A striking scripture and stance Jesus takes. How are we to take it?

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Sell All and Buy Christ 

“Jesus is not demanding that you literally hate your family. He is using hyperbole to illustrate the steep cost of following him. Any prospective follower must be glad to give up everything, to love him unreservedly—to sell all in order to have him as your highest treasure (Matt. 13:44–46). Our affections for Christ must be of such an intensity and quality that, by comparison, all other loves seem like hate.

This is the first of three sobering warnings in Luke 14:26-33 against making a hasty decision to follow Jesus. A genuine disciple must:

1. Love Jesus even more than your earthly family (v. 26).
2. Take up your cross and follow him (v. 27).
3. Be willing to lay down everything—even your life—and go hard after him (v. 33).”

Read the full article here.

That does not mean a life of prayer is not perplexing. My aim is to encourage you in your prayers by answering three especially difficult questions: (1) What does it mean to ask God for things “according to his will” (1 John 5:14)? (2) Why are we not told to pray for the forgiveness of “sin that leads to death” (1 John 5:16)? (3) What does “whatever” mean in 1 John 3:22, when it says, “Whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him”? I think a text-based answer to each of these questions is a great encouragement to pray.

John Piper’s article on prayer can bring encouragement to begin and persist in making 2020 a year of powerful prayer. It is reliance on God and an act of faith to turn to a father that we cannot see, but trust in. A father who hears us and blesses us with every spiritual blessing!

You can read the full article here.