Blog
I set my love on you and chose to demonstrate it to you. I have loved you deeply from your very beginning. As one who picks up an infant and holds you to my cheek, I showed you tender love. I was the one who taught you how to walk. I loved you when you were weak...
All striving that comes from human reasoning will not bring the desired harvest. Our journey must be Spirit-empowered fueled by receptivity. Life in the Spirit starts with receiving and we never stop receiving—season to season, day to day, moment by moment. To produce...
In light of current events, I’ve been pondering just how meaningful it is that Jesus is the Watchman, interceding for us and intervening on our behalf. Though His saving, delivering, and healing work was completed at the Cross, He continues to watch over His word...
In 1994 I received a word from the Lord that has helped us significantly over these many years. Jan and I were vacationing in what was known as Carl’s Cabin on the Stillwater River, a few miles outside of Absarokee, Montana. One early morning I heard these words from...
Hope means something different when we have to trust—when nothing has changed and the answer is still hidden from us. We can talk about hope. We can agree with God about a word of promise, but our understanding has not expanded. We respond like Sarah when the Lord...
God’s actions throughout history are the pattern for the future. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The story of Joseph is a clear testimony of how prophecy can direct the course of nations and become a life-saving revelation. There will always be...
It is not wise to try to negotiate with an offer of evil. It is wise to run from temptation. Without that integrity, we risk missing the destiny God has planned, prepared, and positioned us to walk in. One of the most dramatic examples is the life of Joseph. He was...
During one of the years when we lived in Berlin, Germany, Jan and I began receiving unsettling phone calls in the middle of the night. A female voice spoke disturbing things in perfect English with a German accent. I could hear other voices in the background. The...
In these many years of following Jesus, one thing never ceases to touch the core of my soul and fill me with real joy: when brothers and sisters fully reconcile. Without it, we are much like Cain against Abel—competing, dividing, and even destroying someone. To love...
It would surprise us how often we experience angelic assistance. In the New Living Translation, angels are mentioned 133 times in the Old Testament and 193 times in the New Testament—and that is only what was recorded. I was rereading the account in Genesis when...
“Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.” That simple statement from the writer of Hebrews (11:4) carries a weight as enduring as the centuries since it was written. Acts of faith reverberate into eternity. God is pleased when we...
The words of Genesis 1— “And God created”—take on deeper meaning in the age of AI (Artificial Intelligence). God created from nothing: a void empty of any contributing elements. He did not draw on human wisdom or advanced technology. He brought the universe, our...
Under Mao Zedong’s rule in China from 1949 to 1976, those who opposed or resisted him were denounced as “the enemy.” Anyone with authority, religious conviction, family loyalty, or moral tradition had to be weakened. Land and wealth were confiscated because millions...
I had many conversations with a dear friend who was facing death. He was in his early sixties and full of life. He never thought in terms of victimhood and he loved life and he loved his family. When he was overtaken by a disease, it led him to have honest,...
The power went out in our town last night when a lightning storm damaged one of our lines. It was still out in early morning as I sat in my writing chair. By candlelight, I began to pray for family, friends, and our nation. When I prayed for our President concerning...