The notion that obedience diminishes us in any way hurts us more by robbing us of the joy it brings. Unlike human rule, we are not oppressed subjects of God but children and heirs of His Kingdom.

The Bible says that God’s commandments are not burdensome. They are for our good and for God’s pleasure because His desire is to see our souls prosper. When God calls us to love righteousness, it’s not to punish us but to protect us.

All godly principles are rooted in God’s love because to live for Him, we must love as He does. For instance, you can’t affirm righteousness without love, nor can you affirm faith without it. All must be rooted in the foundation of who God is, and God is love.

Something about Psalm 23 captivates the core of my being. It begins with God's place in a believer's life. In the first verse, David said, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” This means He leads while I follow; He guides while I obey. He is our provider, protector, and sustainer, our resting place.

It’s easy to be blinded by today’s cloud and forget yesterday, but tomorrow’s journey starts today because today is a product of yesterday.  America, you are a nation with a million and more reasons to stand tall among the nations, because what unites you is greater than what divides you.

Any life in God’s hands bears fruit, and no matter how rotten the past is, He knows how to bring newness from it. Who else can make a road in the wilderness or cause rivers to flow in the desert? After all, He founded the earth from formlessness and void (Genesis 1:2).

Imagine what Goliath thought when he saw David walk toward him on the battlefield. He had spent forty days taunting the God of Israel and did not expect that a boy with a sling in his hand and the love of God in his heart would end him. Goliath appeared tall and strong to everyone because they were limited by what they could see, not by the invincible, undefeatable, mighty God who was fighting for Israel.

It’s been years since I’ve been home. By home, I mean the place where I was born and raised, met Christ, where I met my husband, got married, learned to write, attended college, and got my first Christian writing job. I love this land I’ve called home for years now because God has been faithful. I am blessed with some of my life’s greatest treasures here, with whom I am enjoying God’s love in the most tangible…

Life is like a battlefield. You wake to a wave of choices and navigate each day, making decisions rooted in your core beliefs. Even if you don’t affirm your allegiance to a particular set of values, you are bound to something you inadvertently answer to with every decision. 

How we see God matters because our view of life is shaped by our view of God. Understanding that He is mightier and greater, and that He rules with loving kindness and mercy, puts our souls at rest in Him. When we live for what God made us for, we don’t have to pretend to figure it all out to enjoy all that God has to offer.

How we define things mostly affects how we value them, and that, in turn, determines how we treat them. A million-dollar diamond to a child is nothing more than a shining stone and can be smashed by a $10 worth hammer if given the chance. To God, each life is worth more than all the world’s gold, and there’s a multiplier effect to each of God’s creations that stretches beyond our families and the confines of our homes.

David, by everyone’s standard, even the prophet’s and his parents’, was the most unlikely choice for a king. When God sent Samuel to anoint one of Jesse’s sons in 1 Samuel 16, he didn’t expect the youngest son, tending the sheep, to be God’s choice. He went through each son until Jesse pointed out that David was with the sheep.

The cross we get to celebrate today, adorned on our necks and beautifying our walls, came at a cost worth more than eternity from its beginning to its end. It cost God, God, and took Heaven to lead us back to Heaven! To reconcile humanity back to the Edenic intent, the creator of the universe left majesty to live like a man and die in the cruel hands of the people He came to save.

I recently experienced a joyful high because something amazing happened to my family. I felt such a burst of joy when we got the news that I’d love to bottle up the moment and relive it every day. For a while, you’d think it was impossible to wake up with any more life’s questions or prayer requests. God has answered all my prayers instantly, and everything is good enough now for me to run a million miles for the Kingdom.

The word ‘fear’ always sends our mind to darkness because our brokenness has us accustomed to the fear of evil. However, understanding that the fear of God is born in light eliminates the worry of darkness because it ascertains God’s presence. How else can you walk through the valley of the shadow of death and not fear?

Fear is not necessarily negative because who we fear determines how we fear, and how we define fear determines how we approach it. To fear the Lord is to walk in wisdom (Proverbs 9:10); to fear man is a snare (Proverbs 29:25), and the fear of evil is the consequence of a lack of fear for God. 

The division, wickedness, and uproar all around me bother me, so as I lie awake in the night, asking God what I can do in my little corner in the world to remind people how much God loves us and wants to see us do better in taking care of one another, the picture of the nestling bowls came to my mind.

The value of a single life created by God has multiplying effects because within each person lie treasures beyond understanding. We cannot fully grasp the creative power within us until we go beyond mental and societal limits to activate the gifts God has given us. These divine gifts should reflect God’s goodness, change many destinies, and outlive us.

The magnitude of Moses's adventures with God has captivated generations and serves as the most pivotal story of redemption from bondage outside Christ’s death and resurrection. The number of humans God used him to deliver from slavery at once, with wisdom, patience, organization, and management needed to handle them, is baffling.

In a world that desperately needs Jesus, there are too many Christians journeying through life without harnessing and using the power of God’s gifts in them to bless humanity. We allow the world’s dictates to limit our abilities, reducing our pursuit to mere survival goals rather than godly, lofty, and transformative ones.