POSTS SEARCH
SEARCH
Endurance for the Journey, Featured

The Goodness of God

By on

July 15, 2025

- Endurance for the Journey, Featured

You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession.
As a result, you can show others the goodness of God,
for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
1 PETER 2:9 (NLT)



“The goodness of God is that which disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will to toward men. He is tenderhearted and of quick sympathy, and His unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness, and He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people … God created us because He felt good in His heart, and He redeemed us for the same reason” (AW Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy).

We all have some sort of picture of God in our minds. As AW Tozer says, “We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.” Some might picture God as just waiting to judge people. Like the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 who squandered his inheritance in wild living, you feel unworthy thinking “I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants” (Luke 15:18-19).

Oh but how surprising and shocking is the goodness and kindness of God. Consider the father’s response to his wayward son:

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead. and is alive again; he was lost and is found'” (Luke 15:20-24).


This is God’s heart towards sinners!

REFLECTION:
Put yourself in the prodigal son’s shoes for a moment and try to imagine what he felt like and expected from his father on his way home. How did this expectation contrast with the reality of how his father greeted him?

(Excerpt taken from The Increase Discipleship Handbook published and given permission by Professional Athletes Outreach. Website – pao.org)


On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky

0
Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Relationships

Knowing The Heart of God

By on

July 4, 2025

- Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Relationships

“Listen O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
And you must love the Lord your God
with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength.”
DEUTERONOMY 6:4-5 (NLT)



It is possible to have abundant knowledge about God but still not know His heart. You can learn a thousand truths about God and still not know Him in the experiential kind of way like you know a friend – just like you may know a lot of facts about a favorite athlete, but not actually know them.

This kind of experiential knowledge of God’s heart is what binds our heart to Him in love, helping us fulfill what Jesus summarized as the greatest commandment, which is to love God with all of heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Mark 12:29-31). Duty-filled or obligatory following will only go so far. But when we are captivated by the indescribable goodness, kindness, beauty, and heart of God, we are wooed to Him in ever-increasing measure. Christianity is about having a relationship with God; it is a relationship with the God who made us, loves us, and gave Himself for us – not a ritualistic or hollow religion.

It is important to emphasize, however, that our relationship with God is not based or built primarily on our feelings or perceived experience of our relationship with Him, but on God’s own unchanging character. Thus, even when we feel “far” from God, we can still be growing in our faith and relationship with Him as we seek Him, get to know Him, and dwell on His character.

REFLECTION:
Do you see the distinction between knowing about God versus knowing Him personally?


(Excerpt taken from The Increase Discipleship Handbook published and given permission by Professional Athletes Outreach. Website – pao.org)



On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky

0
Endurance for the Journey, Featured, His Word

Knowing the Heart of God

By on

June 27, 2025

- Endurance for the Journey, Featured, His Word

And may you have the power to understand,
as all God’s people should,
how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is.
May you experience the love of Christ,
though it is too great to understand fully.
EPHESIANS 3:18-19 (NLT)



The most important thing about any person is his or her view of God, for it shapes the entire course of one’s life. And yet, God is so utterly distinct from and above us that we can never fully comprehend Him or know who He is according to our own reason or speculation.

So then can we know Him?

We can only receive from Him revelation of who He is and through His own disclosure. If God were to disclose to us who He is in a specific way, we would remain in darkness about Him. Thankfully God has chosen to reveal Himself, and this revelation is most clearly seen through Jesus coming to this earth and through His written Word – The Bible (which carefully records God’s words, promises, redemptive history, and the climax to which it all points: Jesus – His birth, life, death, resurrection, works, and words).

Furthermore, as God reveals Himself to us personally, our faith is awakened and, spiritually speaking, the lights go on. It is through faith that we come to know God and interact with Him.


Reflection:
What are some of the first things that come into your mind when you think about God?


(Excerpt taken from The Increase Discipleship Handbook published and given permission by Professional Athletes Outreach. Website – pao.org)

On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

0
Endurance for the Journey, Featured, His Word

In God’s Image A Deeper Dive

By on

June 17, 2025

- Endurance for the Journey, Featured, His Word

Let’s take a deeper dive into God’s own words about being made in the image of God and how we are all hardwired to desire eternal life and happiness. God made all people in His image, to reflect His goodness and character in the world.



Then God said,
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the birds of the heavens and
over the livestock and over all the earth and
over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them,
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it,
and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens
and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
GENESIS 1:26-28

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him, and
the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower that the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet …
PSALM 8:3-6

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and
knit me together in my mother’s womb …
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day passed.
PSALM 139:13, 16



Reflection:
If every person is made by God (knit together in their mother’s womb) in the image of God and cared for by God, what does this say about the inherent value, equality, and dignity of every person?



On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky

0
Endurance for the Journey, Featured, His Word

Made in God’s Image

By on

May 20, 2025

- Endurance for the Journey, Featured, His Word

Dear Friends of Endurance: As we continue on our journey through the Discipleship Handbook, we shift from understanding the importance of having a high view of God to now understanding that we are “Made in God’s Image!” Think about that for a moment, God created man in His own image! It is absolutely amazing to me but it is also very convicting to me when I think of how I’ve looked and treated others in the past at times and not seeing them as being “Made in the Image of God.” However, theses days it is a much different story. I remind myself that we are ALL made in His image!



Made in God’s Image

Then God said, let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness …
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. And God blessed them.
And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply
and fill the earth and subdue it …”
GENESIS 1:26-28 (NIV)



In Genesis 1:26-28, we see that God created man and and woman in His image, after His likeness, and gave them dominion over the earth.


So what does it mean to be made in God’s image? Primarily it means that we are created with the capacity to know and reflect God to the world. We were given by God spiritual, moral, and creative capacities to first and foremost be able to know, love, and worship God. We were also given these capacities to reflect the goodness and character of God by the way we take care of God’s creation and interact with others. As a mirror clearly reflects an image, so we are made to clearly reflect God out into the world.



Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and the man became a living creature.
GENESIS 2:7 (NIV)



It was God’s breath – God’s own energy and life – that gave Adam life. God breathed life and spirit into Adam through His Spirit, the Spirit who is the breath of God and gives life to all things. Unlike other created creatures, man has the ability to commune with God and to exercise dominion over the earth. When God breathed life and spirit into Adam, he was perfectly whole and integrated, working in harmony with God.



REFLECTION: How do you see and experience the “image of God” (Imago Dei) in yourself and others, and the reality that we are more than just physical beings?



On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky

0
Endurance for the Journey, Faith, Featured

Deeper Dive One True God

By on

April 26, 2025

- Endurance for the Journey, Faith, Featured

Let’s take a deeper dive into God’s own words about God as the Sovereign Creator and one true God.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
GENESIS 1:1

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
PSALM 19:1

Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities –
his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen,
being understood from what has been made,
so that people are without excuse.
For although they knew God,
they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him …
ROMANS 1:20-21

“For I am God, and there is no other; I am God and thee is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,saying,
‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.'”
ISAIAH 46:9-10

The God who made the world and everything in it –
he is Lord of heaven and earth – does not live in shrines made by hands.
Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything,
since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.
From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth
and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries
of where they live. He did this so that they might seek God, and
perhaps they might reach out and find him,
though he is not far from each one of us.
For in him we live and move and have our being …
ACTS 24-28

REFLECTION:
When you consider the power of God revealed in these verses, how does it impact you?

On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky

0
Endurance for the Journey, Featured

The Fear and Reverence of God

By on

April 14, 2025

- Endurance for the Journey, Featured

Dear Friends of Endurance:
As we continue with our journey through the Discipleship Handbook, we are confronted with the “fear” of God. During my early years of growing up I recall having an unhealthy view of the “fear of God.” I actually thought that God was someone you couldn’t get close to. Years later when I became a follower of Jesus what compelled me to put my trust in Jesus was His desire to have a personal relationship with me! No longer did I feel I couldn’t get close to God because He was to be “feared” but He actually calls me His Friend and I am His.


Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom.
PROVERBS 9:10 (NLT)



Anytime someone encounters God in the Bible, they fall flat on their face in fear; which is actually an appropriate response if you consider it.

This type of fear, however, should not drive us away, but draw us in. In C.S. Lewis’ classic book The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, one exchange between Susan and Mr. Beaver captures this idea of the kind of fear and wonder that draws you in:

“Aslan is a lion – The Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh,” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“Safe?” Said Mr. Beaver. “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”

We are told in Proverbs that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” Proverbs 9:10. This fear of God is by nature humble, recognizing that God is God, and we are not. When we have humble reverence for God, we are ready to receive and follow His instruction, which leads to abundant life and a life well lived.

As you set your mind and heart upon the all-powerful Creator with humility and reverence, you will find yourself taking the first big step towards knowing God and discovering your purpose and unique calling.



REFLECTION:
When or where do you most often experience this type of humble fear and reverence for God? How would you describe what it feels like?



On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

0
Endurance for the Journey, Featured

A High View of God

By on

April 14, 2025

- Endurance for the Journey, Featured

Seven Truths About God



When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers –
the moon and the stars you set in place –
What are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
PSALM 8:3-4 (NLT)



In Exodus 3:14, when Moses asks God to name Himself, God replies, “I AM WHO I AM.” There is so much foundational truth about God packed into this one name. Here are seven truths about God we discover from this name: He is independent and self-existent, with no beginning and no end. Before the earth and universe existed, He existed in absolute reality -There was no reality before Him, and no reality exists outside of Him creating it.God contains within Himself unbounded and unlimited resources of energy, life, and power.
He is the Source of all things, and depends on nothing to have His being , to support Him, or to counsel Him.
He is free and able to do all that He pleases (omnipotent), and nothing or no one can thwart His plans.
He alone defines what is true, right, beautiful, and good, and knows all things (omniscient) all truth beauty, and goodness find their ultimate source in Him alone.
He is eternal and unchanging and present everywhere (omnipresent). He is “the yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). In John 4:24, Jesus says, “God is spirit,” which means that He is non-material, not confined to space or distance or natural processes, and present everywhere. He fills the universe as the waters fill the seas. Nothing can even come close to comparing to Him, as Isaiah 40:17 says, “All the nations are as nothing before Him.” The immense vastness and glory of creation simply testify and point to His Divine power and majesty (Romans 1:20).
He is worthy to be praised. Nothing is worth more than God.

O Lord, our Lord, Your majestic name fills the earth!
PSALM 8:9

REFLECTION:
Which of these “I AM” truths about God impact you most and why?



On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky

0
Depression, Endurance for the Journey, Featured

Helping a Friend Who is Battling Depression

By on

October 4, 2024

- Depression, Endurance for the Journey, Featured

Spiritual Support

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other
so that you may be healed.
The earnest prayer of a righteous person
has great power and produces wonderful results.
JAMES 5:16 (NLT)



Prayer is a powerful weapon in the battle of depression. One of the most troubling symptoms of depression is the lack of emotions and feelings. That numbness often occurs in your friends relationship with God – your friend can sometimes feel that there is a cement ceiling between them and God. Knowing that someone else is standing in the gap for them in prayer can be especially encouraging.

* Follow up on your prayers, “I’ve been praying specifically about (fill in the blank). How is that going?

* Read to them the Scriptures pertaining to King David’s struggle and deliverance from depression and the prophet Elijah’s struggles with depression after a great spiritual victory. (King David – Psalms 6, 31, 32:6-7, 38, 40:1-5, 42, 51:17, 103) (Elijah – 1 Kings 19:1-18)

* Encourage your friend by letting them know that God’s Presence isn’t dependent upon their feelings. God will never abandon or forsake them. (Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:9, Psalm 9:9-10, Psalm 40:1-3)

* Offer to pray with your friend, especially when he or she hits a recovery road block or needs an injection of hope and encouragement. Always guiding your friend to the Ultimate Source of True Hope and Healing – Jesus.

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.
Stay alert and persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
EPHESIANS 6:18 (NLT)



On the journey with you,
Jan Dravecky

0
Depression, Endurance for the Journey, Featured

Helping a Friend Who is Battling Depression

By on

October 4, 2024

- Depression, Endurance for the Journey, Featured

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT

So speak encouraging words to one another.
Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this,
no one left out, no one left behind.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:11 (THE MESSAGE)



You can also offer your friend much needed emotional support.
Here are some suggestions:

Learn about depression so you are better able to understand what your friend is experiencing, why he or she may be reacting in certain ways and what to expect while your friend is in treatment.

It’s okay to ask someone who is battling depression how they are feeling. However, if you ask, stick around to really listen. Your friend needs to know that you aren’t just asking out of courtesy but that you really care about how he or she is doing. Don’t dismiss negative and disparaging remarks. Your friend is being honest. It’s okay, however, to gently respond with truth-based and hopeful comments. However, if your friend or loved one makes comments that are self-destructive, seek immediate help. Depression can be life threatening.

Initiate activities with your friend that he or she likes, especially if those activities involve physical exercise such as golfing, swimming, hiking, etc.

Don’t be forceful with your friend about participating in social events and activities. Encourage but don’t push. You may cause your friend to feel overwhelmed or guilty. One woman described her depression as the equivalent of driving a car down the freeway in first gear. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t use a higher gear. Don’t expect your friend to drive faster than he or she is capable.

Offer encouragement and praise when your friend takes positive steps towards recovery such as joining a support group, exercise or art class.



On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky

0