God is For You
In the Mornings

“Never be motivated by fear or guilt.”

Flee from anything that is trying to manipulate you to do something if their tactic involves fear or guilt. It is not from God. God motivates with love and mercy. Remember, God has not given us a spirit of fear. Therefore, He doesn’t motivate by fear. He died on the cross to remove our guilt. Therefore it would be counterproductive to motivate by guilt.

Pray for Our Schools
In the Mornings

He was blind. Born blind. The disciples wanted to debate. “Was it his sin or his parent’s sin? The Pharisees wanted to blame. “You filthy sinner.” Jesus wanted to reveal the works of God. After he was healed… His parents, in fear, wanted to deny. The Pharisees still wanted to blame and ostracized. “ How dare Jesus heal on the Sabbath.” Jesus wanted to save. Yesterday, I did something dumb....

Moved by Compassion
In the Mornings

Jesus was often “moved with compassion” before a miracle. Another way of saying that is, “He was moved by love.” When people in need approached Jesus, He never reprimanded at that point; He didn’t counsel, He didn’t even teach. He loved. And Jesus’ love language is healing. When the downtrodden approached Jesus, He didn’t blame. He didn’t accuse. He didn’t judge. He loved. And Jesus’ love language is forgiving and...

Hope?
In the Mornings

Can I tell you a secret? Sinners sin. This apparently is a secret because I am amazed how Christians react when sinners do outrageous acts. Our current indignation is about a pair of shoes. (I will not name the shoes or the artist because I believe there is no such thing as bad publicity.) I have seen outrage from Christians, fear this will corrupt our children, and dismay that this...

Let Us Pray
In the Mornings

Luke 18, one of my favorites. When I was going through a particular difficult time, the story of the persistent widow was of great comfort. I learned, as I cry out to God both day and night, eventually God would answer. That is a truth. But as I read Luke 18 this morning, I discovered Jesus’ example of how to pray did not end with the story of the widow....

Ask. Trust. Ask.
In the Mornings

Have you ever prayed for something, I mean really interceded, and was disappointed? I have. One of my favorite promises from God is, “Since we have this confidence, we can also have great boldness before him, for if we ask anything agreeable to his will, he will hear us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we also know that we have obtained the requests...

Whack-A-Mole Prayer
In the Mornings

H “What are you believing God for,” my friend asked while we were vacationing. I didn’t have an answer. Not that I wasn’t praying. Since this pandemic hit, I’ve been praying like crazy… Praying for the pandemic to end. Praying for friends who are unemployed. Praying my students would do well despite the learning situation. Praying police brutality would end. Praying for the families who unjustly lost a life at...

Pray. Trust. Believe.
In the Mornings

Tears of joy. Tears of sadness. Tears of anger. Yesterday, my sweet students wrote me letters. They were filled with words of encouragement and gratitude. I often think because I teach calculus, my students would be successful no matter who their teacher was. But these letters reminded me the power of encouragement and how I set the tone in my class. The letters reminded me of my significance as their...