Tag: Jesus

Faith

Finding the Strength of Jesus

Chris

In high school I was a distance runner. I would run on the cross-country team in the Fall and for the track and field team in the Spring. Our training involved running every day. Another part of training was hitting the gym a couple times each week. Every time I entered the gym I dream of what it would be like to have muscles and be strong.

Many of us wish we could be strong. It takes a lot of discipline, dedicating yourself to continued time and effort. You can’t quit training once you start. If you aren’t purposeful in continuing your strength will waste away.

Though our television shows, movies, magazines and the internet are full of well-toned bodies, the majority of us are not. We gave up on the routine, or never started it all. As a result we are weak. Strength and muscles remain a dream. But there’s more to strength and weakness than we realize.

Continue reading “Finding the Strength of Jesus” →

Podcast

The Spirit of Life

Chris

Conclusion. As Christians, our lives should be marked by the Holy Spirit. Like Paul, we have to give up all that we were and find our life in Christ. This means choosing between two ways of life which are opposite and contrary. But only one is right for the follower of Jesus.

http://www.audiomack.com/embed4/chrismackinnon/the-spirit-of-life

Podcast

The Spirit of Gifts

Chris

Part 4. The Holy Spirit is the giver of God’s Gifts to us. They are meant to be part of our lives, but do we forget why? What are the Gifts of the Spirit really for? The Spirit gives by His design and with specific intent. We need a change of heart to see the Gifts return.

http://www.audiomack.com/embed4/chrismackinnon/the-spirit-of-gifts

Christian Living

The Number 1 Way to Impress God

Chris

Were you ever introduced to someone who expected you to be far more interested in them than you were? Maybe you bumped into them at a special function or a mutual friend introduced you. Surely you’d heard of them, or from know on you would be glad that you did.

I remember working on campus the summer after my first year in Bible College. It was a weekend afternoon and I had been practicing the piano in a common room. A young man I’d never seen before walked into the room and sat down nearby. After I finished playing he introduced himself and handed me his business card, where he was kind enough to point out the title under his name: “Prophet”. Apparently I was supposed to be impressed.

Many of us don’t really care who is impressed with us. We dress the way we want to, speak the way we want to, and do the things we want to. If some random person we’ve never met before doesn’t like it, “it’s their problem, not mine.” But there is one Person we should want to impress. And though some folks think they’re already doing it, they are actually failing miserably at impressing Him. There is only one way to impress God, and it isn’t what you think.

Continue reading “The Number 1 Way to Impress God” →

Faith

Four powerful lessons for life’s difficult days

Chris

In a previous post, I shared about mountains and valleys in our lives. The ups and downs, the good days and bad days, can be likened to the rise of mountaintops and fall of valleys. God doesn’t disappear from day to day, bringing us a good day and then leaving us on our own. When we believe in Jesus Christ, God is with us and in us, through the good and the bad.

Because we think of the mountains as good days in life and with God, and the valleys are our bad days, we have a natural desire to stay on the mountaintops. When we struggle or face pain and troubles, we talk about how we are “low” and want to get back to the good spot, back to the top where everything is better.

Continue reading “Four powerful lessons for life’s difficult days” →