Christian Living on Past

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Author

Augustine of Hippo

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Scripture

Psalm 103:8, 1 John 4:16, Proverbs 3:5-6, Lamentations 3:22-23, Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28

Trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to God’s love and the future to God’s providence.

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Author

Brennan Manning

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Psalm 34:18, Ephesians 5:13, Romans 8:28, Galatians 6:2

In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift. If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light fo...

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The Importance of Tattoo Removal

Author

Jill Carattini

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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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Author

Marc Lewis

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Scripture

Jeremiah 29:11, 1 John 1:9, Psalm 32:5, Romans 8:1, Isaiah 43:18-19

I see my past drinking as a behavioral problem, a learned response to dealing (or not dealing) with emotional pain and stress. Once I achieved the excavation of my wounds, I no longer lived with the s...

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Author

Mark Batterson

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Isaiah 55:8-9, Proverbs 3:5-6

If you let your circumstances define the way you see God, you are a prisoner of perspective. Or worse, a prisoner of your past mistakes! But if you let God define the way you see your circumstances, y...

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Adapted from “Spiritual Helps” in The Valley of Vision

Author

Arthur Bennett

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 12:10-11, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Psalm 119:103, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 8:26, John 3:16

Pastor: Eternal Father, it is amazing love, that you sent your Son to suffer in my place, that you have given me your Holy Spirit to teach, comfort, and guide me. Because of Jesus’ death in my place, ...

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How Our Limits Help Us

Author

Ashley Hales

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Scripture

Exodus 32:1, Genesis 18:10–14, Habakkuk 2:3, Acts 1:4, Romans 8:23–25, Psalm 27:14

We must learn to see our limits as the entrance into the good life, not what bars us from it. But as we grow older, waiting feels like an inconvenience or affront. We take out our phones when we’re...

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Within Four Days of Seeing Jesus

Author

James S. Stewart

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Scripture

Philippians 1:21, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Romans 8:38-39, Isaiah 41:10, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 56:3

In December 1666, Hugh MacHale, the youngest and most gallant of the Covenanters (a 17th century pro-Presbyterian group in Scotland), was brought to his trial in Edinburgh. He was given four days to l...

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He Guides Our Steps, Through All The Tangled Maze

Author

Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf

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Scripture

Isaiah 42:16, Psalm 23:, Exodus 13:21-22, 2 Corinthians 4:6, Romans 8:28, Romans 11:33, Philippians 1:6

The following poem is attributed to Nicholaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, the 18th century Moravian church leader and reformer. It captures well the ups and downs of life, the existential questions that emerge...

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The Bishop and the Three Fisherman

Author

Jack Kornfield and Christian Feldman

Keywords

Faith

Scripture

Romans 8:26, Psalm 145:18-19, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, James 5:16, Philippians 4:6-7, Matthew 18:3-4, Luke 18:13-14

When the Bishop’s ship stopped at a remote island for a day, and he determined to use the time as profitably as possible. He strolled along the seashore and came across three fishermen mending their n...

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Jesus the Irresistible One

Author

John Stott

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 1:19-20, Romans 8:1-2, Luke 7:36-50, 1 Corinthians 1:18, Mark 10:45, Matthew 20:20-28, John 14:6

In his seminal work, The Cross of Christ , British pastor and author John Stott describes the unique, upside-down kingdom instituted on the cross: ‘Irresistible’ is the very word an Iranian stude...

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Christian Character Defined: John Stott

Author

Mark Labberton

Keywords

Scripture

John 3:16, Isaiah 58:10-11, Colossians 2:9-10, Romans 8:38-39, Psalm 16:11, 2 Corinthians 9:8, Philippians 4:11-12

As a study assistant to the Anglican pastor and writer John Stott during my early years as a believer, I witnessed John’s faithfulness in public and private, as a highly visible speaker and as a nearl...

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The Prodigal Should Be Arrested

Author

Fred Craddock

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 3:24, Romans 8:3-4, Acts 9:1-19, Matthew 5:17

The law is harsh and cannot help us to receive forgiveness. In Craddock Stories, a collection of outstanding stories by Fred Craddock, is the following account with one who could understand law, but ...

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Our heavenly Father: You’ve seen how

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:27, 1 Peter 5:7, Romans 8:38-39, Isaiah 41:10, Matthew 11:28

Our heavenly Father: You’ve seen how hard life can be for us. You hear our prayers for forgiveness and help. You listen when we cry aloud in pain or when we just weep into our pillow alone in the nigh...

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How Do You Know?

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Grace

Scripture

John 21:15-19, 1 Corinthians 13:12, Luke 19:1-10, Romans 8:1-2, Luke 23:39-43, Matthew 11:28

In his book The Case for Grace , pastor and author Lee Strobel describes a dream he had as a child after having a significant argument with his father. Strobel does what most of us would do at that...

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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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Falling in Love with a Pronoun

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

John 3:16, Romans 8:38, 1 John 4:7-10

John Newton, the former slave ship crewman turned pastor and writer of Amazing Grace, fell in love with a particular pronoun in the well-known passage of John 3:16. He put it this way, “If I read ‘Go...

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Heaven Getting Their Signals Crossed?

Author

Mark Batterson

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 7:7-8, Mark 11:24, Philippians 4:19, Jeremiah 32:27, Romans 8:28

Right before my freshman year of high school, I was hospitalized for a severe asthma attack that landed me in the intensive care unit. It was one of a dozen such hospitalizations during my younger yea...

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How Transformation Happens

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:11-14, Galatians 2:20, Romans 8:1-2, Colossians 3:3-4, John 8:34-36, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Ephesians 4:22-24, Romans 8:15-16

In The Good and Beautiful God , James Bryan Smith describes a new Christian he happened to know who came to him one day feeling dejected. He was so excited to be a follower of Jesus, but he just co...

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Do You Know Where You’re Going?

Author

Matt Chandler

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:10, Romans 8:28

Pastor Matt Chandler describes a humorous encounter with his daughter that illustrates the absurdity of assuming we know better than God. Just as a small child couldn’t possibly know better than a par...

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Writing Like Shakespeare, Living Like Jesus

Author

John R. W. Stott

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Romans 8:11, Galatians 5:16-18, Ephesians 3:16-19, 1 John 4:13, John 7:37-39, John 16:13-14

In describing whether it is possible for us to live like Jesus, pastor John Stott shares an illustration from William Temple: It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear, and telling me ...

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Certainty vs. Vulnerability

Author

Austin Fischer

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 5:6, John 20:27, Mark 9:24, 2 Corinthians 4:18, Romans 8:24-25, James 1:5-6

In this excerpt from his book Faith in the Shadows, pastor and author Austin Fischer shares a surprising truth about the need to be vulnerable with our own faith if we are likely to have a positive im...

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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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Author

John D. Zizioulas

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:2-5, 1 Peter 1:3-4, Colossians 1:27, Romans 8:24-25, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Philippians 3:13-14

[The Christian Faith] has its roots in the future and its branches in the present.

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The Faithfulness of a Few

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 28:20, Revelation 2:10, Matthew 5:10-12, Matthew 10:22, 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, 1 Peter 4:12-14, Romans 8:35-37, John 15:18-20, Psalm 31:23, Matthew 25:21, 1 Corinthians 4:2, 1 Timothy 6:12, Matthew 24:45-46

Pliny, a Roman Governor serving around 112 AD, faced a challenging situation regarding Christianity. Many Church historians believe that by his time, it had become illegal to profess the Christian fai...

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The Agony & The Ecstasy

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 3:13-14, Hebrews 12:1-2, 2 Timothy 4:7, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Romans 8:18, James 1:12, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

During the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Japanese gymnast Shun Fujimoto broke his right knee while competing in the floor exercise. At the time, Japan and the Soviet Union fielded the world's ...

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Lacking a Clear Path to Faith

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Scripture

1 Kings 20:40, Matthew 6:34, Romans 7:19, Romans 8:11-14

One common mistake is assuming that everyone else finds faith easy, while we alone struggle. Yet there is comfort in recognizing that we are not alone in our pursuit of Christ in the midst of a broken...

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The Two Great Questions

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 50:19-20 , Job 19:25-27, Isaiah 25:7-8 , John 11:25-26, Romans 8:38-39 , Psalm 23:4

In a poignant tribute written after his son’s passing in a climbing accident, Nicholas Wolterstorff reflects: When we have overcome absence with phone calls, winglessness with airplanes, summer he...

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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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Christ Will not Leave You Seeing Walking Trees

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:28, Hebrews 12:2, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Isaiah 40:29-31, Psalm 138:8, Jeremiah 30:17, Philippians 1:6

R. C. Sproul recounts an unusual healing by Jesus. In Mark 8, when Jesus visits Bethsaida, a blind man is brought to him to be healed. Jesus leads him out of the village, puts saliva on his eyes, and ...

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