Walk With Darrell

Recently, two of my friends had burial services for their mothers. There are many of us that have had to walk in those shoes. Even when we know our mother is a believer in Jesus it can be an emotional time. It brought back memories of when we said goodbye to my mother. It hurts to say goodbye because we will miss them. At the same time, it is a celebration of our mother’s life here on earth and is now in heaven with Jesus and loved ones that have previously died. We also have

Matthew 7: 7 – 8 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What are you dealing with in your life right now? Do you need strength to make it through the day? Are you in trouble? Are you discouraged? Are you lonely? Do you have an illness? Do you feel trapped in an unhappy life? You get the drift; we all have

A coworker once asked me, why I didn’t seem to worry about issues at work. I told him that God was in control of whatever I was dealing with. That is difficult for many people to grasp. All believers can have that same feeling of peace when you realize God is in control of the situation. Once we become a Christian it doesn’t mean we won’t face trials. Just the opposite, the bible clearly says we can expect trials and tribulations in our lives. I am in 100% agreement over the

This upcoming week is going to have its ups and downs. You will have some moments that are going to challenge your faith. However, with God these challenges that you will face will be opportunities to exercise your faith. As a Christian, it’s important to not let your obstacles in life tear you away from your faith. Instead, these are the moments where you need faith the most. With God, you can move from being a victim to being a victor. David was one of my favorite people in

I have heard some people say that they can’t live the Christian life. You know, they are correct. This may surprise you, but it is impossible for us to live the Christian life in our own power. We can’t do it on our own. The Christian life isn’t something we can do. The Christian life is “Christ in us, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27) If the Christian life for you is acting like Jesus that is just religion. Performing and trying to be a Christian gets stale, ritualistic, and

In our Christian life, do we gauge Christian walk by what we do or by our attitudes? One of the things we have to ask ourselves as Christians is why do we do the things we do. What do I mean by that? We can go to church, can teach Sunday school, sing in the choir, give money to the church, be a Deacon and we might be doing them for the wrong reason. We can do many good ministry deeds and our hearts might not be right spiritually. These acts of service in themselves are good

2 Corinthians 13:11 11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. We all have days where is it tough to be happy with a joyful heart. Have you ever had the day when you feel like a grumpy Christian? When we are like this, it is a struggle to be a witness for the Lord. It affects our whole day. The question is, how do we get out of this funk we are in

How to Have a Relationship with Christ What is the way for us to have a relationship with God? Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me”. John 14:6 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. “For unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins” John 8:24 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will

I have been doing a lot of camping lately and one of things I enjoy is a campfire. Towards the end of the evening it is time to separate the remaining coals. The coals burn for a while then they start to lose their flame and if you wait long enough the coals will go out. Our Christian life is similar if we don’t keep the fire going the flame can go out. So, what makes the fire go out in the Christian life? Not spending time with God. If we only speak to God every now and th

I’ am blessed with a Christian wife who loves the Lord. We are working on 46 years of marriage this next December. That is a lot to some of you and then a drop in the bucket to others. As I go through the bible there are many verses on describing characters of a wife, One of my favorite chapters in Proverbs. Listen to how the writer describes the attributes of a good wife. Proverbs 31:10-12 10 A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. 11 Her

How will our faith be tested this week? If you are in a test of faith right now, rejoice – the Lord has His hand on you! This test is not going to destroy you! You are either going to grow, get stronger and increase in the anointing, or the Lord will provide a way of safe escape. Our faith is being tested by God and it probably going to happen soon. Some of my tests I have failed, but no worry, God allowed me to retake my test. God has a purpose in testing our faith and James

I am blessed to have a Christian wife that is also my accountability partner. There are many mornings while having our coffee we have discussions on what is happening in our country. One of my confessions to God and something I must guard against is having critical thoughts against people who think differently than I do on things going on in our country. I wonder how my thoughts and others within our country can be so different. I am sure many of us if not all have to deal w

Terri and I married while we were in the Navy. So, as sailors we did not have a lot of money for expensive gifts. On our first wedding anniversary I bought Terri some small gifts. One gift I bought for Terri she still has and uses to this day. It is a key chain with a heart on it and a saying that reads, “A Child of The King”. It is special that we are going on over 44 years of marriage, and she still holds that key chain as a special gift. The words are special, and she hold

Time is a precious commodity in our lives. It seems like we are always scrambling to get things done in our busy lives. As you go through the different phases of life there are different things that eat up our time. I can remember when our kids were elementary school age and my wife, Terri was going to nursing school, mornings were hectic. Everyone that has a family know exactly what I am talking about. Then as we developed our careers, we were always in a rush to get to work

John 10:10 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life and have it abundantly. Seek first the salvation that is available through Jesus Christ then claim the joy, peace, and the spiritual abundance that the Shepherd offers His sheep. God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. He also wants us to experience a life that is full of peace, and life that is abundant and eternal. God has promised that He

One of the things that can be a struggle for many Christians is that we think we can live the Christian Life on our own self-sufficiently. This is something that God did not intend for us. God wants us to depend on Him alone to live the Christian life. The key to godly living is relying on Jesus to live through us. At the moment of conversion, the Spirit of Jesus, also known as the Holy Spirit, came to live within us. Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh

Life does not always run on a smooth course. As a child of God, we are promised to go through trials in our lives. Rick Warren says, “God never wastes a hurt”. As we look back on our lives, we can see the ups and downs within our lives. Being a Christian, I don’t believe in chance circumstances. One of the attributes of God is His Sovereignty. Those who have heard me teach, know I talk about God’s Sovereignty in our lives. I put my faith and trust in a God who orchestrates t

Do we ever feel like we fall short of what God expects from us? Well, I imagine if we are honest there are times, we all have experienced that feeling (my hand is up). Don’t lose heart because, Paul dealt with this same feeling. As we see in Romans 7:15. Romans 7:15 (NIV). 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. This revealed that Paul was dealing with internal struggles of living the Christian life. We deal with the same thi

1 John 1:8 (NIV) 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. My very first Sunday School lesson I taught was on living in a constant state of repentance. As a Christian our sins are forgiven by what Jesus did on the cross. However, we still must deal with our sins daily in order to remain in fellowship with God. 1 John 1:8-9 was written by John for Christians. 1 John 1:9 (NIV) 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will for

Have you ever drifted from God? If we are honest with ourselves there has been a time in probably each of our lives that we drifted from God (I have). Sometimes there has been times when we might have felt like we lost our way. Luckily God doesn’t give up on us. He is always there waiting and calling for us to come back home. Sometimes it is a small whisper to our hearts that lead us home. Jesus says He is the way back and He brings us right into the presence of God. Hebrews