Author Archives: Michael D Johnson

Have you ever thought about the fact that without God’s touch on your life, all that you do will amount to nothing? If you are anything like so many in this world, you may at first glance, disagree with this statement, thinking “I have accomplished many things” and “when I put my mind to something,Continue reading “Relying on God to make something of my life”

Here is what God is teaching me these days. You can’t have it all, you can’t do it all and that is in fact, a very good thing. I have often lived by the expression “having my cake and eating it too.” Sometimes I said that life is not about either/or but about both/and. AndContinue reading “You can’t do it all, you can’t have it all (and that’s a really good thing)”

There is a simplicity of living the Christian life that we often miss. We think to ourselves: “I’m not doing enough/praying enough/reading my Bible enough/serving enough” Then along the way we also put extra pressure on ourselves by focusing on anxious thoughts, saying yes to too many things, playing the comparison game or trying toContinue reading “The simplicity of living the Christian life”

Dear Lord, Please simplify my life. May it be about You. – Loving You, worshiping You, spending time with You, listening to You, walking with You, obeying You. May it be about eternity.– May what I think, say and do be all about producing eternal fruit and getting as many people as possible into aContinue reading “A prayer for simplicity”

There was an old Sprite commercial where one of the actors asks “what’s my motivation”? And it does seem an appropriate question for us to consider. As pastors we need to inspect our motives and also examine our purposes. As pastors we need to ask the Lord to show us our heart and reveal toContinue reading “What’s my motivation?”

There is a God-shaped hole in all of us. Nothing can fill that emptiness except God Himself. Anything else that we try to find fulfillment in will leave us lacking, bankrupt, and lifeless. We need God. More than the air we breathe, more than the food we eat and more than the water we drink.Continue reading “Needing God. Wanting God. Pursuing God.”

In the first blog post, I gave a basic introduction to doctrine as well as dealing with the fact that how we address false teaching or theological misunderstanding is of utmost importance. We need to be patient, kind, and holy.  In this post I would like to address how we watch over our doctrine toContinue reading “Watch over your doctrine closely, part 2”

I Timothy 4:16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers What does it mean to watch over our doctrine closely? What about for pastors who have been entrusted with the spiritual development of God’s people and given the role of watchingContinue reading “Watch over doctrine closely”