Book Deal

I signed! New Reality is on its way to being a published book!

Have you ever wondered what abundant life looks like in everyday living? Do you doubt ‘the good life’ is even possible given your circumstances? Do you long for a close and intimate relationship with Jesus in which He reveals the secret of eternal life to you personally? In my upcoming book, New Reality, I describe what abundant life looks like and how it may be obtained in everyday life. I hope to enrich you with Biblical insight, inspire you with stories from my own life, and encourage you in your own dynamic relationship with a living, breathing, awesome God!

Time Change

So often I hear, “I just don’t have time.” It is true, our culture demands us to burn both ends of the night. We feel we are being jerked around by the world’s priorities. But there is another way in Christ. When I hear Christians say they don’t have time, I simply hear, “I haven’t made it a priority.” Usually this is just fine, but sometimes it reveals disobedience.

As humans, we bow to the time god and pretend we are victims to the timeline. But as Christians, we live in a spiritual kingdom which is defined by eternity. If we are willing to submit our time, like any other resource, we will find it in abundance. Our true priorities rise to the surface like a bubble in water. It’s really hard to say no to good things, but this is what it takes to say yes to the best, especially in the U.S. where opportunity abounds. When we understand our personal purpose and realize what it is that God intends for us to do for all eternity, our priorities become clear despite the demanding nature of temporal life. We are no longer distracted by the immediate pressing issues. We learn to trust God in an extraordinary way, knowing God will make sure the real need is met. We simply bow to what our Heavenly Father is saying in the moment.

And that is true blessing and freedom.

Faith

“Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].” (Heb. 11:1 AMP)

Faith becomes reality as we reach into the unseen world, grasp God’s promises, and draw them into this world. It is the basis of our perspective and the way we see this life. It’s not just something we do on Sundays, something we study, or something we blindly follow. It is our entire existence, our being at our very core. It is our work, our play, our home life, and our public life. 

Faith is to perceive things as they truly are. The human heart is proficient at denial, but God opens our soul to light. The Gospel invites us to live in the real reality, even if our natural senses cannot perceive it at first. God opens our eyes, opens our ears, and we taste, feel, and smell His goodness. He heightens our spiritual senses and we attain His promises by faith. Faith becomes tangible as we live out those promises in our everyday life.

By the Holy Spirit, faith seeks to influence our entire being. What starts in our inner spirit works outward, influencing our thoughts, emotions, and desires before spilling out into reality by our actions. Faith seeks to inform our thinking, which changes our feelings, which together remake our desires and we naturally act out God’s will. 

Faith is of the spirit (1 Cor. 12:9) and belief is of the mind. Faith necessarily influences beliefs, but sometimes our mind gets in the way. God puts faith in our spirit, yet our mind may create a barrier so we cannot see the proof of our faith! We know we have faith, but we have a hard time believing, so we never experience confirmation of our faith in this earth. Our heart fails when we cannot see or sense God is pleased with us.

God so lovingly wants to give us proof of our salvation and new life. There is so, so much more to life than fleeting good times. There’s a depth, a richness, a layer of eternity God wants to add. He desires to enhance our existence so that we actually receive a bit of our heavenly inheritance here on earth. We experience God’s promises by being sustained and controlled by faith. We trust naturally because we have experience and assurance through the Holy Spirit. What we do, say, and feel become the proof of our faith. Through faith, God uses our life circumstances to confirm His reality.