One of the many blessings that come from intimacy is the overwhelming joy of sensing God’s presence.

God wants us to be “fully persuaded” that no matter what happens, He will work all things together for good.

In our next two articles, we will be wrapping up our series on Faith in the Night Seasons. I pray this series has been a blessing and has helped you understand a little more clearly some of God's ways. Even though an intimate relationship with the Lord often comes through trials and brokenness, nothing in all the earth compares to it.

In our series called Faith in the Night Seasons, we've been talking about intimacy with Godwhat intimacy is, how we get it and what we must do to maintain it.

Over the last several months we have been exploring the dark night of the soul, and how God wants us to surrender everything in our lives that is unholy or unrighteous - anything that we put first other than Christ.

A very Merry Christmas to you and to all your family. My prayer is that God will bless you with His presence this Christmas more than you've ever experienced before.

The dark night of the soul often comes upon us suddenly and without advance warning. This night can end in one of two ways. If we understand what God's basic will is and we relinquish ourselves to Him, we can experience the glorious presence of the Lord even in the midst of our trial.

How do you react when your dreams, your plans and your hopes blow up in your face? What is your response when you were so sure you had heard from God and you thought He had encouraged you to move ahead, and then all of a sudden everything crumbled?

Over the last several months we have been exploring the topic of faith - faith in the night seasons. For some this is a difficult subject, but for others it's of the utmost importance. The latter group sees the trials and tribulations that Christians are now facing becoming more intense than ever before, and they are longing for understanding.

No matter what is occurring in our lives, keeping our eyes and our focus upon Jesus Christ is essential. He is not only our Savior, our Lord, and our King, He is also our role model and our example. He showed us how to live the Christian life perfectly.

It's Memorial Day weekend and I'm sitting in Mom's hospital room, watching her sleep. Life has become so very precious to our family over the last couple of years as we have seen so many of our loved ones make the transition "home."

Faith is the key that opens the door to our spiritual victory and enables us to walk triumphantly with Jesus. Only true faith can overcome the world, the flesh and the devil. (1 John 5:4) To "overcome" means to be able to conquer our sin, our self, our circumstances and our trials through the power of faith.

What is faith? Over the last several months we have been exploring this very critical and essential subject. And as we have reiterated over and over again, few subjects in the Bible are more important for us to understand and live than that of faith.

We began a series of articles last month on why faith is so important in our lives. We defined faith as being fully persuaded that what God has promised, He will perform.

Few subjects in the Bible are more important for us to understand than that of faith. The dictionary tells us that faith is "confidence or trust in a person or thing." Since human trust has been greatly abused in this world, many people have chosen to put their faith in "something" rather than "someone." This should never be true of the believer.

Last month we continued our series of articles on Faith in the Night Seasons by exploring God's will and how we can know it personally. What is God's will for decisions like, "Should I take that new job offer?"..."Should I marry?" ... "Should I have that operation?"

Exploring God's sovereign will, His revealed will, His will for all mankind and His will for believers hopefully has been helpful. But what about daily knowing God's specific, individual and personal will for our lives? "Should we take that new job offer?" "Would it be better if we move to that new city?"

Continuing on in our series Faith in the Night Seasons, how appropriate it is during this Christmas season that we first spend a few moments remembering how much God loves us. The whole purpose of our book Faith in the Night Seasons is to show the length, the height and the depth of God's Love toward us.

Over the last several months as we have been reviewing our new book Faith in the Night Seasons, we've taken some time to really explore God's basic will for our lives. According to the Bible, there seem to be four different aspects to God's will:

In order to thoroughly explore "night seasons," their origin and purpose, we need to go back to the beginning. What is God's basic will for our lives and how does He achieve it? In other words, why has He called us to be Christians in the first place?

Where is the Love of God in our land? Where are the genuine Christians who really walk in His truth? Isn't there anyone who "knows" God intimately?

God's primary goal and purpose for our lives as Christians is that Christ may be formed in us and lived out through us. "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed into the image of His Son."

What is God's basic will for our lives as Christians?

As a Christian, have you ever felt abandoned by God or disappointed with Him? Have you ever asked, "Where is He when everything in my life is falling apart?"

I am so excited to finally be able to share Faith in the Night Seasons with you. I've lived the material in this book for the last seven years, and it has taken me a year and a half to write, so you can understand my joy and excitement at its publication.

Well, this will be our last newsletter article on the subject of being transformed by the renewing of our minds. To me, Romans 12:1-2 is one of the most important verses in the Bible. (It's also one of my own life verses.) I do pray this series of articles has proved helpful in your walk with the Lord.