Jesus Listens
Our Big God Doesn’t Make Small People
“You, the Mighty One who created the universe, live in me!” Jesus Listens, July 2 If you are anything like me, at some point you have dealt with the warring thoughts of wanting more out of life but feeling guilty about your lack of contentment. If God wanted to give me more influence, ability, or fulfillment, He would have, right? I think sometimes. Isn’t my desire for more an indication of a lack of gratitude—or even worse, rejection of what God has for me? I’m not the only person who has thoughts like that this, am I? Getting Answers From the Bible As a pastor, I spend a lot of time reading the Bible, and I love it. Like, love love it. Not only because Scripture holds life, truth, and keys to unlock God’s miracles in my own life—though that’s the main reason—but also because there i...
Just for Today, Lord
“Help me to walk in the way of wisdom—trusting You no matter what happens in my life.” Jesus Listens, September 19 He was given the gift of one day. One sunset. One sunrise. Just one rotation of the planet before he left it. Unlike the average American, he wasn’t gifted with almost eighty years of life on this earth. No, he was given the gift of one day. However, the way Jude Samuel Shook unwrapped the divine gift of his one day gave us, his grandparents, a gift that has changed the way we now live every day. A little boy who lived on this earth for just a handful of hard-fought hours taught us how to live our years. Jude’s Story Our son Josh and his wife, Kelli, found out at their twenty-week pregnancy doctor’s visit that something was severely wrong with Jude’s kidneys. The doctor explai...
Feeling the Warmth of His Unconditional Love
Sometimes I hear you whispering in my heart, “I take great delight in you.”It’s hard for me to receive this blessing, but I know it’s based on theunconditional Love You have for all your children. Jesus Listens, May 2 We live and feel deepest from the gut, not from the head. The love I have for my child, the way I felt during the first dance at my wedding, the doubled-over weight I’ve held staring into the casket of a lost loved one, and the laughter that comes from watching my niece open a gift on Christmas morning—none of that emerges from an intellectual equation I’ve solved. It comes from somewhere deeper, somewhere more instinctive, an emotional place. That’s how author of Hebrews describes Jesus’ response to sin and the havoc it wreaks on our lives—a gut-level, emotional response of ...
Four Spiritual Tools to Build Your Brain Power
You formed me with an amazing brain that can communicate with You, think rationally, create things, make decisions, and much more.” –Jesus Listens, February 12 Your brain is a powerful place. It’s the command center of all that you think, feel, and do. That means all of the functions of your emotions, desires, perceptions, ideas, and memories take place inside your brain, which contains about 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion interconnections. Did you know the way you think constructs neural pathways in your brain? You can compare this pathway creation process to the way a semitruck makes deep tread marks in packed snow. These deeply-embedded thoughts produce your feelings, both good and bad. If you spend a lot of time worrying or feeling angry or fearful, then your brain builds neural ...
