Soul Sister Time

     Election seasons are always divisive for our country, but this election seems to be pitting Christians against Christians.  Should all Christians vote the same way?  Is there just one answer like on a college exam?  I am praying that all Christians will vote.  Is that a good prayer?  Should all Christians vote?  Are you sinning if you do not vote?  Are you sinning if you vote prochoice?  Are you sinning if you vote for someone who has moral failures?  Can you vote if you refuse to vote for someone who moral issues? The place I go to find answers to these questions is the Scriptures.  Our election invites us to deeper spirituality.  We have to fight the natural urges to allow the media and heated discussions and accusations to disturb our souls.  The best way to have peace about voting is to pray through your vote and read God’s word for His personal answer.  That is where I go to make my decision.  Here are some things I keep in mind about myself and others during the elect

              Do you ever wonder why we pray?  Do we think we can tell God how to run the world better?  Is the God of the universe in need of our advice?                Obviously, God is not in need of advice from us mere mortals.  Still, He invites us to pray.  He tells us to nag Him in prayer!  He says he is attentive to our prayers.  Jesus recommends that we pray persistently, like our life depends on it.                Earlier this spring, it surprised me when I recognized that I had buried my spiritual gift of prayer.  I do pray every day, throughout the day, and every evening.  My prayers had become mostly about connecting to God—which is a good reason to pray.  I also focused on covering my family and ministry prayer.  However, I had not been asking for specific requests consistently and determinedly.                 Luke 18:1-8 has become a personal invitation for me to keep on praying even if it doesn’t seem that the subjects of my prayers are important to God.  He d

              As Christians we need to remember that the One we can trust is always our good God.  He alone cares for us.  He alone provides for us in a worn and weary land.  Why is it so hard for us to stay in touch with this truth we all know?               We live a world that is distant from the very presence of God.  When God created the world, He created it in a way that His presence would be a daily highlight of our lives.  In Genesis 1-2 we understand how not only was the world perfectly suited to give Adam and Eve everything they needed physically in the garden God planted but it also gave them everything they needed to have purpose and meaning.  The meaning of life increased as they cultivated the garden and enjoyed the pleasures of the world. They had everything they needed in a perfect relationship where their differences made them perfectly suited for each other.  Neither was blaming the other for not seeing the world as they did; rather their differences created thei

              I’ve just concluded a study of Peter’s first letter to the church.  He wrote it from Rome to churches that were facing persecution in Turkey and southern Asia.  I have Christian friends in those same places, and many of them are dealing with degrees of persecution because they are Christians. Their faith in Christ puts them at greater risk than people who profess faith in Islam or other religions in those regions.  I was reading it as if Peter were writing to my friends today, and I found it contained so much encouragement and spiritual direction for them and for me.               I especially liked the way Paul closed his letter.  Formerly he thought Christ only came to save Jewish people, but it was revealed to him early on that Jesus came for Jews first and then for the whole world.  In his concluding remarks Peter mentions Babylon as chosen by God too.  Most believe that this was a reference to Rome—the World Government of his time.  That Babylon was chosen can a

           My word for the year is prayer .  At the end of 2015 I took some time to reflect and pray and ask God for a spiritual focus for 2016.  I can’t remember how, but the verse God led me to was Luke 2:37… she never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying .  I have been doing a lot of praying this year, but I haven’t fasted except during Lent.  I usually fast when there is something really important coming up.  I do have a concern regarding a major decision that I am powerless over, so I thought I would gear up my prayer with fasting once a week.  I don’t see fasting as a way to make God more inclined to do what I want Him to do.  Rather, I see it as a way to remind myself of how dependent I am on God’s grace and through my tangible efforts.  Fasting is a spiritual discipline that reminds me that the best I can do is entrust my concerns to His care.  When I go without food as a reminder to myself that I am called to pray for a certain concern, I am ackn