by Garris Elkins | Dec 28, 2019 | Courage, Forgiveness, Freedom, Grace, Honor, Hope, Humility, Mercy, Obedience, Peace, Reconciliation, Relationships
Those who mock you are mocking from a place of personal sorrow. They are not sure they will ever have what you have, so their defensiveness uses mockery as a form of emotional insulation distancing them from their sad reality. Be willing to look past the mockery into...
by Garris Elkins | Dec 21, 2019 | Change, Church planting, Culture, Discernment, Faithfulness, Favor, Five-Fold Ministry, God, Grace, Honor, Humility, Leadership
Look across the landscape of your life and ask, “Who is the least likely person I know who might become a devoted follower of Jesus Christ?” This is a question the first believers in Jerusalem would have no problem answering. They would have said, “Saul!” Saul, who...
by Garris Elkins | Dec 18, 2019 | Discipleship, Discipline, Faithfulness, God, Grace, Honor, Integrity, Trust, Truth
For the last 20 years, I have driven past a small sign announcing homemade jams for sale. Just off the main road sits a small table at the end of a dirt driveway where homemade jams and jellies are for sale. I passed the table as I have always done, but this time, I...
by Garris Elkins | Dec 15, 2019 | Forgiveness, Freedom, Grace, Honor, Love
I write every day either for a social media posting or for a writing project that might end up becoming a book. I have noticed something that we all do from time-to-time. We read something through the lens of our bias, and it ticks us off or runs contrary to what we...
by Garris Elkins | Dec 9, 2019 | Favor, Fear, Grace, Healing, Honor, Humility, Redemption
When the mess you made finally catches up to you, God will be present in that painful place ready to redeem the negative outcome others have predicted over your life. He will turn the negative mess into something positive because that is His nature. It’s not over...
by Garris Elkins | Dec 4, 2019 | Deliverance, Fear, Freedom, Grace, Healing, Hope, Spiritual Warfare
This morning as Jan and I took communion, we prayed that our minds would not be divided. We anointed each other with oil to heal anything in our thinking that would separate us from a singlemindedness with the Lord. As we prayed, I saw the image of a person...
