Turn and answer me, O Lord my God! Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die… But I trust in your unfailing love… I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me. Psalm 13:3, 5-6 (NLT) Many of us hide behind masks in life to cover up our hurts and insecurities. But as Christ followers, we need to be real. We don’t need to become so transparent that we bare our souls every time someone asks us how we’re doing. On the other hand, if you’re going through a hard time and a friend is concerned, it makes no sense to put on a happy face and pretend. Good friends can tell when you’re lying anyway, and they will likely …

“God’s kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows—he has no idea how…When the grain is fully formed, he reaps—harvest time!” Mark 4:26-29 (MSG) Are some people just plain lucky? Some business leaders always seem to meet the right people at the perfect time to solve their staffing problems. Other people seem to have all the relationship luck. The first person they meet is “Mr. or Mrs. Right.” How could they be so lucky? Actually, I don’t believe in luck. In our verses today, Jesus teaches us how things really work.  You have pictures in your heart about how the world works. Some of those pictures came from …

The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you—and more [besides] will be given to you who hear. Mark 4:24 (AMPC) I’ll never forget a lesson I learned from a friend who was struggling with a major health crisis. He was claiming God’s promises for health and doing everything else he knew to do, but fear was beginning to attack his mind because nothing seemed to be working. As we were chatting during one particular visit, I suggested that it might be time for him to get back into God’s Word. He assured me that he had every healing scripture memorized and he spoke them over his life …