Happy Valentine’s Day to you! There is no better day to remember the great love that God has shown to each of us in giving us life, salvation, and a tremendous future. There is so much hope and life in Christ!  

God so loved the world, that He gave His Son to save us. When we were yet sinners, God rescued us from our helplessness. It seems almost too good to be true, yet it is true. And this reality is what so many lovely fairytales are based upon - a wonderful king who leaves everything to save the one he loves.

Jesus Himself told many stories about the True King and His Kingdom. Our family favorite has always been that tremendous parable Jesus told about the Good Shepherd...

We have sung this song many times, but this time was different for me. I could not get the image of that little boy, homeless and alone in the gutters of a town I cannot even easily pronounce. I wept as I sang, wondering how many boys and girls, men and women exist right now that desperately need to know the Good News of a King who loves them and who would leave everything to save them? 

But then, I remembered that the song is true - there truly is no shadow He won't light up, or mountain He won't climb up coming after precious souls like that little boy. There is no wall He won't kick down, or lie He won't tear down coming after His dear lost lambs all over the world. 

How does He do it? How do they hear of this Good Shepherd, especially in places hostile to Christianity?

God sends His message through our friends and co-laborers who have responded to His call to serve all across the globe - our great missionary family. There are so many missions fellowships and agencies that are mobilizing many thousands of people from all over the world to go and tell the Good News of Jesus. These courageous souls have left behind everything that is familiar and comfortable to take the message of the Cross to God's lost lambs everywhere. At great risk to themselves, they daily climb mountains, light up the shadows, kick down walls, and tear down lies to bring one more home for our King.  

This Valentine's Day, would you join me in praying for our missionaries all over the world? Pray for their children on the field with them, their families here in the States, and for their budgets and their safety. Pray that everyone they are meeting and befriending would be open and responsive to the Good News of our Great Shepherd. Pray that the wicked spiritual forces and also wicked people who might be conspiring against them would be thwarted. Pray that all of Heaven will be able to rejoice today as many more lost sheep are brought home.

To all of our missionary friends who might be reading this, please know that you are remembered and covered in prayer. Thank you for your great sacrifice for Jesus, and know that you are dearly loved!

This has got to be one of the most intriguing sentences of all time. It seems so contradictory, but is quite effective to make us pause and dig a bit deeper to understand. Can our God actually be peaceful if He crushes things? 

The Peace of God is such a beautiful thing. We know that the shalom peace of God is part of His character. It is His wholeness, completeness, and contentment, and is available as a gift to every believer. But for today's thought, we must understand that peace can also be a term that has meaning only when juxtaposed with its counterpart of strife, or war. When used in this sense, we cannot understand one word without the other.

​Since that dark day in the Garden of Eden, when man and woman disobeyed God and plunged of the cliff of sin and selfishness, the battle for the souls of mankind has been raging. The wicked prince of this dark world does all he can to steal, kill, and destroy, and to keep men and women fighting and striving with one another - remember the news headlines? So deep is his hatred for God, Satan seeks to keep men and women bound in chains of darkness and oppression, to keep mankind in perpetual hatred of one another, and to keep man and God separated forever. 

But though our sin and selfishness made us His enemy, God Himself fights for us and rescues us. This is why the angels sang on the night of Jesus’ birth, “Glory to God in the highest; peace on earth, goodwill to men on whom His favor rests!”  When the Messiah was born, the end of the war was near. When Christ was crucified, the death blow was indeed struck - not to our Great God, but to Death itself. Jesus’ sacrifice paid the price for our sin and rebellion, bringing the possibility of peace between man and God again. 

In every war, the winner of the battle sets the terms of peace, and the loser of the conflict must accept them. The enemy of our souls would have every man, woman, and child believe that there is no hope for mankind - that we are doomed forever. But Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  The winner sets the terms of peace, and through Jesus’ finished work on the Cross, there can be peace between God and man as well as between man and man. 

When Jesus delivered His great, revolutionary teaching on the Kingdom of God, the listeners were amazed. We are still amazed today. The Kingdom of God is utterly different than any kingdom or system we see here on earth, where the most ruthless and powerful often make it to the top, and where the one who has the most money or the most weapons or the loudest voice often ends up in power. But Jesus preaches of His Kingdom, which is entirely other - to win you must lose, to live you must die, and to love you must give yourself away. 

In the beginning of this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus delivers the Beatitudes, which are a description of what men and women who walk with Him in His Kingdom will look and act and be like. Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” God graciously invites us to join Him in HIs Kingdom work of peacemaking. The battle is won, and He is patiently waiting until the most prisoners of war have been rescued and brought back into His Kingdom by those of us who accept this commission to be peacemakers in God's name.  

At the student conference, one young man stood up to give a testimony of a wonderful thing God had done in his life. He happens to be the younger son of our good friends, Scott and Crystal. Even if I had not already known who this student was, I could have easily guessed after a minute or two - he is so remarkably like both his mother and his father. His tone, his mannerisms, and his words were unmistakable and everyone who knows the parents can see that this is their son.

In the same way, Jesus says we will be known as God’s children when we do what God has asked us to do with Him - make peace. This is what He does, so this is what we must do, with His tone, mannerisms, and words. Our assignment is to go and make disciples of all men and women (Matthew 28: 18-20) and to show them how peace with God is possible, and how peace with other people is possible. This is our mission, this is our call, this is what we must be about.  This is precisely how we can make a difference in this hurting world.

The question becomes, am I a maker of peace or still a participant in strife? Do I properly reflect God as His son or daughter - do people look at me and see God, or do they just see more of the same old stuff the world has to offer?  What do our churches reflect, our marriages, our relationships with family and friends - are we fully submitted to God and His peace? If we cannot honestly answer that we bring only peace and not more strife, then it is time for change. If we are to be peacemakers, then there is no room in our lives for strife. We must love one another, forgive one another, and choose to believe the best about one another. 
​

When we take our place as sons and daughters of our King of Peace, and rightly represent Him, we can look at our college campuses and cities and know, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” God has done the hard work; He has saved us and made a way for peace. Now let’s bring it.

Are you ready for a fresh start in your walk with the Lord in 2020? Kingdom Minded is a great tool for you and your small group to learn to walk with God in health and wholeness. Click the link to order your copy today! 

Recently, I had to drive down into Houston for a meeting. Our little town of Huntsville does not have traffic jams; in fact, we rarely have to stop at a light for more than one cycle. When the college students are out on break, you can actually get anywhere at all in less than ten minutes. Of course, Houston is not like our little town. I am not sure there is ever a time with only light traffic in such a huge city, but this day was much worse than normal.  I was so grateful that I did not have a deadline to be anywhere, because the freeway came to a complete standstill for an hour and a half. Evidently, someone had been driving under the influence of some substance and had caused a horrific accident. Thankfully no one was killed, but as I sat and waited, I began to think of the real-world cost of just one person’s one day of selfishness.

The traffic was stopped across all four lanes of the interstate for a seven mile stretch. Conservatively speaking, that would be roughly 5600 cars and the people inside of them whose plans were impacted by the wreck. Even accounting for just one person in every car, and assuming that every one of them made a modest $10 per hour, that would total $84,000 lost as they were stuck waiting. But what about other costs - who might have been on their way to a much-needed job interview and missed it? Who might have been rushing to the hospital, or to help someone, or to catch a flight?   

This brings up two very important points. 

Sin is terribly costly. The example of a traffic accident shows a picture of what selfishness does. It causes great damage to oneself and others with far-reaching repercussions.  Causing that one wreck is certainly not the only selfish thing that person had ever done, but just look at the effect of one day's worth of selfish choices by one person. What could decades of sin cost, in both material and spiritual currency? Not just money or work lost, but spirits crushed, bodies abused, minds wasted, hope lost - the Bible tells us clearly that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

The truth of the matter is that each of us is born with that same capacity for a lifetime of selfishness. The almost eight billion of us alive today combined with all of those who came before us continue to wrack up an enormous debt of costly, devastating sin.

Many, many people do not know or believe that each of is sinful and responsible for our own sinfulness. But not knowing and not believing are not qualified excuses. This would be like not knowing or believing that you owed income tax each year. The debt is real, and one day a settling of accounts must happen. Which leads to the next thought...

Someone has to pay the price. 
Who can possibly afford to pay for this costly sin, which separates each of us from our holy God? The tempter thought he had a foolproof plan in offering the forbidden fruit to mankind. As a result of that awful Fall, all of us are impacted by sinfulness and selfishness - and therefore none of us can be with God forever.  On our own, the best we can hope for is bleak eternal death to settle our debt. 

CS Lewis describes this dilemma so perfectly in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, a delightful children's book that I encourage you to read again if you have not lately. One of the children in the story has betrayed everyone in exchange for some enchanted candy, and now the horrible witch is rightfully demanding payment for the betrayal, and the price is the boy's life. His brother and sisters are devastated, but unknown to them is that the good King Aslan has a different plan in mind to settle the horribly real debt. In fact, Aslan offers his own life as payment in exchange for the boy's.

The witch ecstatically murders the king atop the ancient Stone Table, and she and all of her evil minions rejoice. This was better than they ever could have imagined. Now the great king himself was dead, and her wicked reign of terror could last forever. 

But no. In the earliest hours of the morning, a tremendous shaking occurred, the Stone Table broke into pieces, and the body of the king was gone - or was it? Aslan soon came back to the children, very much alive, and explained all that had happened...

And this is why we remember and celebrate the tremendous occasion of Christmas.

God is Creator and King of all things, and His holiness and justice are perfect. Our sin is awful and separates us from Him; our debt is real and terrible and requires our death as payment. Only one, perfect in holiness and without sin, could pay the price; a man who never sinned and who willingly gave himself for all. 

On that first Christmas so long ago, a far more extravagant a gift than anyone could ever have asked or imagined was given. Jesus, the mighty King of Kings and Lord of Lords, was born as a tiny, helpless baby - not in a palace, but in a rude and smelly stable in a village few had ever heard of, God became man so He could offer Himself as the payment for our debt. How great is the love of God for His children!  "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

This week, as we stop to remember the first Christmas, may our homes radiate the warmth and love of God. As we give and receive gifts, may our hearts be full of gratitude and remembrance of this perfect gift of Jesus our Savior. 

Advent begins on Sunday, December 1 - our house is ready!

The story is told that a deceptive evil was sent into the world long ago by a wicked foe, and a desperate and growing darkness was steadily covering the earth. This evil enemy was defeated once, long ago, but he had now regained his strength and will to destroy. Evil creatures pledged allegiance to him, and with hearts and wills set against all goodness sought to conquer and enslave everyone. Was there any hope at all, or would the darkness succeed and completely blot out all life and laughter forever?​

The movie definitely did justice to the book, and kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire running time. Both the author and director brilliantly succeeded in painting into fantasy and fiction the reality of life here on earth. Whether we realize it or not, and whether we like it or not, we are in a life and death struggle for the hearts and souls of all mankind. Our wicked enemy truly was defeated long ago by the power of the Cross, but continues to do great harm in this time of waiting for final justice. Evil has crept into God's beautiful creation, and darkness does cover the earth. 

But this is the beauty of Advent - it reminds us…

No matter what today’s headlines say, and they happen to say some terrible things, we know that evil will not prevail in the end. No matter how dark the world seems, and it seems to be getting worse all the time, we know that the Great Light of the World really was born on that beautiful night in Bethlehem so long ago. During Advent, we wait, but with hopeful expectancy knowing that our Great King is coming again someday in glory, justice, and power. 

This Advent season, I encourage you to take time to read the promise of scripture. Think deeply on the hope that we have in Jesus, and meditate on the goodness of our God who would give His only Son to save us from sin and slavery. Pray for those around you who still walk in darkness and have not yet encountered the Light of the World, that they would know Jesus intimately.  Fight the good fight of faith and let your light shine brightly this season, so that many can experience what Jesus promised, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

      It is the most wonderful time of the year! I love the holidays, and the week of Thanksgiving officially marks the start of the holiday season in my book. It is such a beautiful and refreshing thing to pause together as an entire country and truly give thanks to God for the many blessings He has given to us as individuals, as families, and as a nation. God really is good.

      Before the rush of the season, let's take a moment to think about this - the concept of the goodness of God is so intriguing. In this day and age, when some are trying to say that down is up and up is down, it is hard to understand what is meant by the word "goodness."  Some would argue that feelings determine what is good, and some would say that whatever the most people vote for as good wins. However, in any dictionary (and also in reality), the definition of goodness still has to do with moral purity and virtue.  Good is a true standard, and a measure against which other things are judged. God Himself is Good - He is the standard of what is right and healthy and whole.
    
     So when Jesus comes into a heart, He rights all of the wrongs, and makes things come into order. He brings satisfaction, wholeness, peace, and purpose; He infuses us with His goodness.  I know that when I became a Christian, I felt complete for the first time. Nothing about me changed on the outside.  I still appeared to be the same person.  But on the inside, everything had changed, and I knew it.  To quote a great old hymn, “My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but in whole, was nailed to the cross and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul!”  

My amazing husband has red hair. It has darkened to more of a brownish-red color over the years, but his beard has stayed wonderfully red. I remember when we were young and newly married, he wished his facial hair would cooperate better since he had a few spots that were pretty sparse, But time and testosterone have done the trick, and now it seems he could shave one day and wake up the next morning with a full beard! Every day he trims it up, and everyday we clean the area around the sink since it gets covered with hundreds of tiny red hairs.​ It needs much daily taming. 

We know that the Bible plainly states that we must forgive; there is no question about this.  In Matthew 6, Jesus is teaching about prayer. Just after He teaches what we now call The Lord's Prayer, He says, "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."  As Christians, we have all been forgiven so much by God, and must not withhold our forgiveness towards others.  We cannot cling to HIs mercy in our own lives without pouring it out for others. 

Still, there is something we all know to be true... actually forgiving someone is often very hard to do. It is like the beard. You get rid of that hurt one day, putting it at Jesus' feet, but then there it is again the next day.  Lay that hurt and anger down, it pops back up;  shave that bitterness off, it grows right back in.  

Thankfully, here is where the beard analogy ends.  My husband will keep on fighting to tame his red beard until we are old and it becomes a white beard.  But there is hope in battling the temptation to hold on to unforgiveness.  The way to shut out the darkness that so easily enters our hearts is simply to turn on the light. When you find yourself thinking, dwelling, and meditating on a hurt, stop. Rather than dwelling on the hurt, dwell instead on the love and truth of God.  Lay the hurt down at Jesus' feet as many times as you find yourself holding it again.

Worship, fill your mind and heart with the goodness of the Lord, so there isn't any room for anger or bitterness. Remember how merciful God has been to us, and ask Him to help you extend the same mercy. Pray for the person who wronged you - truly pray for their wholeness and forgiveness in God's sight. One great day you will wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and realize that you are clean and that the hurt is gone for good. ​Jesus can truly help us forgive others as we have been forgiven, and He can help us to be free. 

If you were an evil enemy of God, what would be your go-to scheme? How would you best achieve division and defeat among the people of God?

The most effective method is simply to keep Christians from loving each other; to cause bitter division among families and communities of believers all over the world - husband from wife, parent from child, brother from brother, friend from friend. Most of us fall for it every time, like a fish that gets hooked and thrown back over and over again by the same fisherman. Our enemy wants to highlight differences and offenses, and to keep those things ever in our minds and spirits. 

People everywhere want to feel loved, accepted, and included. When Christians dwell together in unity and truly love each other, those around us can see a clear picture of how good God is and how welcoming, kind, and inclusive He is.  There is nothing like the love of God! It changes everything it touches - it renews and beautifies, and gives hope, life and purpose.

To best reflect this great love of God, we must love one another as the family of God first. This is easy to say, but not so easy to do - we are all so different and have such varied ways of communicating and looking at things. If we are not careful, we can take offense easily.

We must remember that real love is not a feeling - it is a choice for the highest good of God and His Kingdom. Our ability and willingness to truly love each other is the thing that makes or breaks our witness as a community. When we do not love each other, it is painfully obvious to a watching world, and it is utterly repellent. Conversely, when we dwell together in unity, it is like oil (Psalm 133) which covers all and which everything sticks to. We become like a magnet, with a pull and draw that no person can resist. 

So, our wicked enemy seeks to keep us from loving one another at all costs. This scheme becomes effective when any of us feel hurt or excluded or put down in some way and choose to dwell on that - offense is a choice, too. Something deep and dark within our sinful nature wants to demand not just our equality, but our superiority over others through attitudes of “me first” and “I am better than you.” This way of thinking leaves real love in the ditch and renders our witness ineffective. 

How do we resist this tactic? 

We must forgive.
The full passage of 2 Corinthians 2: 7-11 says, "Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes."

Forgiveness is one of the most powerful weapons that God has given us. Real forgiveness can break bondages that have endured for generations. It can turn a brittle heart into a soft heart, and can turn a broken family into a happy, thriving family. God has extended forgiveness to us, and asks us to return the grace and favor to others. We cannot fool ourselves into thinking that we can take God's gifts only for our own benefit, and refuse to extend love to others. Jesus tells us plainly, "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6: 14-15)

Extending forgiveness to others is not optional. We must forgive as we have been forgiven - it cannot remain just theory, but must become our practice. As sinful people who have been forgiven by God, we can never say, "Yes, but you do not understand what they have done to me..." We have been forgiven of so much, and must also forgive others. The beauty of it is that when we let hurts and offenses go, they can no longer hurt us or cause a division among us. When we forgive one another, the enemy's scheme to defeat us falls flat. 
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We must choose to believe the best about one another.
This has two facets. First, we must choose to believe the best about others when we hear a bad word or report about them. It is falling right into the enemy’s trap to ingest or repeat the bad things we hear about a brother or a sister. What good does that do? None! It helps nothing to become a part of a bad report, and oftentimes there is much more to the story than we know. 

Second, believing the best means that we must have real hope for people; we must keep on bumping them towards Jesus, and towards the dream that God has for their life. We must learn to truly honor one another. We can all plainly can see the things that are wrong with one other, but Christians need to be people who look for and see what is good and right in each one. We are all created in the image of God and have something of Him in us. We must choose to see what is best and call that out in one another rather than holding each other back.



We must keep no record of wrongs.
How do we like it when our spouse or parent or brother or friend or teacher brings up that old, terrible thing we did again and again? We are so frustrated by it, and recognize that we have grown and changed.  We give ourselves the benefit of the doubt, and tend to make excuses for our feelings and behavior - maybe we had a headache or had heard bad news that day when we were so rude to our friend. 

At the same time, we might keep records of wrong for other people in our lives that stretch back for years, and with remarkable detail. Then, in a moment of hurt, we are likely to throw something back at our spouse that happened 15 years ago, leaving no room for growth and change. If we could have a moment of clear thinking, we would realize how horrible and creepy this is. It would be so offensive if someone kept and used that kind record of wrongs against us.

God actually does have every right to keep a record of wrongs on each of us, but chooses to forgive and forget when we come to Him in repentance. He loves to cover the shame that we heap upon ourselves. He loves to help us find a great trajectory towards godliness and cheers us on our way. He does not stand, arms crossed and face twisted in anger, reminding us of every wicked and selfish thing we have ever done, refusing to let us change and grow in godliness.

Christmas is coming! Kingdom Minded is a great resource for small groups and Sunday School classes - order your copies today...

Parents, Jesus is the Lord of your home and can help you thrive in your marriage and raise your children in the grace and knowledge of God. Students, you have the best thing going on your campus - never be afraid or embarrassed to invite people into Truth and Light. Businessmen, workers, educators, and politicians - you represent all that is Good to the marketplace; please do not be ashamed to stand proud as a representative of God in your community. Pastors and Church Leaders, teach the Truth. Live lives of holiness and sanctification, loving your people and helping them love their neighbors. 

Let's not fall for those wicked schemes - let's change the world with the love of God. 

As I wrote Kingdom Minded, I hoped to create a format that would be useful to you not only as an individual, but also for your small group or Sunday School class - order your copy today! 

I am the one who changed. As I entered adulthood, I saw and experienced some of the storms and uncertainties of life, in my own life and in the lives of people I loved. When the ground suddenly seemed to be unsteady, I took my eyes off of what the Bible tells me to be true, and worried instead that maybe God wasn't quite as good or powerful or faithful as we hoped. When circumstances did not meet my expectations, my faith faltered. When seasons were difficult to walk through, I  trusted my eyes and not the greater reality of the Kingdom of God.


I changed, but Jesus says plainly, "change back." Take action against your doubt, and stop trying to make it through on your own. Remind yourself of truth. Relax and trust God like you did when you were a child. Rest easy like you did when you were small. You don't have to worry about any of those people or things, what you will eat or what you will wear; you don't have to be knocked off balance by the uncertainties of life. God is looking after all of those things for you, and He is much more capable anyhow.


Further, if we won't change and trust like a child, we will miss so much of the goodness of the Kingdom of God. We will entirely miss the rich and satisfying life of living like sons and daughters of the King - people who hold so much power and authority and resource because of Who their Father is. 


In John 16:33, Jesus said, "“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble...." Life is certain to be uncertain.  But just as certain is the fact that God is good and trustworthy - Jesus continued, "but take heart! I have overcome the world." Let's live like children, and trust our Father whole-heartedly. Let's believe Him when He says that He has overcome the world. Let's live as people full of faith in the goodness and steadfastness of our King, so that others can see how much better it is to live in His Kingdom - both forever and for today.

The book is here! Here are Tara (a delight to work with from Wisdom House) and I at the book launch party last weekend.  Order your copy today!