January 2011
25 posts
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Uncreated Christ
Jehovah’s Witnesses call Jesus a created being. Why would Satan, the father of lies, want us to think that the greatest demonstration of love—Christ on the cross—was performed by a created being? Such glory belongs to the Uncreated God, who is Love. Something smacks of our Fall in this false doctrine. No, the greatest act of love was done by God. God is love. Love is uncreated;...
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Using Grace
I don’t think that people who use grace as a license to sin are the same as those who use it to often go before the Throne of grace as a free gift. One uses grace to stay away from thoughts of God. The other uses grace to muster confidence to actually go before Him. Very different kinds of people.
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Loved with My Scattered Mind
Contrary to popular opinion (and my fears), God does not love us because of our deep focus and concentration on Him. It’s learning that He loves us apart from these things that causes us to deeply focus and concentrate on Him. Think about it. In whose presence do we feel the most comfortable? Isn’t it before those who fully accept us as we are? When we sense in the slightest that...
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“Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected.”
– Jonathan Edwards
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Stopping One Work to do Another
Compare these two verses:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” - John 15:5
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for...
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Fascinated by Our Love instead of Christ's
For a couple years, the Lord has been sanctifying me of self-worship through my law keeping in a marked way. Today, He spoke to me again about the link between self-absorption and attempting to find rest in God through the present work of sanctification versus the finished work of Christ. Until we deeply rest in the finished work, we will not be fascinated by Christ. Instead, we will be...
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Graham's Regrets →
Response of Bill Graham when asked what he would have done differently. Hope it’s helpful.
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Empowering Grace Cannot be Earned
Empowering grace MUST BE received as a gift. Faith is a law (see below). Beware of trying to earn empowering grace in fleeing from licentiousness (using grace as a license to sin). This is the other side of the ditch.
“Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from...
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Fear of God and Evil Desires
To receive the fear of the Lord as a gift is to say, “God, I cannot stop being loose about sin without Your total help.” And that’s true. Many of us need healing from our evil desire to not take sin seriously, but God will heal this as a gift of love… What? Are we going to heal it ourselves? That’s a joke. And yes, God will change our evil desire for no other reason...
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Marks of the Fear of God
There are important differences between the fear of God and condemnation.
But let’s first compare them.
Both make you wonder what God would do to you if you were disobedient.
Both make you tremble.
Both have power to change your behavior (the latter not for very long).
How they contrast:
Condemnation causes you to feel tolerated.
The fear of God causes you to feel deeply loved.
...
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His Part and Our Part?
“We cannot do God’s part, but God cannot do ours.” This phrase is a very helpful one, and also a very dangerous one, depending on the ears into which it comes. It’s dangerous for those who struggle with legalism—something that’s in all of our hearts more than we think. A perfect illustration of this phrase is Peter walking on the water. It was God’s part...
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Religious Mind
The question is not “Will I ever be able to break my works mentality?”. The real question is this: “Is the gospel powerful enough to destroy it?”
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Futile Pressing In
Last night at FCF, people were getting healed and the congregation was pressing in, which means we were setting our attention upon the Lord that He might visit us with His presence and power.
The Lord began to speak to me that in pressing in, I must not try to earn my way into His presence. This is a free gift. My zeal, my patience, my tears, my focus (the list could go on), are not the currency...
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Hearing Voices?
I hear voices of demons all the time now. I used to before. I just thought they were my own thoughts, or worse yet, the Holy Spirit’s.
“But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” - Hebrews 5:14
“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to...
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Fascinate, July 12-15 2011 →
“Calling a generation to fascination with Jesus.”
High School Conference here at the IHOP. Speakers and worship leaders include Misty Edwards, Cory Asbury, Laura Hackett, Matt Gilman, Mike Bickle, Lou Engle, David Sliker, Corey Russell, and more. I know a lot of young adults experience a serious life-change at this conference and I’ll likely be there working the eSchool booth,...
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I like the doctrine of depravity because...
it gives me more reasons to look to Christ and so find life. Glory to Your name, Lord.
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Found Faithful?
Was just talking to my roommates, Luke and JD. I was explaining to them how the Lord is wiring my thinking on the subject of follow-through and faithfulness. The Lord has NOT been saying to me that I’m more faithful to Him than others, but where I’m not, He will make up for the lack. Rather, He IS showing me that I’m completely untrustworthy all the time, that in myself, I will...
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A Sunny Story (Part II) →
My honey just published the second part of the story of how she and I came together. She is a blessing from the Lord—a beautiful one. Find the post here:
http://heartafteryou.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/becoming-a-woman-hope-part-2/
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Stumbling Into Tumblr
So I’m moving from my web site to Tumblr. Why?
I was partly moved by my sister, who will likely say, “You always do what I do,” which is a gentle stab because she is 13 months younger than me. It’s true that I did become a French major after she did, and I got interested in reading and learning after her—much later after her. You can find her Tumblr at...
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“It is folly to think that our good deeds will outweigh our bad deeds before God....”
– John Piper
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“God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist.”
– Augustine