It is not uncommon to think that if we place our lives in God’s hands, He’s going to ruin our fun, steal our joy, and slap a bunch of rules in our lives. And yet, in Scripture we read Jesus came that his joy might be in us and our joy be full. This Easter, how do we join in the joy of Jesus?

Is it possible that every one of us is mad at God for something? Something we believe he could have done, should have done, but didn’t? The answer may be painful for you to admit, but it is possible to find understanding. God is always striving to reach us with breakthrough in order to give us an opportunity to live a life with purpose!

It is human tendency to focus mainly on what is right in front of us while the mind is too dull to experience God. The Bible tells us there’s a deceiver at work in the world, set to destroy us, almost like a spiritual parasite. This parasite has implanted words in the human brain that we’ve never recovered from.

Would you settle for a self-made life when you can have a great and God-graced life? You can live trying to make yourself great without God. Just live by any number of worldview options – the road is wide! Or, you can live trusting God to make your life great with a blessing – that’s the narrow road. How you think matters. How you look at life matters. How you live your life matters.

"What is truth?” Pilate asked this question of Jesus before his crucifixion. How would you answer? Does truth have to make rational sense? Do we need to be able to "feel it” to know it’s true? The topic can turn confusing and our understanding may be limited, but there are answers to these questions.

Life on earth doesn’t last forever. How do you make sense of that? What do you do with that? Scripture tells us that …God has set eternity in our hearts – but we can’t get there by ourselves. It’s through faith in Christ that God graces us to walk with Him into life beyond death.

Why can’t we all just get along? It’s a question that has been asked so many times. Humanity’s story looks a lot like the ones we find in the Book of Genesis – full of rebellion, disobedience, jealousy, and chaos. Humanity had a powerful and personal beginning with God, but then the freedom gifted to us was misused starting a chain of devastating consequences.

What or who makes us become who we are? It can be a complicated question to answer. We become like the things we believe. We become like the people we believe, the truths we trust, and the stories we tell ourselves. Therefore, it is important to be aware and understand belief systems and world views. How can you decipher who to trust? What to believe? How to behave?

Knowing who you are, where you are and how you are going to move from there makes a big difference in life. What is your mind map – your worldview? The Bible offers a clear storyline to help us know who we are, where we are, and how we are to make our journey through life.

Would you consider yourself a generous person? People feel your concern for them in the provisions you’ve made for them – gifts of time, talent and financial treasure. In Scripture we see that when believers are so moved to be generous, their sacrifice rises like a sweet aroma that is pleasing to God.