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Either Way, God Works
photo credit: JWNOWSIn Romans 4:17b Paul writes of Abraham, “He is our father in the sight of God in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” 1. “The God who gives life to the dead” – Resurrection 2. “Calls things that are not as though they were” – Creation In this verse, both resurrection and creation exist in the context of the promises of God. Specifically “gives life to the dead” refers to Abraham’s old body and Sarah’s dead womb (v. 19). “calls things that are not as though they were” is the name God…
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The Bible — Success Literature for Christians
Image via Wikipedia “Success literature” refers to how-to-be-successful books and articles. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Think and Grow Rich! How to Win Friends and Influence People. Who Moved My Cheese? It’s a popular topic! Do a search on Amazon for books with the keyword “success” and you’ll have to plow through a list of 384,515. Yes, that’s right – six figures, and that number is going up by the day. Some success literature is based on good psychological principles and can be helpful, so I’m not knocking the entire genre. But success literature cannot be a primary tool of transformation for the Christian. Why? Because classic success…
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The Deep Desires of Your Heart
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4) Just like everyone else in the world, Christians are busy with work, family, church, sports, hobbies, you name it. But all too often our busyness lacks a sense of God’s leading and will. We want to know God’s plan for our lives, but we secretly (or not so secretly!) think our dreams and desires don’t matter to Him. But they do. But God has a plan for your life. And that plan includes what you want to do. It includes the deepest desires of your heart. Sometimes we express these desires in ways…