God ordains and orchestrates all things for the good of His people (Romans 8:28). This means no word, no pain, no trial, and no joy are ever wasted because He uses them all for His eternal purposes. This often seems mysterious, or even ludicrous, but we walk by faith and not by sight. Our God sees what we don’t see and knows what we don’t know.
The posts on this blog are intended to stir your hearts to trust the God who works all things together for the good of His people. I pray you will be encouraged and strengthened by them.
Grace and Peace,
Garrett Kell
Pastor, Del Ray Baptist Church
You can learn about me here and get regular wisdom bombs by following me on Twitter.
Below you can also find other things I’ve written:
DesiringGod
- You Will Regret Giving In: What to Do When Tempted
- Can We Sin in Our Sleep?: What to Do with Troubling Dreams
- Kill Whatever Kills Your Love for God
- What God Might Do with Satan’s Arrows: The Legacy of John Chau (1991–2018)
- Lord, Help Me See Their Destiny: Four Prayers for Personal Evangelism
- If They Fell, So Can You: How Sin Seduced the Strongest, Wisest, and Godliest
- Good Lovemaking Is About God
- It’s a Wonderful Time to Be Christian: Five Reasons for Optimism in America
The Gospel Coalition
- When God Says No to Your Earnest Prayers
- Is Jesus Really the Virgin-Born Child in Isaiah 7?
- Why Did God Kill Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10?
- Who First Showed Garrett Kell the Beauty of Jesus?
- The Most Epic Bible Study of All Time
- 3 Ways I Plan to Read the Bible Less in 2018
- I Was a Pastor Hooked on Porn
- Envision the End of Your Sin
- Every Book of the Bible in One Word
- What Happens to Our Pets When They Die?
- A New Go-To Series on the Church
- Pastors, Learn From Non-Pastors
- Stop Photobombing Jesus
- When God Chased Me
- His Way Was Through the Sea
- Finding Forgiveness After My Abortion
- A Sample Statement on Regular Church Attendance: 7 Reasons Why Faithfully Showing Up Matters
- The Pattern Among Fallen Pastors
- Advice for a New Elder
- Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples
- The Spirit Is Willing But the Schedule Is Tight
- The Second-Most Important Book for Every Christian
- The Gospel for a Gay Friend
- The Toughest Conversation I’m Glad I Had
- The Great Tragedy of the 2012 Election
9Marks
- How Love Paves the Way for Hard Conversations
- Pastor, Train Future Pastors
- How Do I Avoid Pastoral Burnout During COVID-19?
- Does Pornography Use Disqualify a Pastor?
- Loving Your Family While Leading God’s Church
- 27 Ways to Use Your Confession and Covenant
- Giving and Receiving Godly Criticism: Sharpening Each Other With Your Words
- Encourage One Another: Giving Grace with Your Words
- Should I Tell My Spouse about Struggles with Sexual Purity?
- Four Ways to Equip New Elders
- Raising Up Elders: Four Foundational Principles
- Discipleship and the Paradoxes of Growth
- Discipleship According to the Scriptures
- Not Your Grandma’s Sunday School
- Book Review: Church Planting Thresholds, by Clint Clifton
- Book Review: The Imperfect Pastor, by Zack Eswine
- Book Review: Caring for Widows, by Brian Croft and Austin Walker
- Book Review: On Preaching, by H. B. Charles
For the Church
- He’s a Good Father, Even in Our Suffering
- Followed By The God of Grace
- 7 Reasons Not To Skip Church
- When My Halloween Became My Reformation Day
- What Would Jesus Say to People Buying and Selling Baby Parts?
- Precious and Very Great Promises
- How ISIS Helped Salmaa Become a Christian
- We Wait For Jesus; Jesus Waits For Us
- Will God Provide For Your Needs?
- The Purpose and Privileges of Marriage
ERLC
- 4 things my family discussed after passing Victoria’s Secret
- Why an unwanted pregnancy is about the baby and the father, too
- 12 observations after reading The Porn Phenomenon
- How should a pastor counsel a man whose girlfriend had an abortion?
- What is one word you would give to someone who has had an abortion?
- How can a pastor lead his congregation in an age of abortion?
- 7 questions about transgenderism that expose our hypocrisy
- Is this our pro-life moment?
- Life is Short. Don’t Have an Affair.
- What would Jesus say to someone like Leelah Alcorn?
Am blessed by your Blog entries! Please add me so that I know when you’ve posted a new one!
Thank you,
Mark
Hi Garrett,
Thank you very much for all your good work and for your blog.
I would like to contact you.
Best in Christ,
Marcel
Planting Churches inside Muslim Community
Email: jesustomuslims@gmail.com / pastorbashir@gmail.com
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Sub: kindly pray for God’s protection in our lives from the hands of Radical Muslims
Dear Pastor,
Greetings to you in the most precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ from India!
We are very glad to share with you that God has given us burden & vision in our lives to reach specifically to The MUSLIMS by The Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have dedicated our lives into His hands to be used according to His will & plan in our lives.
Our Lord Jesus is using us to fulfil His plan & will in and through our lives. Already Several Muslims men & women surrendered their lives to Jesus and they are following His teachings. They are witnessing about Jesus and their testimonies to their relatives & neighbors. God is adding more men & women to our worship services almost every week for His own glory.
Militant Muslims are often torturing physically and trying to kill us and the believers from Muslim background for their new faith in Jesus. Even though we are facing heavy persecutions & threats by the Militant Muslims, but our Lord Jesus is using our lives for the extension of His Kingdom and He has protected us for His own glory. Militant Muslims are constantly trying to murder us. Our lives are in danger at this moment.
We are in great need of your kind prayers in our own lives and for the persecuted believers. Humbly, we request you kindly pray for God’s protection from the hands of Militant Muslims. Please also pray that we might be always faithful to His call in our lives and grow in Him.
We humbly request you kindly write few words to us for encouragement.
With regards,
Bashir & Ayeasha
KINDLY PRAY FOR: House Church Fellowship, Discipleship Ministry, Women Ministry, Children Ministry, Health Care Ministries for the women & Children and Compassion Ministry (such as Distributing Clothes & blankets to the poor children & Sarees to poor woman, Free tuition to the needy students, Feeding to the poor children , helping to the persecuted believers those who lost their sources of income & houses for their faith in Jesus, Educational help to the poor & needy students, Providing Nutrients for Malnourished children)
Tried to comment on your article re: Leelah’s suicide. Received message that your site identified me as a spammer. I’m Not. Can you fix this?
Hi Pastor Garret,
I am Fabio, and I’m leaving the homossexuality. I’ve tried to find help about this, but some ministries, like Exodus, have closed. I am from Brazil. Could you help me in any way?
My e-mail is: fabiojunior-ipc@hotmail.com
Good morning Garrett Kell,
Thank you for your Blog which is very interesting and well done!
I found on your blog a nice picture of a Bible which I would like to use on my own blog:
http://garrettkell.com/why-i-plan-to-read-less-of-the-bible-this-year/
Do you agree to let me use this picture on my blog? I would obviously make reference to your website as the source of the picture.
Please let me know if it is ok or not.
Kind regards
Philippe
I apologize for my slow reply. You can certainly use it. Thanks for asking.
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I loved the Black Panther article you wrote! As a African-American woman, it was SOOOO refreshing to see black men and woman in a film that was not solely focused on their being in bondage. Also loved seeing black women portrayed with dignity, strength, poise and sensitivity (very rare these days!). It’s a more wholistic picture of the black women I grew up knowing and admiring. While they didn’t carry spears, they were fighters in their own rights. Anyways, thanks for a great read!