Tonia Woolever 
The longer I live the Christian life, the more certain I am that knowing God personally is the key to everything we ever hoped would come of a decision to follow Christ.
Experience tells me the enduring joy, strength, wisdom, abundant life, and peace Jesus promised cannot be produced by human effort. At least, I could never manufacture those things. When I grew tired of striving for these things I finally gave up trying, and in desperation cried to God,
Covenant relationship looks like this: if I give of myself to take care of my covenant partner, tending to their needs and desires; and they give themselves to caring for me, we are both satisfied! We love well. We have mutual joy. There will be no no lack, no sorrow, no striving. God’s definitions of …
One day, the Lord revealed to the Prophet Isaiah everything causes Him to delight in His servant, His “chosen one.” It is recorded in Isaiah 42: Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. …
Behold, you desire truth in the innermost being; and in the hidden part you will make me know wisdom.
Psalm 51:6 NASB
As a writer, I am a bit jealous of those who communicated in ancient Hebrew, a rich imagery buffet of words and concepts that yield choice meals of truth. And often served in a special container, such as rhyme or repetition.
Psalm 51:6 is a perfect example. David employed LOTS of repetition here, which we miss in our English translations.
Since my evening was open last night, my husband would be occupied and I had no appointments, I asked the Lord, “What would you like to do this evening? What would be a good thing?” The reply came, “Read my Word together.” A predictable answer, though certainly not a stock answer. I honestly don’t always …
In my desire to understand my Lord and the Word of God, I often try to put myself in Jesus’ shoes. What was it like to be Jesus, walking the earth as a human? Especially this time of year, or whenever I read the Scriptures concerning the suffering of Christ, I am astounded anew at …
No two Christian pathways are alike. I am ever struck by the fact that our Sovereign Creator God and King, left us entirely with our free will. God never makes me be good, do the right thing, or choose Him. He waits for me to choice what I really want. That’s not to say the …
From my journal: My friend God is very good at surprising me with answers to my questions. This morning: Lord, how can I love you today? Answer: Lean on me. Acknowledge me. Need me. I really don’t need to elaborate much on that, except to say it awakened my heart anew again to the nature …
Okay, on to Verse 2 of Psalm 84! My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. Psalms 84:2 NASB At first glance a simple little verse, but ponder it a little, and it opens up a feast of truth …
Psalm 84 is chock-full of Hebrew “word pictures,” which invite the student to ponder for a while, then be amazed at the goodness of God and a life shared with him. (I began writing this post with the idea of covering briefly ALL the beautiful nuggets in Psalm 84 — but before I knew it, …
