Tag: christ
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9. BEHOLD: Our Treasurer
People tend to count often in December. Fastidious budgeters often check their bank accounts multiple times a day during December. Others tally what’s left in their wallets. Some people take the time to count their blessings. I know I’ve also counted the hours in the day and the tasks left to complete. December is a month…
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4 Biblical Strategies for Honoring Your In Laws
You’re probably familiar with Exodus 20:12 –“honor your father and mother”. While fumbling over “Nan-uh, Mrs., uh, Mom?” it isn’t always obvious that this command applies to your relationship with your in laws too. According to the current stereotype, in laws are common household enemies. There’s even the popular mantra “you don’t just marry him…
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2. BEHOLD: The Promise Keeper
There’s something about December that draws up the dreams in our hearts. Maybe it’s the sappy music and the happy advertising everywhere. The nostalgia of beloved traditions, fine decorations, and lights glowing everywhere stirs up joy -and hope. In this season of dreaming, we’re apt to make promises and ask for them. “Promise you’ll come…
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Letting “It” Be
Photo from: weheartit.com Moving from a place of resignation to the holy space of accepting God’s sovereignty joyfully and humbly isn’t easy. One of the benefits of resignation is that we get to give up responsibility and keep complaining anyway. We get to say “it is what is” and then harbor bitterness and doubt. That’s…
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It Is(n’t) What It Is
Photo from: www.armstrongeconomics.com The phrase has been floating around for years. It came to my attention as friends of mine from different circles and walks of life spoke the words. I noticed the phrase on television and the radio. Then I saw it on decorative signs in a couple of stores. So I tried it on…
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We Need to Witness to Believers Too
Photo from: Pixabay “Witnessing” and “testifying” are words generally reserved for evangelizing. It is by hearing a testimony that many people become interested in the Lord. Through the witness of Christians, many have been convicted by the Spirit and accepted Christ as their own. But there is also a place for witnessing to other believers….
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The Nuts and Bolts of Building Your Faith
Photo from: pixabay.com You know the monumental moments of your faith. When you take the first step of faith and your foundation is laid in Christ. Days, months, years later when crucial decisions arise and you find that you indeed want to live with Him as your cornerstone, it’s big. There are moments of obvious…
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![HE is More Than [Fill In the Blank]](https://firstandsecondblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/dachstein-1512383_960_720.jpg)
HE is More Than [Fill In the Blank]
Photo from: Piaxbay We need to “love the Lord, not just the idea of the Lord” said my dear friend (SkillzUSA). AKA: Don’t reduce God to some idea you have about Him and miss out on His whole person as a result. Our ideas tend to address issues in reactionary ways, focusing on what isn’t…
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You Were Right!…Or Were You?
Photo from: pixabay 3 words everybody loves to hear: “you were right.” We like to be right. Many of us try to do the right thing. In fact, our desire to be “right” is so strong and deep that we have opened its meaning up to include ideas like: Do whatever feels right Do whatever…
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What Hope Can a Broken Heart offer?
How can our brokenness be useful to others? Offering our broken hearts to the Lord as a sacrifice and a praise is one thing. But, giving ourselves to others when we’re messy and vulnerable is another. Though we shouldn’t recklessly hand over the reins to our heart or carelessly welcome anyone’s influence into to our…