Shake yourself from the dust and arise. Loose the bonds from your neck.
The book of Nehemiah is a manual for those living in exile to contend for the future. As God’s people, we cannot do that without his hesed. Hesed is one of those tricky Hebrew words that have no direct equivalent in English. We translate it variously as “unfailing love, loyal love, devotion, kindness, often based… Continue reading Hesed When It Doesn’t Feel Like It
I named my blog "Awake! Put on strength!" because I wanted to challenge others as I also challenged myself. For years I had been asleep, then Jesus changed my life and I started following him. The calling of my life is to know Jesus and help others know Jesus. I write to wake myself up… Continue reading The Sleeping Church
© Dario Bajurin/stock.adobe.com, and liberated from https://www.britannica.com/place/Pergamum To conquer:1: to gain or acquire by force of arms: subjugate (ex. conquer territory)2: to overcome by force of arms: vanquish (ex. conquered the enemy)3: to gain mastery over or win by overcoming obstacles or opposition (ex. conquered the mountain)4: to overcome by mental or moral power: surmount… Continue reading To the One Who Conquers
If The Well Community Church were to receive a letter from the Lord, I believe it would resemble the one addressed to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:1–7. We care deeply about sound doctrine and contending for the faith, but this sometimes leads us toward hardness rather than softness. A member once mentioned visiting… Continue reading The Ephesus Dilemma: Fighting Well Without Losing Love
When I was eight years old, I tried to draw a picture of Jesus from Revelation 1:12–16: Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe… Continue reading How to Read Revelation
“Armageddon” by Joseph Paul Pettitt (1812–1882), York Art Gallery. I used to be terrified of zombies. I grew up with the modern resurgence of zombie disaster movies, from Resident Evil and Dawn of the Dead (the 2004 remake turns 20 this year, by the way) to World War Z and The Walking Dead. Most of… Continue reading Revealing Jesus
The U.S. birthrate is not only declining but is at a record low. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the birthrate of 1.66 children per woman is the lowest on record since tracking began in 1979. The Wall Street Journal points to factors such as men and women delaying having… Continue reading Legacy That Lasts
The Suck The military has some advice for soldiers in crappy situations: “Embrace the suck.” The suck is every bad situation that we have no control over, which is a lot. Rather than be defeated by it, fight it by embracing it. Lean into the suck. Life on this side of the fall of man… Continue reading Embrace the Suck
What does it mean to be a worthy man? In Ruth 2:1, the narrator describes a relative of Elimelech named Boaz who was “a worthy man.” We must recall that the story in Ruth occurred during the time of the Judges, and then we must remember how some men at that time were described as… Continue reading Be Worthy Men
If Judges is a post-apocalyptic survival movie, Ruth is a romantic drama … set in a post-apocalyptic survival movie. Think The Book of Eli meets Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. Like all good dramas, it opens up with hardship; the people of God in Bethlehem are experiencing a famine. Greta Thunberg wasn’t there to tell them… Continue reading Moving to Moab: Four Observations from Ruth
Awake! Put on strength! 