How do we bring this all together? Trusting God is a choice we make every day—and every day, that trust is under threat. It has mortal enemies: fear, anxiety, skepticism, doubt, self-sufficiency, unbelief, to name just a few. What are the major threats in your life to trust? The Scriptures give us many examples of people who struggled with whether or not to trust God. We remember so many psalms that describe the fear, anxiety, and concerns of their authors as they faced the c

Though the theme of trusting God has been consistent throughout this series of studies, we will now examine more closely what trusting God means today, in the midst of “these present circumstances.” As I sat working on the original manuscript for this book, the world was more than a year into a pandemic. Millions of people contracted the disease, millions died, and some live with the disease’s life-altering consequences. Businesses failed, economies were ruined, and national

Image and identity are hotly debated topics today. How should we see ourselves? How should we respond to society’s ongoing pressure to shape our appearance, behaviour, or possessions to gain success and acceptance? How do we manage our insecurities about who we are? Others’ opinions, reactions, and actions often greatly influence how we perceive ourselves. Our self-view affects how we live out the lives God has given us. However, neither scars nor praise can reveal the truth

We continue to repeat many of the same verses from Scripture as we work our way through this study. While this may be annoying to some, teachers know that repetition is a good teaching tool. But going over these verses is more than simply repeating. It is imprinting.  The stamping, embedding, engraving, and etching of these verses into the core of our being is important. The Scriptures tell us that the Holy Spirit will bring back to our remembrance that which we have learned.

Most of us have no trouble admitting that we often make unwise choices, say unwise things, and think unwise thoughts. One of the “go-to” passages of Scripture for believers who recognize their weakness in wisdom is James 1:5. “ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you .” Why ask God for wisdom? James doesn’t go into a detailed explanation of that subject. The text implies that we ask God for

Though we have looked generally at the impact of God’s control on humanity, we now turn to more specific references about how God exercises His sovereignty in our personal lives. We also need to consider our responsibilities as God works out His will in us.   While we have previously considered the broad implications of God’s control over all humanity, it is important now to focus more specifically on how God’s sovereignty operates in our individual lives. The way God exercis

“Mother Nature” is a familiar phrase to most of us. Its origins lie in European history, where it was used simply as a personification of nature. Later, in Greek and Roman myth, Mother Nature was transformed into a goddess. Similar expressions are found in the Americas and in Asia.   This reference to “Mother Nature” has influenced, and perhaps sullied, our understanding of God’s sovereignty over nature. Subconsciously, we have distanced God from His creation, perhaps because

Image by Couleur from Pixabay For fifteen years, I served in Venezuela as part of a church-planting team. During those years, Hugo Chavez came to power. I was told that, for a time after he was pardoned for a failed coup and allowed to return from exile, he stayed in the same apartment complex where I lived. The euphoria that followed his election as President quickly gave way to worry, then fear, as the last vestiges of democracy disappeared. During those tumultuous years,

At the end of his letter to the church at Colossae, Paul mentions a man named Epaphras. He writes: “ He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured .”   Epaphras prayed that the followers of Jesus would be committed to carrying out God’s will. There was a time when the phrase “Lord willing” was fairly common in conversation and in prayer. During one group discussion of this chapter, someone asked whether the

The Phillips Translation renders 1 Timothy 6:15 as: “ God…is the blessed controller of all things, the King over all kings and the Master of all masters .” I like the word “controller.” Being in control is something most of us wish for ourselves. We desperately want to chart our own course and be masters of our own fate, as the saying goes. Anger and frustration dog our days when we discover that we have little, if any, control over anything!   The state of our world and the

When I first sat down to work on this book, it was 2020, a year that will go down in infamy. A worldwide pandemic had kept most of us in isolation since early that year. According to the World Health Organization, as of November 13, 2020, almost 53 million people had contracted the virus and more than a million had died. A second wave was followed by a third, and the numbers changed drastically. Many lost their jobs, their businesses, and certainly their sense of security. By