August 23, 2022
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We have fears below the surface that we don’t consciously know we have. God wants us to be free of them. How can we be? Well, he has made a way for us. It is the way of his love. His perfect love for us casts out all fear.

"And so we know...

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August 21, 2022
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In this world where we find ourselves living, having joy often feels both crazy and out of reach. 


To have joy in the midst of sorrow — or the current news feed — can seem impossible. And all on our own, it is impossible. But just as...

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August 20, 2022
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There is a reason you have the desires you do. Some desires you share with many others. Many people want the same core, good things: a community, a relationship, a deeper walk with God. But many of your dreams and desires are yours alone. They...

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August 19, 2022
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Yes, dear friends, we are already God's children, and we can't even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. (1 John 3:2 NLT)

...

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August 18, 2022
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But there’s something deeper that calls to me, something richer I have tasted which compels me to let go of the life I keep rebuilding in order to learn how to love.

 

I want God.

 

Can you name a better reason? There...

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August 17, 2022
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The book “Killing Lions” is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face.

 

 

[John]   I believe you young men are the warrior generation this world needs. I believe you will...

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August 16, 2022
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Personally, I find one of the most startling things Jesus says tucked away at the end of the fourteenth chapter of John. He is preparing his closest friends (and soon-to-be-successors) for his departure. They still don’t believe or don’t want...

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August 15, 2022
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What do all the great stories and myths tell us? What do they have in common? What are they trying to get across? Wherever they may come from, whatever their shape might be, they nearly always speak to us Three Eternal Truths. First, these...

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August 14, 2022
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The loss of personality confounds our imitation of Christ. What happens is, our particular brand of church seizes upon one or two of his virtues as the essence of Christ for us to follow. Justice. Mercy. Righteousness. Whatever. You cannot live a...

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August 13, 2022
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There is an overlooked passage late in the New Testament that is going to begin to connect some dots for us in a wild way. It comes from the book of James, and he brings us back around to the old man, Elijah, praying on the mountain: “The prayer...

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August 12, 2022
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How quickly do betrayal and slavery fall upon Joseph after his father gives him the coat of many colors, the symbol of his delight. We don’t know exactly how much time has passed, but those events are told in the same chapter in Genesis, barely...

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August 11, 2022
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There is nothing like stepping out your door into a bright and beckoning world. This is why people vacation in beautiful places. It is also the secret to the stories you love — that magical moment when the hero or heroine steps into a "brave new...

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August 10, 2022
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Let’s name the “levels” of our being:

  • You have fleeting thoughts throughout the day, most of which are insignificant.
  • You also have longings, hopes, and dreams that are far more important.
  • Deep within you, you have...
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August 09, 2022
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In order to learn who we really are, we must have a place in our lives where we are removed from the materialism, entertainment, diversion, and busyness that the Vanity Fair of our society and culture immerse us in. The things sold at the booths...

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August 08, 2022
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As a result of the wounds we receive growing up, we come to believe that some part of us, maybe every part of us, is marred. Shame enters in and makes its crippling home deep within our hearts. Shame is what makes us look away, so we avoid eye...

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August 07, 2022
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You shall know them, Jesus said, by their fruit.

 

The principle holds true for anything in life. It is especially helpful in diagnosing what the enemy might be up to. What is the fruit of what you’re experiencing? What is its ...

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August 05, 2022
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It seems that much of what Christians believe they are called to these days is a cluster of activities that include regular church attendance, Bible study, prayer, giving, concern for justice, and attending the annual men or women’s retreat. Now...

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August 04, 2022
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If you want to get to know someone, you need to know their story. Their life is a story. It, too, has a past and a future. It, too, unfolds in a series of scenes over the course of time. Why is Grandfather so silent? Why does he drink...

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August 03, 2022
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We are now in the late stages of the long and vicious war against the human heart. I know — it sounds overly dramatic. I almost didn't use the term "war" at all, for fear of being dismissed at this point as one more in the group of "Chicken...

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August 02, 2022
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If the way to avoid the murderous rage and deceptive allures of desire is to kill it, if deadness is next to godliness, then Jesus had to be the deadest person ever. But he is called the living God. "It is a dreadful thing," the writer...

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