dark night

A Dark Night Of The Soul Is Normal

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Most Christians go through one or more periods in their life when God seems absent. We use different terms for this such as dryness, dark night, desolation, desert time, or wilderness time. John of the Cross (1542-1591) coined the term dark night of the soul to refer to these times in his book Dark Night of the Soul. Even great Christians in history we admire go through such times. For example, Martin Luther, C.S. Lewis, Mother Teresa, and Oswald Chambers. Bruce Demarest mentions the last three in his book Seasons of the Soul, which I highly recommend, beginning on p. 84. He also discusses desolation in general which is very helpful. (There is a link to this book on Amazon on our Resources page.)  Walking through these times is very difficult and it is important to understand some basic principles so that it isn’t more difficult than it should be. More importantly, there are Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

Blessed Are The Meek – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Mt. 5:5 ESV). A meek person is someone who is gentle and not argumentative or aggressive. Jesus is our model. When Jesus came into Jerusalem on a donkey he described his coming by saying, “your king is coming to you, [meek] and mounted on a donkey” (Mt. 21:5 ESV). When Paul was trying to persuade the Corinthian believers to more obedience to Christ, he appealed to them “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:1, ESV). If we have a meek heart then we will not be prone to embrace angry attitudes when we are wronged or when others speak falsehoods. We will learn to be merciful and not give in to our desire to strike back, even in passive ways. The irony is that the one who is not warlike is the one who will inherit leadership over Continue Reading →

stages of growth

What Spiritual Life Stage Are You In?

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In the last post we looked at the benefits of understanding stages of spiritual growth as well as two repeating patterns of growth. In this post we look at two popular models of progressive growth. The second one is an expansion of the first. These models are non-repeating models of growth. This means they cover the entire lifetime of a believer and do not repeat; they will help you identify your spiritual life stage. These models are part of spiritual theology, or the theology of maturity. They are based on what the writers saw in Scripture and in their experience so they are attempts to do biblical spiritual theology. As you read through this it will help to ask yourself how it applies to your life. What spiritual life stage do you most identify with? Do you see a flow to your spiritual growth that is reflected in one of these models? Continue Reading →

Weekly words of encouragement

You Shall Be Comforted In Mourning – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” Matt. 5:4 (ESV). This is the second beatitude from the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus continues his technique of reversing the natural order. He promises his followers that the ones who mourn will not remain empty from their loss. Instead, the ones who mourn will be blessed by God because He will comfort them. We all have times of mourning, whether it is the loss of a friend, a loss of opportunity, a loss of health, or a loss of something else important to us. In such times it is healthy to mourn. Remember that Jesus did not say his disciples shouldn’t mourn. Sometimes teachers give the impression that we should always be joyful and thanking God without times of mourning. But this is not biblical. Romans 12:15 teaches us to “mourn with those who mourn” (NIV). So not only Continue Reading →

fivefold way stages of growth

What Stages Of Growth Are You Going Through?

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Many have found it very helpful to understand the different stages of growth that Christians go through. Here are some of the reasons we might find it helpful to recognize stages of growth: Stages of growth can be grouped into three categories: non-cyclical, cyclical, and felt. This post looks mostly at cyclical stages; sequences of stages that repeat during our lives. Below are two different models of cyclical stages. CROSS AND RESURRECTION This is the most basic and biblical model of stages of growth. We follow the same pattern that Jesus did in his life and in his death. This two-fold process is mentioned many times in scripture. 1.Cross. The old self is crucified. 2.Resurrection. The new self dominates more. We can see that it is biblical, for example: Cross=“putting off” (Eph 4:22), Resurrection=“putting on” (Eph 4:24). Also, in Philippians 3:10 Paul desires: … that I may know him and the power Continue Reading →