Walk With Darrell

How can we show empathy for someone in need? Every week we hear heartbreaking stories of people that are going through a terrible hardship. Some might be family, friends or maybe a stranger that we hear of their situation. Are we sensitive to their situation or is it easy to be callous? Is it too easy to say I am sorry, but not my problem? God makes it possible for us to empathize with others who might be enduring hardships. We don’t necessarily have to be going through the s

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

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 (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 thing at times.

Does the Lord discipline His children? You bet He does. The Lord uses trials to discipline His children for the purpose of testing and strengthening their faith in order to bring praise, honor, and glory to Jesus Christ. So, what is a trial? According to James Macdonald’s study on trials, “When Life is Hard”, a trial is a painful experience allowed by God to change our conduct and our character. It might sound strange to some, but God does this because He loves us. Hebrews 1

2 Chronicles 20:20 (NIV) Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” Are you a dreamer? I have always been a dreamer for things in my life. I am still a dreamer. Some of my dreams have become goals for my life. I have talked to some people who put no value in dreaming, and I guess we are all different. However, I am dreamer and I believe God promises we can do all things through Him. Anne Frank wrote, “The g

A few weeks ago, I had a chance to visit my son David’s family, which gave me a chance to be with my little grandkids. I have many friends and family members with grandchildren, and you know what I am saying. What a precious gift from God.!!!!!!!!! There is nothing like having a little grandchild asking if you want to swing or go for a walk. Then to have both my granddaughters bring me books to read them. Then when the grandkids tell me that they will wake me up in the mornin

Matthew 8:26 (NIV) 26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. A storm rose quickly on the Sea of Galilee and the disciples were frightened of the storm due to their limited faith. They turned to Jesus and He calmed the waves and rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith. On occasion we like the disciples are frightened by the storms we face in life. Why do we ever fear the st

Jesus warned us that what goes into our heart is what really matters. The eyes are the gatekeepers to our heart. So, it really matters what we look at. We need to guard our heart from the things of this world and many times that fire is ignited by our eyes. We see it on TV every day. The world is trying to entice us with things that enter our heart via our eyes. We all have seen the bling, If I only had this car or truck, I would be happy. ….. I need that new fishing boat…. I

Our life is full of relationships. In each relationship it is nurtured by spending time with the other person in the relationship. When we spend time with our spouse, we become better husbands and wives. We build relationships with coworkers by spending time nurturing a good work relationship. We become a better brother or sister in Christ by nurturing our fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We become a better father or mother by nurturing our relationship wit

Acts 20:35 (NKJV) 35 I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." The thread of generosity is woven throughout Christ’s teachings. We currently are watching the “The Chosen” series about Jesus and His Disciples. The series gets me excited about studying how Jesus interacted with and taught His Disciples. Jesus often exhibited generosit

Hebrews 13:5 (NIV) 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, Have you ever been trapped by your possessions? Does it seem like it takes more and more effort keeping track of things you own, while still making mental notes of what you intend to buy. Some of us might never have experienced this; however, most of us if we are truthful have had to deal with this to a certain extent. My title is “Materialism can be a Tra

John 15:9 (NIV) 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. Jesus was such a supreme example of Love that the world has ever seen. We read in the Bible of His Love that crossed barriers. The wonderful thing for us is that we can experience Jesus' Love in our lives. So many times, we humans put conditions on our love. It is easy to love certain people in our lives, but to love everyone unconditional, well that is a tough one especially during foo

The bible tells us that Jesus would go to a secluded place and pray. Mark 1:35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. Today, I heard the song “I come to the Garden Alone”. This song made me think of my grandmother, Rose Lavada Bombei, born 24 November 1911. I loved listening to my dad talk about my grandmother. My dad was born in 1934 and his family moved to a farm when he was in t

Proverbs 12:2 (KJV) 2 A good man obtaineth favour of the Lord: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn. When we live a life that seeks to nurture the relationship with our Heavenly Father and seeks the fellowship of fellow believers, we will reap spiritual rewards that God intends for us to enjoy. When we live a Godly life, we honor God. That should be the goal of each of us. We are accountable for our living. We need to seek after a lifestyle that would be pleasing to Go

James 5:13 (NIV) 13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Sometimes we take God’s blessings for granted. There are days we can get so busy that we forget to take the time and give God praise for the many blessings He has given us. Think about everything God has done for us. We should always thank and praise God for His precious blood He shed on the cross for our sins. Thanksgiving should become a habit and part of ou

1 Timothy 6:6-8 (NKJV) 6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. We live in an era of prosperity, and we have been blessed with possessions that some of our forefathers could not even imagine. We do have to be cautious and keep prosperity in perspective and not covet the things of this world. The world stresses the importa

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV) Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. How many times a day do you run into someone that you could encourage? Next question is how often do you take advantage of that situation? Hopefully, the answer is more often than not. When you think about it we come across so many people in a week. How many of those do we pass on the opportunity to be an encourager. Romans 14:19 (HCSB) 19 So then, we must pursue

During the last supper, Jesus was telling His Disciples that He was going to leave. Although, He was leaving He was going to send them a helper. John 15: 26 – 27 (ERV) 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. As Christians we have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Living the Christian li

Ephesians 6:14 (NIV) 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, In the Spiritual Warfare that we are going through it is critical that we put on God’s armor. One of the critical pieces is the breastplate of righteousness. Paul referred to the Roman soldier of his day when he spoke of the armor the soldiers wore. The Christian must put on God’s armor to prepare for battle. In verse 14 it talks of the be

Have you ever talked to someone that thought they had led such an awful life that there is no way God would love them? I am sure we all have done things that we are not proud of. Thank God that He loved us so much that He sent Jesus to pay the price of our sins. I think of Paul in 1 Timothy 1:16 where he referred to himself the worst of sinners. 1 Timothy 1:16 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his imm