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?
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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.
An Affair: 'The Beginning of the End' The fatal blow to any marriage is an adulterous affair where one or both spouses think they "finally found his/her soul mate." by Cheryl Scruggs The fatal blow to any marriage is an adulterous affair where one or both spouses think they "finally found his/her soul mate." Once convinced that he/she married the wrong person or that God put someone new in his/her life, the idea of divorce can take root and grow. Blinded by the
Suffering is simply the difficulty in life that we experience which is not the result of our personal sin. It is the fall out of living in a broken world with fallen people. One problem (among many) with suffering is that it is such an intense experience. It is the epitome of “UNFAIR!” While we are wrestling with what to say and do in the midst of what should not be, we miss the messages that we are learning.
When I began this series, I certainly didn't plan that I would end this week, but how fitting a tribute to the God we serve! I tell everyone who'll listen that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. An argument could be made--indeed, was made by more than a few Puritans--that it may be the only holiday Christians can observe that is not implicitly forbidden in Scripture. That aside, in my mind, it is the only holiday
I don’t know about you, but I sometimes really blow it when it comes to listening well. I am too up in my head about what I want to say in response to really hear the other person’s heart. In thirty years of counseling and fifteen years of marriage here is what I’ve have learned: