Walk With Darrell

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

Have you ever failed or let God down? I am sure we can all look at a time in our life when we let God down. I know I sure have, and I imagine we all feel the same. You feel bad on the inside for letting our Lord and Savior down. A feeling of being ashamed and questioning our own faith. The bible is full of stories of men of faith that had failed. Remember Jonah, who refused to go to Nineveh, and he tried to get out of going to Nineveh by going to sea toward Tarshish. Then the

God is always faithful, and if we look at the past year, we’ll find that he has been with us, and has been working in our lives – even when we don’t realize it. As we say Hello to the New Year and we put the past year behind us, we need to continue to walk with God daily. Isaiah 43:18-19 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Th

Terri and I have our traditional New Year meal supplies ready. This has been passed down from my parents. I can remember waking up as a kid on New Year's morning and my mom had great white Northern beans, cooked cabbage, and cornbread ready. We have added another item here in Texas, Black Eye peas. So, in the pantry we have our great norther beans, black eye peas, cornbread, and in the refrigerator, we have our left-over Christmas ham bone and a head of cabbage ready for tom

Looking back on this past year it has been a journey with many paths to destinations across our country. We have seen some wonderful scenery and were at awe at what God has created. There have been many mornings we rose early to see God’s beautiful sunrise and then there were evenings we got back to the campsite after dark because we wanted to see God’s beautiful sunset. The bible talks about the paths we take in life. Psalm 16:11 11 You make known to me the path of life;

Would it be nice if we could control everything in our lives? Well, we don’t, it seems like our trials never seem to end. We all go through trials; I have my trials and I have friends and family going through trials. Our trials vary in length, some trials are for a short period and others seem to never go away. God is allowing adversity in our lives for a purpose. When we look at the heroes of faith in the bible, they all went through seasons of trials. Abraham and Sarah wer

Have you ever had to make a decision, and you needed help and were sure where to turn? There is no one better to turn to than God. He has divine wisdom, and He knows everything about us. He understands our deepest wants and needs better than we even know them. Ok, so we need to ask God for guidance….Hmmm. Not real sure how to do that? Isaiah 30:21 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” I

El Roi (EL raw-EE), “The God Who Sees Me”, only occurs once in the bible and this was when Hagar encountered God in the desert and address him as El Roi, “the God who sees me”. God does see us, He knows our circumstances, past, present, and future. He knows everything about us. There is a gospel song,” His eye is on the Sparrow”, which I am sure most of you have heard if not all. The song starts out with the words below. Why should I feel discouraged Why should the shadows co

Scripture gives us a beautiful picture of praise in Luke 2:13-14. When Jesus was born, an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds sharing the good news. Then many other angels joined together and praised God. Luke 2:13-14 "Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.’” Keeping Christ in Christmas is more than just a cliche. It is

My Christmas theme continues. Today I want to talk about what the angel of the Lord told the shepherds. I can’t say I am aware of ever seeing an angel; however, the bible does mention we might come across angels “Heb 13:2” without knowing it. It did terrify the shepherds who were guarding their flocks. But what a message the angels gave them. Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowi

Psalm 91:1 1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty You might ask how do we dwell in the shelter of the Most High? You might have read Psalm 91 several times, but still not sure how to swell in the shelter of the Most High. There are many benefits when we dwell in the shelter of the Most High. God is our refuge; He will protect us and when we are under God’s protection then we have nothing to fear. When we are under God’s protec

I am sure we all have a picture in our mind of Joseph and Mary entering Bethlehem on what is now called Christmas Eve. Joseph leading the donkey, which pregnant Mary was riding. Joseph is desperate to find shelter for Mary to rest and be able to give birth. The destination would be a shelter for livestock with a manger for Baby Jesus. This would be the surroundings of where Baby Jesus would be born. What a humble beginning for our Lord and Savior to enter the world. Born in

Christmas is right around the corner, and I think of the gift we received at Christmas. We celebrate the gift God gave the world when He sent His Son Jesus to save us of our sins. John 3:16 sums it up, John 3:16 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. We’re saved by God’s grace, not by our goodness or performance. Ephesians 2:8-9 tell us, “For by grace you have been saved through fa

A lot of people think angels are spiritual make believe and some think that they only play baseball in California. However, the bible tells us that angels play an active role in our past, present, and future. I can’t say I have ever seen an angel; however, in Hebrews 13:2 the author indicates we might come upon angels unaware. Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. There is

Life is short and we often times worry about things that don’t bring us fulfillment, happiness, and peace. People worry about money, status, their looks, their needs, or their possessions. Do we allow these worries the power to bring us down? God did not intend for us to worry about these things. It doesn’t have to be this way. We have a choice. We can lift our concerns up to the “One” who knows our lives the best and who will never let us down. Christ!!! It is amazing that i

Christmas is getting close, and Jesus is the focus. A critical part of the gospel is the fact that Jesus was physically human. He was a real, living, breathing person. As a result, He could claim to have experience everything we would experience. Hebrew 4:15 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. John tells us that in the beginning was the Word a

I started reading the book of Daniel this week. It is so enjoyable reading Daniel, and this book is so inspiring for Christians to follow Daniel’s example. To be like Daniel would be to stand on God’s principles in our life. Daniel was a young Israelite living in exile in Babylon, yet he still follows God. What an example Daniel provides. He is a man willing to stand alone. It did not matter that the leadership of Babylon insisted on a particular diet. He knew he was right a

Each one of us are in the middle of a battlefield. We watch the news and see all kind of stories of evil in our communities. There are battles going on all around us. We hear every week of how many murders are taking place in our cities. There are reports of human trafficking that go right through the small town where I live. Families are under attack in our communities. Our Christian faith and our Christian values are mocked by the world as being foolishness. It is very disa

Christmas is a promise offered to mankind, God planned Jesus’ birth, life, and death before the foundation of the world. 1 Peter 1:20 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world but was revealed in these last times for your sake . Jesus will come from the tribe of Judah as the line through which this promised One would come. Eventually, He revealed that David would be the ancestor of Israel’s coming King. Jeremiah 33:14-15 14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘

To be highly favored by God means you are in a category all by yourself. This is exactly what happened to Mary. Mary was chosen by God to conceive and give birth to a son called Jesus. Mary has been highly favored. To be favored is to have grace. The grace that set you apart. To have God send Gabriel to Mary, and experience what Mary experienced . She was going to be the mother of not only our Lord and Savior, but her Lord and Savior. His name is Jesus. Matthew 1:26-33 26 In