Charisma Magazine

The Nomad Series, which also includes the film Sara Groves: Just Showed Up for My Own Life, now offers this documentary about nine people who travel to West Africa to put their faith into action.

In The Great Reverse, we see how they respond as they are confronted with the challenges of traveling thousands of miles away from home: culture shock, lost luggage, super-spicy food.

Editor's Note: The following message is the most recent posted on Barbara Yoder's new blog, which you can find at barbarayoderblog.com. The original title of the word is "We Are Contending."

We are in a season of contending. We must contend past the deception that has tried to mislead us. Deception blinds us from seeing what the real issue is, and hope deferred feeds deception. It feeds the faithless, half-empty-glass syndrome. I believe we are coming out of a season in which hope deferred seemed to abound.

Deception is part of the resistance that we have to overcome. It causes us to think, There are all kinds of reasons I can't break through this: "God doesn't care." "It's too hard." "I can't do it." "What did I do wrong?"

Deception tells us, "God hasn't come through before, so why would He now? And if He cares so much, why have things been so difficult during this season—and why has it hung around for two years? Why did God let this or that happen? He must not care." On and on the voice speaks.

Q: Upon hearing the title, What Bothers Me Most About Christianity, many people will be surprised to discover that this book was actually written by a Christian—and a pastor, no less. Why have you chosen to write on this topic?

A: Those who embrace Christ love Christianity, but some parts of faith still don't sit well. Not everyone is willing to admit this. Some claim they never experience tension or doubt—that their faith is always an ecstatic, absolute, unwavering "knowing" that bubbles inside them at all times, forever effervescent and never encroached upon by doubt.

Ten years after winning Super Bowl MVP, quarterback Kurt Warner let his faith help him through a valley.  Now, he's back on top and leading a second NFL team into this Sunday's Super Bowl XLIII.

Jan. 30, 2009 - Arizona Cardinals star quarterback Kurt Warner is not only a magnet for Super Bowl rings. His life's journey seems to draw in grace and favor over and over again.

Ten years after winning both the NFL's Super Bowl MVP and league MVP awards with the St. Louis Rams, Warner is back on top and leading the Arizona Cardinals, a franchise that has never appeared in a single Super Bowl, to face the Pittsburgh Steelers in this Sunday's Super Bowl XLIII.

If he wins, he becomes the first starting quarterback in NFL history to win Super Bowls with two different teams. If the Steelers win, history is also made, since they would become the only NFL team to ever win six Super Bowl titles. Whose side God is on would make for an interesting theological debate, since Pittsburgh's wild longhaired safety Troy Polamalu is also a devout Christian.

Unleash faith's prevailing power and watch obstacles and hindrances fall away.

As I was walking to my car from the grocery store recently, I was swept along by several strong gusts of wind. They caused traffic lights to sway, flags to ripple and pop, and drivers to take extra caution. Leaves, paper and other loose items in the wind's path were helplessly tossed about.

Suddenly I realized how very much like faith that wind was. Driven by the potency of God's Word, the assurance of Christ's love and the power of the Holy Spirit, faith operates in much the same way. It sweeps past obstacles and hindrances, clearing debris such as fear, doubt and unbelief out of the way and taking authority over the circumstances and conditions that threaten to impede our promises.

Jesus observed that "'from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force'" (Matt. 11:12, NKJV).