Category: Key Growth Posts

holy spirit dove stained glass

How To Work Through Purification

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Our lack of holiness can be very frustrating. We have the desire to be holy and to be Christlike but we struggle with our disordered desires for pleasure. Our culture provides many opportunities to satisfy our sensuality. As the passage below from Titus teaches, we have grace from God to reject worldliness and to be self-controlled. Below is an exercise to help us receive God’s grace and to activate our will. It follows the general format of lectio divina. Do part or all of it and change it as you desire. For the complete guide go here. Purification Exercise: Read twice: Titus 2:11-14 (ESV): “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing Continue Reading →

Are You Looking Forward To Being Glorified?

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How much do we reflect on the idea that the people of God will have the glory of God? Revelation 21:11 promises that in the coming New Heaven and New Earth believers will have “the glory of God”. But this promise is not confined to Revelation ‒ it is a major New Testament theme. In a previous post we looked at the future luminosity of the body of Christ which is one dimension of God’s glorification of his people. Now we will consider what the New Testament says about this glorification in general. Warning: this is a very encouraging subject! It is surprising how often scripture speaks of the glorification of believers. Apparently this is an important truth for believers to keep in mind. Some of the mentions of this theme in the New Testament include: • In John 17:22 Jesus states in prayer that “The glory that you have Continue Reading →

Focusing on Our Final Destiny in the New Creation

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In the book of Genesis we hear of the tragic beginning of humans. How they lost their union with their Creator and lost harmonious community with fellow humans. But in the New Testament we hear a happy ending. All our prayers, and suffering, and trusting, and sacrifice finally bring us to our eternal destiny. God wins over sin and evil. After death He will give us new bodies and new souls that can receive all He has for us. And his followers will enjoy living with Him forever. This is a key foundation of spiritual theology and spiritual formation. In Revelation we learn that God restores all that was lost in the fall. The Bible begins with a Garden of Paradise that humans must leave because of their sin. But in the end, God cleanses our sin completely and permanently, and restores us to a paradise in a Garden that 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 →

Forces That Ruin Fellowship – Lesson From Second Century

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Why did koinonia and dynamic church life fade in Christianity? Many of us sense that church should be more relational and that everyone should be able to develop and exercise their spiritual gifts. Without this church seems more like a spectator experience (or a “busy-ness” experience) than a participation experience. By the end of the 2nd century several forces began to combine to reduce koinonia, or fellowship, in the Christian church. Fellowship became less important in the Church’s spiritual theology (the theology of spiritual growth.) Understanding these forces will help us to avoid the same problems today and recommit ourselves to true koinonia. As you read this list you might ask yourself if there are similar forces today that interfere with koinonia. Here is a list of some of the forces: 1. The Church was focusing on teaching proper doctrine so believers would not be led astray. Christianity was experiencing Continue Reading →