Month: July 2020

heart love

An Exercise For Believing God’s Love For Us

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The foundation idea of our faith is that God loves us and wants to bless us. This conviction is something that expands throughout our lifetime, but it can also fade. This exercise helps us to keep ourselves abiding in God’s love and to highlight any areas where we might doubt his love. Read through this once as a prayer by replacing references to God with “You”. Then start over and read one line at a time without replacing references to God, as a declaration and acceptance of God’s love. After each line take at least 20 seconds for agreeing with and absorbing it. Choose to believe and be guided by it. This exercise should help you determine how much your heart truly believes in God’s love for you. If you notice resistance or lack of agreement as you read through this, then take some time to reflect on why that Continue Reading →

Weekly words of encouragement

Feasting And Drinking With God – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.They feast on the abundance of your house;you give them drink from your river of delights.” Psalms 36:7-8 (NIV) The ones who trust and love God are the ones who take refuge under his wings. We have placed ourselves inside him, relying on him for our life and for the protection and blessing of our souls. And since God is a loving father who wants to give joy and satisfaction to his children he rewards our faith and love with gifts from his personal possessions. He presents us with a feast of truth, and peace, and friendship. His Scripture is like honey on our tongues. His Son is the bread of life, who nourishes us with his goodness and restores the image of God in us. We partake of his nature. We eat his body in remembrance of him and abide in Continue Reading →

magnifying glass on motives

The Freedom That Comes From Examining Our Motives

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One of the more helpful practices for maturity is to examine our motives on a regular basis. This helps us to find attitudes and beliefs and weaknesses that are blocking our Christformation. It helps us to break free of the chains that are holding us back. If you are wondering why your daily life or ministry doesn’t seem to be primarily focused on God then it is possible that you are doing what you do for the wrong motives. It is easy to do the right thing for the wrong reason. It is also possible that you have created a false self out of destructive motives, hoping to gain approval. Some people lead worship or lead a congregation for years before realizing that their ministry was more about gratifying themselves and gaining approval than about honoring God. So we need to occasionally ask ourselves penetrating questions. “Is my motivation for Continue Reading →

Weekly words of encouragement

God’s Unbounded Love For Us – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens.” Psalms 36:5 (NIV) Yahweh’s love for us knows no bounds. He created us so that he could shower his love on us. He is the perfect Father who delights in seeing his children grow up and develop their gifts and enjoy the blessings of creation. He gave us his Son (John 3:16) and his Spirit so we could reunite with him and live forever in his perfect community of love. We are citizens of his kingdom now and have the privilege of brightening up our world with his goodness and love. He did not care that we were unholy, but rather: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NIV) His love is unfailing because it depends on his nature, not ours. Therefore, we are infinitely encouraged because we know that Continue Reading →

prism light

Moons, Prisms And Social Change

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Recently, some evangelicals have expressed deep disappointment with the impact of the Trump administration on our society. They observe that little has changed, the country has only become more secular and Christians’ hopes for change have been dashed. The Atlantic magazine has a good article about this here. When I look out at all the personal devastation and aimlessness of the majority of American citizens I am greatly saddened. From my youth, I always hoped that American society and its citizens could turn to Jesus and know inner peace and purpose and joy. I went through law school as a Christian, recognizing the blessings of the Christian influence on our legal system. Perhaps this could grow. In those days it seemed that evangelicals had some momentum in society. But short of a huge calamity in America, including economic disaster, it is not realistic to think this will happen anytime in Continue Reading →