“He who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:6) If the truth were ever told about the effect that doubt could have in your life, the above verse hits the nail on the head. There is something else that’s true about doubt. It is actually expected in the life of every believer. So, don’t be discouraged when doubt comes your way. It’s never a permanent condition. Actually, the irony of doubt is that it always brings with it an […]

“Let us come before him with thanksgiving.” (Psalm 95:2) Satan has a stronghold on Thanksgiving. Have you noticed? Retail merchants don’t play it up anymore like they did when I was a kid. They skip right by Thanksgiving and go from Halloween to Christmas. In fact, many of them don’t even close on Thanksgiving Thursday, denying their own employees the opportunity to pause and reflect on the blessings of life. There’s simply too much money to be made on Christmas for them to stop and acknowledge Thanksgiving. History […]

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.’ (Hebrews 12:1) There are times in my Christian walk when I wonder why I ever became a Christian. Salvation may have been free, but living the Christian life has cost me dearly. I’ve lost good friends, dropped some old habits, and stood up to speak against lifestyles to which I was […]

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) The date was June 24, 1962. I was nine years-old and had just walked down the aisle of First Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, to profess my faith in Christ. After Sunday dinner that afternoon, a friend of my family gave me a Bible with an inscription that read, “To my little friend, Mike Ruffin: Today, June 24, 1962, you have opened your […]