Category: Level: Intermediate

close friends

Do You Desire Deeper Friendships? Part One

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Do you ever feel like you want some close spiritual friends you can tell your life to? Are you feeling a hole in your spiritual life where close friends should be? This is because we were designed to have close spiritual friends in mutually edifying relationships where we can reveal our true self and be channels of God’s grace. The New Testament refers to this as fellowship; the Greek word is koinonia, which literally means participation. What does the New Testament teach about fellowship? One of the principles we observe in the Apostle Paul’s life is that we should support one another especially in troubled times. This is stated plainly in Galatians 5:2: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (ESV). This implies that we actually let other people know what our burdens are! Think about how often we don’t do this. How often do you Continue Reading →

spiritual pride

Freedom From The Prison Of Spiritual Pride

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Have you noticed that as you grow you run into new kinds of sins that are more subtle and hidden? As we mature we don’t wrestle as much with obvious sins like lying and ungodly speech. This can trick us into thinking that we have conquered the major sins in our life. Yet growth brings with it a whole new set of vices. The 16th century Christian teacher John of the Cross called these spiritual vices. They are spiritual versions of the seven deadly sins. These vices block our spiritual growth and oneness with God. Thus, they are spiritual enemy number one! The first spiritual vice John describes is spiritual pride. We develop pride in our spiritual accomplishments and spiritual growth. This can especially apply to our spiritual disciplines. We find ourselves being critical with others for not having enough devotion. We may also dislike praising others for their maturity because Continue Reading →

discernment

Discerning The Voices In Our Head

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Recently we posted two articles on discernment (Part 1 and Part 2). One of the points deserves some elaboration. It is the question of distinguishing between God’s voice and ideas we generate ourselves. Quoting from our previous post: “Our own inner voice is very capable of speaking many things to us! Many confuse it with the voice of God. It can sound like another person talking. It can answer our questions, give direction, give long prophecies, teach us ideas – but none of it is from God. We should never underestimate the power of the human soul to generate all kinds of impressions that may seem like they are not from us. We need to be humble and seriously consider this possibility when doing discernment.” Ironically, this problem of discerning voices becomes a bigger problem when we start believing that God does talk to us and guide us. Then we Continue Reading →

two roads

Is Victory Over Your Faults Beyond Your Character?

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Have you noticed how sometimes the reason we can’t rid ourselves of a fault is because we haven’t fully intended to do it? We make some mild efforts to change but they don’t work. Then one day we decide to put our full effort into it, ask for God’s help, and presto – the fault is gone! But we also have another kind of experience with out faults: failure, in spite of all our efforts. “I keep trying to stop doing this, but it doesn’t work.” We’ve probably all said this at some point. We want to rid ourselves of a fault so we ask God for help, read books, study Scripture, and exercise our willpower but nothing works. And the fault lives on. Why do we have such different experiences with becoming holy? Because some changes are within our character and some are not. What do I mean by Continue Reading →

judgment

Courage To Embrace The “Unpleasant” Truths Of Scripture

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This morning I was reading a book by a famous spiritual formation author. In it he talks about “finding the Christ dwelling within us.” Since this was ambiguous I searched to find out if the author believed in the necessity of repentance and the new birth. Instead, I found statements like “Your belovedness precedes your birth…You are fully loved because you belong to God for all eternity. That’s the truth of your identity. That’s who you are. And you can reclaim it at any moment.” So I searched the book (with the Kindle search function) for the words “sin” or “repentance” and they were not found. I could not find a mention of the final judgment of God on human lives. Obviously these ideas could be expressed in different words but I did not find any mention of natural human rebelliousness or of the need to recognize our sinfulness and Continue Reading →