Keep The Faith

In this Unity Series reflection, we look again at Abraham’s faith—what made it genuine, what God saw in him, and what this means for our own walk of trust today. The Faith That Justified Abraham Genesis 22 — Abraham Tested (NIV) “Some time later God tested Abraham… ‘Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac… Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering…’” ( Genesis 22:1–2 ) Abraham obeyed. He told his servants, “We will worship and then we will come back to you.” He told Isaac, “God himself will provide the lamb.” When Abraham raised the knife, the angel of the Lord stopped him: “Do not lay a hand on the boy… Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” ( Genesis 22:12 ) A ram was provided, and Abraham named the place: “The Lord Will Provide.” What Justified Abraham? Paul explains the heart of it: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” ( Romans 4:3 ) Abraham’s faith...

A dawn‑tone reflection from the Unity Series Some messages arrive gently, and others arrive with the weight of truth. This one carries that weight. If you stay with it to the end, I believe the Holy Spirit will open something in you that may have been closed for years. This word will press on your heart, but if you endure to the end, light will break through. Bring before your mind the face of the one you cannot forgive — the one whose memory still burns like a wound that refuses to close. Now lift your eyes. The Spirit is taking you upward. You stand in the courts of heaven. The air is alive with joy. You see faces you have loved and lost — whole, radiant, laughing with a purity you have never seen on earth. Everywhere, clusters of people rejoice together, free from the shadows that once clung to them. Let your gaze move across the multitude… And then you see him — the one you swore you could never f...

Shame: When God Opens Our Eyes A Unity Series Post God Gave Us Emotions for a Reason God, the Creator, designed us with emotions. None of them are accidental. Each one serves a purpose in how we relate to Him, to others, and to our own hearts. Fear warns us. Joy strengthens us. Love binds us together. But shame—true, God-revealed shame—does something unique. It shows us the truth about our sin and awakens the desire to turn back to God. Shame is the only emotion that makes us wish we could go back and undo what we did. It is not self-generated. It is something God reveals when He opens the eyes of our heart. Shame in the Beginning Before the fall, Adam and Eve lived without shame: “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” ( Genesis 2:25 ) After they sinned, they felt fear—not shame. They hid from God and blamed one another, but Scripture never says they repented ( Genesis 3:1–13 ). The same pattern appears in the next generation...

“This Is Eternal Life”: How John 17:3 Opened My Eyes Sometimes the Lord slows us down in ways we don’t expect. What I thought would be a simple Bible study through the book of John has instead become a journey of re‑examining things I once believed without question. I’m sharing these thoughts not as doctrine, but as the path God has been walking me through. My cousin and I have been getting together for Bible study for quite a while now—usually once a week if we can. Lately we’ve been meeting on Mondays, and since today is Monday, we just finished up a little while ago. We agreed to work through the book of John, but we haven’t made much progress. Before my vision—the one I described in my post “ My Beliefs Have Changed ” —we probably would have been in great harmony in our beliefs and sailed right through John. The slow pace isn’t because of John; it’s because of my sidetracks. I used to fit into the “Once Saved, Always Saved” group, you might say. If you had to pl...

Where’s God? Have you ever wondered if God is only present when we call on Him—stepping aside at other times to leave us to our own paths? Or do you sometimes feel that He only intervenes after events unfold? I’ve thought about this too. I believe God is always at work, guiding us within His will—not just in the lives of those who believe, but also in the lives of those who don’t yet know Him. Everything that happens aligns with His purposes. When difficult times come, it’s often hard to understand how they fit into God’s will. But I don’t believe God brings hardships to harm us or to punish us for not being perfect. Our lives, as God sees them, have already been fully known, and within that understanding, He makes adjustments along our path, shaping circumstances to yield what’s best for us. How could that person happen to be there when you needed food, or a place to stay, or money at just the right time? How did someone so special enter your life fro...

A Vision That Changed My Questions There are moments in our walk with God that reshape us—not by giving answers, but by awakening deeper questions. This is one of those moments for me. What I experienced was unexpected, unsettling, and ultimately transforming. I share it here in the hope that it may speak to someone else who is wrestling with the mystery of God’s ways. The Vision In an earlier post, I mentioned a vision I had—not a dream, but something that happened during a conversation with Jesus. As I was speaking with Him in my mind, as I often do, I suddenly felt Jesus and the Holy Spirit get up and leave my presence without a word. It felt like standing before a group of people, speaking to them, and watching them all silently rise and walk away. I was stunned. How could Jesus leave without saying anything? I knew there was no point in continuing to talk, because no one was there anymore. Then I found myself standing in a completely desolate place. Imagine a ...

I was awed (I know, not a word) today by something my wife told me. Her mother, my mother-in-law, broke her left ankle in an auto accident about three weeks ago. Yesterday they took off the splints and put on the cast. The surgeon who worked on her mom’s ankle explained to my wife and her mother how the bones in our body have polarities similar to magnets. When a bone breaks, the polarities at the break shift so now there is an attraction instead of what would normally be a repelling motion. This shift lasts for about three months and then the polarities shift back to normal. Since the discovery of this phenomena, they have found a way to prolong that shift before shifting back to normal. This stretches out the healing process which is sometimes needed for older people or people who need that extra time.   When I think about how God has put together our bodies, it awes me (I wished I could find better words but I just cannot find any words good enough to describe my th...

God gave us, humans, through Moses, the laws. I believe that this is God saying to us, “OK, you want to control your own lives, without ME, so then follow these laws. Remember, there are consequences for disobeying them. If you don’t follow these laws and you don’t take care of disobedience, you will never have peace.” And so, we have no peace because something inside us (our sin nature) makes it hard to keep the laws God gave us.   God, in His infinite wisdom and His great compassion, became a human in the person of Jesus or Yeshua, as the Jews call Him. He obeyed all those laws that He Himself gave us to obey, the ones we cannot. He became that spotless (without sin) lamb who the Jews used to sacrifice during Passover. He took our punishment upon Himself and was put to death in our place. The amazing thing was, He didn’t stay in the grave; only God can accomplish such a thing. On the third day after he was crucified, He came out of the grave, alive. Many people witnessed ...

Why So Many Religions? Intro: We live in a world filled with countless beliefs, traditions, and faiths. Many people wonder why so many religions exist if there is only one God. This reflection explores that question by looking at creation, humanity, and the way God reveals Himself to us. Seeing God Through What We Can Understand Have you ever wondered why we have so many faiths or religions? I have. There is only one God who created all things—seen and unseen. Yet Scripture speaks of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as though there are three. Maybe this is simply the only way our human minds can begin to understand Him. God brings His knowledge down to a level we can grasp. Look at His Creation Have you looked closely at His creation lately? I mean really looked—beyond the surface. Take a moment to ponder just one thing He made: a tree, a flower, a butterfly, a cloud, an animal. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? Now pull your mind back from that one thing an...