Mark Ballenger 
To live is to be constantly taking in and putting out. We breathe and then exhale. We see and then react. We hear and then process. We eat and then . . . well you know. Life is a constant journey of movement. Spiritually speaking, this is true as well. We are never just standing still. We are either moving closer to the Lord or backsliding (Romans 6:19, 2 Peter 1:8-9).
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. – Hebrews 11:1-3 (NIV)
Early on in my marriage, I learned it is all too easy to masquerade an accusation as a question. With a harsh tone and a rushed demeanor, the question “Where are my keys?” was really the accusation, “You put my keys somewhere they don’t belong!” With a harsh tone and furrowed brow, the question “Are you mad at me?” was really the accusation, “You have no right to be mad at me!”
Obviously this was not helpful to our marriage. Things only got better when I realized “asking” a question with a negative spirit is the same thing as accusing. I knew better than to just accuse my wife of doing something wrong, but subconsciously it felt more acceptable to phrase my accusation as a question.
In reality, though, the difference between asking and accusing lies not in the phrasing but in the motivation.
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.-Luke 6:40
“This water taste funny,” I said to my father-in-law as we sat in his mother’s house.
“Oh yeah, don’t drink tap water here. It’s got too much sulfur in it. I mean, it’s okay if you want to, but if you drink too much you’ll just go blind and grow a third nipple.”
A classic response from the notorious prankster in the family. His next words stuck with me though, “Yeah, growing up I always thought the water tasted weird when I would visit other places. It was only when I moved away and came back to visit that I began to realize the bad water was actually here.”
My three year old son has an adversary. She’s redheaded, immature, easily excitable, really fun, slobbery, and super annoying when she wants to play. His adversary also happens to be our golden retriever, Lois.
In typical first born fashion, my son wants to be in charge, and Lois is an easy target. “Lois, get off my toys! Lois, stop hitting me with your tail! Lois, stop barking! Lois, stop breathing on me!” The funny thing is Lois doesn’t pay attention to him at all. She just keeps doing what she’s doing as though he isn’t shouting at the top of his lungs right in her unimpressed face.
It’s not that she doesn’t understand him; I think she finds pleasure in doing the opposite of what he says. When he yells “Move!” she stares past him, just wagging her tail like she’s enjoying herself at the beach. Or if he screams, “Stay!” she suddenly has the urge to slowly mosey somewhere else with that dull, blank, drooping jowls, older dog look . . . “Yeah, right kid.”
Two plain truths can be seen from a simple reading of the Bible: God can do whatever he wants. And God asks us to do things.
These two truths make me ask, “Why does God ask for help if he doesn’t need it?” At first glance it seems one of these two truths must be false for the other to be true. If God can do whatever he wants on his own power, then clearly he must not ask us to do things for him. Or, if God does ask us to do things for him, clearly he must not be able to do things on his own.
So which is it? Does God need our help?
When we begin to learn about God’s sovereignty, the temptation is to turn into the “frozen chosen” who use God’s power as an excuse to be lazy. If God is in total control of everything, why pray at all?
Certainly this is a multi layered question that could be talked about endlessly in the theological classroom. The more pressing concern is when the idea of God’s sovereignty hinders your prayer life in a very negatively practical way. This is not what God wants.
So to answer the question, “Why pray if God is Sovereign?”, perhaps a counter question will help us see the Bible’s answer: “Why would you pray if God wasn’t sovereign?”
When we go to the Bible, laughter is usually not a common response. But is it okay to laugh? Does God have a sense of humor? Is humor biblical?
Our relationship with the Holy God must start with a holy fear, with a reverence and recognition of our need for the blood of Christ to wash away our filth. No matter how close and comfortable we get with God, the fear of the Lord must never leave us. We must never try to base our access to God on anything but the righteous work of Jesus Christ. Our humility, honor, and our fear of the Lord truly are the foundation of a healthy attitude towards God. But none of these statements mean that humor is unbiblical.
By God’s grace I have had the opportunity to do missionary work in Liberia, West Africa. During my time there I had the privilege of visiting a lot of orphanages, some on a weekly basis.
I saw hundreds of orphan children. Babies, toddlers, children, teenagers. Some well fed, some not so well fed. Some with beds to sleep in and roofs over their heads, some without. Some of these orphans were in the city, some were way out in the African bush. Some were healthy and loved to play, some were crippled and lame.
I remember one boy named Francis. He was probably around fourteen, but he didn’t know his true birth date because his parents died when he was young and no one was there to share the details of his early life, a common problem amongst orphan children. Francis was a free spirit and did not like the rules and expectations of an orphanage, so he lived in a shipping container in the port, wheeling and dealing with the sailors to provide food for himself. Just from talking to all the sailors from different countries he had learned multiple languages: English, Russian, Ukrainian, French . . . Francis could speak them all. He was a genius.
Before I married Bethany and I was still single, I remember having so many questions about singleness. Am I called to singleness? Is being single more holy? How do I know if God wants me to be married or not? Is marriage a command? These questions and more were always lingering in my mind.
I certainly was not alone. Singleness brings many questions to many people. The Bible talks a lot about singleness, but sometime it can be a bit confusing. What follows is a “question and answer” dialogue between me and Alice. The beautiful thing about having an online ministry is that you can connect with people across the entire world. Alice has been enjoying ApplyGodsWord.com from another country and has given me permission to share our online Q&A.