Christian Living on Ability

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What is Vision?

Author

Keywords

Scripture

John 9:39, Habakkuk 2:2-3, Colossians 3:2, Psalm 119:18, Ephesians 1:18

Vision is the ability to see God’s presence, to perceive God’s power, to focus on God’s plan In spite of the obstacles….Vision is the ability to see above and beyond the majority. Vision is perception...

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This Intention

Author

William Law

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Scripture

Colossians 3:23-24, Matthew 6:33, Psalm 90:12, Romans 12:1-2, Philippians 3:13-14, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Proverbs 16:3, Revelation 2:10, Matthew 5:10-12, Philippians 1:27, Acts 2:42

It was this…intention that made the primitive Christians such eminent instances of piety, that made the goodly fellowship of the Saints and all the glorious army of martyrs and confessors. And if you ...

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Author

Tod E. Bolsinger

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 15:1-2, Ephesians 4:15, 2 Corinthians 1:12, Colossians 3:12-14, Romans 12:9-10

Relational congruence is the ability to be fundamentally the same person with the same values in every relationship, in every circumstance and especially amidst crisis. It is the internal capacity to ...

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Author

Dwight L. Moody

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 11:23-28, Ruth 1:16-18, Mark 2:1-12, Genesis 22:1-19, Colossians 3:14

Faith makes all things possible. Love makes all things easy.

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"The Batman Effect" The Power of Identity

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Scripture

Romans 13:14, Colossians 3:9-10, Ephesians 4:22-24, Hebrews 12:2, Colossians 2:6

A group of researchers sought to study the nuances of self-control. They conducted a study with a few dozen kindergarten students and gave them a painfully boring, repetitive task designed to test how...

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Author

George Bernard Shaw

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 23:7, Acts 3:19, Isaiah 55:7, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Colossians 3:2, Ephesians 4:23-24, Philippians 2:5

Those who can’t change their minds can’t change anything.

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Almighty God, we trust in our own

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 4:13, Micah 6:8, Colossians 3:17, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Psalm 24:1, James 1:17

Almighty God, we trust in our own strength, abilities, and resources. We think too highly of what we have to offer this world. The truth is we cannot do anything without your strength and all we have ...

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Author

A. W. Tozer

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 17:20, Matthew 19:20, Mark 10:27, Luke 1:37, Luke 18:27, Colossians 3:23-24, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 4:13, Philippians 2:13

God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible. What a pity that we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.

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Doing the Work Before the Work

Author

Stephen W. Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 24:27, James 1:5, Matthew 7:24-25, Proverbs 21:5, Colossians 3:16-17, Isaiah 40:3-4

In his highly insightful work, Inside Job , Stephen W. Smith provides an important analogy about the importance of spiritually preparing ourselves for the adversity and challenges that come with su...

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Let Your Life Speak

Author

John Mark Comer

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 6:4, Colossians 3:23-24, Isaiah 6:8, 1 Corinthians 7:17, Romans 12:2

The word vocatio can also be translated voice. Man, that says a lot. Your vocation is your voice. The Quakers have a saying about calling that I love: Let your life speak. Finding your calling is abou...

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Author

Eugene H. Peterson

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:28, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, James 1:2-4, Philippians 4:11-12, Colossians 3:23-24, Proverbs 3:5-6

The only opportunity you will ever have to live by faith is in the circumstances you are provided this very day: this house you live in, this family you find yourself in, this job you have been given,...

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The Two Runners

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:33, Colossians 3:23, Psalm 39:6, Luke 12:15, Acts 15:29, Matthew 5:14-16, Ephesians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Jeremiah 9:23-24, Matthew 16:24, Luke 9:62, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, James 1:12, Romans 8:16-17, Galatians 2:20

The true story of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, two British sprinters who qualified for the 1924 Olympic Games, illustrates two contrasting approaches to life and identity. Abrahams was driven by ...

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Consider your Habits, They Make up 40% of Your Life

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 5:14, Proverbs 4:23, Galatians 5:16, Colossians 3:16-17, Psalm 119:11, 1 Timothy 4:7-8

A 2014 study by Wendy Wood found that approximately 40% of people’s daily activities are performed out of habit. According to Wood, “an important characteristic of a habit is that it’s automatic…We fi...

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Labor Day Prayer

Author

Walter Rauschenbush

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 25:40, Isaiah 58:10, Colossians 3:23-24, Proverbs 31:8-9, Micah 6:8, Galatians 6:9-10, James 2:45-17

O God, Father of us all, we praise you for so binding humanity together that we must each lean upon the strength and labor of others. We ask your blessing on all men and women who have worked to build...

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Caring For Them is What We’re on this Earth For

Author

Thomas G. Long

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 1:17, Colossians 3:12, Romans 12:10, Proverbs 31:8-9, Galatians 6:2, Matthew 25:40, James 1:27

In this beautiful illustration from Tom Long’s well-known preaching guide, The Witness of Preaching , a pastor shares a true story of what valuing human life can look like when God’s Kingdom takes ro...

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Author

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Keywords

Forgiveness

Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:4-5, Romans 12:9-10, Matthew 6:14-15, Luke 6:37, 1 Peter 4:8, Colossians 3:13, Ephesians 4:31-32

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.

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Author

Charles R. Swindoll

Keywords

Scripture

Habakkuk 3:17-18, Psalm 34:1, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, James 1:2-4, Colossians 3:2, Proverbs 17:22

We cannot change our past. We can not change the fact that people act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our at...

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Author

E. F. Schumacher

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:48, 1 John 3:2-3, Galatians 5:16-17, Philippians 3:13-14, Colossians 3:1-2, Ephesians 4:22-24

The scholastics used to say: Homo non proprie humanus sed superhumanus est —which means that to be properly human, you must go beyond the merely human.

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Author

Kevin Keith

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 18:21-35, Luke 17:3-4, Colossians 3:9, 23-24, Ephesians 4:25, Proverbs 10:9, Proverbs 12:22, Proverbs 24:26, Proverbs 6:17, 1 Peter 3:10-12, Luke 6:35, Acts 20:35

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you w...

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Gracious God, sometimes I am so caught

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null, Philippians 1:6, 2 Corinthians 3:18, James 1:17-18, Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 2:10

Gracious God, sometimes I am so caught up in my failures, in all the ways I am not like you, that I neglect the deeper truth, the earlier truth of Genesis 1. You have made me, as a human being, in you...

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"Why? Because it is There"

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 12:1-4, Hebrews 12:1-2, Joshua 1:9, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Psalm 19:1, Ecclesiastes 3:11, Colossians 3:23

The British mountaineer George Leigh Mallory became famous after multiple expeditions on Mount Everest. On a book tour in the U.S. in 1923, people would regularly ask him the question, “why did you wa...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 4:13, 1 Peter 2:9, Colossians 3:10, Hebrews 11:1, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Galatians 2:20, Romans 10:9

We are what we believe we are.

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Author

Mark Buchanan

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17, Colossians 3:23, 1 Peter 4:10

Whatever you can do with a clean conscience, you can do to the glory of God. No work is so menial that it cannot be rendered as worship.

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Author

Edgar Cayce

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 2:20, Acts 9:1-19, Genesis 45:1-15, Luke 10:25-37, Colossians 3:12-14, John 15:5, Galatians 5:22-23

Grace is the wonderful spirit that imbues every fiber of our being when we practice the fruits of the spirit: kindness, patience, understanding, forgiveness, love, gentleness, fellowship and endurance...

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Author

Robert Oxton Bolt

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 22:37, Ephesians 4:23-24, Isaiah 26:3, Hebrews 11:1, Colossians 3:2, Philippians 2:5

A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses; it is an idea that possesses the mind.

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Not Interested in Being Meek

Author

Jerry Bridges

Keywords

Scripture

Titus 3:2, Colossians 3:12, 1 Peter 3:4, Matthew 11:29, James 1:21

A friend of mine who is an entrepreneur was listening to a CD of a series of messages I had given on the Beatitudes. When he came to meekness, he told me, he skipped over it. He wasn’t interested in b...

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All: Gracious God, we have become

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 25:40, Matthew 25:31-46, Micah 6:8, James 2:15-17, Luke 6:27-36, Isaiah 58:6-7, 1 John 3:17, Zechariah 7:9-10, Colossians 3:12, Proverbs 21:13

All: Gracious God, we have become callous to those in need, holding back compassion yet unsparing with judgment. We defend our motivations, rather than using all you have given us to love and care for...

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Gracious God, we come before you with

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 1:7, 1 John 4:18, Matthew 5:44, Ephesians 4:31-32, 1 Corinthians 16:14, Galatians 5:22-23, Colossians 3:12-14

Gracious God, we come before you with humility, recognizing that doubt has led our decisions. We have allowed fear to lead, rather than love. Because of this, we have been unkind to our families, our ...

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Gracious God, you have given us great

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:7, Luke 5:36, Ephesians 4:32, James 2:13, Colossians 3:12-13, Micah 6:8, Lamentations 3:22-23

Gracious God, you have given us great mercy through Jesus, yet we have withheld mercy from others. Our hearts have been hardened by the world and our sin. Would you soften our hearts? And give us a de...

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Which Comes First, Identity or Behavior?

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:9-10, Ephesians 2:19-22, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:1-3, Romans 6:11-13

I am not perfect, and I will struggle with the “old Jim,” who was and is influenced by American culture, narratives and values. But the key is that identity comes before behavior. We almost always do ...

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