When we think of evil, often we think of people who have acted evilly. We think of criminals, moral deviants, terrorists, and other publicly base individuals. Or we’ll tend to think of those who have slighted, annoyed, shamed, hurt, abused, or rejected us. And while these are all examples of evil, there is another, unseen and yet just-as-active sphere of evil that is also just-as-person. This sometimes imperceptible realm of evil has at the same time a great influence than we might believe (it IS real), as well as a neutered power over us (it need NOT be feared).

#theUNSEEN #Spiritual #Satan #Demons #Evil

Within popular movies, television series, and literature, you'll find countless stories & recollections of creatures benevolent to mankind that are not quite human - beings that are oddly similar while remaining shrouded in mystery. In most cultures around the globe and throughout time, at least a subset (if not a majority) of these entities are dubbed "angels" of some form or fashion. From religious to secular, from clearly fictional to claims of verifiable historicity, these celestial agents are woven into the fabric of our collective conversation.

And yet, there are WIDE discrepancies about who they are, what they are, and even why they are. For Jesus-following people, there is a way to discover the answers to these questions, to discern reality from fabrication & fantasy. These often-unseen actors can be brought at least a little bit more into view.

#theUNSEEN #Spiritual #Angels

Our fascination with the world beyond our physical senses is virtually universal across cultures, national boundaries, religions, and more. Yet one of the greatest spiritual realities that we can encounter is one that should radically transform each of us as Jesus-followers and massively empower our faith community … and yet it is often ignored, misunderstood, or distorted. This reality is not an experience or an entity or an emotional state. It is a personal encounter of eternity-altering proportions.

#theUNSEEN #Spiritual #HolySpirit

One of the very popular movie genres over the past several decades could be classified as end of the world type films. From giant asteroids hurtling towards earth to rampant mutant viruses to natural disasters and more, we seem to be fascinated with what happens at the end of this existence on our planet. And our modern society has even borrowed a biblical term and applied it to these notions: apocalypse. However, as often happens, this term is used in a way that is rather divorced from it's biblical meaning.

Apocalypse doesn't really mean "the end of the world" as much as "an uncovering" or a "revelation."

Even so, as we think of the end of all things for us, it is important for us to grasp what it is that God IS revealing to us about what the future holds. We often get fascinated with the fantastic and dramatic and cataclysmic, but what the Bible reveals is actually way more glorious, way more beautiful, way more encouraging, and way more practical than we might be thinking … and it has WAY more to do with how we live today than it does with figuring out the details of how it will happen.

#Sountracks #Promises #Eternity #FreedomFromDespair

Unfortunately, there really ARE scary things out there. There really ARE things that go bump in the night, even if they are human actors behaving badly and not fantastical creatures. If you're alive, then you know what it's like to feel fear, and we're all constantly trying to flick on the lights of this life and banish the monsters around us.

So much hurt, frustration, conflict, & suffering can be traced back to humanity's desperate fight to protect ourselves from our fears, whether perceived or real. Wars have been fought over it. Friendships have been wounded. Marriages have ended. Anger, mistrust, hatred, and rebellion have all fomented beneath the shadow of fear.

But what if there was an antidote to fear? What if there was a way to disarm fear and step into being fully human? What if there was an answer to fear (or rather, our response to it) that allowed us to live lives of freedom & purpose & joy?

Gloriously, there is an answer, and it's closer than many of us might think.

#Sountracks #Promises #Power #FreedomFromFear

What gets you up in the morning? What motivates you to get going, to keep going, and not to give up? What excites you? What compels you forward day after day?

How you answer that will do much to tell you what you value, how much you value (or DON'T value) yourself, and what your outview on life is like. And too often, how we answer is based on things that don't matter as much as we think they do, on things that should not hold our ultimate allegiances, or on things that are simply unworthy for us to build our identity on.

Even so, there IS an answer that is worthy. There IS an answer that we all have within our reach. There IS an answer that checks every box & fulfills every qualification. There IS an answer that offers the purpose we all long for in the deep places of our soul.

#Sountracks #Promises #Purpose #NoFearOfEmptiness

Do you ever feel powerless? If we're honest, most of us could say, "Yes!" many times over. Whether it's about relationship conflicts, financial stresses, difficulties at school or work, or innumerable other situations, we often feel as if we are slaves to our situations. Even worse, many of us believe we're at the mercy of our own shortcomings & failures, victims of our sin, unable to overcome them on our own.

And the truth is … we ARE.

On our own, the Bible teaches that we're enslaved to our brokenness. But the ever-more-amazing truth is that God wants to meet us in our brokenness with His goodness and set us free from the power of sin in our lives. He wants to take the burden, shame, & power of our iniquity and replace it with His freedom, love, & righteousness.

#Sountracks #Promises #Righteousness #NoFearOfSin

One of the serial laments of humanity is how alone people feel, even though we're more "connected" to one another now than ever before in history, especially due to advances in technology. Yet, in many ways, we're actually LESS connected today because we've missed what those connections actually take to be valued - proximity, presence, passion, and more.

These words may hold different meanings for each of us, but the promise of true fellowship that God offers to us is meant to produce all those things, all within the context of authentic, enduring relationships. Relationships take work, but God promises to give us freedom from isolation when we embrace them.

#Sountracks #Promises #Fellowship #NoFearOfIsolation

One of the fundamental problems of life is, ironically, death. Every religion, every philosophical school of thought, every grand enterprise of humanity has wrestled with the notion that - at some point - life ceases to be alive. So what can we do about it?

Following Jesus provides a promise that answers that question to the full, and accepting the promise is the best, most foundational decision we can make. That promise - the promise of eternal life - provides us with all that we need to find freedom from death, the enemy of humanity.

#Sountracks #Promises #EternalLife #NoFearOfDeath

What do you do when something is hard? When something that should be easy takes too much effort? When you’ve given it a go, but it seems like no progress has been made? Well, if you’re like most of humanity … you’ll tend to quit. In fact, the J-Curve theory of behavioral change states that when we try to do something like form a new, healthy habit, things will usually get worse before we see the benefit of that change.

And unfortunately, most people tend to quit the new direction soon after the “worse” begins. If we want to see the benefit of the new, we have to bear through the pain that accompanies it - not something most of us are particularly good at doing. The same is true for us as we try to grow in our practice of prayer. It is usually harder at first. We often fail more than we succeed in our plans. But in the end (if we DO bear through it), the payoff is a richness of relationship with God that defies description.

#PrayFirst #Persistence #Patience #Piety #Fasting

There are so many great things in life that we have good intentions to do, but we often fail to make them a regular part of our lives - why is this? In short, because we are ALL human. Our bodies aren't perfect. Our minds aren't perfect. Our world isn’t perfect. And all our imperfections colliding with all the imperfections of others stewing in the cauldron of the world's imperfections means that good intentions are not enough.

We've spent a couple of weeks digging into the nature of prayer on Sunday mornings, but this week we'll push into what it means to move beyond merely recognizing the merits of prayer or simply wanting to pray more. We'll discover that intention must meet action if we ever want to really live a PRAY FIRST kind of life. .

#PrayFirst #Plan #Place #Practice

Many of us often approach prayer as carefully-curated, randomly-collected, or desperately-uttered words spoken into the void in the hope that they might somehow affect the REAL world, though they be nothing more than ritual in practice to us. But this is not the truth, the reality, the essence of prayer. Prayer is not empty phrases bandied to the darkness. Prayer is not feeble liturgy badly remembered. Prayer is not about vainly hoping that I just get what I want because I want it so desperately, not really believing that it will make a difference in the end. In fact, it is SO much more! Prayer has a purpose. Prayer has power. And prayer is with and through and for and by and in and about and to and from the most beautiful, glorious, dynamic person in the cosmos.

#PrayFirst #Purpose #Person #Power

Who is the most important person in your life? Often, we respond with the name of a spouses, a parent, a sibling, or a friend. These are people who we know and and who know us. These are those who add value to our lives and with whom we share deep connection & relationship. Now imagine that you never, ever spoke to them - you didn't call or write or message. In fact, imagine you went over to their house, looked through their photo albums and drank their coffee, but didn't talk to them. Imagine further that you sat and stared at them, read their autobiography in front of them, and even engaged in conversation with others in the house about them, but actually failed to speak to them as they tried to engage you in conversation.

Pretty awkward and weird, right? And yet this is often how we approach conversing with God. We'll talk about Him, attend regular gatherings at His house, even talk to others ABOUT Him, yet fail to enter the conversation He is desperately trying to have with us - we're talking about prayer. We've mystified it, complicated it, sacramentalized it, and even feared it. But - while it IS a most holy endeavor - it was never intended to be any of this. Prayer may be something that has little / no place in your life, it might be something that is a regular part of your everyday life, or it might be something in between - regardless, this will be a time to breathe fresh life into what prayer is for you!

#PrayFirst #Perspective #Position #Priority

What do you think of when you hear the word celebrate? In our culture, probably pictures of birthdays, weddings, holidays, and anniversaries spring to mind - times when people gathered to showcase the value & impact of something important to them. The key to any celebration is just that - pointing out the value of someone or something and then making some kind of to-do about it. For Jesus-followers, it's imperative that we remember to celebrate the One of utmost value & importance, the Savior who paid our debt and granted us abundant life today & for all eternity. Today we celebrate the God who loves us, worshiping in some unique ways. Let's face it - the best celebrations we can remember invariably include the people closest to us gathering together!

#Celebration #CelebrationSunday #Baptism

One of the things you've probably heard more than once in your life is the phrase, "You're not the boss of me!" And yet, as much as we bucked against others controlling us, in all our bluster for being in control of ourselves, we often demonstrate an incredible lack of self-control. We to wrench control away from those who may have our best interests at heart (or maybe don’t!) in the guise of self-mastery, and we readily give control of ourselves to many other things that seek to destroy both body & soul. We’re not controlling ourselves … we’re just exchanging one master for another.

#FruitOfTheSpirit #selfCONTROL #HarderThanItLooks #TamingTheBeastWithin

There are various virtues that many of us aspire to obtain or develop. Courage, determination, justice, wisdom, and the like all usually top the list. However, one of the virtues that is integral to the Christian life is often forgotten - or even derided. If we're really honest, not many of us aspire to be the gentlest person we know.

But at the same time, we want God (and others!) to be gentle with us. We want mercy, want a soft word rather than a harsh one, want comfort when we're hurting. So why is it that we yearn for this gentleness while being reluctant to pursue it in our lives? And if we're really, really honest, we might even admit that we look down when others are gentle with those who we've deemed worthy of the hammer.

#FruitOfTheSpirit #GENTLENESS #Humble #StrongHandsSoftTouch

Faith is a key component of any religious tradition, especially for those who see to follow after Jesus. But what do we mean by faith? Do we mean blind, reckless belief? Do we mean strict adherence to moral codes? Or do we mean some kind of amorphous, unnamed feeling of religiosity that wells up within us at different times? The true nature of faith touches into each of these categories, but centers on something much deeper - or, rather, it should. Healthy faith cannot occur in a vacuum. While deeply personal, it is never individualistic.

#FruitOfTheSpirit #FAITHFULNESS #SeenBeforeHeard #FeltBeforeEmbraced

Am I good enough? It may be an awkward question, especially out of context, but it's one that most of us wrestle with more often than we might like to admit - we wrestle with thoughts of our performance, worth, value, and significance, constantly evaluating (even if not consciously) if we've made the mark.

For the Jesus-following person - that's where real hope can spring forth. Jesus offers to make us good enough, not based on our merits, but on His. He offers HIS goodness to us, securing our forever home with God on HIS credentials. For us, it's a simple act of faith that unlocks eternity for us.

And yet, the life of a Christian is also one that is to be radically marked by goodness on our part, a response to His goodness. For us, the question changes from How can I be good enough? to How can I share the goodness of Jesus with others since He's given me His own?

#FruitOfTheSpirit #GOONESS #NeverEnough #AlreadyEnough