Jim Essian's Blog: JimEssian.com, page 4

Skeptics Don’t Hum

Adam had complete access to God; to the Mystery of the cosmos, the Wonder of all creation. Imagine the conversations:

Abba, why did you make watermelon?

For your joy.

But I already have grapes and apples and blueberries and bananas. Why is the world so delicious?

My goodness can’t be displayed in just one kind of fruit or taste. Every time you eat or drink—in whatever you do, I want you to wonder, to awe in, to glory in my manifest goodness.

And so Adam did.
He never got tired of God. 

You kn...

Anxiety – Part 3 – Take Inventory of Your Theology

This is Part 3 of a series on Anxiety. Read Part 1 and Part 2.

The most highlighted passage in the bible according to Amazon is Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything, with prayer and supplication, make your requests known to God.”

We are an anxious people. Our current American culture suffers from anxiety and stress-related disorders, perhaps, more than any other culture in the history of the world.

And despite being in the richest and most entertained nation in...

Anxiety – Part 2 – Take Inventory of Your Relationships

This is Part 2 of a series on Anxiety. Read Part 1 here.

The most highlighted passage in the bible according to Amazon is Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything, with prayer and supplication, make your requests known to God.”

We are an anxious people. Our current American culture suffers from anxiety and stress-related disorders, perhaps, more than any other culture in the history of the world.

And despite being in the richest and most entertained nation in the hi...

Anxiety – Part 1 – Take Inventory of Your Heart

Storms rage in our hearts and minds often. Life, relationships, circumstances—they trouble us. We realize that most things are out of control. We are unsure of what will happen from day to day. And so we live from stress to stress, and anxiety to anxiety. 

This stress leads to lots of conflict, eating disorders, insecurities, and all sorts of anxiety related things that, at the least, testify to us that we are not at peace. 

The most highlighted passage in the bible according to Amazon is Phi...

Before Galaxies Stood Forth, He Knew You

The cosmic love and wisdom of God should be a truth that collides with our heart (for it is personal to us) and explodes in our soul (for it will stir you to worship).

“…He chose us in him before the foundation of the world . . . . In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:4-5).

God spoke and galaxies stood forth. At his command, and by his very word, oceans and microscopic nanobes, mountain peaks and macadamia nuts...

Navigating the Mess

Ministry leaders will have days like this one I had recently: I talked with someone who was on the tail end of being mad at God and at me, spoke to a man about his pornography habit that was ruining his marriage, and then got a call at 10:30pm from a member who was with a friend who was going to commit suicide and most likely was under some spiritual (demonic) oppression. Instead of heading to bed, I headed over to help. It was dark and messy. Life is like that sometimes.

As I finally got int...

The Last Day

My wife and I married at the T&P Station in Downtown Fort Worth on February 1, 2004 and it was awesome. It was Super Bowl Sunday which wasn’t so awesome. The Patriots eked out a win over the Rams in the best Super Bowl ever—or at least that’s what they say, I never saw it.

But our wedding was great.

I gawked as my bride made her way down the aisle—beautiful in white, without wrinkle or spot, stunning—as an epic Andrea Bocelli song rang out in Italian (he might have been singing about cannolis...

Dating & Brokenness – Part 2

This post is a continuation from Dating & Brokenness – Part 1 .

We are spending way more time on the battlefield of dating, and the battlefield of just life, in our current cultural context. So we enter marriage with way more relational scars than any generation before us.

There’s lots of emotional scar tissue at the wedding altar these days.

The average age of marriage is 27 for women and 29 for men. So there’s much more time for relational brokenness or sexual brokenness to occur. We aren’t...

Dating & Brokenness – Part 1

We are spending way more time on the battlefield of dating, and the battlefield of just life, in our current cultural context. So we enter marriage with way more relational scars than any generation before us.

There’s lots of emotional scar tissue at the wedding altar these days.

The average age of marriage is 27 for women and 29 for men. So there’s much more time for relational brokenness or sexual brokenness to occur. We aren’t entering marriage in the same way that most every culture befor...

The Pastor at Home – His Words

I send out an email to my church once a month, and there’s over a 1000 people in our database. I average about 20 social media posts a month that go out to a couple of thousand people as well. Additionally, I preach roughly three sermons a month, averaging 4000 words a sermon, to about a 1000 different people over the course of the month.

That’s roughly 14,000 words that I speak or write to 3000-4000 people a month. Each word is carefully studied, prepared, edited, and prayed over (except for...