“I hate humanity. I am allergic to it. I see no one. I don’t go out. I am disgusted with everything. Men are beasts, and even beasts don’t behave like them.” Those are the words of actress Brigitte Bardot, sex symbol of the 1950’s and 1960’s. In those years she made the headlines with her three marriages, a series of lovers, and “a sun-kissed life on the French Riviera.” She plans to quit the movie world and retire to a farm. 1 In a similar, fashion some have walked away from Jesus. They are disgusted and embittered souls. No one can afford the root of bitterness in their life. It is a lethal root which must be pulled up and out of a believer’s life.
Category Archives: Spiritual Development
Practical teachings from the Bible for every day living.
Walking in the Now With One Foot Toward Tomorrow
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Believers in Jesus are people of multiple focal points. We walk in the time dimensions of faith, hope and love. We live in the seen realm while we look at the unseen. We live out the will of God for our lives today while we look forward to our prophetic future. We are a people of two worlds. Is it possible to live a balanced two dimensional life?
How Gideon Overcame the Voices of Insecurity
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Hoping to relieve him of financial pressure and enable him to write more freely, the first publishers of American writer Sherwood Anderson offered to send him a weekly check. After a few weeks, however, Anderson took his latest check back to the publisher’s office. “It’s no use,” he explained. “I find it impossible to work with security staring me in the face.” Unlike Anderson, the Israelite leader Gideon found that he couldn’t work without security staring him in the face. It was Gideon’s insecurity which caused him to ask God for two miraculous signs aimed at strengthening his faith. From a human point of view, Gideon’s fear is understandable. After all, his tiny force of 300 armed men was about to face an army of 135,000 Midianites. Gideon’s band seemed to have little or no chance against such a superior force. 1 How did God help Gideon overcome the paralysis of insecurity?
How to Cut Through the Voices of Insecurity
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Sometimes a person’s insecurities and fears speak so loudly they can’t hear anything or anyone. People who do not understand their value have destroyed more good than the world will ever know. Lack of self-worth has held people back and buried their potential. How do we rise above the ‘noise within’? God wants you to know you have choices about voices.
More How to Make It Through a Bad Day
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In early New Testament times, believers faced intense persecution. Nero, after his ideas to remodel the city of Rome were rejected by the Senate (he wanted statues of himself all over the city), set a fire in the Western part (poor part) of the city. According to Tacitus, the fire spread quickly and burned for six days. Only four of the fourteen districts of Rome escaped the fire; three districts were completely destroyed and the other seven suffered serious damaged. To deflect attention from himself, Nero blamed the Christians for starting the fire. Nero had a ‘superstitious’ edge in that Christianity was an unusual religion to the Romans. Romans worshipped idols and images, gods that you can see. Christians worshiped a God they could not see, a curiosity to Rome and a basis for mistrust. This distrust and Nero’s claim led to a persecution of believers. Believers, summoned to the back of Nero’s palace, were demanded to deny Jesus. When they refused, their bodies were dipped in tar and they were hung on poles in Nero’s garden. Christians literally became ‘the light of the world’. What primary traits did these believers in Jesus possess and how can those traits helps us make it through a bad day?
How to Make It Through a Bad Day
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Real Christianity acknowledges there are problems in life. Christianity is not a ‘pie in the sky’ entity. But, it’s not a ‘woe is me’ entity either. You are going to have problems because Satan, the mad dog, is loose on planet earth. Until God moves heaven to earth, know there will be problems. Spirituality doesn’t hide and pretend that real difficulties do not exist. But also know, God didn’t leave us without a remedy. With that said, here are some things you need to know in order to make it through a bad day.
How to Conquer An Ungodly Habit
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One unknown gentleman said, ‘A bad habit is like a comfortable bed—easy to get into but hard to get out of.’1 Are you a believer in Jesus and yet struggle with habits which weigh you down and dilute your testimony? There is a answer to the dilemma (Gal.1:4). The habit may be difficult to overcome but not impossible. All things are possible to one who believes (Mk. 9:23). Here are areas to look at and some things which you can implement from the Bible to overthrow the negative which has gripped your life.
Can Your Loved One’s Come to Jesus at the Last Moment?
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Is it possible for a person to come to Jesus at the last moment? Can an individual live their entire life opposed to God’s will and yet come to true repentance on their death bed? The following testimony is proof positive that God save a man within seconds of death. The moral? Don’t ever toss away your faith for your loved ones. God can and does save people at the last moment of their lives.
More How to Elevate Your Thinking to God’s Idea of Family
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In John 14:18 Jesus said, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” The word comfortless is the Greek word for orphan. Jesus promise to all of His disciples, was that He would not leave them as orphans. Family is God’s idea. And God the ultimate Father will never abandon you.
#S2-014: Do You Have A New Vision for A New Year? [Podcast]
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This is the New Years edition of Light On Life. This is the time of the year where people think about things like resolutions, goals and vision for the upcoming year. Soon after the completion of Disney World, someone said, “Isn’t it too bad that Walt Disney didn’t live to see this?” Mike Vance, creative director of Disney Studios, replied, “He did see it—that’s why it’s here.” 1 Vision is seeing things invisible. Do you have a new vision for this new year?
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How to Elevate Your Thinking to God’s Idea of Family
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My most enjoyable times on planet earth were not the vacations that I have taken, nor the faraway places I have been nor the great sights of God’s creation that I have seen. No, my most enjoyable times, hands down, have been sitting around my table listening to my family, listening to my four children interact. Family is so vitally important. You as a born again child of God are part of a family also. That wasn’t always the case, at one you point you were ‘fatherless’ as far as God was concerned. But, now you and He are family.
#S2-013: What if the Star Had Never Appeared? [Podcast]
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God’s plan was thought up and set in motion before the foundations of the world (Eph. 1:4). Particular courses of events and situations, at times, align to bring into a focus a particular aspect of God’s wisdom and plan. Today, we are going to look at the birth of Jesus in this way. We are going to look at some of the events that came into view and we are going to ask a rather startling question about one of those events, the appearing of the star. Here is the question: ‘What would have happened, had the Star not appeared?’