Cletus Hull Serving as a pastor with a church in Pennsylvania, someone once called me with a personal concern. As the conversation ended, I asked if I could pray with him. Sounding surprised, he asked, “Can we do that over the phone?” Praying over the phone was new for him. Maybe it doesn’t sound strange […]
Author Archives: kenbarnes
22
Sep
Sep
For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8 NASB 1995) Just as there are two types of sowing, there are two kinds of reaping. One sort of sowing leads to death, […]
13
Sep
Sep
For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. (1 Samuel 1:27 ESV) Hannah, the mother of Samuel, the Prophet of God, never gave up a desire for a child. Is your desire part of God’s plan for your life? When my wife and I were […]
05
Sep
Sep
“You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3 ESV) Much has been said recently about the canceling of student loan debt. Many feel that it is unfair for one group of people to pay the debt for another. Yet, I believe there is a more profound underlying factor here: the idolizing of higher […]
24
Aug
Aug
You have made me act like a fool. You ought to be writing commendations for me, for I am not at all inferior to these “super apostles,” even though I am nothing at all. (2 Corinthians 12:11 NLT). There is a type of pride that masquerades as humility. If God has given you a gift, […]
20
Aug
Aug
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (Proverbs 4:3 NLT) In the Old Testament, the Bible speaks a lot about gatekeepers who guarded the entrances to the city and particularly to the Temple. Today, we need gatekeepers over the entrances to our hearts to keep evil from entering. […]
15
Aug
Aug
Cliff Young I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith; (2 Timothy 4:7 NKJV) We all want to finish the race well, yet some will and some will not. The Apostle Paul lived well, and therefore, he finished well. Cliff Young, a sixty-one-year-old farmer from Australia, entered the […]
05
Aug
Aug
You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. (Colossians 2:20-22 NLT). […]
01
Aug
Aug
Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God. (Isaiah 50:10 NIV) Many reading this piece write Christian literature, yet at times you feel as if no […]
29
Jul
Jul
I met Cletus Hull through Pure Joy Journal, a digital magazine for which we both write. Cletus has been in pastoral ministry for the last thirty-five years with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in western Pennsylvania. He served as a campus minister at the California University of PA (now PennWest California) from 1989-1996. Enjoy […]