One of the great snares in church life is being content to just have a “successful” and active, busy, seemingly happy church, and not being focused on making every man, woman, young person and child an ever more devoted disciple of Jesus.

John experienced an intimacy and closeness with the Lord Jesus that all of my readers probably long for. And one of the reasons he did is because when he blew it, he received Jesus’s correction, he learned from his mistakes, and he embraced everything Jesus ever taught him. In a nutshell he valued every morsel of truth that came from Jesus’s lips even if it crossed the way he had seen and felt about things previously.

So I want to spend some time in this article exploring the “goodness” of man and I want to begin our discussion by establishing first the goodness of God. Only when we see what true goodness is can we then determine if it is inherently in man. Thankfully it is inherently in God.

My last personal update was in early January, so since that was fairly thorough and some of those things have not changed, I’ll try to cover some other things in this one.

Walking in faith and childlike trust in our wonderful God and Father – especially for those of us who have known Him for a while - is the normal and expected path for every child of God. Walking in faith and childlike trust in our heavenly Father brings Him glory and makes His fragrance in us stronger and more compelling to those watching us.

Whether it be faith for the healing of loved ones, or people God leads us to pray for, or faith for our own healing, this required and necessary faith for Christ's ongoing healing ministry can be fragile and sorely tested at times.

What is this word of righteousness and what is it about it that only mature disciples can grasp? I would like to venture that the word of righteousness is the message of righteousness from Genesis ch. 1 to Rev. ch. 22. And what separates the mature from the immature is the ability by the Spirit of God to see it and embrace it in its entirety.

"Loving God more than anyone or anything else is the very foundation of being a disciple. If you want to live your Christian life to its fullest, then love Jesus more than anyone or anything else." Greg Laurie Two things at least are driving me to put this post together – Jesus’s relationship with Father and Holy Spirit via the book of Deuteronomy (while on earth), and your relationship with the living God via the book of Deuteronomy while you are on earth. It is fairly eas

But God……is after a people…. and not just any people. He is after a people who have died with Christ to their entitlements, space, independence, secret lives, etc.; a people who increasingly “….walk in the light as He Himself is in the Light,…” so that we can have fellowship with Him and with each other,

"...there is no role in Christ’s church more important than that of the elder or overseer. This is why when Paul reached Miletus he called for the elders of the church in Ephesus to come to him (Acts 20:17). These are the men who would decide more than any other whether the church in Ephesus would grow and thrive and accomplish its God given purpose and mission….or not."

"... when God pours out His Spirit and thousands are swept into the church before Christ returns, who will shepherd them, who will disciple them, who will labor to present each of them complete in Christ with the character and motives that we see in Acts 20?"

Often rushing and hurrying about in a frenzy comes from unbelief. We rush and hurry because we think if we don’t get somewhere fast or get something done fast - bad or negative things will result.

The living God very much wants you to excel in prayer. He wants you to experience the joy of regularly seeing Him answer your prayers. Jesus revealed this when He said, “….ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.” John 16:24

One of the greatest needs of the church in our day is for men to be more vocal in corporate worship gatherings whether big or small about who God is to them and who God is to others. This was never meant to be left to the ladies brethren!!

One of the things you are going to discover sooner or later is that any church that honors Jesus as its Head has some formidable enemies to deal with. Those enemies are: the flesh (every person’s sinful nature), this evil world system formed and run by the devil and his demons, and the devil himself and his horde of demons. They hate God, they hate Jesus His Son, and thus they hate His church.

God is doing a wonderful thing in the earth today and despite all the enemy’s tactics to keep this from happening, many are entering the doors of local churches or congregations – some for the very first time. If you are one of those, you probably have lots of questions and a mix of emotions.

Friends, only Jesus’s words lead us to and enable us to experience the life of God or eternal life. Peter and the other apostles had heard the best of the best of the Pharisees and Scribes and I’m sure some false prophets and false teachers along the way. Only Jesus spoke words that opened eyes, and changed hearts.

In these last days before He returns one of the things that will be thrilling for we Jesus followers to see and be a part of is an ever greater chorus of corporate prayer wherever His church/people can be found.

The apostle Paul said of Satan, “we are not ignorant of his schemes.” II Corinthians 2:11 Nor should we be. The following is merely an attempt to help us all be more aware of the unseen battles going on for the soul of our cities.

Paul never once sought the “..One true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent..” (see John 17:3) on his own. He couldn’t and he wouldn’t. Rather Jesus intervened and invaded his life and stopped him in his tracks.