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

“I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.” (Psalm 119:30) Out of context, this can sound like one of those “old covenant legalistic verses.” However, it is apart of an eight verse set and must be read in context. Verses 25-32 speak of our earthly nature as dust our souls cling to and the author longs for life, confesses his ways, and asks god to teach him god’s way, not merely as a list of dos and don’ts to be followed just because god said so, but to teach him god’s ways as principles that have been explained to himRead More →

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In: God's love, Sin and Holiness

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” (John 15:10) Today’s verse comes in the middle of the vine and the branches parable urging us to abide in Christ.  We were designed to connect to God and we need to receive spiritual nourishment from him to grow and live. Christianity is all about love and relationship to some. To others, it’s really all about rules and regulations with lip service paid to Christ’s atonement for our breaking the rules and regulations in the past. What we actually have is a divine paradox.Read More →

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

“ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (Romans 12:3) “Don’t think too highly of yourself. The bible says so. ” We’ve probably heard that on someone’s lips at some point. It’s true, to an extent. Pride is a sin and humility is a virtue.  But that’s not the whole picture here.  For starters,  we can find ourselves guilty of  thinking very highly of ourselves for thinking very lowly of ourselves.Read More →

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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: God's love, Gospel, Idols, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17) The most famous passage in the bible, John 3:15-18,  tells us Christ was lifted up on the cross so all who believe in him would have eternal life, that God loved us so much, he gave us his only son so that no one who believes in Christ should perish. Today’s verse asserts at this point that God’s goal was not to condemn everyone else, but to save the world.  Verse eighteen adds sadly, however, that those whoRead More →