"If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah and to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I may rebuild it." - Nehemiah 2:5 Prayer is never meant to be the end of the story. For Nehemiah, it was the beginning. His burden led him to his knees, but from there, it led him to stand up and do something. After days of fasting and praying, Nehemiah did...  Read More

"When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of the heavens." - Nehemiah 1:4 When God gives you a burden, He does not expect you to carry it alone. He expects you to bring it to Him in prayer. That is what we see in Nehemiah. His heart broke for the people in Jerusalem, but before he picked up a tool or made a plan or asked the ...  Read More

"When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of the heavens." - Nehemiah 1:4 Big visions don’t usually begin with inspiration. It begins with heartbreak. When Nehemiah heard the news about Jerusalem, he didn’t shrug it off. He didn’t say, “That’s a shame,” and move on with his life. He sat down. He wept. He fasted. He prayed. Be...  Read More

"Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants" - Nehemiah 1:6 Have you ever heard something that just stopped you in your tracks? A story or a situation that shook you so deeply, you couldn’t shake it even if you tried? That’s where we find Nehemiah. He wasn’t in Jerusalem. He wasn’t...  Read More

"Where there is no vision the people perish" - Proverbs 29:18 Have you ever looked at your life and thought everything felt a little blurry? Like you were trying to move forward, but could not quite see where you were going? That is how life can feel when you are not seeing through God’s eyes. There is a kind of spiritual 3D that you and I can miss without realizing it. In our natural state, we ca...  Read More

"Then I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God." – Revelation 21:3 It is hard to wrap our minds around how different heaven will be from this world. We are so used to brokenness, sorrow, and pain that the idea of a world without them feels almost ...  Read More

"Look, I am making everything new." – Revelation 21:5 It is easy to get attached to this world. We spend so much of our lives building things here: careers, homes, relationships, goals. We put so much energy into making life comfortable and meaningful here on earth. But Scripture gives us an important reminder. This world is not permanent. Isaiah 43 says God is doing something new, and Revelation ...  Read More

"For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." – 2 Corinthians 4:17Life often feels like a daily crawl from one moment to the next. Many of us wake up each day focused only on surviving, meeting our needs, and making it through to tomorrow. It can feel like the here and now is all there is, like the struggles we face are the whole story....  Read More

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." – Philippians 3:20 I once heard a story about two babies, still in the womb, having a conversation. One baby asked the other, “Do you believe in life after birth?” The second baby laughed it off, saying, “Of course not, this is all there is. We live in the dark, we are fed through this cord, and that’s the en...  Read More

"And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire." – Revelation 20:15 The Bible does not shy away from the reality of judgment. For those who are unsaved, Scripture lays out what comes next. It speaks of eternal separation from God in a place of punishment called the lake of fire, a place not designed for people but for the devil and his demons. Jes...  Read More

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God." – Romans 5:8-9 I will never forget the look on my son’s face the first time he met Shaquille O’Neal. On the way to the event, Asher was calm and relaxed. But the moment he turned the corner and ...  Read More

"Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, each one was judged according to their works." – Revelation 20:13 Earlier this year, I heard a story about a fisherman’s monument in Homer, Alaska. It was a tribute to those who lost their lives at sea. On a plaque beside the statue was a line that said the sea tells a story. It tells of the lif...  Read More