Christian Living on Eden

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Trusting in God’s Good Gifts

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Scripture

Genesis 2:, Genesis 3:, John 6:35, John 10:10, 1 Corinthians 10:16, James 1:17

God wants to feed his people. In keeping the one tree from them, God protected Adam and Eve. When they broke table fellowship with God, they suspected that God was withholding something good, that thi...

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God’s Abundant Provision in Genesis 2

Author

Mark D. Roberts

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Scripture

Genesis 2:16-17, Proverbs 3:10, Genesis 1:29, Psalm 23:1-2, Psalm 34:10, Philippians 4:19, James 1:17

There is a tendency among readers and scholars of Genesis 2:16-17 to focus on the prohibition of verse 17: “but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” …I want to pause to cons...

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A Call to Prayer

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Scripture

Psalm 104:24-25, Matthew 6:25-34, Job 38:41, James 1:5, Romans 1:20, Psalm 19:1-4, Job 12:7-10

O Great Spirit, whose breath gives life to the world, and whose voice is heard in the soft breeze; We need your strength and wisdom. Cause us to walk in beauty. Give us the eyes ever to behold the red...

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Home: A Desire for Permanence

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 10:23, James 1:9-12, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Jeremiah 17:7-8, Colossians 2:6-7

Before Seattle resident Edith Macefield died at age eighty-six in 2008, she refused to sell her house to developers for the $1 million they had purportedly offered. Macefield wanted to die at home. Se...

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When Fire Makes Things Grow

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Scripture

1 Peter 1:6-7, James 1:2-4, Romans 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Hebrews 12:11-13, 2 Corinthians 7:10, Zechariah 13:7-9, Daniel 3:, Isaiah 48:10

Trivia time! What natural disaster is the most destructive to a forest? Chances are that the first thing that comes to mind is a forest fire. After all, fire is pure destruction to plants. What possib...

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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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The Blue Pill or the Red Pill

Author

Mark Batterson

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Scripture

Philippians 3:14, John 20:29, James 1:5-6, Romans 10:17, Matthew 17:20, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Proverbs 3:5-6

There is an iconic scene in the cult classic The Matrix that makes for a great metaphor. Morpheus gives Neo a choice between two pills: You can take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake up in y...

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Transgression is Pushing Past Good Boundaries

Author

Ashley Hales

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:, Genesis 3:, James 1:14-15, Romans 5:12-19, Psalm 19:7-8, Genesis 11:

After the fall of our first parents, boundaries were something to push past, to transgress. It’s worth pausing to note how we use the word transgression for “sin.” With its Latin roots, “across” and ...

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Gracious God, our hearts are often

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 51:10, Jeremiah 17:9-10, Matthew 5:8, Romans 7:21-23, James 4:8, Ezekiel 36:26, 1 John 3:3, Psalm 73:1, Psalm 24:3-4, Matthew 15:19-20, Romans 12:2, Psalm 139:23-24, Titus 1:15, James 1:2-8, Matthew 12:25

Gracious God, our hearts are often divided between what is good and what is evil. Not one of us is pure in heart yet we long to have a whole heart.

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O Giver of every good and perfect gift,

Author

Chip Hardwick

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:17

O Giver of every good and perfect gift, we confess that we are poor stewards of your bounty. You give us time, but we waste it. You give us life, but we use it to glorify ourselves. You give us wealth...

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God, the fact that we feel

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 24:1, Genesis 1:26, James 1:27, Matthew 25:40, Amos 5:24, Isaiah 1:17

God, the fact that we feel uncomfortable is evidence that we perceive the injustices in our world. We don’t ask you to help us hear the cries of injustice, but rather to give us courage to act against...

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Author

Elisabeth Elliot

Keywords

Scripture

John 15:18-20, 1 Peter 2:21, Romans 5:3-4, Mark 15:16-24, 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, James 1:2-4

If we do anything to further the kingdom of God, we may expect to find what Christ found on that road - abuse, indifference, injustice, misunderstanding, trouble of some kind. Take it. Why not? To tha...

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Eternal and Glorious God, Your grace

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:2-4, Colossians 3:23-24, 1 John 3:1-3, 2 Timothy 4:7-8, Romans 12:1-2, Psalm 51:10-12, Hebrews 12:1-2

Eternal and Glorious God, Your grace calls us toward growth and service in You. Yet today we acknowledge the many times we have forgotten Your mercy and rejected Your love. Forgive us when we sin agai...

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O heavenly Father, the author and

Author

Nicholas Ridley

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 2:6, James 1:5, John 16:13, Ephesians 1:17-18, 1 Kings 3:5-14

O heavenly Father, the author and fountain of all truth, the bottomless sea of all understanding, send, we beg you, your Holy Spirit into our hearts, and lighten our understandings with the beams of y...

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Author

John of Kronstadt

Keywords

Mercy

Scripture

1 Peter 4:8-10, Romans 12:13, James 1:27, Proverbs 11:25, Matthew 5:7, 2 Corinthians 9:8, Luke 6:36

Your Lord is a God of mercy and bountifulness: be a source of mercy and bountifulness to your neighbors. If you will be such, you will find salvation yourself with everlasting glory.

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Heavenly Father, give us hearts that

Author

Allen Thompson

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 27:13-14, Isaiah 40:31, Philippians 4:6-7, Romans 8:28, James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 5:7, Lamentations 3:25-26, Psalm 37:7, Colossians 3:15, James 5:7-8

Heavenly Father, give us hearts that wait with faith. Build in us the assurance that you are at work and in control. Forgive us for our impatience, our uneasiness, and our wandering desires when we do...

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Adapted from The Valley of Vision

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Scripture

Job 1:42, James 1:2-3, 1 Peter 1:6-7, Mark 5:1-20, John 8:36

Pastor: Father in Heaven, I have sinned times without number. I am guilty of pride and unbelief. I’ve failed to delight my heart in your Word and have neglected you in my daily life. All: My transgr...

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Almighty and gracious Father, since our

Author

John Calvin

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:21-22, Luke 10:38-42, Acts 17:10-12, 1 Samuel 3:1-10, John 17:17

Almighty and gracious Father, since our whole salvation standeth in our knowledge of thy Holy Word, strengthen us now by your Holy Spirit that our hearts may be set free from all worldly thoughts and ...

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Author

Serbian proverb

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Scripture

Philippians 2:5-7, James 1:9-10, Proverbs 16:19, Daniel 12:3, Isaiah 66:2, 1 Corinthians 15:47

Be humble because you are made of earth. Be noble, for you are made of stars.

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Author

H. W. Robinson

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Scripture

James 1:22, Matthew 26:36-46, Genesis 22:1-19, Romans 12:1-2, John 14:15, 1 Samuel 15:22, Deuteronomy 6:4-5

This is salvation in the deeper and more spiritual sense of the Old Testament. . . . But even in the religion of the Law, . . . obedience to the revealed will of Yahweh is recognized as the supreme en...

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Author

Laura Sobiech

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:18, Philippians 4:6-7, Psalm 30:5, 1 Peter 5:10, James 1:2-4, Isaiah 61:3, Romans 5:3-5

“[Zach] had gone from seeing beauty in the midst of suffering to creating it. He had taken this thing that could have suffocated him with despair and stripped it down until all that was left was hope....

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Author

Andrew M. Davis

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 3:15, Philippians 4:6-7, Romans 15:13, James 1:2-3, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

It is no stretch to say that the Lord may orchestrate amazingly challenging circumstances for you and your family for the primary purpose of giving your supernatural hope and Christian contentment a p...

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Almighty Father, giver of every good

Author

W. Walsham How

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 5:11, James 1:17

Almighty Father, giver of every good and perfect gift, who has made the light of your truth shine in our hearts: Make us to walk as children of light in all goodness and righteousness, that we may hav...

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Made to See

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Ezekiel 36:26, Mark 10:21-22, James 1:14-15, Jeremiah 17:9-10, Psalm 139:23-24, Matthew 6:22-24

In her engaging treatment, Teach us to Want , Jen Pollock Michel describes both the beauty and pain of seeing our own sinful nature: It is often true that once we are made to see, we don’t like w...

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Adapted from “Weaknesses” in The Valley of Vision

Author

Arthur Bennett

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 30:21, Philippians 4:6-7, James 1:5, Psalm 25:4-5, Romans 8:26, Psalm 51:10, 1 John 1:9

Pastor: O Spirit of God, help my infirmities. When I am pressed down because of my sin, perplexed and not knowing what to do, help me. All: When you see that I desire evil things, delighting in sinf...

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Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 3:11, Philippians 4:8, Romans 12:18, Micah 6:8, Psalm 34:18, James 1:27, Isaiah 61:1-2

When God wants to sort out the world, as the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount make clear, he doesn’t send in the tanks. He sends in the meek, the broken, the justice hungry, the peacemakers, the ...

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Author

Benedicta Ward

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:18, John 13:1-17, Luke 10:25-37, Matthew 4:18-22, James 1:22, Romans 12:1, Mark 10:15

It is possible also to come at Christianity from a rather different point of view as well, seeing it as something not too difficult but too simple for us, too basic, something to be apprehended theref...

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God, source of all light, by your Word

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:16, Acts 17:10-12, Luke 2:41-52, 1 Kings 3:5-14, Ephesians 1:17-18, James 1:5, Proverbs 2:6

God, source of all light, by your Word you give light to the soul. Pour out upon us the spirit of wisdom and understanding that, being taught by you in Holy Scripture, our hearts and minds may be open...

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Author

Clement of Alexandria

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 1:9, 2 Timothy 2:22, Romans 12:2, Isaiah 1:16-17, Proverbs 1:7, James 1:5

Therefore let us repent and pass from ignorance to knowledge, from foolishness to wisdom, from licentiousness to self-control, from injustice to righteousness, from godlessness to God.

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God our Father We confess to you and to

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:19-20, Proverbs 15:1, Romans 12:17-21, Matthew 5:38-39, Luke 6:35-36, Matthew 18:21-35, Matthew 5:43-44, 1 Peter 3:9, Genesis 45:4-8

God our Father We confess to you and to one another That we have been quick to anger And slow to mercy We have paid back abuse with abuse Hatred with hatred And violence with violence The world does n...

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