Growing up most parents tell their kids that God hears every prayer. When it comes to prayers, you seemingly just “throw” one out there and the “Big Guy upstairs” will put it on the list. Like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, the one-liner that God hears every prayer is a lie found nowhere in the Bible. In fact, there are over a dozen examples of people and prayers that God completely ignores.

In its theological sense, justification is a forensic, or purely legal, term. It describes what God declares about the believer, not what He does to change the believer. Justification is about your position as a believer. You will still sin, but you are justified.

In 1999, my wife and I graduated from college and began working to pay off our student debts, which were substantial. We didn’t have a “missionary call,” but we believed it was important to be rooted and active in our local church, and faithful in reading our Bibles and prayer.

Some of the most important questions that arise in a Christian’s mind will (and should) have to do with spiritual maturity. Am I growing? How am I growing? Is “maturity” evident in my life? Have I been consistently (even if slowly) become more like Jesus?

In the synoptic Gospels, around the time leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, we find some of the most heart-wrenching literature in all of Scripture. From this brief period of time, a simple question of personal reflection can be drawn out. It’s a question of conviction: what will we do with Jesus?

Like all generations throughout church history, one of the primary focuses we need to be pre-occupied with today is taking the gospel to those who have never heard it before. However, as apostasy increases and seemingly faithful men and women go rogue theologically, we’ll need not only “outreach” (to those who’ve never heard the gospel), but great emphasis on “inreach” (to those believing in a false gospel).

Many Christians don’t contend for the faith because they don’t know why they should. Like a football team who hits the gridiron without a rally cry, the church can often be overtaken by naysayers who demand silence in the name of tolerance. This tends to rattle many passionate Christians who insist that we contend for the faith.

In the previous post, we looked at 7 Habits of a Fool. It’s easy to pick on fools because they’re so blatantly…well, foolish! But not playing the fool doesn’t necessarily prove that you’re wise either. In fact, Proverbs 17:28 says, “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise…” So how do you know if you’re a truly wise or just a silent fool?

We’re cruising into the first year of Trump in the White House. A bitter divide has unquestionably developed and many Christians have found themselves in middle of the mayhem. You’d be hard-pressed to find a single pastor who hasn’t been influenced, pressured, or scolded on both sides of the table. It’s been that way since Trump’s campaign began.