How to Handle Sufferings Part I Why", "why", "why", "why"….? This is what I have said so many countless times throughout my life when bad things have come my way, and these “"whys” have been voiced to me as a pastor by so many countless people, too. In fact, I do not remember any conversation with a person who has been through a rough time or a loss that "why" has not come up. "Why" seems to be the theme, subject, and topic that confronts me both as a person and as a pastor. We all ask, ask, ask, "why", "why", "why"! Yet, what I have gleaned from the Scriptures and learned from life is that it is not...
How to Handle Sufferings Part II Are you dealing with stress, troubles or sufferings? Or, is there perhaps someone near you who is? Is your life falling apart? So, what can be done? In James we are told to sing songs, to which you may say…What??? We are called to be praising our Lord, coming together in unity, with a willing, loving heart, even when we are in dire stress or trouble? And the answer is yes, because we will be so much better for it. How we deal with life when it gets tough is an aspect of real...
How to Handle Sufferings Part III What We can Do when People and Life Seem to Come Against Us! Are you being harassed, gossiped about, slandered, or mistreated? If not, it will come. We are called to prepare for it and even seek reconciliation if possible, lest it get worse. At the same time, we are called to remain firm in Christ, operating in His Fruit, and not let the misdeeds of others get the best of us. Yes, this is hard—very hard at times—but we can do it—and do it with excellence! When we operate in His love to others who are mean and hurt us, we are...
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The Disciplines
Prayer is the intimate pursuit and practice of the personal communication we have available between God and us. It is the spoken and unspoken confession of our Christian faith by engaging and proclaiming our complete dependence upon Christ as Lord over our lives. Prayer is not just a selfish wish list to get God to cater to our needs and whims; rather, it’s true purpose and the reason it is also a discipline is to shape us by what He has revealed, and to grow in faith, character, perseverance, and maturity. Prayer is meant...
Repentance is both a “summons” to seek Him first and a “summery” of the Gospel’s impact and “regeneration” upon us so we make a life change in Christ. The discipline aspect of repentance is the result and application (not the cause) of the fruit from our salvation and renewal that we do our part with and by our faith. We see this exhibited when we are remorseful for our sins and seek to turn around to God. It requires us to employ our faith and repent which means to…
Confession is the event of responding to the Gospel's message, then acknowledging our faith publicly. But, as a discipline, confession becomes a continual process where we conform our lives to His Way so our faith applies to our lives. This means we come to the grace, forgiveness, and authority of Christ; because of Him, we keep submitting by the application of His precepts to our lives that result in maturity and spiritual growth. This is a “grace” in that we receive the ability from Christ, and a “discipline” in that it requires the commitment…
Meditation basically means we are to focus, ponder, and reflect upon Christ. The discipline aspect of “biblical” Christian meditation means we commit to pay attention to Him, giving Him our total concentration as LORD over us. We are to “contemplate” and “deliberate,” which is to put Christ at the center of our attention and will by deliberating on His instructions and comparing them to what comes across our paths in life. This way, we can conform our mindset to replicate His Way, precepts, and call. This will enable us to…
When you take a look at our culture, fast food places on almost every corner and countless opportunities to eat whatever you wish, even a committed Christian may never consider Fasting. Yet, one of the classic, Christian aspects of growing deeper in the faith is Fasting.
Growing in Maturity
Why does John give us this preview of Heaven? Perhaps it is all about Hope, that vital fuel and stimulate necessary for all that we do successfully in life and for Him. It is also the fuel for us to be encouraged so we can encourage others—to prosper and grow in times of stress, suffering, and confusion. He has prepared a place for us; what is more wonderful than that?
It is about integrating our prayer and Scripture life for greater spiritual stimulation that leads to greater understanding of our Lord and then greater application of His precepts. As we read God’s Word we can and should be praying to our Lord, too. This combines two essential aspects of our Christian walk, Bible reading and prayer, used together for our personal impact of faith and synergy to impact our faith and church.
This is our most popular Bible plan! Here is a Bible reading plan that is set up for you to go through the Bible in a year but with a twist; it divides up your reading into the main types of Genres (literature) such as Gospels, Law, Narrative (History), Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy, and Epistles! That way, you can go though the entire Bible by reading the different Genre types. This is a unique plan that will help keep your pace up and prevent you from losing interest and giving up!
More Studies are on the way….