We are being saved by the Gospel as we stand in it and hold it fast, as we receive it when we are reminded of it when it is preached to us.

We know joy starts with our God, but it has to make contact with our hearts for it to become our joy.

Our joy is with Him. That’s where it is. It’s not anywhere else. To have it, to get it, we must first seek it where it can be found.

There’s no joy for us apart from God, or without God. We can’t expect our hearts to rejoice when we’re living without thought of God or regard for Him.

Here is a simple truth: Our hearts can be made glad by reflecting on who God is.

Don't be afraid: ask, ask for more, and keep asking. These are things Jesus says He came to give us.

Why do I take personal, spiritual, sabbatical retreats?

We can travel from falling to singing, from being pushed over to standing strong, from feeling alone and overwhelmed to celebrating anew our salvation with God.

Remember Christ’s victory when you feel defeated. Christ’s victory is yours. So long as He has won—and He has—and we remember this, there is no defeat.

This whole story of power and opposition is just a chapter in a larger story, the story of Jesus.

When we suffer, we still win, by holding fast to Christ.

In Revelation 8:6-13, we see [two] things being done. God is righteously judging the wicked, answering the prayers of His persecuted people. But God is doing it in such a way that the wicked are shown mercy, being encouraged to repent.

Jesus is worthy. This is why the rest of the chapter bursts into celebration. Jesus is worthy because “You were slain and by Your blood You ransomed people for God…”

The Gospel is not about our works or effort. It’s about our relationship with Jesus.

Who gets to be there? All whose names are in the Lamb’s book of life, all who have been washed clean.
The gates of the city are open wide to all who will trust in Jesus.

The heart of the Gospel is the joining of these two truths: that God is greater than our capacity to comprehend, and that God, in His greatness, condescends bringing mercy and grace to sinners like us, who fill all His churches. 

God works through all that He has made, which He has given, for which He deserves grateful praise.

We are, truly, hearts and souls and minds and strengths, all woven together to be a kind of basket designed to hold delight in God.

Loving others well will involve a new perspective on them and new practices in our relationship.

Jesus is our goal, He embodies what we would wish for ourselves, and all we hope for comes to us in Him.