"And He saved them out of their distresses. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their chains in pieces," Psalm 107:13b-14. In the last post, I wrote about two kinds of grief; one produces repentance, the other death. This is a critical point. Godly sorrow or grief over one's sins produces change. A good tree (Godly grief) produces good fruit (repentance, change).
ABC Blog
Communication is hard, especially “in the moment.” It is one thing to be convicted by a sermon on the power of the tongue or the way our words reveal our heart. It is another thing to be “in the moment” with your spouse (child, sibling, parent, friend, co-worker, enemy, etc…) and to have the awareness, self-control, courage, and humility to acknowledge what is ruling your heart and change the direction of the “discussion”. That is the purpose of this article, to help you “in the moment”.
We talk a lot about relationships in the church. There are scores of marriage seminars, retreats, and conferences. There are video series and books for newlyweds and engaged couples. Most every church offers marital counseling and most every pastor preaches somewhat regularly on marriage. And the same is true for parenting. There are dozens of books on raising children. There are Sunday school
In case any of you have missed the ongoing discussion on free will between my dear shirt-tail cousin, JoAnne, and I, you might want to look at it. Because I've spent a good deal of time responding to her, I think I'll just blast through the rest of this section. I'm assuming that most of you who are reading this blog are already on board with the Doctrines of Grace and wouldn't profit from more meandering through this section. And yet, there are a few points that I think are helpful for us to remember: "[Saving] Grace is acquired not by 'doing what is in one' [by just trying your hardest]. It is acquired when we are so completely humbled by God's alien work in law and wrath that we see how completely we are caught in the web of sin and turn to Christ as the only hope." (61)
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.
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)