Identity Security

Have you ever noticed that the more time you spend with someone, the better you understand where that person is coming from? Our relationship with Jesus is similar. When we have a close connection with Him, we’re not praying to some cold and distant deity “out there somewhere.” Instead, we are speaking with a God who loves us, sustains us, and molds us into His own image. That changes how we approach Him, doesn’t it? Peter, James, and John witnessed Jesus;…

‘‘This seemingly insubstantial fact revolutionized my life,” wrote Adrian Plass, author of The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37¾. He continued, “I became a Christian when I was sixteen years old, but it wasn’t until I was thirty-seven that I absorbed an essential truth. God is nice and he likes me.” Sadly, deep down many people think that God is not that nice, he does not like us very much and he spends most of his time being…

“This morning I thought I was worth a great deal of money; now I don’t know that I have a dollar.” Former US president Ulysses S. Grant said those words the day he was swindled out of his life’s savings by a business partner. Months later, Grant was diagnosed with incurable cancer. Concerned about providing for his family, he accepted an offer from author Mark Twain to publish his memoirs, which he completed a week before he died. The Bible tells us…

Moses needed to know three things. To truly offer ourselves to the Lord with complete commitment, we also need the answers to these key questions: 1. Who is God? In Exodus 3, God used a burning bush to get Moses’ attention and then introduced Himself as the God of his forefathers (vv. 2, 6). God reiterated His identity four times in this short passage. He knew that Moses couldn’t take even the first step of faith until he knew the One with whom he was speaking.,…

At some point in our 20s (or maybe 30s), we begin to have a gnawing feeling that there’s some elusive secret to life – something beyond ourselves – and in typical human fashion we invest a lot of our own time and energy trying to figure it out. So we try things. Good things and not-so-good things. Advanced education. High-powered careers. Sex. Drugs. Alcohol. Political causes. Anti-political causes. Alternative lifestyles. Alternative religions. Military.…

When you listen to their stories, it becomes clear that perhaps the most difficult part of being a prisoner is isolation and loneliness. In fact, one study revealed that regardless of the length of their incarceration, most prisoners receive only two visits from friends or loved ones during their time behind bars. Loneliness is a constant reality. It’s a pain I imagine Joseph felt as he sat in prison, unjustly accused of a crime. There had been a glimmer of hope. God…

Robert Todd Lincoln lived under the extensive shadow of his father, beloved American president Abraham Lincoln. Long after his father’s death, Robert’s identity was engulfed by his father’s overwhelming presence. Lincoln’s close friend, Nicholas Murray Butler, wrote that Robert often said, “No one wanted me for secretary of war; they wanted Abraham Lincoln’s son. No one wanted me for minister to England; they wanted Abraham Lincoln&rsquo…

When the young prophet Samuel heard the voice of God calling to him in the night, he had the counsel from his priestly mentor, Eli, to tell him how to respond. Even so, it took them three times to realize it was God calling. Rather than ignoring the voice, or rebuking it, Samuel finally listened. In our modern, pragmatic world we often have no such mentor, so we do not understand it is God speaking to us in our heart. Having so long been out of touch with our deepest,…

Women are image bearers of God. Women are co-heirs with Christ. Women are valued, worthy, powerful, and needed. There is a reason the Enemy fears women and has poured his hatred onto our very existence. Let him be afraid, then. For “we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9). We are more than conquerors through Christ who strengthens,…