Roses of Grace

Christian, you're at war.  All around you is a cosmic struggle between good and evil, between the forces of the Lord and the forces of the devil—and this struggle has gone on ever since the world was created.  It's a little intimidating to be at war, to be honest. We'd like to stay safe, living our lives like nothing's going on around us. But it is. Spiritual warfare is real , and it's something we've got to think about.  So what do we know about this war that we've entered into?   This war is active. Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places." Notice the wording. Paul specifically uses the word "wrestle" to describe the conflict that we're a part of. Not "oppose." Or "disagree with." Or even "resist," in this context. Wre...

The gospel is the foundation of our faith—but it's easy to forget that. After all, we're already saved. It's not so important for us since we already understand it.  But no. The gospel is incredibly important for believers and unbelievers, and we have to understand it in order to grow in our Christian walk.  This week's article was published on the Rebelution last Wednesday, October 26! Click here to read Why the Gospel Matters—Even If You're Already Saved.

At the beginning of August, I decided to try an experiment. The experiment was pretty simple. For 30 days, I wouldn't consume a lot of the secular media that I enjoyed. It was during summer break, and I've been wasting a lot of my time on entertainment—and I wasn't being very careful about what kind of entertainment it was. Why did I do this? Well, because I wanted to see what would happen. My hypothesis was that the passive entertainment that we consume on a daily basis affects us more than we think. We read and watch so many things that aren't necessarily sinful but that aren't from a Christian perspective, and the ideas soak into our brain. I wondered how this affects us. And I wondered what would happen if I did something different. I called it the Praiseworthy Project after Philippians 4:8 – "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellenc...

Hello there, friends!  Today I have the owner of presenting an interview with my friend Isabella from Inhuman Passion . This is part of the blog tour for Isabella's new blog, The Public-Schooled Christian : resources for Christian teenagers who attend public school and want to live out their faith. So without further ado, let's get to the interview!    1. All right! Welcome, Isabella. Could you introduce yourself for us?   Hi! I'm Isabella, a 15-year-old Christian who lives in North Carolina.  I have grown up in a Christian family and was baptized when I was 9, but I realized the seriousness of faith in Christ and truly started living for Him at 13 years old. I started writing about Jesus at 14 years old, and here I am now—starting a blog about living for Jesus in public school.   2. What made you decide to start this blog? As you might have realized, I go to public school. School has been a big part of my journey with Jesus--in good and bad ...

Proverbs 12:15 says, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice."  It's clear in the Bible that taking advice is important. As we grow in wisdom, we begin to understand just how foolish we actually are, and a proper response to that is to seek wisdom from others.  And while this is good and right and Biblical to do, it opens up a tricky can of worms for a Christian living in a secular world: should we take advice from unbelievers?  It's one of the most relevant questions we can ask, I think. We're surrounded by people who want to give us advice—and who we genuinely love and care for—but who don't believe in the truth of God's word, and it's hard to know how much weight to give to their ideas.  Fortunately, the Bible gives us some insight. So let's take a look at what the Bible says about taking advice from non-Christians.    First of all, we should recognize that not everything unbelievers say is false.  This shou...