How Do You Find God’s Will?By Rick Warren“God … invited you into this wonderful friendship with his Son, even Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:9 TLB)God’s not playing games with you. He wants you to understand his will, his purpose, and his plan for your life.You may say, “I want God to guide me, but I still get confused. I don’t know what to do.” Often the problem is we’re looking for the wrong...  Read More

Everything God does is intentional, and the timing of Jesus’s resurrection is no exception.As pastor Skye Jethani explains in his book Futureville, the reason why Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday has its origins in the creation account of Genesis 1. Historically, Christians have identified “Sunday as the first day of God’s creative work.” And just “like the creation account in Genesis, which b...  Read More

Today’s passage from John shows us “the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead” that first Easter Sunday (see John 21:14). Commenting on this scene, St. Augustine once wrote admiringly that after Jesus had “risen from the grave, after seeing the marks of His wounds, after receiving, by means of His breathing, the Holy Ghost, all at once [these disciples] becom...  Read More

Happy Easter!1 John 4:11-18Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.  By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.  We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.  Whoever confesses...  Read More

Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea had a lot in common. Both were members of the Sanhedrin—the religious governing body that had just played a role in crucifying Jesus (see Mark 14:53-65). Both men, most scholars agree, were likely very wealthy. And both men were secret followers of Jesus…up until Good Friday, that is.Something about Jesus’s death compelled these two men to go public with their fai...  Read More

Peter and “the two sons of Zebedee” (James and John) had a broad vocation to follow Jesus. But on the night before their rabbi’s crucifixion, they were given a more specific job: Simply to stay awake while Jesus went away to pray.As they were all walking into the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus “began to be sorrowful and troubled.” He was “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”What’s going on...  Read More

Day 10 | Confidence Grows with EncouragementReflectionToday and every day we are called to find ways to encourage one another. When we do this, we achieve more than growing confidence in others – we so often gain confidence ourselves in the process.The Greek word parakaleó, translated into English as encourage in Hebrews 3:13, is a compound of the words ‘para’ and ‘kaleo.’ Para involves ‘coming al...  Read More

Day 9 | The Loneliness of the Scattered Red DotReflectionAt LICC, we often describe life as a Christian in the UK with two images, both depicting 100 dots. Six dots are red, depicting the 6% of people in the UK who go to church at least once a month. The rest are grey, depicting those who don’t.In the first image, the red dots are gathered in a block next to each other.In the second, they’re scatt...  Read More

Day 8 | You Are Not AloneReflectionPart of the reason we can lack confidence out in the world is that we can feel more alone there, in our scattered places. So part of how we build confidence out in the world is by knowing that we are not alone there.We have Jesus’ promise to be with us always, wherever we find ourselves. We have the Holy Spirit as an advocate and comforter alongside us. We know G...  Read More

1 John 4:9-10, 14By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world....  Read More

Day 7 | Greg’s Story: Convincing TruthReflectionGreg used to work as an environmental consultant in the marine aggregates industry. What is that, you ask? Well, big companies want to dredge the seabed to get gravel for the construction industry. But before they can start, they are legally required to do an environmental impact assessment, to protect sea life. Enter Greg, stage left.Now, at one poi...  Read More

Day 6 | Convinced by the Big PictureReflectionWe can excel at focussing on the details of life: I need to buy bananas, and I must pick up Prisha from the station at 5:40. This ability keeps us out of trouble.Something that comes less naturally to many of us, though, is zooming out to see the bigger picture so that the details of life make sense. As Christians, there’s a big picture we really need ...  Read More