Tag: Intimacy with God

Spiritual Growth

Suffering: A Good Opportunity for Spiritual Growth

Those closest to me keep encouraging me to write about navigating through suffering, disappointment, and discouragement. They think that because I have a nero-muscular disorder (see my post God is With Us In Our Pain), was diagnosed with cancer last November, and had surgery in March to end three years of suffering with a prostate condition, that I must be good at it. Good enough, anyway, to offer some insight and wisdom. But, frankly, I’d rather be known as a great rock-climber, surfer, or skydiver.

Its bad news (Essentials)

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Christmas

How did the Magi know when to look?

How did the Magi know when to start looking in the sky for signs of the Messiah’s birth? The answer is in the instructions Daniel received from Gabriel over 500 years prior to the Magi’s journey. Daniel had given them a heads-up as to when to expect the King to be born. All we need is the right starting point and some simple math to figure out this little mystery.

Magi

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Spiritual Growth

Christlike Character vs Sarcasm and Slander

At noon each Monday, I go to the church sanctuary and spend an hour before the cross in prayer. I know, I know, I’m exceedingly holy. This week I had expected to spend the hour asking God to bless a specific family member, but, instead, God wanted to talk about character—mine, mostly. #intimacywithGod

What do people think of you

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Spiritual Growth

Intimacy with God

The phrase “Intimacy with God” falls awkwardly upon our modern ears. It shouldn’t because it reflects the perfect relationship Jesus won the right for us to have with God, and it is the profound relationship that He prayed for us to have, in John 17:20-23 (NAS):

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Miracle, Prayer

“God, help me save my daughter!”

We can never know when a Goliath will suddenly appear. At any moment, we can be confronted with a life threatening situation and must call upon the Lord to act, or someone will die. Moments like these are not the time to start developing a strong relationship with God, when they arise we must already have one.

My wife and I are beach bums from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Summer days on the Cape are typically hazy, hot, and humid. The three H’s, as the weathermen would say, are what we associated with beaches. That is, until we moved to the Pacific Northwest.

Summer

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Prayer, Spiritual Warfare

Prayer is not a Weapon II

A reader responded to my previous post asking: Isn’t prayer a weapon against the evil one, who we are battling?

That’s a good question. We can determine the answer by studying the New Testament verses containing the word “pray.” The word is used 151 times. D.A. Carson’s book “Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation,” for example, in particular discusses the following passages: Rom 15:14-33, Eph 1:15-23; 3:14-21; Phil 1:9-11; Col 1:9-14; 1 Thess 3:9-13; 2 Thess 1:3-12. The focus of prayer in the New Testament was predominately on knowing God better, being more like Christ, God providing for the needs of others, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and for success in ministry.

Prayer_300_high

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