Top Side of The Soul

Three Iron Nails

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.

Acts 26:18

It is certainly a reality in our day that too few men and women are willing to keep the “top side” of their souls open to God and to His light from heaven.

You may wonder about such expression as the “top side” of the soul, but I do think it is in line with Bible teaching, and certainly in line with all Christian experience.

The heart and soul are open to God in some people’s lives but certainly not in others.

We should be aware that man’s forgiveness is not always like God’s. When a man makes a mistake and has to be forgiven, the shadow may still hang over him among his fellows.

But when God forgives, He begins the new page right away. Then when…

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The Importance of Intercession

Getting to KNOW Jesus (Pt 1)

Christy Lynne Wood

There is a huge difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing them.

Celebrities are people we know a lot about, but very few of us actually know any of them personally. Sometimes God feels like a celebrity to us. We know (or think we know) a lot about Him. We read articles, blog posts, and books about Him. We listen to sermons, podcasts, and songs about Him. We hear lots of people’s opinions of Him, both positive and negative.

But do we actually KNOW Him personally?

How do you get to really know someone like God?

I write and talk a lot about legalism and religious Christianity vs a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Often people ask me a similar question.

“That’s great and all, and I want more than just a religion, but I don’t know how to have a relationship. Can you show me how to…

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“Lord, I Believe; Help My Unbelief!” – What Is Standing In the Way of Your Relationship with Jesus?

Christy Lynne Wood

You would think that being friends with God would be a popular message among Christians. After all, it’s kind of the point of the whole Bible, the book we claim to base our beliefs upon. Jesus himself said, “…but I have called you friends…” (John 15:15). So why aren’t more of us living like God’s friends?

Why are so many of us content to go to church on Sunday but ignore God the rest of the week? Why are so many of us obsessed with rules and formulas, attempting to impress God with our outward “goodness”? If this is how we are living, then we aren’t actually experiencing a relationship with God, THE relationship that Jesus made possible by His death on the cross!

I’ve been a part of both sides at one point or another. Why are we so quick to reject a friendship with the God of the…

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God Is God, And We Owe Him

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

God was the only One at the beginning of everything, this means that you weren’t there. You and I and everyone else who ever lived did not have a say in the making of the world. We did not give God tips on how to create gravity, what a chicken should taste like, or why all daisies should look the same. We also were not there to give God our two-cents on what morality should be. No human has been a legal representative in God’s courtroom suggesting what His laws should be since God would be the one who made the lawyers, and the courtroom, and the breath in your lungs. Because you were not there as a co-creator, you and I have no say in what the Creator decides to do, and we have no say in…

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Live Your Life

Where There's Smoke...

I’m sure that I’ve referenced the book by the late Charles Colson titled “How Now Shall We live” before but in case I haven’t, here is a short recap. The author was convicted of political crimes in the late 1970’s and sentenced to prison for his role in the infamous Watergate break-in under U.S. President Nixon. While in prison, he founded Prison Ministries. His book details the values that shape our Christian worldviews and begins to explain how our worldview points us in the directions that our lives can take. It is a great study of life and helps explain many of the teachings that most Christians hold true today using real life examples. It is a big book but worth reading if you need a little perspective or a detailed reminder of how we should be looking at the world around us.

So, how shall we live? Living a…

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“Every Christian Is Either A Missionary or An Imposter”

Missional Field Notes

Quoted from God’s Mission Has a Church: An Interview with Ed Stetzer:

Spurgeon once said, “Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor.” Though we might want to clarify the language, the impulse is what we need—every Christian is called to live on mission.

So, to be missional means that a church realizes it exists to join Jesus in God’s mission in the power of the Spirit.

Mission is rooted in the identity of God Himself. God is on a mission, and Jesus is the embodiment of that mission. Jesus identifies Himself as being sent more than forty times in the gospel of John. Then, near the end of the gospel of John, He says, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).

The church is sent on mission by Jesus. It’s not that the church has a mission, but rather that the mission…

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Back to Basics

Missional Field Notes

Mission is rooted in the identity of God Himself. God is on a mission, Jesus is the embodiment of that mission and empowers the people of God for God’s mission. Jesus identifies himself as being sent more than forty times in the Gospel of John. The church is sent on mission by Jesus. Being missional, therefore, is the church’s realization that it is called to join Jesus in God’s mission in the power of the Spirit. A missional church is one that seeks to engage all of the church in the activity God has for them—His mission.

(via Ed Stetzer)

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