Christian Living on Thoughts

liturgy

Lord and God, you know what we are

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 51:3-4, Romans 8:34, Isaiah 53:4-5, Hebrews 7:25, Lamentations 3:22-23

Lord and God, you know what we are about to say in prayer, you know what we ought to say, and even what we need to say but cannot. Our sins trouble us, though they don’t trouble us as much as they sho...

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Dear Lord, I pray that You would open

Keywords

Scripture

John 12:1-8, Acts 9:1-19, Luke 24:13-35, Isaiah 53:5, Philippians 2:6-8, Hebrews 12:2

Dear Lord, I pray that You would open my mind to the truth of Your Word by means of the Holy Spirit. Open my eyes to see Jesus. Open my heart to love Him more and more. Open my will to do only that wh...

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What Are We Grasping For?

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

John 11:35, Romans 8:26, Psalm 42:3, Isaiah 53:3, Matthew 26:38

Our culture is afraid of grief, but not just because it is afraid of death. That is natural and normal, a proper reaction to the Last Enemy. Our culture is afraid because it seems to be afraid of the ...

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Existential Brokenheartedness

Author

Austin Fischer

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 1:6-7, Habakkuk 1:2-3, John 16:33, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Isaiah 53:3, Psalm 22:1, Romans 8:18

In this short excerpt, pastor and author Austin Fischer describes a surprising dynamic that sometimes occurs in the life of a Christian: believing so strongly in a loving God that one cannot fathom th...

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Lord, you came to dwell among us, yet

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 1:9, Psalm 51:10, Isaiah 53:3, Luke 24:15-16, Hebrews 13:2, Matthew 25:37-40, John 1:10-11

Lord, you came to dwell among us, yet we did not recognize you. We still fail to recognize you. You show up in unexpected places and through unexpected people. We fail to see you in the people who are...

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The Most Common Complaint

Author

Matt Haig

Keywords

Scripture

1 Kings 19:1-18, Psalm 88:null, Psalm 102:7, Isaiah 53:3, Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 15:11-32

A therapist once told me that the most common complaint he heard from his patients was the feeling that they didn’t belong. The feeling of being an imposter, or of being outside things, of not fitting...

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Skin is Meant to be Touched

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 9:21-22, James 5:14-15, Jeremiah 17:14, Isaiah 53:5, Psalm 147:3

Brenda Peterson is an author whose work crosses multiple genres, including fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books. In an essay entitled In Praise of Skin, Peterson shares a true story from her own ...

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Jesus, Lord—because you took on flesh,

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Isaiah 53:4-5, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Romans 12:15, 1 Peter 5:7, Psalm 34:18, Hebrews 4:15-16

Jesus, Lord—because you took on flesh, You know what it’s like to be us. You know what keeps us awake at night, or yanks us out of sleep in the early morning. You know what it’s like to have good days...

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Adapted from Isaiah 53:2-7

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 53:2-7

Pastor: For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised ...

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Author

Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 17:11-12, Daniel 6:10, Isaiah 53:12 , Romans 34:17, Romans 8:34, John 17:20-21

If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference; he is praying for me.

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Adapted from “The Precious Blood” in The Valley of Vision

Author

Arthur Bennett

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 51:1-2, Luke 23:39-43, Luke 15:11-32, Ephesians 2:4-5, Romans 5:8, Isaiah 53:5

Leader: Blessed Lord Jesus, before your cross I kneel and see the heinousness of my sin, my iniquity that caused you to be made a curse, the evil that provokes divine wrath. All: Show me the enormit...

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Only The Symptoms Remain

Author

Pete Greig

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Isaiah 53:5, Psalm 147:3, Matthew 8:13, Romans 8:18

At university, I knew a guy called Captain Scarlet (nicknamed after the lead puppet in a cult TV series to which he bore a striking resemblance). The Captain was the only nineteen-year-old I’ve ever k...

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An Unfortunate Comparison

Author

James Merritt

Keywords

Scripture

John 10:11, John 10:27-28, Luke 15:4-6, Matthew 9:36, Mark 6:34, Isaiah 53:6, Psalm 23:1-3, 1 Peter 2:25

Jesus doesn’t just use the shepherd metaphor when he refers to himself as the door. Over and over in the Bible, we are compared to sheep. Some people think it’s heartwarming. But I hate to tell you, i...

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Jesus, our Great Physician, our sins

Author

Charles Teixeira

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 5:21-43, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31, Matthew 9:12, Isaiah 53:5, Psalm 147:3, 1 Peter 2:24

Jesus, our Great Physician, our sins have brought wounds on ourselves and others. Heal our hearts first, that we would no longer desire the sins that have only brought us and others pain. Go on to hea...

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Author

Brian Zahnd

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 53:5-6 , Exodus 34:6-7, Zechariah 12:10, Psalm 85:10-11, Romans 5:8

Jesus didn’t die on the cross to change God’s mind about us; Jesus died on the cross to change our minds about God!”

liturgy

God of Grace–Father, Son, and Holy

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 62:8, Isaiah 53:4-5, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Matthew 28:18-20, James 1:5

God of Grace–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: You are good and You are almighty. You alone are worthy of our faith and trust and so we come to You with our hopes and hurts, our disappointments and dreams...

Quote

Author

John Jacob Niles

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 53:, Genesis 3:15, Exodus 12:, Psalm 22:, Romans 5:8

I wonder as I wander, out under the sky, How Jesus the Savior did come for to die.

liturgy

As we call ourselves to worship, let us

Author

C. Hassell Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalm 95:6-7, Philippians 2:6-8, Hebrews 4:15, Matthew 4:1-11, Isaiah 53:5

As we call ourselves to worship, let us remember that our God is an awesome God, who in Jesus Christ has lived in our flesh, faced our temptations, gone to cross for, and lives today in heaven. In thi...

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The Cross Set-Apart

Author

Dan Baumgartner

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 1:18, Isaiah 53:3-5, Matthew 27:45-46, Romans 5:8, Luke 24:6-7, Romans 6:4, 1 Peter 1:3, Ephesians 1:7

Our church has a large open field next to it, with a tall wooden cross in the middle– perhaps 15-feet high or so. I love that cross. I’m always struck by its isolation, abrupt in the midst of land wi...

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I am a Christian

Author

Christian Wiman

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 15:39, Hebrews 4:15, John 11:35, Luke 22:44, Psalm 22:1, 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, Isaiah 53:5

I am a Christian because of that moment on the cross when Jesus, drinking the very dregs of human bitterness, cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? . . . The point is that he felt huma...

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Jesus, the Prodigal Son

Author

Frère Pierre Marie

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:6-8, John 1:10-11, Isaiah 53:3-4, Matthew 11:19, Mark 15:34, Isaiah 53:12, Luke 15:20-24, Revelation 7:13-14

In this excerpt, the French monastic leader Frere Pierre Marie, shares an interpretation of Jesus as the true prodigal son—bringing all of us home with him: He, who is born not from human stock, or ...

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Author

Eugene Peterson

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:5-8, Isaiah 53:2-3, Luke 22:27, Mark 10:45, John 13:14-15

St. Paul tells us that Jesus Christ, the revelation of God become human, “set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It wa...

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Humble

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:5-8, Luke 2:6-7, Isaiah 53:2-3, John 13:4-5, Hebrews 2:14-17, Luke 22:27, Mark 10:42-45

Humble. Before Jesus, almost no pagan author had used “humble” as a compliment. Yet the events of Christmas point inescapably to what seems like an oxymoron: a humble God. The God who came to earth ca...

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Where are the Nails?

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 13:1-3, 1 Kings 22:19-23, Isaiah 53:3-5, Matthew 24:23-25, John 20:27, Psalm 34:18, John 20:25, 1 Corinthians 1:23; 2:2, Galatians 1:8-9

St. Martin of Tours was a Frankish soldier in the Roman army who abandoned his military post to follow Jesus at a time when Christianity had only begun to take root in France. He later became the bish...

liturgy

Isaiah 53:2-5

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 53:2-5

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised...

liturgy

Heavenly Father, forgive us when we are

Author

Allen Thompson

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 19:1-10, Matthew 9:36, Hebrews 3:15, Romans 5:8, Isaiah 53:6, Luke 15:4-7, Luke 15:1-32

Heavenly Father, forgive us when we are lost, and when we do not seek those who are. Forgive us when we harden our hearts and do not understand the magnitude of your love. Lead us with your Holy Spiri...

liturgy

God invites us into his healing presence

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 15:26, Isaiah 6:10, 3 John 1:2, Psalm 147:3, Jeremiah 17:14, Isaiah 53:5

God invites us into his healing presence with these words: “I am the Lord, who heals you.” Diseased, depressed, dysfunctional, defeated, we come hungering for health that only God can provide. God c...

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“It is Not the Healthy Who Need a Doctor”

Author

Ann Voskamp

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 6:2, Romans 12:15, Matthew 25:40, Isaiah 53:3-5, Psalm 34:18, Luke 5:31-32

Ann Voskamp, in her book The Broken Way, describes what it was like to have mental illness trivialized from the pulpit, as someone who identified with similar struggles: I was eighteen, with scars a...

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Author

Thomas Fuller

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 9:12, James 5:14-15, Psalm 147:3, 3 John 1:2, Isaiah 53:5

Health is not valued till sickness comes.

Quote

Author

Charles Colson

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 2:20, James 1:2-4, Isaiah 53:5, Romans 8:28, Matthew 16:24-25

It is not what we do that matters, but what a sovereign God chooses to do through us. God doesn't want our success; He wants us. He doesn't demand our achievements; He demands our obedience. T...

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