by Elaine Olsen | Jul 3, 2025 | christian perfection, courage, discipleship, faith, freedom, obedience
What’s the strongest weapon in your arsenal of faith against the forces of evil and wickedness in the world? What do you most rely upon when standing on the front lines of a spiritual battle? Prayer? Bible reading? Fasting? Witnessing? Worship? Steadfastness?...
by Elaine Olsen | Apr 2, 2017 | discipleship, joy, kingdom, letting go, surrender
“He said, ‘Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.’ When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.” -John 12:6 Spring fever has hit these parts. I don’t know about...
by Elaine Olsen | Oct 1, 2016 | conviction, discipleship, fellowship with God, God's voice, God's Word, kingdom, living God's truth, ministry life, obedience, truth, words
My students and I have just finished reading Song of the Brook by Matlida Nordtvedt. As literary prose goes, it doesn’t measure up to the classics, but it does serve a purpose in our classroom. It’s one book in a continuing series of books presented annually to...
by Elaine Olsen | Jun 9, 2015 | christian perfection, discipleship, faith, kingdom, Lessons from the Lunchroom, ministry life, obedience, trust
Rough edges. I have some. They were readily exposed for me to clearly see this past year. The catalyst for that exposure? Fifteen students hand-picked by God to move me on toward my perfection! For the past several years, I’ve been incubated from such exposure; life...
by Elaine Olsen | May 13, 2014 | calling, discipleship, family fun, grace, Holy Spirit, Lessons from the Lunchroom, living God's truth, obedience, out of the mouths of babes, parenting
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we...
by Elaine Olsen | Apr 24, 2014 | a quick word, discipleship, friendship, kingdom, living God's truth, ministry life, peace, peace for the journey, pilgrimage
A few things occur to me this morning while reading Luke’s account of “Jesus sending out the seventy-two” (Luke 10:1-24). In particular, I’m focusing on two sentiments/phrases that Jesus instructed his disciples to use in their evangelism campaigns. What...