We need to understand the power of the blood so we can fully benefit from the blessings it offers. Here’s the spiritual reality: the life is in the blood. God established this truth with Noah, and told Moses how to use it in order to resolve the sin issue between people and God. To Noah, he said: “You shall not…
In the story of Cain and Abel, the Lord was pleased with Abel’s offering of a sacrificial lamb, but he rejected Cain’s offering of fruit from his garden. Why? Because Cain had not followed the Lord’s instruction about how to resolve sin: a blood sacrifice, a sacrificial lamb. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. The Lord said…
According to Jesus, forgiving others is a necessary condition to receiving answers to our prayers. In his parable about the unforgiving servant, he warns that failure to forgive from the heart carries a high price tag: we’ll be turned over to torturers. We experience great loss when we do not realize how our unforgiveness affects us on every level of…
The following is from a recording of my talk to Women’s Aglow, Lexington, MA, 1980, just after burying our teenage son: It is good to be home with you. I want you to know that our God is a God of victory. Our God reigns today! Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we need…
One dark wintry day our teenage son, frustrated by the long, harsh winter, asked his Grandmother, “Will spring ever come?” Her confident response: “Yes! It always does!” In the years since, we have discovered that life comes out of death, light comes out of darkness. As he struggled to find a new life after leaving his engineering career behind, my…
In the early years of my spiritual journey, I often heard people pray, “Lord, get him!” —sometimes with judgmental vindictiveness. This troubled me, but I didn’t know why. One day my eyes fell on St. Paul’s words and the Holy Spirit caused me to see something I’d been blind to: it is the kindness of God that brings us to…
Looking back over your life you can find numerous clues to your potential destiny, like your favorite childhood game, gift, fairy tale, book—or song. Accordions were all the rage in our town in the early 1950s. So despite my brief sojourn with the cello (broken) and my inability to warble “Jesus Loves Me” on key, I convinced my Dad to…
When we began our spiritual journey, it was really exciting. One blessing after another fell on us. We just couldn’t praise God enough. Our hearts filled with joy and enthusiasm because we saw the power of God at work in our lives and in our friends. By the way, enthusiasm means to be overflowing with God. Our Christian walk was…
The still, small voice urged, “You need to be baptized again.” Why? I wondered. I’d already been baptized twice, once as an infant, and again when I was twelve. But since I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, I’d become more sensitive to these intuitive knowings. And I knew their importance—if I wanted to know God’s peace, joy, and righteousness…
The path of life requires that we do what Jesus says, to seek (continually) for the kingdom of God. Here are some thoughts from a spiritual father, Ralph Nault. He offers some practical suggestions on how we can stay in the peace and joy of the Lord, even though there are spiritual battles waging war around us. Spiritual warfare We…