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RIP Andrae Crouch
More HERE
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Saints
We celebrated the life of a saint today. A dear lady who went to be with Jesus at the age of 97. She was healthy to the end. The great witness she left behind was amazing. A woman of prayer, she prayed with joy throughout her life. There is a legacy of joyful prayer to carry on with her passing.…
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We settle for so little
I am working my way through The Great Divorce by C S Lewis. I’ve finished McGrath’s biography of Lewis, so reading Lewis more in historical context is slightly more helpful. I’m just not a great reader of “literature.” I love reading about Lewis, but reading Lewis is just plain slogging at times. The stories bring to life great truth. In one scene…
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The WHY of Fasting
There are a lot of reasons to fast and pray. What is needed most is to remember to add in “AND PRAY.” We don’t fast to “diet.” Sometimes it is necessary to fast to specifically ask something of God. Those are not always successful. We have expectations of what should “come out” of the process, and when it doesn’t we are disappointed.…
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The engine for 2015
As I looked ahead this past week to 2015 and went through some good questions that help set up the next part of my journey, the one thing that kept showing up was the deep need for fasting and prayer. The engine to drive all that lies before me in 2015 is fasting and prayer. The engine. The fuel. All that…
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Resolved for 2015: Living a life of repentance
Two words the Lord gave me for our church and for my own life going into 2015: 1. Transformation 2. Multiplication Transformation is best summed up in these words of Jesus (from the Common English Bible): 17 From that time Jesus began to announce, “Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven!” (Matt. 4:17) It is about changing our…
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Resolved: Be done with “fixing” people
As a pastor, the temptation is huge to “fix” people. They have a problem. They lay it out to you. You fix it. It is incredibly interesting to me that Jesus never “fixed” Peter. He let Peter know that Satan had asked permission to sift him as wheat, and Jesus said he would PRAY for Peter (Luke 22:31-32). As I…
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Everyone gets an education
Reading through the tribute to Dallas Willard, Todd Hunter points out a saying of Dallas I have loved. Hunter puts it this way: “…’one thing is for sure,’ Dallas wrote, ‘you are somebody’s disciple. You (are learning) how to live form somebody else. There are no exceptions to this rule.’” I remember Dallas saying something similar: Everyone gets an education.…
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Book Review: Eternal Living: Reflections on Dallas Willard’s Teaching on Faith and Formation
I received a review copy of Eternal Living: Reflections on Dallas Willard’s Teaching on Faith and Formation from IVP. I am under no obligation to give it a positive review. But let’s be real, how would I NOT give a positive review on a book that celebrates a man who gave me the very idea for this blog? IVP knows I’m…
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Dallas Willard on Arminianism and Calvinism
In a new book honoring the life of Dallas Willard (Eternal Living) James Bryan Smith relates the story of a time he asked Dallas about who was “right,” Arminians or Calvinists? “Neither.” He went on to say that both were right, and both were wrong, and he did not fit into either camp. The more I read reflections from people…
