Do you hate someone? Is there a person or people group that you simply don’t love? It might be someone with a different sexual orientation or religion, someone who is addicted, unsaved, rude, late, or disorganized. It could be someone who is introverted or extroverted, rich or poor, conservative or liberal, irreligious or religious, attractive […]

Have you been harmed by another person? Has someone insulted you, taken something from you, or abused your time? In our humanness, our first inclination is to retaliate by harming the offender in the same way that he harmed us. Retaliation means “to repay” — evil for evil. Jesus offered a different way. In His […]

  Have you ever been angry…today? Anger is an emotion that moves us to a physiological response. It is possible to be angry and not sin (Ephesians 4:26). Anger is a secondary emotion that follows a combination of three primary emotions: hurt, fear, or frustration. Usually, it works like this. Our emotions are stuck in […]

Did your parents ever say, “Do as I say, not as I do?” Our parents knew what was right and yet realized that they would fall short. Aware that we would not only listen to their words, but also watch their behavior, they couched their inevitable disparity in word and deed with “Do as I […]

When you are insulted, persecuted, or slandered for your full surrender to Christ, do you endure or give up? The source of the insults might be a spouse, co-worker, friend, or foe. In any event, he is threatened by full surrender to Christ because he doesn’t want to surrender something. When this hardship for our […]

What do you add to your devotion to God to satisfy your desires? The equation usually looks like this: (God + __________ = satisfaction). What do you place in your blank? It might be money, sex outside of God’s design, porn, risk, a rush, a smoke, a toke, a drink, or a line. It might […]

Where do you go to satisfy your desires? Jesus gave the secret to satisfaction in the greatest speech ever given when he addressed an estimated 20,000 followers along the mountainside outside Capernaum. He taught that we find satisfaction through surrender to Christ who brings us into the kingdom of heaven, His will for our lives. […]

Do you desire any life apart from God? That’s sin, which leaves a gap between God and us, accompanied by a desire to have it filled (Isaiah 59:2). It’s a vicious cycle. We attempt to satisfy our sinful desires apart from God through unrighteousness and then try to fill the resulting gap with our self-righteousness. […]

Have you ever been harsh? Something flawed inside each of us says that we can satisfy our desires by being harsh. Whether at the airline counter or the fast food line, in the checkout isle or the exit lane, on the basketball sidelines or the telephone lines, we believe that harshness will satisfy our desires. […]

Do you find yourself guarding your emotions in order to numb the pain? Jesus offered a healing alternative in His second of eight secrets to satisfaction through surrender: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). Who are satisfied? “Those who mourn” are satisfied (Matthew 5:4). The Bible records three reasons […]

A friend of mine experienced the adrenaline rush of driving his Maserati Spyder from a service appointment to his picturesque suburban Texas home where he parked the rolling sculpture in his garage. After making sure his Italian beauty was tucked away, he hopped into his wife’s vehicle and headed to their local Einstein Bros. Bagels […]

Each of us travels Restoration Road or Desperation Road. The pathway depends on the condition of our hearts. Jesus told a parable of seed that scattered on the road, the rocks, the thorns, and the good soil. In His story, Jesus sowed the seed, which was a picture of the word of God. The substance […]