Blog
No matter how imposing a spiritual obstacle might appear, there is always an access point through which God will move to express His will. Discovering that point is strategic. Scripture talks of a city called Jebus where the Canaanite tribe, the Jebusites, lived. The...
The security of a national border is like the borders we place upon our lives that establish a defining barrier expressed by the wisdom of Scripture. Without placing borders on our lives we will be eventually overcome by unvetted invaders who will compromise our...
I remember the first time I publicly prophesied in a church service. It happened at Faith Center in Eugene, Oregon. That Sunday was just a few weeks after the Lord met me in the middle of the night and radically changed my life. As the worship service began, I...
Long lost connections are about to be reestablished. Lines of communication that were cut off through no fault of your own will reconnect once again. God is bringing things back together. Trust Him. I love to hear the stories of pioneer missionaries. Their stories of...
It feels like you are surrounded by a restricting presence. What you perceive as a negative form of restraint is actually being misinterpreted. This encompassing presence is spiritual scaffolding put in place by God. He is trying to rebuild and retrofit your life like...
In real life, paper targets don’t shoot back and martial arts mannequins don’t fight back. This is true in spiritual matters. The only place we will ever understand the gritty realities of a life of faith is in the trenches of actual spiritual combat. Make sure to...
Some of the most profound theologians are not theologians by definition. They are men and women who work outside the walls of churches and seminaries in ordinary jobs. These unrecognized theologians walk daily in an intimate relationship with God and in that intimacy...
I never allowed the rookie cops I trained to run toward danger. Until we knew what was actually taking place, I wanted them to move forward with caution under cover and concealment taking the time to assess what was happening. Some of these so-called emergencies...
Unexpected greetings from the past will arrive to build your faith and reconnect you to old relationships you had long forgotten. God has a purpose in these reconnections and that purpose will be revealed in the coming season of your life. A few minutes ago, I reached...
One of the things that will come and visit my life from time-to-time are the memories of my youth. The young Garris will come and talk with the older me. Some of these experiences are a blend of the bitter and the sweet. One such visit took place this morning when I...
The power of God’s presence is underestimated. The presence of God alone has the power to challenge and dismantle entrenched darkness. This is illustrated in Scripture regarding the false god Dagon. Dagon was the god of fertility worshiped by the Philistines, a people...
As a young pastor, I supplemented our family income by working as a pilot. Most of my flight time was instructing new students, but there were times when I would have a charter flight. On one such charter, I was flying back to our home base in Kalispell, Montana solo...
This morning the following blessing appeared in my email in-box from my wife, Jan. It is a blessing she is writing for her third book of blessings. Jan inserted my name as a personal encouragement to me. The original will have the words, “your spirit”. There is...
I was awakened in the middle of the night hearing the 1964 blues song written by Tommy Tucker titled, Hi-Heel Sneakers. The opening lyrics are, “Put on your red dress, baby, cause we goin’ out tonight.” As the song played on, instead of the words, “Put on your...
In a time of great personal crisis or in the moment of approaching death, it is not our opinion about a particular strain of theology or a narrow worldview that people will reach for to find hope. In those moments people are reaching for the hand of God. Before these...