Laurel J. Davis

Laurel is a pastor's wife from New Beginnings Believers Bible Fellowship ("Where Truth Really Matters") in Los Angeles. She is also an experienced Christian writer, editor and speaker, and is director of her church's women's ministry which focuses on the "Titus 2 Principles" of verses 3-5. Her blog, The Reluctant First Lady, is based on the warnings of 2 Timothy 3:1 - 4:4 and takes a bold, non-sugar-coated stance for God's truth on a variety of topics from a pastor's wife's perspective. Her goal is to lead people to their Bibles, to see if what they are being told is really true — including by her. For Blogos.org, Laurel's hope is that fellow believers will be encouraged and strengthened in their thinking, outlook, walk and growth in the things of the Lord. Laurel and her husband have been married for more than 27 years and have four children (two of whom are in the U.S. Military) and a grandchild. By God's grace, all of them received the Lord Jesus as Savior at an early age.

	Don't rock the boat! \| Apr 18, 2016 Are you suffering or accused unjustly? Trust in the truth, not in underhanded ways to prove your innocence. Don't rock the boat! Read more...
	"Lord, Show me What I'm Really Like" \| Mar 28, 2016 Have you ever asked God to show you what you're really like? Too scared? It's only by acknowledging and repenting of our sin that we can be free of it. Read more...
	Resurrection Power and the Abundant Life \| Mar 11, 2016 Jesus' resurrection promises us abundant life. But is that life here on earth now? Or waiting us in heaven? Read more...
	Gather in His Name \| Feb 22, 2016 Going to church doesn't make you a Christian and avoiding a church doesn't make you an unbeliever. But God does give us very specific instructions to gather together in His name. Read more...
	Real Rest for the Weary \| Feb 18, 2016 Are you weary? Frustrated with God's timing? Tell Him about it. Then open His word and find encouragement and rest for your weary journey. Read more...
	"Who do you say that I am?" \| Feb 3, 2016 Jesus said if we deny Him, He will deny us to the Father. What does that mean for Peter, who denied Him three times? Read more...
	The Costs and Compensations of Following Christ \| Jan 25, 2016 Abuse, hate, a cross, love, peace; there are many costs to following Christs, but the compensations outweigh them all. Read more...
	Be Holy and Acceptable to God \| Jan 5, 2016 Sometimes we know the right thing to do, but we'd rather take the punishment than obey God. Instead of rebelling or wanting to win, we should strive to be "holy and acceptable." Read more...
	Vicarious Living \| Dec 14, 2015 To live vicariously is to live in place of someone else. Who do we live like? Read more...
	The Greek Geek: Holy and Righteous \| Nov 30, 2015 To be holy and righteous are both noble things, but they are not the same. Discovering the difference between holiness and righteousness. Read more...
	Contentment: A Richer Pursuit \| Nov 9, 2015 Between the richness that denies a reliance on God and the poverty that leads to fear and sin is a blessed contentment. Read more...
	Appointed to His Service \| Oct 28, 2015 How do we serve God? Through the church. When we show up to the church, the Word of God will show us how God can use us to serve Him and others. Read more...
	Deliver Me! \| Oct 13, 2015 A prayer from the broken to He Who delivers. Read more...
	A Personal Perspective on "First Lady" of the Church \| Sep 15, 2015 What is the "first lady" of the church? Is it biblical for the pastor's wife to receive special honor? Read more...
	Customized Religion versus Biblical Christianity \| Sep 2, 2015 The Bible is not a computer program; we can't just pick and choose what to load. In order for it to be effective, we must use all of it. Read more...
	The Gospel Does Not Need Our Help \| Aug 20, 2015 Why do preachers feel the need to embellish the Gospel? Why do churches over-dramatize, exaggerate, and over-emphasize their role in the ministry of the Gospel? Read more...
	Opinions and Accountability: from Here to Eternity \| Aug 5, 2015 "Christians are mentally ill," George Carlin said. He surely felt convicted of his opinions, but did he understand what it would mean if he were wrong? Read more...
	True Blood Relatives \| Jul 20, 2015 Genes, culture, and ethnicity can make us feel like family, but there is no thicker blood than that of Jesus. Read more...
	#AllSoulsMatter: 7 Reasons Why My Faith, Not My Race, Comes First \| Jul 13, 2015 There is a time to protest against racial injustice, to use the cry #BlackLivesMatter or even #AllLivesMatter. But our faith, always, comes before our skin. Read more...
	Living by the Word and Not the World \| Jun 15, 2015 The world tells us to feed the flesh and follow the immoral majority. The Word tells us to be transformed. Only one choice leads to life. Read more...
	Discernment: Your Fool-Proof Tool for Following God \| May 27, 2015 Too often we make decisions and judgment calls by the seat of our pants. What does it mean to have real discernment? Read more...
	How All Things Can Work Together for Good \| May 13, 2015 The Bible says that all things for for good to those who love God and are called for His purpose. How can we build our faith to actually believe — and see — God's promise? Read more...
	Life is Like a Box \| Apr 30, 2015 Your life is like a box; what you allow in it determines who you are. Read more...
	Light to Grow \| Apr 15, 2015 To grow into a strong, spiritually healthy and fruitful Christian, we must be rooted and built up in Christ. How do we grow toward the light? Read more...
	Christ is Risen! Personally Experiencing the Resurrected Lord \| Mar 30, 2015 He is Risen! But what does that mean for us? How can we experience the resurrection of Jesus in our lives? Read more...
	The Narrow (Minded) Way of Biblical Christianity \| Mar 3, 2015 Critics say biblical Christianity is narrow-minded. It too specifically defines good and evil, right and wrong. Jesus says they're right — Christianity is a narrow road. Read more...
	"The Umbrella Fashion Show" \| Feb 17, 2015 God's Word protects us like an umbrella. The question is, which umbrella do we choose? Read more...
	Experience is Our Second Best Teacher \| Feb 4, 2015 Experience is easy to believe. It's immediate. Emotional. Compelling. But everything, including experience, must be compared to the Bible. Read more...
	Shrouds: A Reflection on the Shroud of Turin \| Jan 21, 2015 The Shroud of Turin distracts us from the hard evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's one of many shrouds we use to cover biblical truth. Read more...
	Comfort Food: Be Fed to the Full on God's Word \| Jan 14, 2015 Too often we look to food (or TV, the internet, shopping, etc.) when we are frustrated and lonely. But the Word of God is the ultimate comfort food. Read more...
	Do you know Jesus? It's how you say it \| Jan 7, 2015 It's a simple question, but the most important you'll ever answer. And how you answer it will depend on how you ask it — Do you know Jesus? Read more...
	Are You Listening? \| Dec 16, 2014 Christ's words to the seven churches in Revelation are just as applicable to us as they were to them. Are you listening to those words? Read more...
	Presence for Christmas: That Baby in a Manger Grew Up! \| Dec 10, 2014 Christmas presents are great! But even better is the presence of Jesus who grew up from that baby and died on the cross for our sins. Read more...
	Peace in the Midst of the Storm \| Dec 3, 2014 When life is nothing but storms, Jesus still tells us, Peace. Be still. Let us pass to the other side. Read more...
	Learning What You're Taught \| Nov 19, 2014 Church is a good place to learn about our relationship to God. But we're also called to be responsible for our own Bible study. Read more...
	Forgiveness According to Scripture \| Nov 12, 2014 Christians are often taught that we must forgive, immediately and completely. Does the Bible really say that? Or is there another step that's often skipped over? Read more...
	Child-Like Faith \| Nov 6, 2014 With childlike boldness, we should humbly put all our faith, trust, and delight in our Creator. Read more...
	Blessings from the Genealogy of Jesus \| Oct 29, 2014 Jesus' genealogy reveals two things to us: Who He is to us and who we are to Him. The broken branches in His family tree show He can accept the brokenness in us. Read more...
	The Cut of His Two-Edged Sword \| Oct 21, 2014 God wields His Word like a two-edged sword to cut off His enemies on the one hand, and on the other to cut out the crap that plagues His imperfect children. Read more...
	The Purpose of the Congregation \| Oct 15, 2014 When a believer doesn't regularly assemble together in God-fearing fellowship with other members of the family of Christ, not only does he close off other people whom he can help, he also closes himself off to all of the benefits that a close spiritual family offers — a family he can rely on, stand up for and share in God's blessings with. Read more...
	The Haman Factor \| Oct 8, 2014 "The Haman Factor": when the noose you wickely devise for someone else's neck ends up around your own. How the gentle humility of Esther saved herself and her people. Read more...
	As You wish \| Sep 29, 2014 Do we love Jesus enough to say, "As You wish" to the things He asks of us? What is our heart attitude towards Him when He reminds us, through His Word and by His Holy Spirit, what He expects from us as His ambassadors? Read more...
	The Fiery Furnace of Popular Opinion \| Sep 24, 2014 How hard it is to stay on the straight and narrow path when the wide and crooked one's got a "politically correct" party going on with all the folks trying to trip you up, drag you down, knock you over or take you out. Read more...
	Heavyweight Champion \| Sep 17, 2014 Fight the good fight. No matter how our bodies may fail, we are more than conquerors — more than "heavyweight champions" — through Christ. Read more...
	What color is your life? \| Sep 10, 2014 Classrooms use a color chart to check students' attitudes from "Outstanding" to "Parent Contact." What color is your attitude? Read more...
	Infectious True Love \| Sep 3, 2014 Only by a personal relationship through Jesus Christ can anyone really know true love. God's love is not 'too good to be true' but is as good as it is because of the very fact that it is true. God is love as well as truth. Read more...
	The Comfort of Christ \| Aug 27, 2014 Whatever you're going through right now, God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). Wow. Did you get that? Read more...
	Conviction is Better than Guilt \| Aug 20, 2014 There is a big difference between feeling guilty about something and feeling convicted. Both guilt and conviction cause pain in the sense that they both make you feel bad about your wrong. But guilt gives you a pained mind, while conviction gives you a changed mind. Read more...
	Hot, cold, or in-between? \| Aug 13, 2014 If we look honestly at Christians today, many of us live in that comfortable in-between. But Jesus calls us to be "hot" — fervent — for Him and cold toward sin. Read more...

Image: Luz Bratcher; Production Still; Some rights reserved

	Don't rock the boat! \| Apr 18, 2016 Are you suffering or accused unjustly? Trust in the truth, not in underhanded ways to prove your innocence. Don't rock the boat! Read more...
	"Lord, Show me What I'm Really Like" \| Mar 28, 2016 Have you ever asked God to show you what you're really like? Too scared? It's only by acknowledging and repenting of our sin that we can be free of it. Read more...
	Resurrection Power and the Abundant Life \| Mar 11, 2016 Jesus' resurrection promises us abundant life. But is that life here on earth now? Or waiting us in heaven? Read more...
	Gather in His Name \| Feb 22, 2016 Going to church doesn't make you a Christian and avoiding a church doesn't make you an unbeliever. But God does give us very specific instructions to gather together in His name. Read more...
	Real Rest for the Weary \| Feb 18, 2016 Are you weary? Frustrated with God's timing? Tell Him about it. Then open His word and find encouragement and rest for your weary journey. Read more...
	"Who do you say that I am?" \| Feb 3, 2016 Jesus said if we deny Him, He will deny us to the Father. What does that mean for Peter, who denied Him three times? Read more...
	The Costs and Compensations of Following Christ \| Jan 25, 2016 Abuse, hate, a cross, love, peace; there are many costs to following Christs, but the compensations outweigh them all. Read more...
	Be Holy and Acceptable to God \| Jan 5, 2016 Sometimes we know the right thing to do, but we'd rather take the punishment than obey God. Instead of rebelling or wanting to win, we should strive to be "holy and acceptable." Read more...
	Vicarious Living \| Dec 14, 2015 To live vicariously is to live in place of someone else. Who do we live like? Read more...
	The Greek Geek: Holy and Righteous \| Nov 30, 2015 To be holy and righteous are both noble things, but they are not the same. Discovering the difference between holiness and righteousness. Read more...
	Contentment: A Richer Pursuit \| Nov 9, 2015 Between the richness that denies a reliance on God and the poverty that leads to fear and sin is a blessed contentment. Read more...
	Appointed to His Service \| Oct 28, 2015 How do we serve God? Through the church. When we show up to the church, the Word of God will show us how God can use us to serve Him and others. Read more...
	Deliver Me! \| Oct 13, 2015 A prayer from the broken to He Who delivers. Read more...
	A Personal Perspective on "First Lady" of the Church \| Sep 15, 2015 What is the "first lady" of the church? Is it biblical for the pastor's wife to receive special honor? Read more...
	Customized Religion versus Biblical Christianity \| Sep 2, 2015 The Bible is not a computer program; we can't just pick and choose what to load. In order for it to be effective, we must use all of it. Read more...
	The Gospel Does Not Need Our Help \| Aug 20, 2015 Why do preachers feel the need to embellish the Gospel? Why do churches over-dramatize, exaggerate, and over-emphasize their role in the ministry of the Gospel? Read more...
	Opinions and Accountability: from Here to Eternity \| Aug 5, 2015 "Christians are mentally ill," George Carlin said. He surely felt convicted of his opinions, but did he understand what it would mean if he were wrong? Read more...
	True Blood Relatives \| Jul 20, 2015 Genes, culture, and ethnicity can make us feel like family, but there is no thicker blood than that of Jesus. Read more...
	#AllSoulsMatter: 7 Reasons Why My Faith, Not My Race, Comes First \| Jul 13, 2015 There is a time to protest against racial injustice, to use the cry #BlackLivesMatter or even #AllLivesMatter. But our faith, always, comes before our skin. Read more...
	Living by the Word and Not the World \| Jun 15, 2015 The world tells us to feed the flesh and follow the immoral majority. The Word tells us to be transformed. Only one choice leads to life. Read more...
	Discernment: Your Fool-Proof Tool for Following God \| May 27, 2015 Too often we make decisions and judgment calls by the seat of our pants. What does it mean to have real discernment? Read more...
	How All Things Can Work Together for Good \| May 13, 2015 The Bible says that all things for for good to those who love God and are called for His purpose. How can we build our faith to actually believe — and see — God's promise? Read more...
	Life is Like a Box \| Apr 30, 2015 Your life is like a box; what you allow in it determines who you are. Read more...
	Light to Grow \| Apr 15, 2015 To grow into a strong, spiritually healthy and fruitful Christian, we must be rooted and built up in Christ. How do we grow toward the light? Read more...
	Christ is Risen! Personally Experiencing the Resurrected Lord \| Mar 30, 2015 He is Risen! But what does that mean for us? How can we experience the resurrection of Jesus in our lives? Read more...
	The Narrow (Minded) Way of Biblical Christianity \| Mar 3, 2015 Critics say biblical Christianity is narrow-minded. It too specifically defines good and evil, right and wrong. Jesus says they're right — Christianity is a narrow road. Read more...
	"The Umbrella Fashion Show" \| Feb 17, 2015 God's Word protects us like an umbrella. The question is, which umbrella do we choose? Read more...
	Experience is Our Second Best Teacher \| Feb 4, 2015 Experience is easy to believe. It's immediate. Emotional. Compelling. But everything, including experience, must be compared to the Bible. Read more...
	Shrouds: A Reflection on the Shroud of Turin \| Jan 21, 2015 The Shroud of Turin distracts us from the hard evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's one of many shrouds we use to cover biblical truth. Read more...
	Comfort Food: Be Fed to the Full on God's Word \| Jan 14, 2015 Too often we look to food (or TV, the internet, shopping, etc.) when we are frustrated and lonely. But the Word of God is the ultimate comfort food. Read more...
	Do you know Jesus? It's how you say it \| Jan 7, 2015 It's a simple question, but the most important you'll ever answer. And how you answer it will depend on how you ask it — Do you know Jesus? Read more...
	Are You Listening? \| Dec 16, 2014 Christ's words to the seven churches in Revelation are just as applicable to us as they were to them. Are you listening to those words? Read more...
	Presence for Christmas: That Baby in a Manger Grew Up! \| Dec 10, 2014 Christmas presents are great! But even better is the presence of Jesus who grew up from that baby and died on the cross for our sins. Read more...
	Peace in the Midst of the Storm \| Dec 3, 2014 When life is nothing but storms, Jesus still tells us, Peace. Be still. Let us pass to the other side. Read more...
	Learning What You're Taught \| Nov 19, 2014 Church is a good place to learn about our relationship to God. But we're also called to be responsible for our own Bible study. Read more...
	Forgiveness According to Scripture \| Nov 12, 2014 Christians are often taught that we must forgive, immediately and completely. Does the Bible really say that? Or is there another step that's often skipped over? Read more...
	Child-Like Faith \| Nov 6, 2014 With childlike boldness, we should humbly put all our faith, trust, and delight in our Creator. Read more...
	Blessings from the Genealogy of Jesus \| Oct 29, 2014 Jesus' genealogy reveals two things to us: Who He is to us and who we are to Him. The broken branches in His family tree show He can accept the brokenness in us. Read more...
	The Cut of His Two-Edged Sword \| Oct 21, 2014 God wields His Word like a two-edged sword to cut off His enemies on the one hand, and on the other to cut out the crap that plagues His imperfect children. Read more...
	The Purpose of the Congregation \| Oct 15, 2014 When a believer doesn't regularly assemble together in God-fearing fellowship with other members of the family of Christ, not only does he close off other people whom he can help, he also closes himself off to all of the benefits that a close spiritual family offers — a family he can rely on, stand up for and share in God's blessings with. Read more...
	The Haman Factor \| Oct 8, 2014 "The Haman Factor": when the noose you wickely devise for someone else's neck ends up around your own. How the gentle humility of Esther saved herself and her people. Read more...
	As You wish \| Sep 29, 2014 Do we love Jesus enough to say, "As You wish" to the things He asks of us? What is our heart attitude towards Him when He reminds us, through His Word and by His Holy Spirit, what He expects from us as His ambassadors? Read more...
	The Fiery Furnace of Popular Opinion \| Sep 24, 2014 How hard it is to stay on the straight and narrow path when the wide and crooked one's got a "politically correct" party going on with all the folks trying to trip you up, drag you down, knock you over or take you out. Read more...
	Heavyweight Champion \| Sep 17, 2014 Fight the good fight. No matter how our bodies may fail, we are more than conquerors — more than "heavyweight champions" — through Christ. Read more...
	What color is your life? \| Sep 10, 2014 Classrooms use a color chart to check students' attitudes from "Outstanding" to "Parent Contact." What color is your attitude? Read more...
	Infectious True Love \| Sep 3, 2014 Only by a personal relationship through Jesus Christ can anyone really know true love. God's love is not 'too good to be true' but is as good as it is because of the very fact that it is true. God is love as well as truth. Read more...
	The Comfort of Christ \| Aug 27, 2014 Whatever you're going through right now, God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). Wow. Did you get that? Read more...
	Conviction is Better than Guilt \| Aug 20, 2014 There is a big difference between feeling guilty about something and feeling convicted. Both guilt and conviction cause pain in the sense that they both make you feel bad about your wrong. But guilt gives you a pained mind, while conviction gives you a changed mind. Read more...
	Hot, cold, or in-between? \| Aug 13, 2014 If we look honestly at Christians today, many of us live in that comfortable in-between. But Jesus calls us to be "hot" — fervent — for Him and cold toward sin. Read more...