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When Faith Runs Out, God Has Enough for Both of You
“Against all odds, when it looked hopeless, Abraham believed the promise and expected God to fulfill it. Or ‘who beyond hope in hope believed.’ He took God at his word, and as a result he became the father of many nations. God’s declaration over him came to pass: ‘Your descendants will be so many that they will be impossible to count!’” – Romans 4:18 Sometimes I wonder what our lives would look like if we took God at face value and actually believed that He will do what He says He will do. Many of us have gotten used to praying without expecting answers, believing without expecting to see, and…
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Magic and the Hand of God: Why Does Magic Always Originate from the Hands?
As I’ve read many fantasy books and fairy-tale retellings, I’ve come to wonder about one thing: why is it that most of the time magic comes from people’s hands? Think about it. While, yes, many stories have magic systems that rely on the mind or voice, many have magic systems dependent on the main character’s hands. Elsa’s powers, from Frozen, all come from her hands. The Force in Star Wars is primarily channeled through the hands. In numerous fantasy novels I’ve read, the hands are the main source or exit for one’s power. In noticing this trend, I had to wonder, why? Why is the hand so dominant? This led…
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Fall in Love With the Classics: Five Books I Recommend
Happy February! To begin the month on a lighthearted note, I wanted to shift from the weekly devotional content and share with you five of my favorite classic books. The classics, in literature, are books which have stood the test of time and serve as standards of excellence and recognized value. For many people, hearing the term “classic literature” carries an ominous or serious ring with it. Delving into this genre can sound overwhelming, especially if you have never explored it before. And yet, it is the classics which are the building block of the modern literary world. You will constantly find references to the classics in modern literature, movies,…
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Owning My Place in Church with Integrity
To finish our January series, “Stronger Me, Stronger Church”, I want to talk about a fundamental part of church life: integrity. Integrity could be described as wholeness of character. It is being who you say you are at all times, regardless of whether you are being watched or not. Merriam Webster defines integrity as firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values: incorruptibility. Being a person of integrity means that your yes is a yes and your no is a no, regardless of circumstances. Jesus put it this way: “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”…
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Learning to Receive Feedback and Offer Forgiveness
Welcome to part three of the mini series “Stronger Me, Stronger Church”. Today we will talk about feedback. Some months back I heard of a consulting group that visited organizations and taught people to give better feedback. After years, they noticed that while it helped, it wasn’t fully successful. So they shifted their approach, and began teaching people not to give better feedback, but how to better receive feedback. They saw more positive changes in the organizations they helped when they created this shift. I want to say that in this article I talk about feedback that is given with a mostly well-intentioned heart and in a relatively healthy environment.…
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What’s the Difference Between Being Discipled and Becoming a Discipler?
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 28:19, NIV Followers of Jesus are called to make disciples, not followers. There is a key difference here that I want to highlight in part two of our series, “Stronger Me, Stronger Church.” What Did the Original Disciples Do? First, let’s examine what Jesus’s disciples actually did. In Jewish culture, it was customary for men of different trades to take on apprentices. These apprentices would study under their master and learn to do the same work the master did. Similarly, Rabbis (or teachers…
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What Are You Expecting From Your Church?
Aligning My Expectations People walk into a church for various reasons. Some are seeking answers, truth, hope, or healing. Others are there out of curiosity, habit, or religious duty. A few walk in desperately hungry for God. However a person may come, most of them have one thing in common: expectations. When people cross that door, they come with an idea of what church should look like or be. This works until they’ve been crossing that door for years. No matter what their expectations were at first, later on they will dictate whether they are thriving church members, or bitter and critical seat warmers. The Importance of Aligning Our Expectations…
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Advent Reflections: A Christmas Allegory of Love
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” – John 3:16-17, NKJV Many would argue that the cross is the greatest act of love in human history. And while there are many reasons I would agree to that statement, I want to take a different approach and present Christ’s birth as the greatest act of love. A Perfect Kingdom and a New Creation Imagine a perfect kingdom, where every being…
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Advent Reflections: Joy When Life Feels Joyless
In various carols and songs, Christmas is presented as a season of joy. In fact, in the Gospel of Luke the angel appeared to the shepherds and said, “I bring you good tidings of great joy.” Christ’s birth was cause for celebration! Today, that joy is still available, even if for some it may not be easily accessible. Finding Joy When Life Seems Joyless I know that this season can be full of grief and loneliness for some. It can be full of constant reminders of the joy that’s been taken away. It can feel difficult to find a reason to celebrate and rejoice when everything in the season is…
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Advent Reflections: Peace When Your Mind Is in Pieces
Busyness usually comes hand in hand with the Christmas season. It seems that the end of year is a constant slope beginning with Thanksgiving and speeding down to New Year’s. This is both energizing—time with family, friends, celebration—and also wearying over time. For some the season is smooth, but for many the road to the new year is full of bumps along the way. Whether from family stress, grief, feeling overwhelmed, or a sense of dread of the unknown, Christmas season can be the most wonderful time of the year or the most mentally chaotic. When Your Mind Is in Pieces During Christmas Christmas is a reflective season. This isn’t…
