Month: May 2018

close friends

Do You Desire Deeper Friendships? Part One

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Do you ever feel like you want some close spiritual friends you can tell your life to? Are you feeling a hole in your spiritual life where close friends should be? This is because we were designed to have close spiritual friends in mutually edifying relationships where we can reveal our true self and be channels of God’s grace. The New Testament refers to this as fellowship; the Greek word is koinonia, which literally means participation. What does the New Testament teach about fellowship? One of the principles we observe in the Apostle Paul’s life is that we should support one another especially in troubled times. This is stated plainly in Galatians 5:2: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (ESV). This implies that we actually let other people know what our burdens are! Think about how often we don’t do this. How often do you Continue Reading →

Weekly words of encouragement

We Participate In God’s Nature – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“He has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” II Pet. 1:4 (ESV) This is one of the most astonishing verses in the Bible and has been one of the cornerstones of spiritual growth since the earliest centuries of Christianity. The Greek-speaking fathers of the Church were devoted to the idea that we could regain the original image of God because we can actually participate in God’s nature now. God promises that we are forgiven, that we are united with Christ, that the Holy Spirit works to purify us and that we will be citizens of the New Earth in the next age. We depend on these promises and we mature, which means we are actually acquiring divine nature (without becoming divine Continue Reading →

glorious person

Motivated By Our Future Perfection

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What motivates you to holy living? When you are tempted by something that others think is okay but you know it is unholy, what do you think about in order to strengthen your will and resist temptation? Scripture mentions several different motivations but one of them is the promise of being thoroughly holy and perfect one day. This might not seem logical at first. If God is going to perfect us anyway, why should we make a lot of sacrifice now in order to be holy? Why would the promise of future holiness motivate me to be more holy now? We can learn about this from John: “But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” I Jn. 3:3 (NIV) Here God is motivating us to Continue Reading →

Weekly words of encouragement

Power For Overcoming Persistent Faults – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” II Pet. 1:3a (ESV) What a sweeping statement! God supplies everything we need for true life and for becoming godly. Sometimes we wonder if God is really going to change our faults, especially our most persistent one. We try for years to change a fault and we only see a little progress. Is this something that we just have to live with? This verse promises that there is a way to overcome because He provides all things needed for godliness. So what do we do when we’re stuck? The best thing to do is to find a mature Christian who knows how to give good counsel for growth. Together you can start peeling back the layers until you get to the core problem. Whether you find such a person or not you will almost certainly need Continue Reading →

sun, heaven, luminous

The Trap Of Seeking The Presence Of God

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The greatest blessing in the New Creation will be to see God and be close to Him. Nothing will be better than being in His presence. We long for this and endure sacrifice now so we can present ourselves as pure when Jesus returns and we see God. So shouldn’t we also seek God’s presence in this mortal life? Shouldn’t we desire as much of God as He is willing to give now? Of course we should. But there is a question as to priority. How high should we prioritize the presence of God? First we need to ask what we mean when we say the “presence of God.” If someone asks us directly what this means we might say we just want whatever He wills. But the reality is that we want the spiritual sweetness of being in the presence of God. Even just beholding the majesty of God Continue Reading →