Personal Development on Exorcisms

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Faithful Response to Healing

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Scripture

Mark 5:14-20, Philippians 3:13-14, Isaiah 43:18-19, Titus 3:5, John 3:3

In the story of Jesus and the demon-possessed man in Mark 5:14-20, Jesus gives new life to that man. When the townspeople saw the result of Jesus’ healing – an entirely new man, almost unrecognizable ...

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Author

Christopher J. H. Wright

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[The exodus] points beyond itself to a greater need for deliverance from the totality of evil and restoration to relationship with God than it achieved by itself. Such a deliverance was accomplished b...

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Author

Gene Edward Veith Jr.

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The combat between God and the Devil for all vocations and orders takes place within every single human being. If God is victor, then that part of external existence which lies within man’s reach is m...

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Author

Oscar A. Romero

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Scripture

Hebrews 12:11, Galatians 6:1, 2 Timothy 4:2, Ephesians 5:11, 1 Peter 4:16, John 15:18-19, 2 Timothy 3:12

The church must suffer for speaking the truth, for pointing out sin, for uprooting sin. No one wants to have a sore spot touched, and therefore a society with so many sores twitches when someone has t...

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Adapted from Acts 10:34-43

Author

Dustin Ray

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Scripture

Acts 10:34-43

Pastor: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good n...

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The Real Scandal of Jesus’s Ministry

Author

Hans Küng

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Scripture

Matthew 25:35-40, John 8:1-11, Luke 19:1-10, John 4:1-26, John 8:10-11, Luke 19:10

In these acts of love Jesus created a scandal for devout, religious Palestinian Jews. The absolutely unpardonable thing was not his concern for the sick, the cripples, the lepers, the possessed . . . ...

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Healing (Sometimes) Requires Forgiveness

Author

Rick Love

Keywords

Scripture

James 5:14-16, Colossians 3:13, Psalm 147:3, Isaiah 58:8, Mark 11:25, Matthew 6:14-15, Psalm 103:2-3

As a young pastor, I wanted to pray for Jean, who had been sick in bed for about a week. So I took Mike, a fellow leader in the church, with me to her home. Her husband, Jim, greeted us at the door an...

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Almighty God, harsh words and personal

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 3:9, Matthew 5:5, Romans 12:17-19, Colossians 3:12-14, Proverbs 15:1, Matthew 5:44, Ephesians 4:29, Proverbs 18:21, Matthew 12:36

Almighty God, harsh words and personal attacks can bring out the worst in us. We find ourselves spending energy on thoughts of retaliation and plans to protect ourselves. Father forgive us. We long to...

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Author

Anthony of Sourozh

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Public confession requires several conditions. First, a person who has acted against the integrity of the Body, the integrity of its faith, must be prepared to expose himself because what matters is h...

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Taking Confession on an Airplane

Author

Annemarie S. Kidder

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Locked into captivity by an airplane seat, a kindly disposition of keeping a friend company, or a telephone connection, we become ex officio confessors to those with troubled consciences and traces, o...

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Author

Annemarie S. Kidder

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Repentance resulting from self-examination is a lifelong endeavor, occasionally surfacing in the public or private act of confession as an act of “courageous memory” in recalling one’s past.

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Heaven Getting Their Signals Crossed?

Author

Mark Batterson

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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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God of forgiveness and mercy, hear our

Author

James G. Kirk

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God of forgiveness and mercy, hear our prayer as we confess our sin. With moments so critical we let time go by. With deliverance so near we linger in the darkness. With Christ as our armor, we yet fe...

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The Solution to the Problem of Evil Must be Experiential

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 34:17, Habakkuk 1:13, Romans 8:18, Micah 6:8, Revelation 21:4, Isaiah 61:8, Romans 12:21

This is in fact one of the many sharp edges of “the problem of evil.” Evil isn’t simply a philosophers’ puzzle but a reality which stalks our streets and damages people’s lives, homes and property. Th...

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Author

Andrew Murray

Keywords

Scripture

James 5:15, Philippians 2:12-13, Galatians 2:20, Romans 8:11, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Peter 1:2

The more we allow ourselves to personally experience sanctification by faith, the more we also experience healing by faith. These two doctrines walk together. The more the Spirit of God lives and acts...

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Merciful God, you have moved and

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Merciful God, you have moved and changed our lives in amazing ways, yet we have kept these stories to ourselves. We confess the times we have kept these stories to ourselves out of fear of rejection a...

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Prayer of Confession for Transfiguration Sunday

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Scripture

Proverbs 3:5-6, Micah 6:8, Matthew 6:33, James 1:5, Philippians 2:3-4

Save us, Glorious Christ, from every false understanding and motivation Save us from the temptation to just stay on the mountain Save us from the temptation to never engage Save us from the temptation...

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Out of the depths of darkness and

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 130:null, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Acts 3:19, 1 John 2:12, Hebrews 10:17-18, Isaiah 43:25, Colossians 1:13-14

Out of the depths of darkness and despair we have cried out for your mercy, O God. Instead of marking our iniquities with the just weight of our condemnation, you have forgiven us, breathed new life i...

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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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The Problem with Cults

Author

Ronald Rohlheiser

Keywords

Energy

What is wrong with a religious cult is not that those in it are insincere or that the energy it attempts to access and contain is not real. The reverse is more true. What is wrong is that a cult, by i...

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Author

Bill Mefford

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Pentecost . . . The Holy Spirit fills the disciples and they speak in tongues they likely do not understand themselves. It is an uncontrolled public witness – uncontrolled by human agendas – as well a...

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Spirit of the Living God—Fall afresh on

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Philippians 4:6-7, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Romans 8:26-27, John 14:26-27, Psalm 51:10-12

Spirit of the Living God—Fall afresh on us this day. Spirit of God present and powerful, Spirit of God fruitful and faithful, Spirit of God filling and fulfilling us as children of the Father and foll...

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A Desperate Prayer, a Quiet Answer

Author

Andrew Purves

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 3:20, John 11:40, Psalm 30:2, Jeremiah 32:27, Romans 8:11, Psalm 46:1, Isaiah 41:10

In his important book, The Crucifixion of Ministry, seminary professor Andrew Purves describes what he needed as he faced down a cancer diagnosis and the upcoming chemotherapy he would soon endure: ...

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Gracious God, You have called us out of

Author

Allen Thompson

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:9, Colossians 1:13-14, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 4:22-24, Matthew 16:24, Philippians 3:20-21, John 8:36

Gracious God, You have called us out of darkness and into the light of Your love. You have redeemed us and made us whole in order to set us free from bondage. The challenge You place before us is to d...

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Even as we eagerly await your return,

Author

Bud Thoreen

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 24:1-12, Luke 15:11-32, Acts 7:54-60, John 21:15-19, Matthew 25:1-13, Revelation 22:12

Even as we eagerly await your return, Lord Jesus, we must confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart, with our entire mind, nor with all of our strength. We have loved our rituals and our...

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Dear God, we confess that we have

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Titus 3:5-6, Psalm 119:105, Romans 8:26-27, 1 John 1:9, Psalm 51:1-2

Dear God, we confess that we have sinned and need Your forgiveness. We want to do things on our own, without You. We have been distracted from Your Word and behave as if Your instructions were vague. ...

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The Healing Power of Christ's Love

Author

Scott Bowerman

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 31:3, 1 Peter 5:7, Romans 8:38-39, Matthew 11:28, Isaiah 66:13, Psalm 27:10

James Loder, in his book The Logic of the Spirit, talks about a woman with whom he had been in a therapeutic relationship for years. This woman’s underlying issue seemed to be a complete sense of reje...

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Heavenly Father, we confess that we are

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Heavenly Father, we confess that we are unable to do all the work that you wish for us to do. We are held back by our own desires and our own apprehensions. We know that you make us bearers of your im...

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The choice is before us: life or death.

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 30:11-20

The choice is before us: life or death. Let us choose life so that we may live. To Jesus we cry: Cleanse us, oh Lord! By the mercy of Christ we are made clean. This is the hope that we proclai...

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Inspired by Ezekiel 37:1-14 (2)

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Father God, we confess that we dwell in a valley of dry bones. We may resemble the living but we are dead. Our sin has left us lifeless. We are dead in our transgressions and in need of a resurrection...

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