Posts by Jeff
Finding the Yahoo within the Yuck
I have no shame in admitting that I enjoy watching the Atlanta Braves play baseball on television. I’ve been doing it since I was ten years old, eagerly tuning in to watch Dale Murphy and company try their best to accomplish greatness at the old Atlanta Fulton county Stadium. My guess is that I will…
Read MoreNeeding A Friend & Being A Friend
Today, I want to intentionally think on friends who have stood by our sides in seasons which stretch us. When our life circumstances take a downward turn, or when we find ourselves misunderstood or misrepresented, or when we drop from the heights and are plunged into a foul, soupy marsh, or when we recognize that…
Read MoreOrdering the Appearances of Jesus After He Arose
The Gospels and the Book of Acts are written by four different men. Each human writer supplies different details of the events which surrounded Jesus rising from the dead. I have always been a little challenged to make sense of the chronology of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus so, with a little online research, I…
Read MoreResurrection: How Do We Do It?
Resurrection is not a nuance of the Christian faith. Resurrection is not limited to some historical event. Resurrection is the ultimate promise of what we believe as Christians and it is an experience that all Christians will enjoy. Resurrection is, in all actuality, a Person. This Person is the Son of God who is the…
Read MoreExamining Decrease – What Is This?
He was the most famous prophet in Israel the day he burst on to the scene. For four centuries, Israel had not heard from their God, so when the Baptizer began to proclaim the word of the Lord in the wilderness, the hungry people began to devour all that he fed them. John’s ministry did…
Read MoreHow To Debate With Accusation
Accusation: “Has anyone seen Jeff’s shackles? I want to put him on spiritual lock-down again.” Justification: “Those shackles are in the bottom of the sea. As far as east is from west.” Accusation: “True…but Jeff forgets that fact with a little provocation from me. I specialize in cultivating a shamed, guilty conscience.” Mercy: “His God’s…
Read MoreYou Have All You Need
There is a conspiracy against all parents’ personal sanity. No doubt, it is a calculated effort, strategized behind closed doors by powerful marketing executives long before it appeared before our eyes. At just the right moment, the stars all having aligned perfectly, the outflow of this fiendish conspiracy can cause a strong mother to weep,…
Read MoreScratchy Christians
Recently, the preaching schedule at my home church has allowed me to take regular time to listen as one of the other pastors preaches. On those Sundays, it has been so helpful for me to receive preaching from others. Truth be known, I had forgotten how much I need to sit under live preaching at…
Read MoreToday’s Rising Prayer
Father, On this day we come before You with nothing that You need. We sometimes scramble to bring You something when we come to pray. Today, I bring you nothing more than a heart with two spiritual chambers: one full of praise and one full of need. We are not quite able to comprehend that…
Read MoreFighting The Voice of Accusation
Over the last few days, both through my own mind and from outside sources, the Father has been speaking to me concerning this important issue of His children unnecessarily (and dangerously!) listening to the voice of the accuser. Have you ever pondered this passage from Revelation? “I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now…
Read MoreGRACE: Your Voice, God’s Ear
Many of you who follow Transforming Truth’s media streams are doing so from a distance. We are blessed to hear from people all over the United States who have been touched by the Lord through the ministry here. We have relationship with people in other parts of the world who both contribute and receive from…
Read MoreSilencing Voices of Accusation
“So you’ve gotten right with God, have you? You think you’re all religious now and are naive enough to believe that God is just going to accept you with open arms because of what Jesus supposedly did. Well, tell me something, my precious – how come you can still sin like you did before your…
Read MoreWhile You Wait
For you who have long prayed for God to move on your behalf, I want to deposit some encouragement with you in hope that your cries will not be silenced by spiritual fatigue. Perhaps, one of the most confounding elements of being a Jesus-follower is that we often find ourselves in the waiting room of…
Read MoreNo Strength Required
Most of the time, most of us are not too weak. Most of the time, most of us are far too strong. We feel that we lose when our weaknesses are prominent. We want unlimited resources. We prefer strong bodies. We pray for elevation and advance and consistent breakthroughs. It just seems right that…
Read MoreWhen Things Get Sideways Relationally
So, who has your face on their dartboard today? Is there someone’s face on yours? Let’s peel back the curtain for a moment and acknowledge that behind all the desires and commitments for Jesus-followers to honor one another, we all have a propensity to get sideways with others from time to time. A simple survey…
Read MoreOptimist…Pessimist…Realist?
After a week of a spiritual mini-retreat, I’m grateful to get back in the saddle on the blog today. From February 14-23, I was visiting the House of Prayer in Kansas City. I made some new friendships, enjoyed some healthy Kingdom connections and was impacted by long, anonymous, uninterrupted hours in the prayer room as…
Read MorePinched-Off Pieces of Clay
Our understanding of God’s grace should serve to level the playing field which our egos might raise up for our own benefit during the week. Living daily in a culture that tries to demand that you and I must participate in the rat-race of the American Dream can distract us and distort us from the…
Read MoreDon’t Surrender Your Beans
Every now and then, you remember something you wrote and decide to resurrect it for the present moment. I went back to the vault and decided to share something I posted some time ago. I hope it helps you. It did me. – Jeff “And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the…
Read MoreMy Prayer For You Today
May the God whose watchful eye never sleeps, the God of wonders, power and love – May He keep your feet from falling and make your thanks be endless, until the coming of the full deliverance that is ready to be revealed in the last time. May the God whose robe is light, whose canopy…
Read MoreCompelled By A Throne
Until the Christian receives her own grasp of the Kingdom purposes of God, she will continue to be distracted by small slivers of Christianity while never entering into the whole of God’s eternal purposes and power. As long as that man who longs for God’s presence and the resulting sense of personal identity remains committed…
Read MoreYour Glance & Your Gaze
For my entire lifetime, I have been hearing about air pollution. Growing up in suburban Atlanta, we really did not have any major issues with smog but, in sixth grade, I did a report on what we called then “acid rain”. It resulted in me having a slight phobia about the potential to turn into…
Read MorePardon Me
How many times has our opposition charged against us at full strength, seemingly to shred us to the smallest of bits, and then dance upon the shards? More than once it has been human opposition – we remember their names and faces, and their words and tones. Beyond the human foes, there is Satan, along…
Read MoreResponding to a Season of Affliction
Out of options. Discouraged. Jaded. Disgusted. Fearful. Bitter. Fatalistic. I have experienced all of these undesirable aspects of life. I wish I could boldly declare that these facets of living below only occurred before my delivering conversion. I prefer not to lie to you, however. No, I have often hit some low spots in this…
Read MoreEnduring The Shadowed Season
I love to do biographical studies of the people we find on the pages of our Bibles. There is something about intentionally focusing on an entire life of someone whom God chose to memorialize in His Word. Elijah, that grizzled Old Testament prophet, has been a regular source of encouragement for me over the last…
Read MoreEmbracing Brokenness – Amy Lyle testimony
This past Sunday evening, my co-pastor, Billy Humphrey, asked my wife, Amy, to share some of her story. In 2011, Amy was hit head-on by a distracted driver. She nearly died, but God allowed her to survive the impact of the collision. Her mother who was her passenger, heartbreakingly, did not survive. Amy received extensive…
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