mikemelin's Uploads

More than We Realize
When I was a boy on the farm, a strange thing happened as I went back and forth in the field, from one end to the other. Although Dad taught me everything I knew about farming, I would lose sight of the fact that he knew the job better than I did....mikemelin2016-03-22T14:27:0923 views00:02:47
God Is Always Working Something on Our Behalf
When I was 8 years old I started helping Dad in the field. Since I was so small that I couldn’t use a foot clutch, Dad put me on an old John Deere with a hand clutch. Knowing what I know now, I'm certain that Dad was watching me closely—prepared t...mikemelin2016-03-21T10:02:05110 views00:02:28
The Only True Celebrity
Do you ever feel intellectually or maybe morally inferior to other Christians, and wonder just how your faith stacks up against theirs? Please don’t go there. When Jesus looked at the immoral woman who washed his feet with her tears, He wasn't loo...mikemelin2016-03-18T15:47:0475 views00:03:11
Faith Is about Making a Difference—Not Just an Impression
Please don't be fooled by a faith that is meant to impress.

If you are sensing the need to step out onto the water and flex your faith muscles, please don't be intimidated by those who have a big vocabulary of words that makes them soun...mikemelin2016-03-17T11:30:2261 views00:02:01
Faith Is Not Supposed to Be Silly
If what you've heard so far about faith has stimulated your thinking, if you are becoming interested in a life lived by faith in God—please remember this basic human instinct:

We want to take a word from the Lord and turn it into a para...mikemelin2016-03-16T13:52:0839 views00:03:51
Faith Can't Be Understood by Observation
God wants me to prefer to live by faith. He doesn't just want me to live by faith out of obedience. No! Given the choice between having to depend on visible, verifiable resources and having to depend on Him—He wants me to choose to live by faith i...mikemelin2016-03-15T11:57:0668 views00:02:42
Maybe Faith Is Not What I Expected
Okay …? What I have been calling a painful learning process, God is calling a light, momentary affliction that is working for me. Obviously, I've been working at cross purposes with God.
I've been working my faith to get me “through” difficul...mikemelin2016-03-14T09:57:08107 views00:02:29
Not Far from the Kingdom of God
Faith is not supposed to be the means by which we get something from God. Faith is supposed to be the means by which God gets something from us. God wants something from us. He wants our complete and total dependence upon Him. God is pursuing us—n...mikemelin2016-03-10T12:47:0556 views00:02:30
Preferring Faith
It sure seems like we do everything in our power to see how we can get out of living by faith. Oh, we may talk a good game. We act, however, as if living by faith is some kind of torture.
But what if?
What would life be like if we start...mikemelin2016-03-09T07:52:0534 views00:02:50
An Informed Faith
While God's comfort is priceless, it is not all there is to faith—and believing that it is can prematurely shorten your life.
Faith in God is the sure conviction of the truth of all that God is. It is more than a “feeling” about God based on...mikemelin2016-03-08T14:02:2630 views00:03:46
The Passionate Pursuit of God Is Anything but Brain Dead
The Passionate Pursuit of God Is Anything but Brain Deadmikemelin2016-03-07T11:22:0635 views00:02:48
Faith In God Is Not Blind
When we give up our neediness for other people, God gives us the ability to truly love them in return. All of the thought and effort we previously spent in trying to get love “from” them is strangely transformed into thought and effort in trying t...mikemelin2016-03-04T17:12:0545 views00:03:26
Just in Case?
I have spent my entire life teaching and training people to think things through, so that the unintended consequences of any action just don't happen, or are minimal at worst. Nobody likes to deal with unintended consequences. But that's what we'r...mikemelin2016-03-03T15:52:2942 views00:03:48
Exit Strategy?
In our culture here in the United States, we enter into relationships with our brain set on silent, and we exit relationships at the first sign of trouble. It is in this environment of such low expectations of ourselves and of others that we try t...mikemelin2016-02-29T09:47:1747 views00:02:42
Faith Has No Wishin’ or Hopin’
We don't get into God's presence by thinking and praying, or wishing and hoping. We get into the presence of God by responding to the conviction that God exists, and by responding to the conviction that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him beca...mikemelin2016-02-26T15:57:0363 views00:03:19
Faith in Real Time
Part of the problem we have with faith is that we don't understand what “salvation” truly means. Salvation does not consist of saying a few words and filling out a decision card for Christ. Neither is salvation a place somewhere in your future. Et...mikemelin2016-02-25T10:02:0149 views00:02:39

Today's Devotional

A Prayer for a Courageous Soul - Your Daily Prayer - April 26

We have been given a remarkable gift through God and His redemption story. Not only have we received eternal life with our Creator, but we have received courage in Christ that will change the trajectory of our lives and the lives of those around us forever.