Personal Development on Desert

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How we Deal with the Desert

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Scripture

Proverbs 3:5-6, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Hosea 2:14, Isaiah 43:19, Psalm 63:1, Matthew 4:1, Deuteronomy 8:2

We all go through desert seasons and have the opportunity to determine how we will respond. The cyclical frustrations I faced in regard to my desire for control, fear, and the longing to feel chosen w...

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Author

Mike Cosper

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This is an age where our sense of spiritual possibility, transcendence, and the presence of God has been drained out. What’s left is a spiritual desert, and Christians face the temptation to accept th...

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Christianity began in a culture where

Author

Ann Siddall

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Christianity began in a culture where “desert” and “wilderness” were familiar environments, both respected and feared as the place where angels and demons might be found. In wild, desolate places God’...

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Inspired from Isaiah 43

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Scripture

Isaiah 43:null

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk th...

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Deceitful Hearts and Desert Shrubs

Author

Casey Clark

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 17:9

We may find it hard to believe Jeremiah’s words that the heart is “deceitful above all things.” We would rather look outward and think, Yes, others may be quite foolish and misguided. But I have a ...

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Author

Belden Lane

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There is an unaccountable solace that fierce landscapes offer to the soul. They heal, as well as mirror, the brokenness we find within. Moving apprehensively into the desert's emptiness, up the mo...

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Author

Lauren F. Winner

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The desert saints said that the beginning of renouncing a thought is simply noticing it. That is part of what I’m doing in my quarter hours—I am noticing, and naming, and then, for a few minutes, quar...

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Digging Down Deep

Author

Bianca Juarez Olthoff

Keywords

Scripture

John 15:5, Proverbs 12:3, Isaiah 61:3, Matthew 13:5-6, Ephesians 3:17-19

I’m more of an aboveground type of girl, as in, I like the stuff you can see. Flowers, trees, and vegetation symbolize life, growth, and transformation. The problem with focusing on external manifesta...

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The Power of Silence in a Prayerful Life

Author

John Climacus

Keywords

Scripture

Habakkuk 2:20, Lamentations 3:26, Psalm 46:10, Zephaniah 1:7, 1 Thessalonians 4:11

The Desert Saint John Climacus placed a strong emphasis on the role of silence in the life of prayer. In his guidebook to the spiritual life, he had this to say: Intelligent silence is the mother of...

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Good Friday | Psalm 22 | Forsaken and Alone

Author

Scott B. Bullock

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Scripture

Psalm 22:

Reflection The television series Alone follows ten individuals who are left to fend for themselves and by themselves in the wilderness. Now, these aren’t everyday individuals plucked from Main St...

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Let Him Rest

Author

Benedicta Ward

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The following story comes from the collection of sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers in Egypt, teaching that would have first been transmitted orally (around 350-450 A.D.) and later written down...

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Developing Deep Roots

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 3:16-17, Colossians 2:6-7, John 15:5, Jeremiah 17:7-8, Psalm 1:1-3

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I made the long drive from San Antonio, Texas, to Pasadena, California, where we now reside. We passed through hundreds of miles of southwestern desert, most of whic...

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The Perfect Soil for Winemaking

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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My first call to ministry was in Eastern Washington state. It turned out to be one of the most prolific winemaking regions in the country. One of the things I learned from a local winery was really qu...

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The Gift of Tears

Author

Irene Hausherr

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 45:1–15 , 1 Samuel 1:9–18, Lamentations 2:18–19, Luke 7:36–50, 2 Corinthians 7:9–10, Psalm 56:8

The “gift of tears” written about by the desert elders and several centuries later by St. Ignatius of Loyola are not about finding meaning in our pain and suffering. They do not give answers but inste...

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A Theology of Failure: Why Pastors Need Grace for Their Mistakes

Author

Andrew Arndt

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 103:14

A brother asked Abba Sisoes, “What shall I do, abba, for I have fallen?” The old man said, “Get up again.” The brother said, “I have got up again, but I have fallen again.” The old man said, “Get up a...

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Ozymandias: Power Never Lasts

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Keywords

Scripture

James 4:13-14

One of the great lies humans have been told is that if we gain enough power and influence, we can be remembered and make a lasting impact. In his short poem Ozymandias , Percy Bysshe Shelley highligh...

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An Invitation to an Unhurried Lent

Author

Alan Fadling

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Finding Grace in Lent The practice of Lent has become a place of grace for me over the last number of years. While some feel that Lent is a failure to recognize that our salvation is rooted in gr...

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Forgive us for our many sins. Like Eve,

Author

Barbara Duguid

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 3:23-24, Hebrews 4:15=-16, Psalm 51:10-12, Philippians 3:13-14

Forgive us for our many sins. Like Eve, we are easily captivated by the objects that our eyes desire. We fall so often, and when we do, we run and hide in shame instead of running to you to confess ou...

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A Social Media Fast

Author

Marlena Graves

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 30:15

So in the last three years, in order to reorient myself and head back onto the narrow way, I’ve given up social media and/or the internet for Lent. At first it’s agonizing. I’m like a caffeine or nico...

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Why We are Reluctant to Share the Gospel

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 29:25, Acts 4:13, John 15:18-19, 2 Timothy 1:7-8, Colossians 4:5-6, Matthew 5:14-16, Romans 1:16

Why is it so intimidating to talk about Jesus in contemporary western culture? One obvious reason might lie in the ubiquitous negative portrayals of Christians in mainstream media. Sam Chan makes this...

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The Most Radical Discipline

Author

Dallas Willard

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Scripture

Matthew 26:38-42

Solitude is the most radical of the disciplines for life in the spirit. In penal institutions, solitary confinement is used to break the strongest of wills. It is capable of this because it excludes i...

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Inspired by Psalm 23 (1)

Author

Paul Engle

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Scripture

Psalm 23:null

Father, we come to express our appreciation for you as our great Shepherd. We are your sheep whom you know by name. Accept now the praise we as your flock offer in your presence. We thank you sincere...

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The Secret of Seeing

Author

Annie Dillard

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The secret of seeing is, then, the pearl of great price. If I thought he could teach me to find it and keep it forever I would stagger barefoot across a hundred deserts after any lunatic at all. But a...

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The Importance of Selective Change

Author

Jared Diamond

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 3:1, Romans 12:2, Isaiah 43:19, Hebrews 12:27, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, James 1:2-4

Crises, and pressures for change, confront individuals and their groups at all levels, ranging from single people, to teams, to businesses, to nations, to the whole world. Crises may arise from extern...

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The Crucial Thing

Author

Søren Kierkegaard

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 22:37-39, 1 Corinthians 8:1-3, Ezekiel 36:26-27, Colossians 1:9-10, Philippians 3:10-14, James 1:22, John 14:21

In a journal entry by the Danish Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, the great existentialist philosopher describes the importance not simply of grasping the truth of the Christian faith, but having the tr...

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Author

Sylvia Townsend Warner

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Even desolation is a world to be explored.

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Author

Charles Reade

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The green oasis, the little grassy meadow in the wilderness, where, after the week-day’s journey, the pilgrim halts for refreshment and repose.

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Author

Charles R. Swindoll

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When you accept the fact that sometimes seasons are dry and times are hard and that God is in control of both, you will discover a sense of divine refuge, because the hope then is in God and not in yo...

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Adapted from Isaiah 35:1–10

Author

Kimberly Bracken Long

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 35:1

God of majesty and glory, we are thirsty for your grace. You made a way for us in the wilderness, and still, in our foolishness, we go astray. We hide our eyes from your presence. We do not listen to ...

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Author

Abraham Kuyper

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It is not your idea, not your understanding, not your thinking, not your reasoning, not even your profession of faith, that here can quench the thirst. The home-sickness goes out after God Himself... ...

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