Recently, I have become cognizant of a striking, yet very common thought which I feel that the Holy Spirit has been calling me to share in the form of a blog post. The thought revolves around the importance of ensuring that we, as believers, do not allow ourselves to become complacent.
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Perseverance
Conquering Fear through Christ (Part 3 of 3)
Preface
Throughout this blog series, it has been my sincere intention and heartfelt desire to communicate the crippling power of fear towards believers. Within this third entry, I plan on providing practical recommendations on how believers can conquer fear in and through their reliance on Jesus Christ.
Why Are You Sleeping?
This particular blog post vividly conveys the importance of regular and intimate prayer time with the Lord.
Truly, we are in an unseen spiritual battleground against principalities much stronger than mere mortal beings. The enemy is constantly tempting us, hoping to make us stumble, consequently rendering us inffective for God’s work. It is only through prayer that God’s unprecedented power through His Holy Spirit is able to be unleashed, providing us with inexplicable strength to conquer all things. This is why maintaining a vibrant and healthy prayer is absolutely indispensable as we persevere throughout the good fight of faith, pressing on towards the finish line!
Original Blog Entry:
Pushing Through
Great post and well-worth the read!
I can certainly relate to the importance of always maintaining a persevering, trusting, and grateful attitude towards the Lord. God is so incredibly faithful and He will always provide regardless of how bleak things may seem at the time. Therefore, He alone is infinitely worthy of our full, unblemished submission and reliance with whatever comes our way in life!
Have a great weekend!
Photo Credit: Ricardo Camacho via CC Flickr
“But I trust in Your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in Your deliverance. I will sing the LORD’s praise, for He has been good to me.” Psalm 13:6
Psalm 13 shows us what to do when we find ourselves asking tough questions like this:
* How long will You forget me? (v1)
* How long will You hide from me? (v1)
* How long must I wrestle with my thoughts? (v2)
* How long must my heart sorrow? (v2)
* How long will my enemies triumph over me? (v2)
All these questions make me think that maybe Psalm 13 was written by an athlete or coach going through a tough season, rough injury, personal performance slump, real loneliness, broken relationship, or a long losing streak. And it’s written to an audience that will likely feel the very same way.
BUT Psalm 13 ends…
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The Way God Wins
Thank-you for sharing this beautiful reflection on the incomprehensibly glorious significance of the Cross!
God bless!
Photo Credit: Gabriel Rosa via CC Flickr
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses…., God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in (Jesus).” Colossians 2:13–15 ESV
When God wins, He wins big time! We’re not talking an overtime, squeak-it-out victory. And we’re not talking about a soccer game where there’s a shootout win because one ball dribbles in, but otherwise it would have been a tie. God doesn’t operate like that. When He wins a battle, His victory is decisive.
As God was pouring out His wrath on His Son, we were there in His mind. From each painful step to Calvary, to His last…
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Suffering, Perseverance, Character, and Hope(Part 4 of 4)
Throughout today’s post I will conclude this four-part series by focusing on the Hope that we all share as believers in Christ.
Although hope is essentially the final resultant fruit yielded from our suffering as Christians(Romans 5:3-4), I feel that its influence has the ability to penetrate into every facet of our lives. In fact, it is the very hope in the return of Christ which serves as the basis for believers to purify themselves in this life (Titus 2:11-14, 1 John 3:3). Continue reading
Suffering, Perseverance, Character (Part 3 of 4), and Hope
Again, I sincerely apologize for the prolonged delayed in continuing this series. Life is far from boring. It seems that there is always something vying for our attention and investments of our time.
Throughout Part 3 of this series I will focus on the intrinsic value derived from character, specifically within the context of Christianity.
As per usual, I will begin with a working definition of character from a Biblical perspective in order to establish a solid foundation for this school of thought.
Dictionary.com defines character in general terms as follows:
Character(noun) – the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing; moral or ethical quality; qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity.
Suffering, Perseverance (Part 2 of 4), Character, and Hope
Press on; God’s Got This!
Throughout today’s blog entry I will continue the series, which I began last week, however this time I will underscore the importance of perseverance in the Christian life.
Perseverance is a widely disseminated term particularly within the confines of Western Culture. Therefore, I feel that a working definition is required for purposes of clarity within this post. Continue reading
Suffering (Part 1 of 4), Perseverance, Character, and Hope
Today I feel that the Holy Spirit is guiding me to start a new series about perhaps one of the most ubiquitous topics that we face on a day-to-day basis. Specifically, this topic focuses on both suffering and perseverance and their critical importance in our lives, particularly as Christians living in an increasingly broken world. Throughout this first entry (1 of 4 in series) I will attempt to provide linkages between suffering and perseverance, relying on God’s Word, in order to emphasize their respective levels of significance in the Christian life.
To begin, I will identify what the Scriptures tell us regarding the value that suffering has in the Christian life.
The relevant Scriptural Text here comes from Romans 5:3-5 where it tells us the following:
3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Theological Reflections 