Written by: April J. Buchanan They speak softly, humbly, and convincingly. “It’s okay if you take medicine and go to the doctor,” they say. “Your faith is not like mine, and that’s okay. I have faith I can overcome this without medicine, but if you need to, take it. Do what is to the measure…

Written by: April J. Buchanan What is the expectation when you visit a church? Do you expect to hear God’s Word opened and exposited, or are you looking for something else? While out of town with my husband, I visit different churches. With our recent change of locations, I have the task of finding a…

Written by: April J. Buchanan You say that you test every “prophetic word spoken over your life,” yet you do not test every word you claim God spoke to you for someone else; instead, you place that burden entirely on their shoulders alone. So let us deal only with the words of those who claim…

Written by: April J. Buchanan Sound doctrine is not merely “right” doctrine or about being intellectually correct. It is healthy, true, powerful, and life-giving, sanctifying all who live by it. The phrase literally means “healthful, wholesome teaching.” Scripture warns that many, far more than a few, will not be able to endure sound doctrine. They…

Written by: April J. Buchanan A heart renewed day by day in hope rests in the sovereign grace of God at work in the believer and by means of His Word, which has a purifying effect on the mind and heart whereby the saint is changed and is being changed, even when the effects are…

Written by: April J. Buchanan She, who was made in His image, was born in sin and became worthless. She stood justly condemned. Yet He, who is righteous and holy, takes what is worthless and makes it beautiful. He removes her heart of stone and gives her a heart of flesh. He puts His Spirit…

Written by: April J. Buchanan The problem with the belief that fallen man possesses free will is that it assumes something inherently good remains in him by which he may reach out to God apart from God’s sovereign work in salvation. It assumes that man is capable of contributing to his salvation by means of…

Written by: April J. Buchanan The problem with hearing words that strike fear into your heart and urge you to flee now to Christ because tomorrow you may die is this: when tomorrow comes and you wake again, you convince yourself you have overcome that fear. You begin to call it irrational. You comfort yourself…

Written by: April J. Buchanan I could breathe. When, by God’s grace, you finally stop resisting the testing of your beliefs against Scripture, because if you are honest you are afraid they may very well be proven wrong, and you allow Scripture to confirm or destroy what you believe, it will either result in greater…

Written by: April J. Buchanan A love that grows must have boundaries. Boundaries do not suffocate love. They protect it. They define it. They nourish it and guard it from all that would corrupt, distort, or destroy it. The world labors to erase the very boundaries that protect love while insisting that love cannot thrive…