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In: Bible and Theology, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 3:20) This verse compares our eternal spiritual destination to earthly patriotism, as verses 17-19 urge us to follow the examples of strong, Christ-like believers ready for sainthood and warns us against conducting ourselves in the manner of God’s enemies, with the mindset of the secular culture, serving our own appetites, and being proud of this fact–a spiritually deadly recipe. So this note of encouragement comes right after a strict warning, that we do not have to be such, that we can turn our hearts and minds uponRead More →

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In: abuse, Bible and Theology, Fatherhood, God's Character, God's love, Prayer and Devotions

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13) Jesus asks us in the preceding verses which of us would deliberately give their child something harmful and poisonous when their child asks their parent to meet a basic need the child has to sustain life. Sadly, in our day, we can imagine, if not understand, people who would deliberately and knowingly kill their own child. The fact still remains, all but the heartless sociopath and the selfish narcissist at least have a desireRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Idols, Prayer and Devotions

“ The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” (Psalm 19:1-2) Through out history, men have looked up at the heavens and the night sky and worshiped the sun and the moon and the stars. They made idols out of created things, false Gods to make our heavenly bridegroom jealous. Yet Psalm reminds us of their original intent and purpose: to point us to the one we should be worshiping, to manifest the light of his glory, like an artist signs his name to his work, orRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Faith, God's promises, Prayer and Devotions

“GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. ” (Habakkuk 3:19) We’re designed to plug into God to recharge our spiritual batteries the same way our digital devices plug into a computer to recharge. Deer are known for being swift and sure-footed–and for leaping and jumping up to eight feet in the air, tying into the high places often difficult for a human to climb securely. And when we read the preceding verses, it’s hard times Habakkuk has in mind: Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produceRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, God's love, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19) Today we are handed a fragment of a prayer that begins in verse fourteen and we learn the purpose of it from verse thirteen: So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. For this reason I bowRead More →