Meanderings Along the Way
Welcome to the official blog of GEM's Spiritual Life Team.
Blog posts on everything related to the spiritual life, updated weekly.
And He said to him, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.” This is the great and foremost commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38 NAS95) My love muscle needs a lot of exercise. I must work at it more than I would like. In that…
“…I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.“ (Jeremiah 31: 3 NKJV) It was a difficult communion for me. I was being especially hard on myself. It happened many years ago during a training weekend for leaders in an Austrian ministry. We usually ended the sessions on Sunday with communion.…
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. (Deuteronomy 11:18) I’ve never considered myself to be very good at memorizing Scripture. I also struggle to think of exact Bible verses if I have a Scripture I want to reference. When…
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5–6 NET) I love commitment. I love the security of a promise and the firm embrace of a covenant. Yes, it’s weighty but it’s like…
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6 ESV) So, my job is writing about commitment for this Conversation With God. He’s funny with his timing. Just yesterday, two days after the submission deadline, he…
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. (Luke 14:26 NAS95) I experienced the words of this verse as harsh and demanding. Yes, I placed my confidence in Jesus many moons ago.…
I have no idea when I started using this verse as a daily prayer for my life. It goes back pretty far, and God continues to accent things in it because I have conversed with Him about it for so long. Recently, He’s even shown me, and I have received it, that He’s slowly,…
Every time I set course to do something intentionally, whether it be writing reflectively, painting a picture, or filing an expense report, I wonder to myself whether God will show up yet again to make it happen. This may come across as an odd thing to worry about. After all, the God of universe, my…
There’s no formula for proving it, of course, but I am quite certain my emotional age is noticeably behind my physical age. I suppose that helps a bit if I want to interact with young people, but generally I find it a hindrance. My growth over the years has been stunted. With gardening, a number…
When I entered the Kingdom at Jesus’ invitation to trust Him, His way of life, and His sacrificial self-giving through crucifixion on my (our) behalf, I thought simply in terms of morality and behavior. Externals. God has revolutionized this into something that I would never have imagined in my early years of walking with Jesus.…