You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. - Romans 8:9 When Paul speaks of being "in" the spirit or being "in" the flesh, he is speaking of being in two separate places - similar to how we could be, for example, in the kitchen or in the bedroom. However, unlike being in two separate rooms, the two states Paul speaks of are not spatial but spiritual . In other words, it does not matter where our physical bodies are, we

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. - Matthew 18:3 No matter how old you may be, everyone has at least vague memories of what life used to be like as a child. We all used to live in a miraculous world where there were adventures awaiting us around every corner; a world where nothing was impossible. Then something happened. We grew up. We were told by adults that the magical world we liv

Do not be anxious about your life - Matt 6:25a When God gives a command, He does so with the intention of us obeying that command. Now He knows our weaknesses, and He knows that in our flesh we are but dust of the earth. So while God absolutely expects us to obey His commands, He absolutely does not expect us to be able to do so on our own. If we want to have any hope of fulfilling what God expects of us, we must first come to terms with the fact that we can't. Once we have r

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation - 2 Cor 5:18 Jesus Christ is the great reconciler between God and man. Through His divine-human identity, He gives us full access to the glory of God. Through Christ we are able to have clean consciences, our guilt and shame fully removed. We are given a hope that is not based upon earthly circumstances or flimsy emotions, but on the unshakable truth of God's Eternal W

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich - Rev 3:18a These words were spoken by the Lord Jesus to the church of Laodicea in John's Revelation. He is not speaking of physical gold (which will one day perish), but spiritual gold - our faith - which will remain with us forever. The comparison between faith and gold is a good one. Without placing gold in a hot fire, there is no way of knowing how much of it is genuine gold, and how much of it is

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. - John 17:20-21 Father in heaven, we agree with this prayer of your Son Jesus. We pray for your church throughout the entire world. Let your word be fulfilled and let us all be united to each other in you. Let us all keep our eyes fixe

I want to know Christ — and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead - Philippians 3:10-11 The number one overarching goal of the Apostle Paul's life was simply this: to know Christ. "Didn't he already know Christ?" Yes he did. But he knew that he could know Him better. Just as 1,000,000 is no closer to infinity than is 100, the more Paul knew Christ

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much. - James 5:16 There is no one out there who says to themselves, "I want my prayers to accomplish little." We all want our prayers to be more powerful. We want them to be more effective. So how can we do this? James tells us that righteousness is what gives prayers the ability to accomplish much. But as

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:18 There are two errors Christians can fall into when it comes to their relationship and attitude toward the material world. These two positions can generally be classified as "materialism" and "gnosticism." Most Christians will not blatantly identify with one of these groups, but nonetheless many will find themselves acting as if one

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. - Matthew 11:11 Jesus exalts John the Baptist as the greatest man to have ever lived. To the ears of His Jewish listeners, this must have come as a shock. Jesus was declaring John to be greater than Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Elijah. He was declaring him to be greater than the glorious King David. And he was exa

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven - Matthew 5:10 Anyone who chooses to attempt to live a righteous life in this world will inevitably attract persecution to themselves. This does not just include (nor even primarily include) persecution at the hands of other human beings, but rather persecution of the world, the devil, and our own flesh. Anyone who seeks to live for Christ is going to suffer periods of hunger, ex

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High - Psalm 92:1 Yes Lord it is good to give you thanks, today and every day. You are worthy of all our praises. Lord we ask you to open our eyes to the blessings that you have bestowed upon us. We repent of a lack of gratitude, and we ask you to help us to see things from your perspective. Father, we thank you for the Cross, on which our salvation was purchased. Thank you for the Blood of Christ, by

For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation - 2 Corinthians 6:2 God is Eternal, meaning He exists outside of time and space. If we want to access God there is only one place and time He is available to us: here and now. We cannot rely on yesterday's manna for today. And we cannot count on tomorrow, for it may never come. We cannot get stuck in the past or lost in spe

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life - Proverbs 4:23 The modern scientific paradigm we have been born into in the Western world has given us many things - technology, medicine, and airplanes just to name a few. But there is something else that modern science has given us (albeit inadvertently) that is often overlooked: a way of seeing reality. Without much thought, we assume that we are in here and reality is out there. We measure, dissec

For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. - 1 Corinthians 4:4 Paul makes three profound statements here in this one verse. We will take them one at a time. First , he states that he is not aware of anything against himself. In other words, he has a clear conscience. Does this mean Paul had never in his past made any mistakes? Certainly not. Does this mean he never would again in the future make a mistake? Agai

I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it - Philippians 4:10 In the context of this verse Paul is thanking the Philippian church for the gift they delivered to him (see verse 18). He mentions that they had been eager to support him in the past, but for whatever reason they had no opportunity to put that eagerness into action until now. The spiritual principle here for us to ex

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. - 2 Cor 5:20 Many people are turned off by Christians sharing their faith because they feel like they're being sold something. They feel as though the Christian is trying to mentally manipulate them into signing on the dotted line, and getting another notch in their belt. And to be fair to the people who feel like this, much of evangelism can i

For this is the will of God, your sanctification - 1 Thessalonians 4:3a Many people wonder "what is God's will for my life?" Here in one short verse we have the answer, your sanctification. What does this word sanctification mean? Simply put, it means to become holy. Or in other words, to become a saint. But herein lies the paradox: in Christ this has already been accomplished . We can never become more holy than we already are in Christ. Thus, our goal is not to become mor

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such...

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves - Philippians 2:3 Jesus lived...