Give Yourself Permission to Smile

It is stated that the wisest man in history was the great King Solomon of Israel.  To this day, his wise proverbs inspire us, challenge us, help guide us down a road of self-improvement and draw us closer to God.  In addition to the book of Proverbs recorded in the Bible, the book of Ecclesiastes is also attributed to him.  Written toward the end of his life, Ecclesiastes has a different feel than his Proverbs, but is no less beneficial to our  life and faith.

When you begin reading Ecclesiastes, you are struck with the author's dark, depressive tone.  Though a man given wisdom from above, like all of us, Solomon did not always yield to heavenly wisdom and made many mistakes.  In Ecclesiastes, he writes from a reflective point of view as if he is looking back over his life and asking the questions "Why did I do that?" "Was that important?" "Where did my focus get off track?"  Over and over again he repeats the words, "Everything is meaningless!" and "Chasing after the wind."

hen reading Ecclesiastes, It's tempting to close the book and open to a different section of the Bible. We are more comfortable with lighter, more uplifting texts of Scripture.  Truth is, some of

Applying Precious Promises from Above

The beautiful thing about being a Christian is that when we surrender our lives to the Lord Jesus, we come to life spiritually.  Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be "born again" (John 3: 3). That is, we must become alive spiritually to God.  That happens the very moment you surrender to Jesus and receive Him as your Lord.  At that very moment the Holy Spirit moves into you.  The Apostle Paul proclaimed that we are the "Temples of the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 6:19).  How amazing!

 Now, when the Holy Spirit moves in, He doesn’t move in empty handed.  He brings with Him wonderful blessings for you.  The Bible teaches in Romans chapter 12 and 1

You are a Piece of Art

He seemed almost erratic as he bounced from side to side on the stage splashing bright paints of various colors upon a large canvas.  Lisa and I had joined several thousand others at a Contemporary Christian concert and were caught in awe as the artist, dressed in a black robe, created his masterpiece before our eyes as the band filled the room with music and praise.

One minute passed, then two, then three and to be honest, we still couldn’t make out what the image was going to be.  Finally, the artist stepped back as to unveil to the crowd his work of art and it still made no sense at all.  Then he walked up to the canvas and turned it 180’ and what we beheld sent a hush over the entire crowd, it was an incredible portrait of the face of Jesus.

We have been blessed over the ages with some very talented artist whose works have often left us breathless.  Still yet, their creativity pales when compared to the true Master Artist – God.  On a