Month: March 2019

One of the biggest barriers to spiritual growth is the desire to please people more than God. This is a constant temptation for all of us. People are right in front of us. We can see their faces and we don’t want to disappoint them. And if we have a big heart for people then we are even more tempted to please them before we please God. It is hard to put into words how enormous this problem is. We watch unbelievers live wasted lives because they want to win the approval of people around them. They compromise and live meaningless lives because that’s the environment they are in and they want the approval of others. And there are plenty of people willing to give them this approval. Paul describes this in Romans Chapter 1 where he first lists various sins then says people who do them are “foolish, faithless, Continue Reading →

When it comes to pursuing God’s will it is important to ask ourselves if we are truly open to knowing God’s will. Once we decide to consider God’s will we may still close our minds to knowing his will because of what we suspect it will be. Are we really open to whatever he may desire? Are we really open to changing our thoughts or plans? We may convince ourselves that we are pursuing his will when in fact we are only rationalizing our own attitudes or actions. For major decisions it may take weeks to discern whether we are truly open to God’s will. For example, someone who falls in love with another and wants to marry them may be closed to God’s will unless they spend a lot of time gradually opening up to God. The more investment and momentum we have in a particular direction the more Continue Reading →

For the last three weeks we have been looking at overcoming shame and self-rejection. Two weeks ago we began a practical process for doing this. We continued that last week. This week we continue with that process as we work through the final steps of confession of sin and reconciliation. Step 6. Now that you have accepted your younger self you need to confess any negative thoughts and feelings you have harbored against your younger self . Those are sins against yourself. Therefore, confess to your younger self your sins of rejection, and negative thoughts and beliefs toward your younger self . Repeat all the negative thoughts you expressed earlier and confess those as sins. When done, wait silently for a few moments to see if your younger self responds, if your younger self responds then you can further respond. It is okay if your younger self does not respond Continue Reading →