Category: Interior Life

loving God

The Supreme Goodness Of Loving God

Posted on by

God is populating his kingdom with lovers until the day when he will fulfill all his promises of the kingdom and establish the perfect community of love with himself and his followers. Loving him is our greatest good, and for citizens of his inaugurated kingdom the King’s greatest commandment is to learn to fully love him. This keeps us on the trajectory that culminates in our future spiritual marriage with God on the New Earth. In this way we conform to the core of the image of Christ, for his highest priority is oneness with the Father and love is the bond of that oneness. These are the reasons that loving God is the supreme commandment and supremely important for all of our growth. God’s love for us is the foundation of his goodness to us. Our resulting love for him is the foundation of all our responsibilities toward him Continue Reading →

break bad habit

Surprise Yourself By Activating Your Will

Posted on by

Sometimes we think we are not able to accomplish Christformation and defeat a bad habit because we need something more when in fact we do not need anything more. God has already provided the strength inside us so it is within our character, or maturity level. If we commit ourselves to it then the change will come. Popular culture may tell us to just be ourselves, or that other people are responsible for all our problems, but Jesus calls us to actively grow up into new Adams who can overcome life’s challenges. A simple exercise will illustrate how your character relates to transformation. Think of a minor bad habit that you want to break. Commit yourself to abstain from the habit for one week while you look to Christ. Most people will find that they can succeed. This is because it was within their character, and they just needed to Continue Reading →

willpower our will

Am I Trying Too Hard Or Too Little?

Posted on by

When it comes to the relationship between God’s will and human will we are diving into a profound mystery that cannot be fully understood. The question cannot be completely answered because it is not clearly answered in Scripture. In order to answer this question we would have to understand how God’s will operates inside the depths of God which we cannot do because God’s nature is so far beyond our nature. We would also have to understand the details of how God relates to time and the nature of time itself. We cannot do this either. Even human will is a mystery to us. Considering how much we don’t know is it really possible to make assertions on this matter that are not clearly stated in Scripture? If we venture beyond Scripture, then we will find ourselves clinging to shaky speculations. What we can do is embrace what God has Continue Reading →

reflection, meditaiton

Meditation Is Our Foundational Practice

Posted on by

Scripture instructs God’s people to meditate on God’s words. When the Israelites were preparing to cross the Jordan river into the promised land God told Joshua: “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Joshua 1:8, NIV). Hundreds of years later this was still practiced; Psalms 1:1-2 promises: “Blessed is the one . . . whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night” (NIV), (also see Ps. 119:25, 23, 78). Meditation is the single most important spiritual discipline in Christian history. It is the central practice followed by the great Christians of the past and is essential to Christformation. Solid meditation includes prayer and walking in the Spirit so it is comprehensive. Below Continue Reading →

union marriage

Our Blissful Union With God In Christ

Posted on by

Our union with God began when we believed, and God wants this union or oneness to grow throughout our lives. We are “engaged” now and God will complete our full union at the marriage supper of the Lamb. The idea that we are united in this mortal life is based on the many passages in the New Testament about our present oneness with God or Christ which includes the passages about God or Christ being in us and us being in God or Christ, as well as the Old Testament passages referring to God’s people as his bride. We will quote only two of them. In 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul tells the Corinthians that “I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (ESV) and in 1 Corinthians 6:17 he states that “he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him” Continue Reading →