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Learning Another Culture

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  (Isaiah 55:8-9) Lord, I must listen to you, not to me or to my culture.  Please teach me your ways, that I may walk in your truth.  Since most of you who read this blog are international, you understand some of the difficulties of living in a new culture. For example, a Chinese woman here in America once told my family…

What’s So Special About Christmas?

Christmas is the most celebrated holiday on Earth. Every December half the globe puts up lights and trees, makes special foods, exchanges gifts, attends parties, travels to see family, and talks about peace on Earth. But why? What’s so special about Christmas? Ironically, most people who celebrate Christmas do not understand what makes it so special. To many people, Christmas is nothing more than gifts and Santa Claus or a nice season to have parties. Oh, they do know that somewhere in the background the holiday is tied to the baby Jesus, but their knowledge somehow never reaches their hearts….

Using the Engine

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  (Gal 5:16)  Father, you call me to walk by your Spirit.  I see this is right, and I see the simplicity of it, but it is hard.  Be gracious to me and grant me to rest in your Spirit and to allow Him to fill me as I walk through life. Once upon a time, many, many years ago, a man sent a car to his son who lived in a remote village. The father had a friend deliver the car, and he…

God in Us

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.  (Rm 8:9) I come to you, Father, with amazement and gratitude at the fact of Your holy presence within me through Your Spirit.  God is in me!  Hallelujah! Perhaps the greatest mistake church people make is that they try to live a godly life without Jesus. The thrust of their life can be summarized something like this: “I will be kind to my children … I will memorize the Bible … I will work to spread the gospel ……

The Spirit

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit … (Mt 28:19) Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (I Cor 3:16) Holy Spirit, You give me the presence of God inside. Hallelujah. Bless You. When Jesus was on Earth, God was on Earth, walking, talking, eating, sleeping. Today, however, we can no longer put our hands into Jesus’s side or watch Him break bread. The physical presence of Christ is gone, but this does…