The Lily Letters

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." I once heard a story about a man that was traveling for work. When he arrived at his destination & walking around, he noticed that no one was wearing shoes. On multiple occasions, he approached individuals and asked if they believed in shoes. Every time, they told him “of course we believe in shoes.” “Then why don’t you wear them,” he asked. All but one person answered “That’s a good question.” One man pointed to a building down the street & said “That building is a shoe manufacturing facility. Once a week, we visit the facility, & the owner tells us all of the benefits of wearing shoes. We believe in shoes, but we just choose not to wear them.” Sounds silly, right? But we’re not that far off. Every week, we worship with believers. We beli...

An ex cerpt from Dotheword.com Matthew 21:23-32 You’ve done it again. After an intense bout with temptation, you’ve surrendered. You’ve eaten that extra slice of cake. You’ve stretched your budget to buy that new phone. You’ve responded to your spouse out of anger rather than understanding. Now you’re caught in the throes of guilt—what do you do? Often, our tendency is to repent with a promise: “I’ll try harder this time!” However, our well-intended promises are rarely strong enough to overcome the harsh cycle of sin and repentance. Within a few months, days, or even hours, we find ourselves doing the very same thing again—why? Matthew 21:23-32 sheds light on this phenomenon. The scripture begins with the chief priests and elders posing a question to Jesus: “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” ( Matthew 21:25 ) This question is so abstract and theoretical that it is easy to lose interest in it altogether. After all, we know that Christ’s auth...