Richard Ellis Talks

God doesn't have a voicemail. That's because He always answers us when we cry out to Him -- we don't have to leave a message and hope that He'll get back to us eventually. Sometimes, it feels like He isn't responding because His answer doesn't look the way we'd like. But when we're in constant communication with Him, we begin to pray according to His will instead of according to our own desires, and our prayers begin to align with His plans for our lives.

Even those closest to Jesus had doubts about their faith sometimes -- just look at Thomas! It's not wrong to question and experience doubt, but it's important that we're diligent in working past it. Ultimately, faith is not an act based in logic, but a decision based in surrender -- and God's calling us to go "all in" and trust Him completely.

Most of us operate according to a "live & learn" mentality. What would happen if we flipped those two principles to "learn & live"? The Bible teaches us that when we obtain godly wisdom, it can help us avoid having to learn from our mistakes the hard way. But the only way it will make a difference in our lives is if we take the wisdom God gives us and apply it to our choices on a daily basis.

Aren't you glad we worship and serve a mighty God who doesn't "clock out" at the end of the day?! There's never a time when the Lord isn't caring for us and protecting us from attacks we may never have even known were coming our way. The same God who designed the entire universe with intricacies beyond human comprehension looks after each one of us individually, too.

Scripture talks a whole lot about..."nothing"! We're told that we're "nothing" without Jesus, and we're warned that we can take "nothing" with us when we leave this world, but we're also promised that we can trade our "nothing" in and receive the gift of eternal life in exchange. And when we accept Christ's offer of salvation, we should be anxious about nothing, but give thanks in everything, knowing God promises to take care of us and provide for our every need.

When we're in the early days of spiritual "infancy", it's understandable that we're still going to struggle with certain sins that make a mess of our lives. But spiritual maturity involves growing in our relationship with God so that over time, the mess created by sin becomes less and less. When we plug in to the local church and become part of a church family, we get the help of others to scoop up our messes -- and eventually we become "scoopers" for other people's sin struggles, too.

Every single person in this world is in a spiritual battle, even if they don't know it. But here's the critical distinction: we're not all on the same side. Those who love God obey His commands and in return He's faithful to take care of us. He'll provide us with all the weapons and armor we need to make us victorious over sin and over the enemy -- we just have to trust His plans.

To quote the late Billy Graham, "It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict, God's job to judge, and my job to love." When we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us and our lives begin to show the evidence of God working in us and through us. When we share the Gospel with other people, we have to trust that God's working in them even when we can't see it and allow the Holy Spirit to convict them and bring them to salvation.

Being a follower of Jesus isn’t a 9-5 that ends when you clock out at the end of the day! We love to compartmentalize our routines and activities, but discipleship is meant to be practiced across all facets of life. From home, to work, to school, to church, we’re called to conduct ourselves in a way that honors and glorifies God – because our lives may be the only Bible some people ever read.

How often do you allow yourself to “bow” before God in worship and “wow” at the amazing impact of His love on your life? To love the Lord, we first have to know Him and appreciate all that He’s done for us. And like any relationship, as we spend more time getting to know Him, we draw closer to Him in the process.