Has your heart ever gotten you into trouble? I am willing to bet that there are some of you that would reply to my initial question with: “Oh yeah! I am married to my heart trouble.” The reality is that our hearts are responsible for many of our practices or decisions. For example, spending, eating, watching, listening, speaking, thinking and living are all connected with the attitude of our hearts. This fact is why the Scriptures issue a warning about keeping our hearts.
Read MoreIn our first blog of this series, we identified pornography as a pit that people jumped into. We then examined the problem of porn and the power of a pure heart. In addition, we assessed and acknowledged the adverse consequences of porn in both a single and married person’s life. Now we will come to a close of our consideration on the pit of pornography by discussing the cure.
Read MoreIt has been said, “Whatever captures the mind captures the man.” All throughout the ages Satan has used the lust of the flesh to capture the hearts and minds of men and women as well as demolish the mighty, the wise and the simple; from Adam to Sampson to Israelite Kings David and his son Solomon, as well as your common Joe and JoAnn Public. Pornography steals, kills and destroys relationships. The most important relationship that is incredibly injured and severely severed is our personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The sin of porn punctures and separates us from God.
Read MoreWhat seems to be the problem? Maybe you have had a medical professional ask you that question or it is possible that you have found yourself in front of your Pastor or spiritual advisor that asked you something similar. When it comes to counseling, for the most part when an assessment process is engaged, a mental health professional, counselor or clergy member will utilize a variety of methods to arrive at a diagnosis. They will employ an inventory of questions, rely on visual observations and collected personal data in addition to drawing from their own experience and training. The bottom line is that the issue must be accurately diagnosed in order to address and solve the problem.
Read MoreWe are undoubtedly living in an unprecedented period. Pornographic pictures and explicit erotic material are more assessable than at any other time in history. Case in point, consider the illicit images that are insidiously in our faces in shopping malls at stores such as Victoria’s Secret, advertisements on the road, internet, television and movies, fliers and magazines, iPhones, iPads and electronic devices. I mean these salacious sources are an enormously large hole of lawlessness and a duplicitous deep ditch!
Read MoreFor this weeks’ blog, I wanted us to consider a check-up from the neck up. And if our hearts are heavy I pray they are heavy with the hope of Heaven. For the most part, I naturally enjoy an environment of elevated optimism in my heart. I always advance the argument that the glass is half full as opposed to being half empty! Now for all my more pessimistic friends I am not promoting a proliferation of people that only present positive dispositions in public. I know that’s a lot of p-words but be patient with me. I am augmented with alliteration.
Read MoreDeeply loved by God: Do you recall what our precious Lord reinforced with respect to our resolution to a relationship with him?
Read MoreThe word of God is very direct and deliberate in declaring that Jesus Christ is the only One that can deliver us from the slavery, seduction, sickness, strength and sentence of sin which is separation from God. Listen to what the Scriptures say:
The word and the condition of being poor is not usually associated with a positive situation. A majority of people believe that the word “poor” points us to a pejorative position. In their mind, P.O.O.R. stands for “People Out Of Resources.” For countless centuries people have measured a soul's significance and one's welfare and joy with by their access to a well of wealth from which he or she can draw. Therefore a poor person will naturally have little reason to be joyful based on outward circumstances.
Read MoreLight of the world
You stepped down into darkness
Opened my eyes, Let me see
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of a life spent with you
The opening of today’s blog lifts us with a lovely and wonderful song of worship. It has marvelously ministered to millions of worshipers since its release on December 24, 2001. It reminds us that our Lord Jesus declared that He is the light of the world: