Richard Ellis Talks

We can get as much or as little physical rest as we choose, but ultimately, it won't matter if we don't give our souls rest, too. And the only way we can do that is by coming to Jesus. He offers us spiritual rest -- the opportunity to shed our weariness and our burdens, and trade them for His peace.

Are we giving God all that we've got, or are we withholding ourselves from Him? Jesus gave His very life -- all that He had -- so that we could be saved. Now, He asks us to do the same. We get the opportunity to be a living sacrifice for Him, and that requires yielding our lives entirely to His will in order to bring about our greatest good and His greatest glory.

Who lives inside us is of far greater significance than what we look like on the outside. When we choose to follow Jesus, He cleans us up from the inside out. Our relationship with Him and the life transformation He wants to complete in us matters more than simply trying to follow all the rules and modifying our behavior for the sake of religion.

Marriage is designed by God. More than that, marriage is a picture of His love for humanity. But for our marriages to display His Lordship to the world, we first have to let Him be Lord of our lives individually.

When it comes to our spiritual development, baptism is the "A" in our "ABCs": it comes first before anything else can fall into place. Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? And if so, have you taken the first step of obedience by being baptized?

God promises to provide for our needs -- but that doesn't always look the way we'd expect. There are things in this life that we want to hold on to, that we don't want to surrender to the Lord. He calls us to release our grip on those things and trust Him to provide everything we need.

Your worst day with God will always be better than your best day without Him. Living in obedience to Him -- even when it involves suffering -- is better than living for ourselves knowing it'll only end in pain. God rewards our faithfulness with a fullness of joy that can't be found anywhere else, and it's contagious to the people around us.

Sometimes, God works in miraculous ways that leave us "shook". But more often, we overlook the greatest miracle He's already performed: bringing each of us from spiritual death to life. Scripture tells us very clearly that there will come a day when we'll bow before Him. Are we going to spend our time from now until that day wishing He'd perform miracles the way we want Him to, or marveling at the miracle it will be to experience eternal life with Him?

How full is your spiritual cup? Is it half-full? Three-quarters? Or maybe running on empty? Living for the Lord comes with a promise: He will supply us, not with "just enough", but with more than enough. Out of God's goodness pours an overflowing abundance of His riches, mercy, and grace. As we surrender our lives, we make room for His Spirit to fill us with more of Him.

Prayer should be a regular part of our regimen to seek the Lord and His mighty power. But fasting is the greatest ammunition we can use in our pursuit of life change. The next time you feel like you've hit a wall when it comes to getting answers from God, seek Him through fasting -- and then be prepared to watch Him work in mighty ways.

Scripture explains that God's Church is the Body of Christ. In the Body of Christ, Christ Himself is the head. And because we're one body, when we remain connected not only to Jesus but to one another, there's no limit to what God can do through us.

God requires obedience from us -- not the second time, or the third time, but the first time He asks. And when He tells us to do something and we disobey, there will be consequences. His discipline isn't about punishment -- it's about Him loving us enough to let us face the results of our choices.

If you were to take a survey about your life, how would you rate it: Poor, Fair, Good, or Great? Sometimes it's hard not to wonder if we could do better. The story of the prodigal son is all about one person's decision to leave home and do things his way because he believed he could do better on his own than in the safety and protection of his father's house. And it's a picture of how merciful God is to us; even when we decide to stray far from Him, He's always watching and waiting with open arms to welcome us home.

One thing different religions have in common is their basis in tradition. Some religious rituals even falsely promise a route into heaven. But no building, tradition, or person other than Jesus Christ can save us from sin and give us eternal life. The only way to salvation is through Christ alone.

There's a difference between being at peace with God when we become saved, and having peace from God that comes from a genuine relationship with Him. When we choose to follow our own desires over obeying His will, we declare war on Him when He wants us to bring peace. It's when we live a life of obedience to Him and extend forgiveness towards others that we experience the peace that comes only from Him.

Do you know about God, or do you know God? We have a world of "information" at our disposal, but sometimes, it's more important that we just take time to be quiet and listen. God knows every detail about each one of us. He doesn't just want us to know about Him -- He wants us to know Him in a deeply intimate way through a deeply personal relationship with Him.

Have you ever felt like you called out to God and He just...didn't answer? In some cases, it might seem like He's silent -- like He's all but abandoned you. But remember, He sacrificed His only Son on the cross for us, all so that we could be brought into His family, and He's promised to never forsake us. Sometimes, He doesn't answer us immediately because it's in and through the waiting that our relationship with Him can grow.

Have you ever successfully counted the stars in the sky? How about the grains of sand on the earth? Or what about the number of hairs on your head? The answer is "no"...but the Bible tells us that God counts them all. When we consider our problems, challenges, difficulties and disappointments in comparison to His power and love, we can find comfort in knowing that He didn't just create us -- He sees each of us for who we are.

The devil likes to remind us of our past -- but God wants to remind us of our future. We all have a background of sin, but when we accept Christ's sacrifice on our behalf, we're pronounced "not guilty". The blood of the Lamb has washed us clean in God's eyes. Let's live like we've been set free -- because we have!

God allows difficulties in our lives -- not because He doesn't love us, but because He does love us. Those trials are there to test us and teach us, and when we walk through them, we have the opportunity to grow closer to God. In tough circumstances where it feels like we're walking through fire, we're actually being refined to become more like Christ and better able to make a Kingdom impact in the lives of other people.