Christian Living on Prisoners

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Who Didn't Make it Out?

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Proverbs 13:12, Numbers 14:, James 1:2-4, 2 Corinthians 11:23-28

Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great , interviewed Admiral Jim Stockdale, the highest-ranking officer in the Hanoi Hilton prisoner of war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Regarding the ...

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Paul in Prison

Author

Andrew M. Davis

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 24:27, Acts 16:25, Romans 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Acts 24:26-27, Philippians 4:11-13

Roman imprisonments were brutal. There was no concern for prisoner comfort, no plan for meals or for medical care, and no concern for a just and speedy trial. Paul’s imprisonment in Caesarea went on f...

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Atonement

Author

Ian McEwan

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 1:7, Romans 5:8, Micah 6:8, Hebrews 9:22, Psalm 51:1-2, Isaiah 1:18

When something has gone wrong, justice needs to be done and seen to be done. Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement examines exactly this same dynamic. The central character, Bryony Tallis, makes a grave mista...

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Author

Fredrick Langbridge

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Hebrews 11:1, Isaiah 40:31, Romans 5:3-5, Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 42:11, Philippians 4:8

Because of this we have hope: Two men look out through the same bars One sees mud, one sees stars.

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Sometimes Integrity Costs Big

Author

Craig Groeschel

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 15:11-32, Acts 16:22-26, Genesis 39:41, 1 Peter 4:16, Psalm 34:18, Romans 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 12:9

I spent a considerable amount of time with a guy I’ll call Martin. As a brand-new follower of Christ, Martin felt guilty for having previously embezzled a lot of money from his employer. After discuss...

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One-in-a-Million Talk

Author

Jim Carrey

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:5, Hebrews 11:1, 1 Peter 1:3, Proverbs 13:12, Isaiah 40:31

One of the most quotable movies of all time was released in 1994. It featured a rising comedic genius from Canada, paired with another highly successful actor, as well as a considerable ensemble cast ...

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The Stockdale Paradox

Author

Tod E. Bolsinger

Keywords

Scripture

John 16:33, Psalm 34:18-19, Hebrews 12:1-2, Philippians 4:12-13, Isaiah 40:31, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Romans 5:3-5

James Stockdale and what is now known as the Stockdale Paradox comes from his experience as a prisoner of war for seven years during the Vietnam War. The Stockdale Paradox, made famous in Jim Collins’...

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Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 2:13, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:9-10, 1 John 1:9, Titus 3:5, Romans 5:8

Good people don’t go to heaven, forgiven people do.

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Your torture puts hostility to

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:14, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Galatians 3:28, 1 Peter 2:24, Romans 5:8

Your torture puts hostility to death Your broken body breaks down every dividing wall Your blood makes us blood What wondrous truth What dazzling grace Bring us near again, Jesus Help us remember an...

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Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 17:26, Genesis 1:27, Romans 5:12, Romans 3:23

Across all barriers of land and language, wealth and poverty, knowledge and ignorance, we are one, created from the same dust, subject to the same laws, and destined for the same end. With this compas...

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Jesus, you are our peace You proclaim

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

2 Thessalonians 3:16, Matthew 11:28-30, Philippians 4:6-7, Isaiah 9:6, Romans 5:1, John 14:27, Colossians 1:19-20

Jesus, you are our peace You proclaim it You create it You bring us near Without you there is No safety No belonging No nurturing No identity rooted beyond this dust Without you we are Anchorless St...

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“I am Buying Your Soul”

Author

Victor Hugo

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 45:1-15, Titus 3:5, Romans 5:20, Ephesians 2:8-9, Luke 19:1-10, Luke 15:11-32, John 8:1-11

One of the most powerful illustrations of grace and mercy in all of western literature has to be the great scene between Monseigneur Bienvenu and Jean Valjean in the stirring epic Les Miserables by Vi...

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Rescuing His Pursuer

Author

Ronald A. Wells

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:8, John 13:1-17, Acts 7:54-60, Luke 23:34, 1 Peter 2:21-23, Romans 12:20-21, Matthew 5:43-44

In sixteenth-century Holland, the Mennonites were outlawed and, when caught, often executed. One of them, Dirk Willens, was being chased across an icefield when his pursuer broke through and fell in. ...

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Author

Hal Lindsay

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 42:11, Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 5:3-5, Isaiah 40:31, Lamentations 3:22-23

Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope.

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Lord of Hosts, We come before you today

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 7:18-19, Colossians 3:13, Matthew 5:44, Philippians 2:3, Romans 5:8

Lord of Hosts, We come before you today in a tone of solemnity. We recognize that while it was Judas who betrayed you for 30 pieces of silver, that we often betray you as well. We know what is right,...

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Author

Russian Toast

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, James 1:2-4, Hebrews 12:1-2, 1 Peter 1:6-7, Isaiah 40:31

Let us drink to the success of our hopeless cause.

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Author

Norman Cousins

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 62:5-6, Romans 15:13, Psalm 33:20-22, Isaiah 40:31, Romans 5:3-5, Proverbs 17:22

The human body experiences a powerful gravitational pull in the direction of hope. That is why the patient's hopes are the physician's secret weapon. They are the hidden ingredients in any pre...

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Nelson Mandela and a Presidency of Reconciliation

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:18, Philemon 1:15-16, Matthew 18:15, Romans 5:10, Colossians 1:20, Matthew 5:23-24

What does true forgiveness and reconciliation look like? The world was given such an image the day Nelson Mandela was sworn in as President of South Africa. What was so significant was not just that a...

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Author

Brennan Manning

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:8-9, Isaiah 57:15, 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, Romans 5:8, Galatians 3:28, James 2:5, Matthew 11:28

The kingdom is not an exclusive, well-trimmed suburb with snobbish rules about who can live there. No, it is for a far larger, homelier, less self-conscious caste of people who understand they are sin...

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Prayer of Adoration Father God … our

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6, 1 John 1:9, Micah 7:18-19, Ephesians 1:7, Psalm 32:5, Romans 5:8

Prayer of Adoration Father God … our Abba: You seek us with relentless love – coming after us in Your Son, Jesus. When we are in the pits – You draws us up and out; When we are broken – You fix u...

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O Lord, We marvel that you would take

Author

Barbara Duguid

Scripture

Colossians 3:12-14, Romans 12:2, 1 John 1:9, Ephesians 2:14-16, Romans 5:8, 1 Peter 2:24

O Lord, We marvel that you would take on flesh and blood in order to be crucified, killed, and buried for us. You humbled yourself and submitted to the hatred of sinful men, accepting the thorns, the ...

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The Importance of Tattoo Removal

Author

Jill Carattini

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:10, Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 4:4-7, Philippians 3:7-14

Father Greg Boyle, founder and director of Homeboy Industries in East Los Angeles, has put together a team of physicians trained to remove the tattoos of ex-gang members. The Service is crucial for th...

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The Road to Hope

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:3-5

On May 20, 1990, 42-year-old Georgene Johnson arrived 15 min early for her 10K race (6.2 mi) as part of the Revco-Cleveland Marathon and found runners already heading down the course. So, she jumped i...

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Through the grace of Christ Jesus who gave

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 72:12-13, Romans 5:10, Proverbs 19:17, 2 Corinthians 8:9, James 2:5, Matthew 25:40, Luke 4:18

Leader: Through the grace of Christ Jesus who gave His body and shed His blood for our forgiveness, hear and believe that “he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He h...

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Entering the Darkroom

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:10, Psalm 139:12, Romans 5:3-4, Isaiah 45:3, Ephesians 2:10

While we are now surrounded by a never-ending number of pixels with our smartphones, there once was a time where the process of developing photographs took something much more significant than pointin...

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Almighty and loving God, all of us here

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:13, Romans 5:8, Matthew 11:28-30, Psalm 34:18

Almighty and loving God, all of us here today are hurting. Some of us are hurting as the result of circumstances beyond our control. Some of us are hurting because of our own choices. Some of us are f...

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Kindness flows from you, Lord, pure and

Author

Gregory of Nyssa

Scripture

Romans 5:8-11, Genesis 3:8-21, Isaiah 61:10, Ephesians 2:13-14, Revelation 22:14, Hebrews 10:19-22

Kindness flows from you, Lord, pure and continual. You had cast us off, as was only just, but mercifully you forgave us; you hated us and you were reconciled to us, you cursed us and you blessed us; y...

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“Dear Paco,”

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:13, Matthew 6:14-15, Ephesians 4:31-32, Romans 5:10, Colossians 1:20, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Ernest Hemingway grasped some of the difficulty that characterizes relationships between fathers and sons in his short story, The Capital of the World . The story revolves around a father and his t...

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Sticks & Stones in Your Bed

Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 12:6-7, James 1:2-4, Psalm 94:12-13, Proverbs 3:11-12, Romans 5:3-5

Years ago, I read an old fairy tale about a wicked witch who lived in a remote cottage in the deep forest. When travelers came through looking for lodging, she offered them a meal and a bed. It was th...

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Inspired by John 8 and Romans 5

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Scripture

John 8:12, Romans 5:null

Lord God, we know that you are life, the life which is the light of the world But sometimes we allow the darkness to close in We find ourselves driven apart from you We confess that we do not ...

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