I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Praying Honestly
Are you honest with God when you pray? Lots of people struggle with being completely honest with Him. Instead, they pick and choose the things they pray about. They hide certain sins and confess others that aren’t as embarrassing.
But Scripture says that we don’t need to clean up our life before we come to God. God is the one who created us, and He knows everything about us. So there is nothing that we can hide from Him. He already knows the innermost parts of our thoughts and desires.
The writer of Psalm 139 prays for God to search his heart and mind, and to bring up anything that he might be unaware of that is hiding beneath the surface. This is a prayer that we’re all invited to pray.
We cannot be healed from the things we try to hide. In order to experience the grace and mercy of God, we must bring everything to Him. When He searches us and brings things to mind, He’s inviting us to humbly confess them to Him.
This prayer in Psalm 139 is an open and honest plea for God to continue to purify and sanctify our hearts. God can handle the heaviest parts of us, and He is not surprised by what happens in our thoughts.
Honesty before God is the only way we can grow into the people He wants us to be. We cannot grow in our spiritual life by hiding secrets or guarding our thoughts from God.
So take a moment today to make Psalm 139 your prayer. Ask God to search your heart and see if there is anything hiding that you’re unaware of. When He brings something up, take it to Him and ask for forgiveness. Ask for the power of His Spirit to lead and guide you through this time.
God is faithful and merciful to continue to love us in spite of our shortcomings. He will continue to walk with you and lead you into eternal life with Him.
Transformation Starts Here
Do you want to be new?
All around the world, humans long for change. We long to throw off old habits and ways of thinking if they aren’t serving us anymore. Thousands of self-help books, podcasts, articles, and all kinds of media exist for this very reason. We know we need to change, and we want to! And yet it can feel impossible.
Paul, one of Jesus’ disciples, shares this powerful truth in Romans 12:2 (NIV):
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Transformed by the renewing of our minds. What does this mean?
Transformation is a massive change. It’s thorough. Complete. A total difference. Like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, transformation brings an end to the old and a beginning to the new.
Paul is showing us that transformation isn’t work we do from the outside in—transformation happens from the inside out. It ...
