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How to Take a Private Retreat
This is a small study guide on how to take a private Christian retreat — a practice that is firmly based on hearing God’s word in the Bible and through His Holy Spirit. How Long? Your private retreat may take half a day, a day or 2 days. Of course you can take longer such as whole weekend and there are people who can retreat for one or two weeks. For most of us with families and regular jobs, a half-day to 2 days will be the most likely. Where? Can you retreat at home? You can, especially with the half day retreats. However, home can be mightily distracting. I…
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6 Elements of Effective Prayer
My thanks for this lesson to John Underhill, pastor of Valley Fourth Church in Spokane, WA. I have paraphrased his article but the ideas, not to mention the neat alliteration, are his. Matthew 6:9-15 is the Lord’s Prayer. We repeat the Lord’s Prayer and we are right to do so, but the pattern that He taught us using this prayer is just as important as the prayer itself. Now, must every prayer we pray follow this pattern? No, we are not under the Law. And this prayer is our speaking to God, while we should also listen to God. But I believe that when we settle down to talk to…
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Why “Fear and Trembling”?
Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Phil. 2:12b-13) I never understood these verses, never liked these verses, and ignored these verses. So of course God told me to teach them at my Bible study! Having been forced to study them, I figured it out and feel much better now. ;> At first glance these statements seem contradictory! In v. 12, “work out your salvation” sure sounds like it’s up to us. Even worse, we’re supposed to do it with fear and trembling! Yet in v. 13,…