Posts tagged: faith

All posts with the tag "faith"

107 posts latest post 2026-09-30
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Sep 2026 | 5 posts

Premarital Session 2 - March 2026

Communication, Conflict, and Forgiveness Purpose # To normalize conflict and equip the couple to handle it with humility, clarity, and grace. Key Scriptures # James 1:19–20; Proverbs 15:1; Ephesians 4:25–32; Matthew 18:21–35 James 1:19–20 (LEB): 19 Understand this, my dear brothers: every person must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, 20 for human anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God. Proverbs 15:1 (LEB): A soft answer will turn away wrath, but a word of trouble will stir anger. Ephesians 4:25–32 (LEB): 25 Therefore, putting aside the lie, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, because we are members of one another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 The one who steals must steal no longer, but instead must labor, working with his own hands what is good, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need. 29 No rotten word must proceed from your mouth, but only something g…

Premarital Session 1 - Feb 2026

Covenant, Calling, and Friendship Purpose # To establish a biblical vision of marriage that shapes expectations, priorities, and endurance. Key Scriptures # Genesis 2:18–25; Malachi 2:14; Ephesians 5:31–32; Proverbs 18:22 Genesis 2:18-25 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper (עֵ֫זֶר |e-zer) corresponding (נֶ֫גֶד | ne-ged) to him.” 19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found corresponding to him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. 22 Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 And the man s…
The Wrath to Come

The Wrath to Come

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? … This is a tough one to think about, and I’m not sure I have a ton of hard opinions about that coming wrath anymore. I used to cling to a few Bible verses that I thought painted a “complete” picture, or complete enough, of what this coming wrath will be like. But anymore, after walking with the Lord, becoming a dad, learning that ancient literature is quite a bit harder to read than your average 21st century novel… well I’m just not sure what I know anymore beyond a few things: Yahweh created all things (Genesis 1) In Jesus all things are held together (Colossians 1:17) *No one comes to Father except through Jesus, and only those whom the Father gives to him (John 6) By God’s grace alone is anyone chosen (Ephesians 2:8-9) *See Helkyo - What is it for God to draw man to him? So what can I say about anything outside t…
Reflection - Hebrews 13:5

Reflection - Hebrews 13:5

Hebrews 13:5 Your lifestyle must be free from the love of money, being content with what you have. For he himself has said, “I will never desert you, and I will never abandon you.” Hebrews is a long sermon and near the end of that sermon are some imperatives for God’s people. The Bible is anything but Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, but Hebrews 13 has some pretty basic instructions that are wise to remember. There are 2 in this verse to encourage me this morning: Your lifestyle must be free from the love of money For he himself has said Reflect # The lifestyle comment just such a particularly relevant thing to me right now as God has brought changes to my work/career. In many ways my lifestyle is very free from the love of money - we live below our means, give money away, etc. But I know my heart is fickle, and if there’s not as much money as I think there should be in our account I feel something in me that is most certainly sinful. I know what having more than we need is lik…
Reflection - 2 Corinthians 7:6

Reflection - 2 Corinthians 7:6

2 Corinthians 7:6 But God, who comforts the humble, comforted us by the coming of Titus,… Paul didn’t have to credit God as one “who comforts the humble” - he could’ve just praised God for the comfort brought through Titus showing up. But instead, Paul just tosses the nugget in there. At a glance, maybe it looks like Paul is building himself, or his group, up by self-referencing as “humble”. But calling yourself humble isn’t the proud and arrogant claim that it sounds like today… In reality - humility is an honest view of oneself, not in inflated or deflated view - but I won’t digress farther than that… Paul isn’t bragging about his own humility, or claiming that because he’s humble then God comforts him. No, the sense of the word ταπεινός (tapeinos) is downcast… ie. someone in need of comfort. Paul is giving God praise, just naturally in his own language, as the one who comforts people who need it. By God’s grace on my life, I believe I have seen a similar pattern - I even outlined in…
Trials Reveal Faith (short)

Trials Reveal Faith (short)

Spurgeon’s “Morning and Evening” today ended with a poem: Trials forge and reveal faith in our lives - faith in something that is… Yahweh uses trials as a megaphone to his people though. For those called into his family, the trials of temporary life should, and for the true believer ‘do’, bring us closer to the King’s throne. The trial highlights a larger reality of existential need of a savior. Trials have severity because there are different kinds, but the need for a King is of one kind. It is the highest and most necessary need of us all, but not everyone knows it. Trials can reveal it. Praise the Lord for trials that bring us closer to him, for no trial of earth can compare to the Glory of the King.
Reflection - Contentment and Work

Reflection - Contentment and Work

Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak from need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. Context # This verse showing up in Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening is a divine grace to me. Today is a significant day in a journey God has had me on towards contentment. The circumstances of that journey, the specifics, are known to some but I can still speak generally enough about it in this reflection because the generalities are not unique to me - anymore than the requirement to learn contentment, for it’s not a natural state for a man. For me, like a lot of others, it’s about money right now. Over the last few years I’ve been able to make a pretty significant income and God has blessed me through the work I’ve done, but something I have noticed is the work itself has felt less and less blessed, and more like a burden as the goal became money. I want to be a billionaire and never concern myself with a financial struggle - but this is childish thinking. The last few years hav…
The Ridiculous Blessing of the Lord

The Ridiculous Blessing of the Lord

I went to sit down this morning with a cup of coffee and do a meditation like I try to do at least a few times a week. I meditate on the Bible, on God’s word because I believe it is God’s word - and what a shallow belief it’d be if I knew nothing about the Word. For the last few years this has been the normal way I spend time with Jesus, and he has brought comfort and guidance to me, not through new knowledge necessarily, but through perspective and wisdom. This feels almost like a lazy way out of hardened theological study, a practice I hope to come back to before too long, but through semi-regular reflection, meditation, and writing Jesus has done a lot of good to my heart. I hope it wouldn’t take years of the Lord’s work on my heart to recognize the blessing in my life, but left to my own devices I certainly look at what he’s given me and still desire more. So, that wish is certainly nothing more than a fancy - and praise God for that, because it only further shows my need for him.…
Reflection - Arise and Depart

Reflection - Arise and Depart

Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening reflection for this morning is Micah 2:10 “Arise, and depart”. context Typical note about reflections not being deep study. Also noting that Spurgeon’s meditations are often about what comes to mind from the words of a verse (or part of it) as opposed to the context of the verse. Micah 2:10 Arise and go, for this is no resting place, on account of uncleanness that destroys with painful destruction. So the context of the rest of the verse isn’t that consistent with the direction of Spurgon’s meditation but nonetheless his springboard is good to think about… Someday everyone of us will answer the call to “arise and go” - death comes for us all but death isn’t itself an existential end, it is the time to obey the Lord. At his word, I will leave the world and go to where he calls me. This is true for everyone, it’s an inescapable part of the reality that Yahweh has created for all Creation. Death fills some with dread, but for the Christian it’s the passage t…
Revel in imparted righteousness

Revel in imparted righteousness

Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening today is from Jeremiah 23:6. Warning Again with these reflections, I"m not an OT scholar and I don’t know, or didn’t do a lot of search on, the context of the passage. This isn’t educational, this if a reflection on what God brings to mind through his Word and my time with him, not teaching about the historical context of where the words in Jeremiah 23 actually affect the story Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ The Lord is our righteousness # There’s a lot of tension in the details of the story of the world in how humans and God relate to each other. On one hand, God created everything, and he created humans with a unique purpose to be his seen-imagers in the physical world who carry out his will. On the other hand, humans take that position of privilege and often destroy the world in our sin and dismay. The theology surrounding t…