2005

“my faith has found a resting place”

12/17/2005 · 0 comments

in meditations

My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device or creed;
I trust the ever living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.
–Eliza E. Hewitt, 1891

Tagged as: faith, rest

Be the first to comment

Luther on faith

12/17/2005 · 0 comments

in meditations

In this excerpt from his introduction to Romans, Martin Luther explains that good works spring naturally from faith; he writes, “Faith cannot help doing good works constantly.” Why? Because

faith is God’s work in us, that changes us and gives new birth from God (John 1:13). It kills the Old Adam and makes us completely different people. It changes our hearts, our spirits, our thoughts and all our powers. It brings the Holy Spirit with it.

Tagged as: change, faith, Luther, thinking

Be the first to comment

fear: the anti-goal

November 16, 2005

Every week, I eat breakfast with Jeff, Chris, and William–we are, to use John Eldredge’s term, a “band of brothers.” Our conversations range over a wide variety of topics, from movies to marriage and politics to prophecy. However, we always make it a point to talk about our goals, and we have worked our way through some books to help us be more purposeful and focused.

Jeff’s been reading Chris Howard’s Turning Passions into Profits, and he told us about Howard’s idea of having goals you move toward (positive goals) and those you move away from (anti-goals)…

Read the full article →

die empty!

November 5, 2005

On TBN this past Thursday, Bishop Eddie Long said, “When you die, die empty!” He went on to say, “God put eternity in us. He gave us a vision before He gave us a body, which means you had purpose before you were formed in your mother’s womb.…

Read the full article →

branded by the fish

October 26, 2005

In his weekly column on Christian music, Christianity Today writer Russ Breimeier writes about the power of those fish symbols many Christians like to put on their cars. He says that if we want the credit for good behavior when we drive, “then we need to accept the downside of the fish. It brands us as a Christian…

Read the full article →

a sound mind

October 24, 2005

I’m listening to Joel Osteen teaching on “Expecting the Best.” He’s talking about the difference between faith and fear and our perspective. He quoted 2 Timothy 1:7, “God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” This is a scripture I’ve spoken over myself a lot because of my struggles with fearful thinking. But Osteen made a point I had never considered before.

He says that the Amplified Bible explains “sound mind” as “a well-balanced and disciplined mind.” Osteen makes this point: “In other words, we’re not going to have any power if we don’t first know how to discipline our mind. We’re not going to live in victory if we don’t know how to control our thought life.” …

Read the full article →

do I believe God is able to save?

October 22, 2005

In today’s Utmost devotional, Chambers writes this rather startling statement:

If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot.

Startling, I say, because of its directness and simplicity.…

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries