Imagine struggling with an incessant issue whose history is filled with harsh stigmas and bigotry. Imagine suffering under this daily condition feeling as though you were a shameful, less than human, unlovable outcast. To make things worse, the place where you go to worship God regularly spouts condemning slogans against the very struggle with which you are wrestling.
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In a 3 part series, Twelve Stones Ministries would like to address the people involved in sexual sin from three different perspectives.
This is the fourth devotional in an 8-part series on Relationships. We were surprised. We simply didn't see it coming. We thought things were going well. We thought we'd built a good relationship. We thought that we'd been good neighbors.
“O Lord, How lovely are Thy dwelling places! My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. The bird also has found a house, And the swallow a nest for herself – even Thine altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and my God.” This morning I watched one of my self-imposed feline residents curled up in a most agreeable spot on my back porch with the look of seraphic peace and contentment, untroubled and safe within the harbor
Working for over 30 years with couples attempting to recover from serious marital sin, I have often heard one of them say, “Why can’t you just forgive and forget?” or “You’re holding onto the past?
Read Acts 1 And let’s talk about Building a Blessed Ministry Jesus promised the Holy Spirit; He offered proofs – appearing to the disciples and to others and speaking about the kingdom of God. (v1)
Three Inescapable Limits So let’s take that big laundry list of limits from the last post, plus all the ones I didn’t name, and bring them down to something a little easier to recall. Every human being is essentially subject to three foundational limits. We are limited in wisdom, in power, and in righteousness. It doesn’t take a great deal of humility to agree with this statement, does it? Think of it this way. What would it mean if, in any one of these areas, you weren’t limited, but unlimited ... infinite? You really would be the fourth person of the Trinity! Knowledge and acceptance of these three limits is essential to productive living in this fallen world. What a testimony to our foolish pride that we have any trouble accepting them!
“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” – Exodus 14:15 “All God’s revelations are sealed to us until they are opened to us by obedience. Immediately you obey – a flash of light comes. Obey God in the thing He is at present showing you, and instantly the next thing is opened up. The tiniest fragment of obedience, and heaven opens up and the profoundest truths of God are yours straight away. God will never reveal more truth about Himself till you obey what you know already.” – Oswald Chambers Depression can be so weighty that it has its own gravitational pull, and one that has found me more than once dead center on the couch watching some mind-numbing television show. (Interesting isn’t it that the word a-muse means to “not think”?)
"...I have made the Lord God my refuge,..." (v.28) When it all becomes confusing, when what is good seems not so clear, when wrong seems like its winning, where do you run, where do you hide?
Have you ever heard the statements, “you are what you think.” Or, “if you think you can’t, then you can’t!” These statements and many like them, reflect the observation that our thoughts are powerful. The things we think about can impact our lives in a significant and sometimes life-altering way. Just the other day, one of my sweet daughters expressed her struggle with math. “Mommy, I CAN’T do it! I’ll never be able to do it! I don’t know my multiplication!” In a God-given moment of patience, I looked at her and in true, cheerleader-like fashion (motions and happy facial expressions included), I said “you may not know it now, but you WILL!” I began to chant this cheer until her look of distress gave way to giggles of delight. And, she began to study her facts with renewed vigor.