Blogs for Christian Living

When we were church planters, we got used to covering a lot of bases.  There just weren’t a lot of people to delegate various responsibilities to in those early days.  We started with boots on the ground, no starter congregation, and no permanent building. In fact, when we planned our home basement finish out, we designed it to use as a place to hold church until we outgrew it. We planned and taught Bible studies, wrote and preached sermons, organized and executed the flow of music and the service, looked for appropriate children’s material, hosted community outreach, cared for the needs of those in the church with pastoral counseling, etc.…

Here in the mountains of Colorado we have a plant that, in my opinion, is an annoyance at best.  It is called Yucca. There are many variety of yucca, and while I have a personal bias against them, they can be beneficial and pretty in the opinions of some, so please don’t get bent out of shape for my disparaging one of God’s creations.  But much like the sound of its name, I think Yucca are rather yucky. As I have attempted to eradicate this plant from my yard, I’ve learned a few things. Guess what? There are spiritual principles to be applied.  (Please note that these observations are based…

They say there are three voices in our heads – our own, God’s, and Satan’s. If you’re anything like me, you may struggle to differentiate between the three. Fortunately, God has been teaching me dependence and the sound of His voice, specifically through an injury these past 7 months. Struggling to Hear God’s Voice I don’t know about you, but I regularly struggle to know I can hear God’s voice. I especially struggle when I am feeling afraid of the implications of something. Afraid to ask someone a question. Afraid to pray over a need mentioned in passing. Afraid to resign from a toxic job. But it’s a kind of…

In the fall of 2014, I had the privilege of learning about the “gift” of woundedness.  Dallas and I were going through a study, “In Christ’s Image” by Francis Frangipane. He taught about spiritual woundedness and how it is a gift that works to develop Christlikeness in us.  I was really struggling with the lesson as I recounted some of the deep wounds that we experienced in ministry and life. So I got a physical lesson to help me better grasp the concepts. Rear-ended! Tuesday September 30, 2014 I was driving to have lunch with a friend.  Traffic was heavy and there was a lane closure up ahead so I…

Blue Fire Legacy’s purpose statement is “Igniting the Body of Christ to live in fullness of purity and power.”  It took me a few months to process through what that means and how we walk it out. Today’s blog is a summary of my studies. To be full is defined by dictionary.com as “filled to utmost capacity”.  As the Body of Christ, we are to live in His fullness. In other words, we are to be filled to the utmost capacity with Christ, His character and His abilities.  Which ultimately leaves room for nothing else. Fullness of purity   When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Holy…

“It’s more blessed to give than to receive”.  It’s definitely more fun. Over the years Dallas and I have been blessed to be able to give to others.  One of our fun activities was to identify a family that was in need and come up with a way to give to them without being found out.  To be able to buy the gift card for groceries and then figure out a way to sneak it into her purse or his Bible at church without anyone seeing what we were doing.  To later hear about how God had blessed them. Their wondering who it was that gave the gift. Praising the…

It is often asked why Christians suffer.  Every believer that goes through a time of difficulty or suffering has likely asked the Lord why.  In my experiences He generally doesn’t answer the why question, at least not quickly or in the midst of the trial. Was it Sin? The religious leaders in Jesus’ time generally had the belief that someone that suffered a long-term illness was a result of sin.  In John 9:2, Jesus’ disciples asked “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” It’s an easy question to ask because then we can place blame for the suffering.   Suffering seems to be easier to…

We talk about being on fire for God; burning bright in a dark world; asking the Holy Spirit to ignite the fire again.  Have you ever spent time watching a fire? Have you watched how different types of materials burn? I spent a good chunk of time one day burning old materials and papers, and the Lord showed me some applications to our spiritual lives. Paper Generally Burns Easily Most of us think that paper burns very easily – and it can, but it doesn’t always.  When it does burn, the heat produced is minimal and doesn’t last long. Crumple up some paper, lay it loosely in the fire pit,…

Hannah was greatly distressed in 1 Samuel 1:10-20.  Instead of stewing and pouting and turning away from God she poured everything out before Him.  We see that she was “bitter” (v. 10). This is not the picture of a prim and proper worshipper of the Lord coming before Him and singing praise songs.  This is a woman that has a very deep, burning wound and she is bitter about it. Life is not fair. Things are not going right. This is NOT the way that they should be!  This has gone on for too long, God. Enough! She “wept severely”. Crying out to God Hannah moped and was depressed (see…

God has designed us and is equipping us to be successful.  But what is success? In America we often define success by our position and possessions.  The higher our position at work or school or church or the social club then the more “successful” we are.  The more stuff we have, then the more we are a success; be that houses, cars, name-brand clothes, exotic vacations; fancy this or that. However, position, possession, or even our number of followers is not God’s standard for success. And if that’s not how God defines success, neither should we.  Scripture gives us a definition of success quite contrary to the expectations of this…