Posts tagged as:

will

entering the presence of God

10/9/2006 · View Comments

in living the life

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation. (Psalm 24:3–5)

Psalm 24 was part of the morning prayer reading today in The Little Book of Hours, and for the first time the list David gives us caught my attention. “The hill of the Lord” is the temple (so the footnotes in my NIV Study Bible say), and David is telling us how we can come into the presence of a holy God. As I meditated on the list, I saw that every part of me is considered. read the complete post

Tagged as: David, emotions, mind, priorities, Psalms, self-examination, soul, will, words

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where are you living?

6/27/2006 · View Comments

in books

I’m reading Graham Cooke’s The Secret of a Powerful Inner Life–less than 60 pages, but slow going because there’s so much to think about. Here’s what caught my attention this morning:

How much of our “spirituality” is threatened by opposition? Do we feel the urge to control or dominate in human confrontations? How much of our peace is destroyed by conflict? How easily upset are we? How long does it take us to regain normal, good humor? How vulnerable are we to anger, resentment, and bitterness? How long do we hold a grudge? How quick are we to forgive? How willing are we to be restored?

If the answer to any of those questions is, in any way, negative, we are more likely living in our souls than in our spirits.

Ouch!

Lest this leave you feeling overwhelmed with your failures, Cooke offers hope in the next paragraph:

God is breaking our controlling selves by enabling us to submit to the spiritual fruit of self-control. Our dominatnig, manipulative selves must become humble and submissive to Christ. We must learn to reassert our wills as the vehicle of the spirit over our emotions and thought lives.

Tagged as: emotions, fruit of the spirit, Graham Cooke, self-control, soul, spirit, submission, will

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