“Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to Him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Jesus questioned Simon Peter about his love for Him using the Greek word for love, “agape.” Simon responded with another Greek word, “phileo.” This happened twice but the third time Jesus led with “phileo.” Peter recoiled at the third inquiry, but assured Jesus of his “phileo” love for…
Category: <span>Healing Cross</span>
“Drug addiction is another possible effect of powerlessness.” “The basis of addiction is ‘a lot of weakness’ and ‘a blocked anger.’” “The weakness takes the form of ‘I can’t meet the demands of my family.’ ‘I can’t get a job,’ ‘I am sexually impotent,’ ‘I am a no person.’” “The anger takes the form of the addict’s revenge upon his family and the world for forcing him into this painful position of powerlessness.” “The heroin wipes away all the discomfort of perpetually feeling weak.” “No more inferiority, no more worry about being a failure in the working world, no more fear of being a coward in battle, no more disappointing one’s parents — all of these oppressive feelings evaporate.” Rollo May from his book, “Power and Innocence.” The 70’s were the experiential background for Dr. May’s observations. Feelings of being “no person” and anger toward family were the familiar tune…
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? — shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39 Friends, we all, as sheep have gone astray, all to our own way, but God has laid on Christ the iniquity of us all. As humans we go astray like sheep go astray, we drift, we wander, we fall…
“…what is capable of strength must be made strong. This is the Divine Law throughout all of life…” The Expositors Bible., “The world is ‘a vale of soul making,’ a great sculptors shop, and we are the statues.” “…the statues must endure many blows of the chisel and be hardened in the fire.” “This is not optional.” “…without it we have no face with which to face God.” Kreeft quotes C.S.Lewis from one of his allegorical books, “How can we meet the gods face to face till we have faces?” “That is the meaning of life: getting a face, becoming real…” Peter Kreeft. A person acquires a face? “Aaron, the high priest, went into the Holy of Holies once a year, he had to burn incense on the coals coming out from the outer altar so that he couldn’t see the mercy seat. He had to look up, because he wasn’t…
Wonderment, bewilderment, elation, happiness, joviality, dreaming, wishing and hoping; 1. sleepy and groggy 2. excitement 3. pure joy 4. especially nice 5. tipsy and giggly. 6. arguments 7. happy 8. gluttony 9. impatience 10. Absolute delight 11. fit to burst. 12. competitive 13. Laughter and cringing 14. Uncomfortably full 15. Sleepy but proud 16. Delirious 17. dozy but content. From housebeautiful: Feelings happen Yule-tide but then there’s a unique one to the season: “The holidays can bring nostalgia, an emotion with important benefits, according to a nostalgia expert.” “Holidays bring holiday memories, and, often a sense of nostalgia for good times long gone, perhaps even loved ones long gone.” “This bittersweet nostalgia helps us feel connected, both around the holidays and at other times. And, it can be a salve to those suffering through hard times, according to nostalgia expert Krystine Batcho, a professor of psychology at Le Moyne College in New York. it was originally coined in 1688 by a medical physician as a term to indicate homesickness in young soldiers. He viewed homesickness as a physical illness…
Are you walkin with God my friend, are you walkin with God? Are you holdin the rope so tight, are you walkin in light? Or awaitin some sign, awaitin so dumb? Avoidin His blessedness, eatin the crumb? Are you walkin with God my friend, are you walkin with God? Are you walkin in love, like God above? Are you walkin The Spirit way, in comfort’s Dove? or walkin the hum, of the devil drum? Are you walkin with God my friend, are you walkin with God? Are you walkin with acuracy, atop that wall? Are you walkin, steps ordered, follow’n the Word? or random sloth with fuzzy thought, and mostly bored? Are you walkin with God my friend, are you walkin with God? Are you walkin the valley, or high-handed fraud? Are you finding His presence, ever so near? or running half-maddened, to far reaching career? Are you walkin with God my…
“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Job 38:1-2 “How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?” Psalm 13:2 “O my God, my soul is cast down within me:” Psalm 42:6 “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?” Psalm 42:6 “lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death — hope thou in God.” There are four characteristics of a person who hides in their self counsel. First, they live in self-preservation. Secondly, a person who is hiding in Adam lives in self-defense mechanisms. The third characteristic is self-absorption. Fourth, self-occupation According to Dr. Carl H. Stevens, founder of Greater Grace Church in Baltimore Md. these 4 characteristics progress in the self-counseled soul. The self-absorbed become distracted and blinded to God’s viewpoint and…
“The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Timothy 1:5 “Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.” 1 Timothy 3:9 “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.” 1 Timothy 1:19 Faith seems to depend on conscience, but what about these; purity, love? Faith grasps a mystery, a secret. Faith holds function in a (katheros) conscience. our English derivative is katharsis which is a cleansing. The blood of Christ, applied by the Spirit, cleanses our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God, simply put. Conscience accuses or excuses the owner. A good conscience has good constitution or nature, is useful, good, pleasant, agreeable, and joyful..” A good conscience functions right. What else does it do? It bears witness, producing a “knowledge by the side of the original consciousness…
Common sense can cure some depression but folks who renege at receiving God’s grace may be the source of their own problem. Common sense often requires no spiritual insight, and unchristian men and women may handle their depression by simple coping. They understand things like “no sense crying over spilled milk.” Here are some more common sense sayings: “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” Edmund Burke blrainyquote.com “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.” brainyquote.com How could these men know these things? Martyn Lloyd Jones said this, “Christianity is common sense and much more, but it includes common sense.” He goes on: “Let us then lay this down as a principle…We must never for a second worry about anything that cannot be affected or changed by us…It is a waste of energy…if you can…
“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.” 1 Thessalonians 5:2 “But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.”Matthew 24:43 “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:10 The “chronos,” or times and seasons hardly involve the believer in Christ, because its high time for us. We watch and wait every day. For the thief? No, thieves…