Author: Phil Rehberg

Going Deeper With Repentance – Why can’t we change better?

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As we progress in the Christian life, we begin to notice certain sinful areas of our life that we can’t seem to conquer. We all have our own weaknesses and no matter how hard we try, we continue to fail. We may be able to control our surface behavior, but inside we still feel the impulse to sin. Earlier in our Christian life, we were able to overcome many of our sins just by actively resisting temptation and receiving God’s strength through the five channels of growth. But now we are starting to realize that our sins are powered by deep desires, attitudes, and beliefs that we can’t control or change. And our own special areas of weakness are constantly reminding us of this. They are like a spotlight on our old nature. Rejoice! Now we are discovering the end of ourself. We have come to the end of the Continue Reading →

Do You Have A Heavenly Perspective? (Excerpt from host’s book “Flourish”)

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This week we are featuring an excerpt from my book Flourish since the kindle version is on sale for 99 cents at Amazon.com this week through Friday. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/Flourish-Growth-Community-Living-Gospel/dp/0986382302 . Flourish is for anyone who desires to become mature in Christ. You can reach a place where common temptations are easily overcome and you are able to connect with people in God’s way. The book explains most of the important elements of following Jesus. There are over 50 chapters and most of the chapters in the book are short so you can pause and absorb what you have just read. Relationships and community are the unifying themes of the book. Here is the entire main body of chapter 29: “An essential principle of following Jesus is learning to live with a heavenly perspective. This means living our lives, knowing that we are citizens of heaven, (Philippians 3:20), Continue Reading →

Letting Go Of The False Self So We Can Grow

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Discovering our false self is very important for spiritual growth. God wants to reveal our falseness and destroy our false or ideal self. Our false or ideal self is the “self” we created since childhood in order to avoid being rejected and instead be accepted by others. It includes all the inauthentic strategies we develop to cope with our world. Some people create a false self that always smiles and cooperates and agrees with everyone. Others create a false self that prefers to oppose and fight others; their false self is the “tough” self. Some create a false self that escapes rejection altogether by hiding behind hobbies or studies or career. There are endless varieties of false self and we all have our own individual version. One very common version of the false self for Christians is the religious false self. This false self pretends that everything is okay inside Continue Reading →

A Vision For Community – Teaching Relationships In Our Churches And Schools

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Since Christianity is a relational faith and since Jesus said loving God and others are the greatest commandments it would make sense for churches and schools to teach classes focused on building healthy relationships. Many churches have classes for healthy marriages which is great, but what is needed even more is teaching on all types of relationships. Christians should become masters of relating to co-workers, neighbors, authorities, new acquaintances as well as friends and relatives. Christians should become skilled at saying the right thing at the right time. We should know how to speak words that resolve conflict and encourage others. People should remember us as someone who brings good things into their lives. Here are some ideas for creating a curriculum for building relationship relationships. Five areas of study could be: 1. Biblical teachings on relationships. Students would study the various biblical passages on relationships. Key passages would include Continue Reading →

listening, contemplation

What is Contemplation and Why Should I Do It?

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Contemplation is simply gazing on something in order to absorb it, not to analyze it or figure it out. Other words that describe contemplation are attentiveness and watching. An example of contemplation that many of us do is watching a sunset. Usually, when we watch a sunset we just gaze and enjoy. We don’t need to analyze the physics of a sunset or really think about anything; we are just observing and absorbing. Contemplative prayer is simply contemplation directed at God. It is not meditation, which is ruminating over something and trying to gain understanding. Meditation is good but it is different from contemplation. In contemplation we simply become attentive to God or whatever we sense God might be doing inside us. In the Pentecostal/Charismatic tradition people sometimes use the phrase “being in God’s presence” to describe their contemplation. In contemplative prayer, we invite Him to do whatever He wills, Continue Reading →