friend’s health may be going downhill fast; if so, be there to listen.

Sworn friendship in the name of the Lord defends you to the point of risking a right standing with other respected relationships. Faithful friends will stand up for you even when it costs them. It may cost them their job. It may cost them misunderstanding. It may cost them a promotion. It may cost them financially. But, because they are invested in you unconditionally, they are honored to defend you, especially in your absence. They ask questions of your unseen critics such as, “Have you talked to them about this?” or “I’m surprised by what you say. There must be more to the story.” Friends stick up for each other in the face of caustic critics. Love is not silent; it speaks up.

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Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” Revelation 5:1-2

We are blessed when we seek counsel from the wise, but when we receive direction from Almighty God in His word, we can rest secure. The Bible is the baseline for our beliefs and behavior. It is the first and the final say for faith-based living. A day without scriptural intake for our spirit is like missing three meals for our body. God’s word nourishes our soul, is a trailblazer for truth, and leads us into His very best for our life.

In the right hand of God as He sits enthroned—He holds the scroll of Scripture—His word in general and this Revelation prophesy in particular. The Lord’s precious words are sealed seven times and are kept in safe keeping waiting on the only worthy Lamb of God to open them. The counsel of God will be revealed and the mystery of His love and judgment clarified by Christ. Even today—the Holy Spirit is our guide into all truth, so we may confidently follow Jesus.

“Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.” Isaiah 8:20

You endure as you learn and apply the enduring word of the Lord to your life. Have you encountered a roadblock in parenting? If so, scripture has insight into how to see exactly how to love your child at their point of need. Are you experiencing an unreasonable individual at work or in your family? The Bible gives instructions in how to unselfishly serve those who are full of themselves. Come to Christ and listen to His voice, as He speaks to you through His word.

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – Scripture’s Timeless Truth →

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

As I write this, I am alone in a rented condo in northern Illinois. I decided to take a few days away from home to pray and seek the Lord. This morning, I sat in a chair next to the window and asked Him to speak to me as I read His Word. When I opened the Scripture, Matthew 6:24 caught my attention, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

I have to confess that in recent days, an insecurity has settled into my spirit about financial provision. I am not sure if it has to do with getting older and peering into an uncertain future, or something else. But deep down I feel it has to do with fear, an ungodly emotion that has taken my heart captive while I was unaware. I am thankful that this morning the Lord showed me the condition of my heart and invited me to trust Him with my tomorrows as I read the next verses in Matthew 6:25-27; 31-32.

“Therefore, [because you can’t serve God and money] I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? . . . So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”

It hit me. “Oh, yes. The pagans—or unbelievers—run after these things to try and protect themselves and guarantee a secure future. They run after them in fear. They run after them in pride. They run after them in anxiety—and they are tormented and exhausted. But you have called me, Lord, to life and peace.  In You there is no torment. There is no worry. There is just rest.”

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – How to Trust God with Your Future →

I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Revelation 5:4

Everyone deals with disappointment—some more than others. These let downs vary in scope: another year of no raises at work, a friend’s forgetfulness, a lost opportunity, a teenager’s poor choices, a missed deadline, a relative’s financial woes, a boss’s oversight, an injured body or unexpected dental work. In this world troubles abound, but in Christ peace is profound. Yes, disappointment is a fact that forces us to make appointments with Jesus. He doesn’t disappoint.

John wept over the the inaccessibility of God’s Word. In his vision of coming events in heaven, the apostle experienced the disappointment of finding someone worthy of unleashing the scroll of Scripture. But immediately the prophet was reassured by a wise elder to trust the Lion of the tribe of Judah—Jesus Christ—as worthy to uncage the truth. An explosion of worship echoed in unison throughout heaven, “Worthy is the Lamb!” In Christ we are worthy to access His Word.

“God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith” (2 Thessalonians 1:11).

Disappointment left unattended leads to disobedience. The hole in our heart is meant to grow our dependency on God. He brings wholeness and holiness to a lacerated soul. The Lord heals hurt feelings when we offer forgiveness. Disappointment feeds selfishness when we don’t get our way. So be wise, if your frustration replaces your faith you can lose patience and respect. Allow your trust in Jesus to trump testy relationships. Adjust your expectations to His concerns.

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – How to Deal with Disappointment  →

If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.   Matthew 18:15

Christians tend to be too nice, skirting conflict. However, Jesus teaches that healthy conflict is necessary for relational and spiritual growth. It is required to keep clean accounts with others and stay focused on Kingdom priorities. Conflict resolution may be uncomfortable, but if an issue or offense is ignored it can become ugly, even explosive. Conflict resolution requires cooperation from at least two parties. There are two roles in the beginning stages of conflict resolution. One role is the confronter, the other role is the receiver.

If you are the confronter, it is critical to communicate the facts of the situation. If you are loose with the truth and cavalier in your confrontation, the situation will worsen. You probably need to have the details documented and verified. The second critical aspect of the confronter is the spirit in which he directs the conversation. Do not use an accusatory tone of voice. You are there in a spirit of reconciliation and healing. Avoid a condescending attitude, as you are a candidate for the same concerns you are bringing to your friend. Confront in a spirit of humility and grace, with the truth, in love.

The receiver, on the other hand, needs to beware of defensiveness, denial, and defiance. When confronted, the receiver needs to listen carefully and avoid interrupting with petty excuses. After hearing the accuser, the receiver can correct any misconceptions and inaccuracies. His spirit of correction is mature and levelheaded. Moreover, in most cases the receiver needs to apologize. Nine out of ten times a sincere apology from the one receiving the rebuke remedies the situation. On the other hand, a combative environment will just escalate the debate into a stalemate. Then nobody wins.

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I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.    2 John 1:12

Some things are best communicated face to face. A proposal for marriage, a job interview, a mentor relationship, family time, explaining an issue, or showing appreciation all thrive in a one-on-one relational environment. Fear tends to force us away from direct engagement with people. We sometimes avoid human contact because of overwhelming insecurity, fear of rejection, or busyness. The season of face time with family evaporates unwittingly. They are off with friends, attending college, and then married. Just as the song says, “The cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon. Little Boy Blue and the Man in the Moon. When you coming home, Dad? I don’t know when, but we’ll get together soon. You know we’ll have a good time then.”

Calendar time daily, weekly, monthly and yearly with those you love. Invest time and money in face time with your son, your daughter, your spouse, your parents, and your friends. Face time is when you see the fear in their eyes and extend the encouragement to continue. Face time allows your smile to shine a ray of hope across a discouraged heart. Face time is your opportunity to discuss those hard issues and to be sure the sincerity of your love is not missed. So, show up and love them in person. Most important, you need face time with your heavenly Father.

By faith, the eyes of our soul need to gaze at God. If we chronically miss coming alongside Christ, we burn out in our own strength. We desperately need face time, by faith, with Jesus. We need His affirmation and love; we need His instruction and correction; we need His warm embrace, face to face; we need His discernment and wisdom. He can give us all of these, at any time. Our Savior is spontaneous for our sake. Christ is on call for His children, but we still need structured time with Him. It is imperative that we instill in our lives the discipline of daily face time in prayer and engrafting God’s Word into our minds and hearts. Regular face time with God in Scripture is what transforms our thinking with truth and keeps us from being changed by the lies of lazy living.

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – Face Time  →

For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. Psalm 56:13

The beauty of poetic language is that, in just a few short words, an entire world of vivid imagery opens up before the reader. In the Psalms, so often we are presented with contrasting but related themes. Today, in just one verse, we are given a potent picture that captures in many ways the whole of our life before God and with one another. Likewise, it is a passage that invites intentional self-reflection and contemplation: is my life in free fall or are my feet grounded on the path of life?

The psalmist here accurately and acutely diagnoses the universal human condition. Due to the sin and rebellion of our first parents, brokenness entered into the world, creating a break in the perfect relationship of love that we once knew with our creator. In a sense, you could say sin pulled the rug out from under our feet! It left us off balance, disoriented, and ultimately free falling away from the love of God and towards a life of separation and isolation.

This is the world into which every person is born. Though our lungs may fill with air and give life to our bodies, apart from the goodness and love of God our souls remain in a free fall towards death. Yet thanks be to God, in his goodness, mercy, and love, he sent his Son to set our feet back on solid ground, teaching us once again how to love and how to live in the light of his life.

I find this central point of our Christian life is so often overlooked and underemphasized. When we speak of salvation, often it is reduced to our salvation from death and separation from God. However, we are never simply saved from death, but we are also saved for new life! As it says elsewhere in the Psalms, God has “set our feet upon a rock.” (Ps. 40:2) Yet the Christian life is never a mere progression from a free fall to safe and secure inactivity. As the very next words of Psalm 40 remind us, the Lord “makes our steps secure.” Our feet are firmly set upon the ground so that we can walk!

God saves us from death, but more gloriously and wonderfully invites us to learn what it means to journey with him, behold him in his beauty, and become more and more like him each and every day.

Prayer: Father, we thank you for saving us from the free fall of sin and death, and ask that you would fill us with your Spirit each day that we might learn what it means to follow you and live in the light of your love.

Application: Are there parts of your journey with Christ that have stalled that you can commit afresh to the Lord?

Related Readings: Isaiah 2:5; Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 4:6; 1 John 1:7

By Tripp Prince

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The twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. Revelation 4:10

I could see love in their faces. Some leathery and wrinkled from the toils and trials of life, others youthful: smooth cheeked and white toothed — both beaming with the joy of Jesus captured on their countenance. My fifth trip to India in ten years felt like my first. Why? I’m not sure, but it was something in the heart of the people: pure, fresh and faith filled. Their unintelligible Hindi prayers and praise escorted my soul into the presence of our Savior. The Holy Spirit, like a knife through hot butter, cut to the very depths of my being. I wept in the presence of great lovers of God.

The twenty-four elders represent the church and all believers who lift their heartfelt worship to the Lord God Almighty. All followers of Jesus will be rewarded or not at the Judgement Seat of Christ (Romans 14:8-10). The crowns cast before the throne in honor of God are the rewards received by the righteous, only to be offered back in humble adoration and honor of the King of Heaven. Heartfelt worship keeps the glory of God, not the works of man, the center of attention.

“My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high…‘There is no one holy like the Lord’” (1 Samuel 2:1-2).

Magnify the Lord in worship, rejoice in and praise His holy name in song. God has done extraordinary things for you, in you and through you. He created you in His image and He saved you to grow into the image of His son Jesus. As you fear and adore Him—He pours out His abundant grace and mercy on you. A life compelled by willful worship is captured by Christ. Yes, your praise models gratitude to God for the next generation to mightily rejoice in Jesus Christ!

Like the mighty Mississippi River, thankfulness fills to overflowing the soul that sings out to its Savior. As we adore the Lord for His loving presence—He awards us the gift of security. We worship the Holy One in the rarified air of His righteousness, while His Spirit bestows holiness into our hearts. Our heartfelt praise guarantees generational engagement with God. We are secure aliens—but the Holy Spirit’s influence is without borders. Like John, we are instruments of Christ’s work in and through us.

“I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever” (Psalm 45:17).

Application: Who in the next generation needs me to model adoration of God?

Related Readings: Psalm 78:4; Isaiah 61:10; 1 Timothy 4:10; 1 Peter 2:10-12

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The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 1 Corinthians 7:3

For much of my adult life I ate standing over the kitchen sink. But that all changed in 2014 when I finally became a bride for the first time at age forty-six. Yep, it surprised me too. When I turned forty-three, I figured I was destined to spend my life alone, but God has a wonderful way of surprising us and changing things in ways we never imagined. Now that I am a Mrs., I know a few things I didn’t know before. If you are married or single, I hope these lessons encourage you.

Just because you marry later in life doesn’t mean it will be difficult to adjust. There are a lot of clichés floating around about marriage and one of them is that people who marry after thirty years old are too set in their ways and too inflexible to have a peaceful marriage. If you are single and this is your fear, be encouraged. A lot of it has to do with how much you want to put your mate first, and if you are willing to be a giver. My husband is a great example of serving well and I have learned a lot from him about living unselfishly. He has made being married a joy.

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21).

Don’t marry just for sex. Sex is a beautiful gift from God; but it’s peculiar how the world oversells and undersells it. They oversell it by making us think sex is always fireworks, never awkward, always easy, and the most important part of any relationship. But they undersell the beautiful, joyous sacredness of it. The world feeds us the lie that true intimacy is found in sex alone, but real intimacy isn’t found just by merging bodies in sex. When Jesus said, “and the two shall become one. . .” I can’t help but think that He meant more than just the physical. After all, how many couples go to bed at night, share their bodies, but not their hearts? Undoubtedly, many of these people would say they are very lonely. Why? Because just as a garden hose is not the source of water, but only an expression or vehicle for it, so sex is not the source of intimacy, but an outlet (or expression of) it. Never marry just for sex. Marry someone you respect, admire, shares your faith, and is your friend. These things will carry you a long way down the road of marital bliss.

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – 3 Lessons I Learned Since I Married →