REAL LIFE STORIES OF ENCOURAGEMENT, TRIAL, AND GOD’S FAITHFULNESS THROUGH IT ALL.
Why Do You Pursue Holiness?
"What is your motivation for your struggle for holiness?
"If I do things around the house like clean up, do the dishes, or laundry because of fear that if I don't my wife will go bananas and yell at me, how much joy do I find in doing those things? However, if I do the very same things out of love for her and out of a desire to serve her and for her joy, then how much joy do I find in doing those things?
"It is the same way with God. If my motivation for holiness is fear, then there we find no joy. If our motivation is love, then in that we find infinite joy."
Don't Worry About It, It's In the Past
One of the things I love about scripture is the divinely inspired tensions that seem to riddle its pages. One of those moments comes from the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:13-14. In it, Paul says,
"13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
What Do You Worship?
Many years ago I heard a sermon where the preacher pointed out how we could tell what was important to us by what was in our checkbook register. Apparently at that time, as now, Wal-Mart is EXTREMELY high on that list. It isn’t that I worship Wal-Mart, it just so happens the bulk of what we buy for our family of 7 comes from there. I mean, they carry everything!
COMING THIS FALL!!!
The Crucible's Fire: A Story of God's Faithfulness will be released by Lucid Books Publishing this Fall! Subscribe to our blog at www.thecruciblesfire.org for up-to-date release information and an opportunity to win a FREE COPY!
Confess. Repent. Repeat.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
Confession is the heart of the matter when dealing with sin when temptation has overtaken us when our fleshly desires win the momentary battle and we indulge in self-gratification. While John speaks of confessing to God, it is also vitally important to have an accountability partner or group to which we can also confess. Look at James 5:16:
The Development of Sin - Part 6
Self-control is more than simple begrudging submission and putting the flesh under control. It certainly is the latter, but far more than the former.
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