Author: Fr. Barnabas Powell

Fr. Barnabas is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, Georgia. He is also host of Faith Encouraged Live on Ancient Faith Radio and author of the Faith Encouraged podcast.

Temporary Chains/Eternal Wisdom!

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
We learn how to make all of life sacred by making one moment of our life sacred. While that may really sound paradoxical, it makes perfect sense when you consider that it’s only by a focused effort I can wake up to a wider truth. If I try to take in the whole world, eternity, and all things, I get overwhelmed. Why do you think we are so impassioned by politics and…

Do You Know HOW You Know?

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
I never will forget the moment in college when I was confronted with the question “how do you know?” It was in an undergraduate philosophy class and I had actually never really thought about “how” I knew things. The fancy name for this is “epistemology.” And epistemology is the study of how we know. It turns out this is an extremely important question to ponder. So, how do YOU know what you…

What Is Your Definition of Freedom?

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
The old Janis Joplin song declares “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” Is that your definition of freedom? Nowadays the word “freedom” is usually used in the context of politics or revolution. And folks have reduced the definition of freedom to mean “doing what I want to do.” Of course, this is too small a definition, and we see this fault every time some group gets the power to…

Facing Temptations And Winning!

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
The old saying is “It is easier to avoid temptation than to resist it.” And while that may be true, our real lives have shown that we will most likely have to resist temptation more than we will be attentive enough to avoid it! But that isn’t all bad. The truth is learning to resist temptation builds those spiritual muscles that give me the confidence to grow in my faith and in…

WHY 5 Ministries in the Church

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
You can use a hammer to do many things, from nailing a board to a stud to breaking a window to even more nefarious and criminal acts, but “why” was the hammer made in the first place? Answer that question and you’ll get to the very nature of a hammer’s existence. If it works for a hammer, imagine what kind of clarity asking “why” of yourself can achieve. The fact is, it…

The Right Time!

· Fr. Barnabas Powell 1 Leave a Comment on %s
The American astronaut Buzz Aldrin once said “Timing has always been a key element in my life. I have been blessed to have been in the right place at the right time.” And, of course, this reminds me of the old saying in comedy, “Timing is everything.” It really is amazing when all the elements of time, opportunity, ability, and circumstances mix together to create just the right environment for things to happen! Frankly, I…

How Can a Man Be Born When He is Old? Part 5

· Fr. Barnabas Powell 1 Leave a Comment on %s
Christ is baptized! King Solomon says this in Ecclesiastes 12:13 – “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” And that’s a great way to wrap up our first week of devotionals for the New Year. But that also begs the question: How do I “fear God and keep His commandments?” All week long we have tried…

How Can a Man Be Born When He is Old? Part 4

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
St. Theophan, the Recluse declares “The chief end of our life is to live in communion with God. To this end, the Son of God became incarnate, in order to return us to this divine communion, which was lost by the fall into sin. Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we enter into communion with the Father and thus attain our purpose.” (LettersTo Various People, p.24) If St. Theophan is right,…

8 Years Old! Happy Anniversary

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
We celebrate the anniversary of our Daily Devotional in earnest on January 5. After 8 years of this devotional being a widespread outreach of our ministry, we are thrilled to announce that our little work to share the holy scriptures with you daily has crossed the 1 million views mark! Over 1 million views mean our efforts are touching people all over the world and reaching people with the sober and healthy…

How Can a Man Be Born When He is Old? Part 3

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
The implications of this false idea are enormous! This notion that the Physical world and the Spiritual world are separate and disconnected causes all kinds of problems, and that is mainly because this idea is FALSE. The Physical world and the Spiritual world are ONE WORLD because Jesus bridges the divide. IF you live as if the Spiritual world is either unreal or irrelevant, you are going to fall into the false…