Maturing as Believers 

In the Bible, winning in life is not defined by worldly wealth, status, or power, but by the condition of your heart and your relationship with God. True success is measured by eternal fruit and spiritual maturity. Here is what it means biblically to "win" through the lenses of authenticity, honesty, integrity, love, and gratefulness. Authenticity which means aligning your inner life with your outer actions, refusing to wear a mask. Jesus frequently warned against hypocrisy,

Mark 9:23–24 teaches that Jesus accepts honest and imperfect faith, showing us that we can bring both our belief and our doubts directly to Him. This father chooses honesty over pretense. He chooses humility over pride. The father does not pretend to have flawless faith; he humbly admits his struggle with doubt to Jesus because faith is sustained by Jesus! The father asks Jesus to help his unbelief, recognizing that Jesus must supply the very strength and faith he lacks. This

God does not require you to have everything figured out before you come to Him. He invites you to come as you are, with the faith you have, however fragile it feels in the moment. Your honesty and humility does not offend Him. It opens the door for Him to work. The father in Mark 9:24 runs to Jesus not having all the answers, but he knows where to go. You can do the same. When doubt rises, do not let it convince you to stay away. Let it drive you closer. Let it become part of

The father in Mark 9:23-24 stands before Jesus with a desperate need and a fractured faith. However, Jesus does not rebuke the man for his doubt. He responds to the cry for help. The father’s belief, however imperfect, was enough to bring him to the right place. His faith moved him toward Jesus, and that is what mattered! You do not need perfect faith today. You just need to bring the faith you have, and place it in the hands of a perfect Savior. Bring your belief and your un

The father in Mark 9:23-24 stands before Jesus with a desperate need and a fractured faith. His son suffers, and he has nowhere else to turn. Yet instead of pretending his confidence is absolute, he admits the struggle happening inside him. He believes, and he doubts. This father does not wait until his faith feels strong enough to approach Jesus. He steps forward in the middle of his struggle and admits the tension out loud. His belief exists alongside his unbelief, and he d

God is not impressed with insincerity pretense. As believers in Jesus, God eliminates any need for us to live in pretense or with wax! We are freed to live authentically, having been pronounced righteous before God. According to 2 Corinthians 4:7, I am a clay jar that is quite flawed. And my sin nature is a deceptive marketing merchant. It does not want you or anyone else to see your defects. It wants to hide the defects behind a deceptive wax. It wants to sell others a bette

This statement, from Jesus, officially endorses the idea of praying in His name: evoking His authority and His will in making requests known to God. That doesn't suggest God automatically grants every demand attached to the phrase "in the name of Jesus." Jesus makes this promise to those who pray "in" His name, not merely those who "use" His name. To pray "in" the name of Jesus means doing so in harmony with His will and His nature. A major part of living by faith is recogniz

My New Book: “Pursuing Authentic Christianity: Rethinking Biblical Discipleship” is now available on Amazon.com. The following is excerpted from my introduction: “Tragically, our performance-driven mindset often creeps into how we believe and interact with God. We treat believing God like an activity that’s tiring and demanding, and for that reason many of us secretly feel spiritually depleted, exhausted, and disconnected from the very God we love! On the night before He was

One of the most exhausting things in life is being insincere! That’s because wearing a mask causes you to spend much energy keeping up an image that does not match your real feelings, thoughts, or beliefs! That’s drama, you can do without!! In Scripture, insincerity is called hypocrisy. Our English word “sincere” comes from two Latin words: sine (without) and cera (wax). In the ancient world, insincere merchants would use wax to hide defects, such as cracks, in their pottery

Paul teaches, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Paul writes now that this great treasure is not kept under lock and key in some museum or a bank vault. Instead, God keeps this treasure of the light of His glory in Christ in fragile jars of clay. God has deliberately chosen fragile and unimpressive vessels (believers) to hold this wonderful treasure. Why? Paul says God wants to sho