When your heart is not filled with the Holy Spirit, it does not matter how holy you look on the outside (the house that is swept and put in order), you are empty, and emptiness will be filled by something. This week, we're taking a closer look at the gospel of Luke and the importance of the inner transformation.

Life can get so busy sometimes that we forget to read our Bible, we forget to pray, we forget to seek God. But seeking God must be a daily choice in order to live each day surrendered to Him and His will. This week, I challenge you to make time with God a priority. The longer you walk in the habit of seeking the Lord, the less reminding you'll need. Never get so distracted--even with good things--that you forget to sit at the feet of Jesus.

Jesus' earthly ministry was not just to teach us about the kingdom of Heaven, but to equip us to lead others to the kingdom after His return to Heaven. There is a point before Jesus' crucifixion that He sends out His twelve disciples and another unnamed seventy after them to preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick. They went before Jesus to prepare the hearts and minds of the people to receive the truth Jesus was coming to share. We are called to prepare the way for Chris

We know why we follow Jesus, but what does taking up our cross look like? What does it mean to deny ourselves while also loving ourselves? Check out a list of ways you might pick up your cross and discover what this act of faith is not. Jesus carried the cross out of love and obedience not self-hatred. Following Jesus is the greatest act of self-love. While taking up our cross is always an act of surrender, surrender isn't always sacrifice or painful. It does always lead to g

There is not one appearance of righteousness. Those intent on rejecting God and His wisdom will not be pleased by any package He presents in. John the Baptist and Jesus' ministries looked different outwardly, but inwardly, served the same God and purpose. Our differences are purposeful and used by God to reach different people in different ways. When you serve the same God, diversity is not the opposite of unity. It is the expansion of it.

Jesus touches the untouchable. Despite the example of love and inclusion that Christ gives us, some Christian communities still treat certain groups of people as unclean. But the church is not only for the saved or clean. The church is for everyone to come to the Healer who heals all ailments. Those whose sins are many have love for Christ a plenty. When we see His capacity to love and forgive us, our capacity to love and forgive others grows.

Satan has a playbook. He attacks when we're isolated and hungry. He uses our hunger--regardless of if we hunger for food or something intangible--to get us to fill ourselves with false nourishment. He seeks to make us question our identity as children of God, because if we question our identity, then we also question whose authority we're under. If we question our identity and the authority of God, we question the validity of the word of God, which is our greatest weapon in s

The enemy has many tactics with one goal--to separate us from God. Our wounds, traumas, perspectives, and desires can all be exploited to do just that. "Good girl" syndrome may leave you feeling like you're never good enough. The enemy wants us focused on trying to be good enough so we don't realize Christ already said we are. We are good enough to love, good enough to die for, good enough to be His, good enough to speak His truth. Grace is ours even when we struggle to accep

There is a difference between self-seeking and seeking the Lord. False teachers would have you seek wisdom from sources other than the Lord. Today, this may look like: inner divinity (the power of manifestation), astrology, tarot, secret knowledge spirituality (modern-day gnosticism), etc. The Bible makes it clear there are other powers, other spirits, other knowledge out there. But that is not the power, spirit, or knowledge we are called to seek. Jesus is the way, the truth

False teachers try to make us doubt in who Jesus Christ was, what He did for us, and thus doubt in the truth / Word of God. The devil's deception does not always come as strict opposition, such as to say that Jesus never existed or that God isn't real. Sometimes the devil's deception comes with a slight bending of the truth. The devil gains footholds in our hearts and minds by planting seeds of doubt, and then those seeds grow into weeds that consume us from the inside out.