Solomon tells us that “a happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing” (Proverbs 17:22, AMP). God undoubtedly has a sense of humor; we need only look at some of the animals He created (it’s hard not to smile at the sight of a hippo, a monkey, or a puppy). Or think of some of the married couples you know: don’t you think God was smiling at the wedding as He looked ahead to the interaction of the wildly different personalities that will be living together?posts tagged change
“Lord, make me,” or prayers, desire, effort, and responsibility
Okay, I couldn’t not write about this week’s prayer, specifically the first part:
Lord, make me have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name
While I respect the desire expressed in this prayer, I confess that I’m troubled by make me each time I read it. We recently sang a song at church that expressed a similar sentiment: […]
let God bring the change
The next chapter in Murray’s Humility opens with this quote from Thomas à Kempis:
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish yourself to be.
Doesn’t that just stop you in your tracks?
We started our fall small group last night, and we’re doing Emerson Eggerichs’ Love and Respect, a wonderful teaching on marriage. As I prayed yesterday about what to say by way of introduction, three things came to mind, with this quote very much in the mix:
9/11 made no great changes in our faith
The latest study from The Barna Group “shows that despite an intense surge in religious activity and expression in the weeks immediately following 9/11 the faith of Americans is virtually indistinguishable today compared to pre-attack conditions.” It goes on to say: “five years removed from that fateful day, spiritually speaking, it’s as if nothing significant ever happened. People used faith like a giant band-aid – it helped people deal with the ugliness of the event but it offered little in the way of deep healing and it was discarded after a brief period of use.”
That doesn’t surprise me. As the study notes, Americans are both resilient and stubborn, and lasting change — -transformation — -takes time. What I find most interesting in the summary of this study is the point that church leaders need to plan for their response to tragedy and disaster: “Is there a clear strategy for helping people focus their faith questions and explorations — -not merely to achieve short-term relief and regain emotional equilibrium — -but to point them toward a process of deeper life transformation?… The job of spiritual leaders is not just to help people cope with tragedy but to break through their spiritual hard-headedness and orient them towards God’s deeper purposes for their life.”
help with anger
This article is targeted toward mothers, but the tips and perspective it offers work equally well for fathers:
- Be accountable to someone
- Evaluate your parenting goals
- Evaluate your expectations of your child
- Evaluate your expectations of yourself
- Raise your level of resistance
I especially appreciate the author’s focus on prayer and Scripture:
As I continued reaching out to God, he showed me the seriousness of my sin. After confessing it, I began devouring the Scriptures. I clung to God’s promise in Philippians 1:6 that he always works to perfect us. God’s unconditional, gracious love held me up and moved me forward.
I frequently prayed through Psalm 139:23, 24, asking God to show me any “offensive way” in my life. I clung to the promise in Psalm 46:1 that God is ever-present in trouble. I claimed the promise of 1 Corinthians 10:13 that no temptation is too big for me to be victorious over. I saturated my mind with God’s Word. As I read and prayed, God showed me things about myself that needed to change. And he led me to new solutions and steps to take with my child.
Easter: all things new
On this holy day…a new people is born with whom God has sealed an eternal covenant in the blood of the Word made flesh, crucified and risen. (Pope John Paul II)
Through the cross, we have “newness of life” (Romans 6:4), an awesome fact that I often forget. Consider:
- Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)
- Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)…
just a spectator?
Speaking of the Passion, Pope John Paul says, “Today we are contemporaries of the Lord, and, like the multitude in Jerusalem, like the disciples and the women, we are called to decide if we are to be with him, or flee, or just be spectators at his death.”
It’s easy to think of these choices in terms of salvation…
the good news
Yesterday, Chris taught one of the best lessons I’ve heard from him. As a conclusion to a series on changing our thinking, he explained the power of words. This is a topic that is deeply important to me, in large part because I’ve experienced the power of both wrong and right words to bring about change…
Reflections on a Christ-centered, grace-filled life. Writer and teacher Dan Butcher's blog takes an eclectic approach to faith.
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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