Reminder Objects
We need things that jog our memories: physical, visible objects that, when we see them, bring back to our minds the things that have started to slip away.
Giving God the First Hour
I have found that giving God the first hour of every day is an excellent practice. Not only does it honor God by giving Him the “firstfruits” of the day, but it is the most helpful thing I’ve ever done in regard to my own spiritual growth.
The Fish God?
I’ve heard others say it jokingly, but I really did used to think the Latin phrase “Carpe Diem” was a reference to the “Fish God.” It isn’t, of course. It means “seize the day,” and it encapsulates one of the most important principles in the Scriptures.
Training in Godliness — 1 Timothy 4:8
The willingness to pay the price and do the hard things is what separates those who really want to go to heaven from those who just think “it would be a nice idea.” So honestly, how much does it really mean to you? Are you willing to train for it?
‘Heaven’ by Peter Kreeft
While I was writing “Reaching Forward,” a book called “Heaven: The Heart’s Deepest Longing” by Peter Kreeft came to my attention, and it has become one of my most beloved books of all time.
I Took the Vow Ten Years Ago
Commitments hold you true to your highest sentiments when “practicality” and “common sense” would otherwise tear them down, and commitments keep you steady on the battlefield when otherwise you would turn and run.
Christian Daily Devotion
Devotional time is not only time set aside to think about God; it is time spent learning a greater devoutness to God at all other times. There is no more serious, or important, practice than devotional practice.
There Are Those Who Pervert God’s Grace (October 29)
As Christians we will fall short and our only hope of salvation is in God's grace. But forgiveness requires godly sorrow and repentance. In the absence of "a broken and contrite heart" (Psalm 51:17), grace offers no freedom to continue in sin.
The Faith Is Worth Contending For (October 28)
If the gospel is true, it is the most important truth in the world -- and it is worth being defended. Just as surely as the gospel is preached, there will be those who corrupt it. When they speak up, those who know the Scriptures must speak up also.
Each Must Choose (October 27)
In regard to God, we must say a decisive Yes! -- or we'll not like where we end up. As I heard someone say, "God lives upstream from us, and we’re not going to get to where He is by just drifting." The most disastrous thing we can do is "not decide."
The Good Confession (October 26)
Confessing Christ goes beyond saying the words "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God." Truly believing it, that truth must be confessed in our deeds as well as our words. We can't have Jesus as our "Savior" without obeying Him as our "Lord."
Why Saul, the Rabbi, Obeyed the Gospel of Christ (October 25)
Our motivation today needs to like Paul's. My own prayer is that I obeyed the gospel in order "that I may gain Christ and be found in him . . . becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."
What Was Written in the Hebrew Scriptures (October 24)
What Jesus showed His disciples from the Hebrew Scriptures is that (a) the Messiah would suffer, (b) He would rise from the dead, and (c) repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all the world, beginning from Jerusalem.
We Must All Appear (October 23)
There is not one of us who won't have to account for himself or herself before Christ at the judgment. That accounting will be an absolutely accurate assessment of our life-choices. There will be no favoritism and no miscarriage of justice.
If Faith Does Not Act, It Does Not Save (October 22)
It takes faith to accept whatever the Lord commands in cases where what He requires goes against our preferences. But if we don't trust the Lord enough to comply with His instructions, it's vain for us to think that He will save us anyway.
Christ in Us, the Hope of Glory (October 21)
There is nothing about our broken relationship with God that Jesus Christ cannot repair, no void in our hearts He cannot fill. He is God, who came from heaven to save us. And the rest of our lives would not be time enough to praise Him sufficiently.
Immanuel (October 20)
God, our Creator, loved us and saved us, not from a distance but by becoming one of us. Jesus, as God in the flesh, is our Lord, but He is also our Brother and Friend. We worship and adore Him knowing that He knows what it is like to be "us."
His Wonderful Passion and Purity (October 19)
When we study Jesus, is it not His combination of passion and purity that is so powerful? As with all His other characteristics, the blend of these two in such a harmonious way is what allowed Him to have the influence that He did.
Jesus Is Fairer, Jesus Is Purer (October 18)
Christ is even more fair than the creation which He has made. And the grandest truth of all is that the One who created all this beauty is able to fix our broken hearts and create a beauty within us -- one that is nothing less than His own beauty.