Women of Promise

   Some  days we just need some encouragement, don't we?  When the trials of life overwhelm us, whether it is people or circumstances, our hearts can get heavy.  Often our minds are too muddled to even think through the issues in front of us.  There are times that the only thing that seems to calm our frustrated or hurting hearts is music.  Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 both tell us that we are to speak to one another (Christians) in "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs." What are these three types of music?  If you look at these three terms, they are actually all referring to the Psalms of Scripture! They refer to three different types or categories of the Psalms.  There are some Christians who use these verses to argue that the words of the Psalms are the only lyrics that should be sung in the church.       I am not calling us to "solo Psalmody" in our church.  However, I do want us to consider that we are told ...

       I shared before a few points that challenged me from a study in the book of Nehemiah. The post today continues on this theme -- please bear with me as we talk about prayer some more.  I don't think that prayer can be emphasized too much.  God has been leading me and convicting me to grow in this area more and more. I have grown up praying and hearing prayer. However, recently I have been searching out how to pray. It is not hard or complicated, but it is a discipline that needs to be cultivated and focused on.     From Nehemiah 4, God showed me the challenge to "Fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses."  God gives us the responsibility to fight for our homes and our brothers and sisters in Christ!  We are not simply bystanders that have no recourse as we watch our family be overtaken by the darts of Satan.  We are called to fight! -- on our knees.  I Thessalonians 5:17 further...

      October 31 just passed and it is a special day.  No, I am not referring to the way that children dress up and walk door to door, begging for candy.  For over 500 years now, Christians remember October 31 as "Reformation Day."  On October 31, 1517 a man named Martin Luther dared to post a document of 95 "theses," or tenents of the faith, to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany.  This was a big deal, because Martin Luther was taking a stand for salvation by grace alone, which defied the doctrine taught by the established church of that time.  This act of defiance triggered the events of the Reformation, which transformed the way commoners had access to the Scriptures and made many foundational doctrines of the Bible clear to the common man.  Martin Luther and others worked to translate the Bible from the Latin into German, and were tortured and even martyred for their teachings and work with the Scripture. This day should be recognized in...