Fear is the root of nearly every problem you face.

Think about it.

I’m in a relationship where I’m constantly fearing that I won’t be pretty enough for him.  I worry that he’ll betray me for another woman.  I withdraw.  I question him constantly.  I make accusations based on my perceptions.  I become controlling.  I push him away.

Fear.  In some instances, the fear of betrayal (resulting in withdrawn love and control) may actually cause him to essentially betray me for someone whose love is not based on fear.

Tags: 1 John 4:18, afraid, fear, loss, love, rejection, relationships, root of every problem

I’ve learned this about obeying God:  You do what’s right even when you don’t feel like it.

You keep standing when you want to sit.

You keep fighting when you feel like surrendering.

You go by what you know, not what you feel.

You walk by faith and not by sight.

You trust God when your emotions lie to you and tell you that He’s the one to blame.

You hang onto Him even when you feel like letting go.

You believe what He says when you have zero evidence backing it up.

Tags: Bible, fighting, giving up, God, God's Word, letting go, obey God, surrendering

I have greater faith than I’ve ever had in my life.  If sickness tries to come on me, I no longer have to wonder whether or not God wants to or is able to heal me.  And I don’t let symptoms run their course for a few weeks before finally buckling down and receiving healing.  I believe and know it’s God’s will to heal me.  And if something contrary rises up, I’m quick to bat it away.  But this wasn’t always the case.

Tags: choose life, double-standards, Faith, freedom, God's Word, terminal cancer, testimonies, testimonies of healing, truth

America has lost her footing.  I’m not ok with it.

This post isn’t going to be a sonnet on American-pride or a We’re Better than You Are chant.  No, this post will have the same theme as all the other posts on here: Truth.

America has only 4% of the world’s population and 6% of the world’s land mass, but make up 24% of the world’s economy.  While nations around the world gauge poverty at $1 per day, America gauges poverty at $22 per day.  Are these statements of pride?  No, they’re simply fruits of what happens when a nation — any nation — is founded on the Word of God.

Tags: 4th of July, America, Book of Wisdom, Capital Gains Tax, parable of the talents, Prosperity, Proverbs, rich, rich young ruler, stand up for what's right, wealth, wisdom

I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one with no common sense.  I saw that it was overgrown with weeds.  It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down.  Then, as I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber. -Proverbs 24:30-34, NLT

This passage of truth illustrates the fruits of laziness from a natural standpoint, but what about from a spiritual standpoint?

Tags: Christianity, defeat, God, Jesus, Proverbs 24:30-34, satan, spiritual laziness, Victory, weeds

Last night I watched the Bourne Ultimatum.  It wasn’t the first time I saw it, but every time I watch it, this thought goes through my mind: “This guy is unreal.  He cannot be beat.”  And then, as is my custom with most war/action movies, I started trying to equate it to spiritual terms.  And man, this one was a cinch.  It only took me a few seconds to think of the spiritual significance of it.

Tags: Battles, Bourne, Bourne Ultimatum, defeat, fighting, God's Word, Jason Bourne, satan, spiritual warfare, Victory

Something is shifting.  Something has shifted.

For me, this is hard.  I’m honestly not ready for Jesus to come back.  I mean, from a spiritual standpoint, yes, I’m ready.  But I have so much in my heart that I’m longing to see and do.  Living to be 100 years old wouldn’t even be long enough.  I’m not one of these people that is white-knuckling it, hoping that Jesus will hurry up and come back so that all my problems will be solved.  I don’t have problems. I live the Word of God and I defeat satan on a daily basis.  I don’t wish and hope and pray for victory.  I have victory.  If satan creeps in with depression or sickness or poverty, I cut him to pieces with the Sword of the Spirit of the Word of God.  Through Christ, I always triumph.

Tags: Christians, End Times, get ready, God, God's Word, Jesus, Revelation, the end, the end is near, The Sword, truth

When I came home from Cambodia, I wouldn’t have thought for one second that I was a Pharisee.  If anything, I was the one that had it together.  I’d been away for five months and not once during that time did I butt heads with someone.  I got along with people.  I liked people.  And they seemed to like me.  So if anyone was in the wrong, it had be my parents.  And I couldn’t wait for them to see it.  I couldn’t wait for them to start treating me like I deserved to be treated.

Tags: family, hard love, Jesus, loving when it hurts, Pharisees, real love, tough love, worthwhile

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. -Jesus’ words to the Pharisees, Matthew 23:27

Because the name “Pharisee” sounds so old and out-dated and old-fashioned, I never thought much about the prospect of such people being alive today.  Weren’t those the kind of people who wore long robes and tried to fulfill long lists of religious rules and regulations?  I didn’t personally know anyone like that.  Maybe those people existed in dusty old Catholic cathedrals, but I was charismatic.  I had to be the furthest thing from a Pharisee.  There was no tradition in my church.  No list of rules to fulfill.  We just loved Jesus and wanted to be like Him.  What was Pharisaical about that?

Tags: God, hyprocrite, Jesus, love, Matthew 23:27, Pharisee, real love, whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones

So much of religion is guilt- and shame-based.  And somehow, in reacting to error, an entire movement has cropped up to try to validate people’s emotions — to let them know that they’re ok and that they’re understood and that it’s ok to feel a certain way.  And of course there’s nothing wrong with being understood and being validated.  But first of all, Christianity has nothing to do with religion.  Religion may be guilt- and shame-based, but Christianity came to set us free from that.  So why then do we fall into this trap that says that the best way we can help wounded people is to validate them emotionally?  Did Jesus Christ come to pat the old man on the back and say “You’re ok.  It’s ok that you feel that way.”?  Or did He come to crucify (put to death) the old man and make us new creations in Him?

Tags: Bible, emotional validation, emotions, feelings, God's Word, truth