I Choose Today...

I Choose Today to Live in the Kingdom

The Ordinary Series – Part 2 The kingdom of heaven wasn’t meant to stay behind stained glass windows. It was meant to walk into living rooms. To show up in office break rooms. To interrupt grocery store runs. To bring light into dark places and hope into broken hearts. And the ones who carry it? They look a lot like you and me. Carpenters. Fishermen. Business owners. Moms. Students. Retirees. Ordinary people who listened for the Spirit’s nudge—and obeyed. That’s how the early church turned the world upside down. And that’s how the kingdom still comes—when we choose to live it out in the ordinary. When Jesus declared, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17), He was announcing something radical. Heaven wasn’t far off—it was near. Not just a someday promise, but a present reality. He didn’t just talk about it—He embodied it. Through healing the sick, forgiving sins, casting out demons, and teaching truth with authority, Jesus brought the reality of heaven to earth. The King had come. And where the King is, the kingdom reigns. But He didn’t stop there. Jesus commissioned His followers to bring that kingdom to others. “All authority in heaven and on earth has

Read More »

I Choose Today to Refuel

Anyone who has ever driven a car knows the tension of watching the fuel gauge dip lower and wondering, Do I have enough to make it? Maybe you’ve even miscalculated, convinced you could push just a little farther—only to end up stranded, waiting for help. Looking back, the reason for not stopping to refuel often boils down to I didn’t have time. But that logic quickly falls apart when we realize that running out of fuel actually cost us more time, energy, and stress than simply stopping would have. The same is true in our spiritual lives. If we don’t take time to refuel, we risk running on empty—pushing ourselves until we are drained, anxious, or worse, unable to move forward in what God has for us. Even though I study God’s Word, listen to sermons, podcasts, and teachings to equip me for writing and speaking, I can’t rely on those things alone. If I don’t take intentional time to personally refuel with God—to be filled with His Spirit, wisdom, and power—I’ll find myself depleted, running on fumes, and unable to fully step into what He’s calling me to. Even Jesus, while fully God, operated in complete dependence on the

Read More »

I Choose Today to Walk in the Spirit’s Power

What if I told you that the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at creation, the same Spirit who empowered Jesus, and the same Spirit who moved through the early church is the very Spirit who dwells in you today? It’s an incredible truth, yet it’s exactly what God has given us through Christ. As we have been learning and studying about the seven attributes of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 11:2, we see them fully manifested in life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Just as Jesus, the “shoot from the stump of Jesse” (vs. 1), bore fruit through the power of the Holy Spirit, we too have the capacity to flourish as He produces fruit in us by that same Spirit. Let us briefly recap the Seven Attributes of the Holy Spirit:    1. The Spirit of the Lord – Jesus was filled with the Spirit, led by the Spirit, and did nothing apart from the Father’s will. We are now called to live Spirit-led lives, walking in His presence and power.  2. The Spirit of Wisdom – Jesus taught and lived with divine wisdom, showing us how to make decisions aligned with God’s will. The Spirit of

Read More »

I Choose Today to Walk in Childlike Awe

This is the last attribute of the seven-fold Holy Spirit that Isaiah prophesied Jesus would be empowered with when He came to make a way for our salvation and reconciliation with our Heavenly Father. Some time ago, I wrote a post about how fearing the Lord means to be in awe of Him and to have deep reverence for who He is. But today, I want to explain this concept in a way that speaks to something many of us understand—parenting. When we have children, our desire is to nurture them as they grow, guiding them toward a path that allows them to thrive. This isn’t just good parenting; it’s biblical: “Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it.” — Proverbs 22:6 AMPC As parents, we don’t just train our children in general morality—we seek to understand their individual gifts, personalities, and callings so we can guide them in the way they were created to walk. When we train, instruct, and guide them, they naturally want to please us. Most of the time, they choose what is right

Read More »

I Choose Today to Truly Know God

How does one truly know another? Better yet, how does one truly know the God of the universe, the Maker of heaven and earth? The One who created all things that are and were created? Is it even possible? And if it is, how can we, as mere humans, have a deep, personal, experiential, transformational relationship with God and truly know Him? As we continue with the seven-fold attributes of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 11:2, today we explore the Spirit of Knowledge—not just knowledge in the sense of facts and information, but the kind of knowing that transforms everything. Jesus actually tells us what knowing God means. In John 17:3, He says, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” Eternal life isn’t just about what happens when we die. It’s not only about going to heaven—it starts here and now. To truly live is to know God. But this kind of knowing isn’t just about studying or learning about Him. The Hebrew word used for knowledge in Isaiah 11:2 is da‘at, and it carries the idea of deep, experiential, relational knowledge. It’s not about head

Read More »