Leading people to a more intimate friendship with God
by Pastor Tim Thomas You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” — Psalms 27:8 (ESV) Something leaps in me when I read how the heart responds! In this passage, the first thing we see is the Psalmist acknowledging that the idea of seeking God’s face …
“It was Moses’ custom to set up the tent known as the Tent of Meeting far outside the camp. Everyone who wanted to consult with the LORD would go there.” — Exodus 33:7 (NLT) True confession. I’ve been going through a season in which it has been hard to connect with God, and I can …
Continue reading “Do You Need Your Own Established Place to Meet with God?”
Just this past week, I was praying by myself for a friend who is a missionary. And I was about to launch into a prayer for his influence on the nation for the sake of the Kingdom of God when my mind flashed to the story of Jesus rebuking Peter with such strong language, saying …
Continue reading “Don’t Assume You Know God’s Will Without Checking First”
by Pastor Tim Thomas I spent a large part of my life trying to be someone else, because I didn’t particularly like who I was. But I’ve come to realize that I was looking at myself through lenses that could only provide a distorted picture. Once God healed me from a deep-seated issue of rejection …
Continue reading “You’re Not Weird, You’re Rare: Embrace It and Value It”
Part 1 from “Jesus, the Expert in the Law, and the Parable of the Good Samaritan” During a recent time of prayer, I felt like God was saying to me, “Love wider.” I instantly understood what he meant by that unusual phrase. He was referring to loving in circles beyond the circles of people I …
Continue reading “How Jesus Disarmed Conflict and Opened Communication”
“In the busyness of our lives, many things distract, deter, and pull for our attention and affections. In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (see Matt. 25:1-13), we see the emphasis on the need to have a continual, recurrent cultivation of our relationship with Jesus. In this parable we must heed the warning …
“As followers of Christ, we are not called by God to live a life where safety is the highest goal. Nor is comfort. You knew this already. But dang. I still struggle with accepting it. The highest goal is love. Always. Well then. In order to be loved and to love, we cannot sit this …
“You are the only you there has ever been or ever will be. God made you you on purpose. Now. For a reason. The world does not need yet another woman who despises the lovely creation that she is. God does not long for another woman who rejects herself and, by extension, him. The world …
Continue reading “Be Who You Are, Like Who You Are — A Quote by Stasi Eldredge in “Becoming Myself””
“You are loved. Deeply. Profoundly. Unimaginably loved. And you are a wondrous creature… You have never been a disappointment to him. You are not disappointing him now. You may be disappointed, but he is not. Jesus knew what he was in for when he came ‘to seek and to save what was lost’ (Luke 19:10). …
“‘I am a Muslim who follows Jesus.’ ‘How does that work?’ I asked him. ‘What does your family think?’ He looked at me strangely and said, ‘They think nothing of it. I am a Muslim. What should they think?’ I had to ponder that for a minute, and then it hit me: Accepting Jesus as …