Hello, are you there?

by Keith Gardner

Psalms 13:1-4 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

Word of God Speak

by Keith Gardner

Revelation 16:17-21  The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.

Faith?

by Keith Gardner

Have you ever described living by faith; trusting in God for something other than the obvious? Try telling someone to believe in a thing that is contrary to what one sees. What does it look like when we are not worried about an event that to all those around us say should be a grave concern?

Love Runs Deep

by Keith Gardner

There is a love that penetrates the surface, but does not penetrate the heart. This love is usually birthed out of duty or familiarity. I can know God through my senses. The Psalmist said; “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of his hand.” I can see the evidence of His presence. I can know God through my intellect. Psalms 19:2 continues with “Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.” I can study the evidence of God through the things He has made and I can understand with a deep conviction that He has made them. But these things that point me towards a creator do not point me towards love. I can also know God through my experiences. Throughout the gospels Jesus demonstrated who he was by his many miracles. Many saw him coming on a donkey and screamed in celebration; “Hosanna! “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. About a week later many were yelling in great anger; “crucify him, crucify him”. They all saw the same Jesus, they all heard the same words, they all experienced the same miracles; but the love of God did not penetrate to the same depth. Why not?

Staying the Course

by Keith Gardner

The story of the Israelites journey from the bondage of Egypt to the land long promised to Abraham, the father of our faith, is the story of our birth into new life and our passage into maturity in Christ. The trip is not an easy one. Like the Hebrews of old, our journey has victories and failures, faithfulness and rebellion. There are those moments our hearts follow hard after our Father God and our time in His presence is an unquenchable thirst; and there are those moments when we so easily choose to go our own way, forgetting our promises and the lessons recently learned.

Enjoying the Present

 by Keith Gardner

Philippians 4:11-12 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

As we live out our spiritual journey, growing from new born babes in Christ into mature faith walking believers, we come face to face with many challenges, pit falls and road blocks. During these difficult times we are forced to question who God is, who we are, and what we really believe. It is in the wrestling that we, more than any other time, discover God.

Provoked

by Mark Michalak

"It is the duty and responsibility of Christian leaders(who are therefore responsible for what is!) to stop the wholesale paganization of Christian youth. We should take our lessons from the Catholics of the 1850s who realized that they had no choice but to abandon the public schools for educational institutions of their own if they were to preserve Catholic culture for the next one hundred years.