Category: Level: Beginner

wisdom

On Becoming Wise – Imitation Of Christ Chapter Four

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Today’s post is an interpretation of the fourth chapter of the most popular devotional book in the history of Christianity, The Imitation of Christ. It was written by a monk (or possibly several monks) in the 15th century named Thomas a Kempis. You can view all the posts in this series by selecting “Imitation of Christ” in the categories listing. On Becoming Wise – Imitation of Christ – Chapter Four Find a counselor who is a better Christian than you. See that they are wise and full of integrity. Don’t just depend on your own wisdom for living your Christian life. You will deceive yourself by being too harsh and too lenient. You will overlook important truth and overemphasize less important truth. Many Christians stumble because they did not humble themselves and find a godly counselor. “If you’re not humble, you will stumble.” It is great wisdom to avoid hasty or Continue Reading →

relationships, couple

12 Keys To Tackling Relationship Difficulties – Part 2

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This is Part 2 of this post, Part 1 can be found here. KEY 7: Be courageous. One of the big reasons we don’t tackle relationship difficulties is that we are afraid. We are afraid of conflict, we are afraid of getting hurt, we are afraid of doing it wrong, etc. In order to combat this ask yourself if you are afraid. Then ask yourself if the fear is really as big as you think. Then ask yourself if that fear should really stop you from tackling a difficulty. Is it worth some discomfort to improve a relationship? The antidote to fear is faith. Trust God to help you and to help you learn. Trust the advice you have gathered. Trust the fact that your heart is in the right place and if you express true care then nearly everyone will respond reasonably. KEY 8: Grow your communication skills. When Continue Reading →

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 →

5 Stages of Salvation – for Salvation Presentations that Transform and Avoid “Easy Believism”

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5 STAGES OF SALVATION (SCRuBS) – SHORT VERSION The Essentials for Any Salvation Presentation This is Discipleship Evangelism The 5 Stages of Salvation will help you avoid weak salvation presentations because it includes individual prayers for each stage, including conviction, repentance, and surrender. Discipleship evangelism includes an emphasis on the response elements of the gospel. The goal is to strengthen salvation invitations so listeners are truly saved and become disciples of Jesus. This salvation presentation “template” can be used and edited in many ways. It can be used to prepare an evangelistic talk, spoken word for word as an invitation to respond, as training for leaders and volunteers (and any believer), in social media, for printing handouts or booklets, in websites, etc.. The author is okay with deleting his name and anything else that is nonessential if that helps. There are no copyright restrictions. Don’t forget to apply the basic Continue Reading →