Personal Development on Giving Up

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

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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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Hope is Essential to Survival

Author

Arnold Hutschnecker

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Scripture

Isaiah 40:31, Lamentations 3:21-23 , Romans 5:3-5, 1 Peter 1:3-4, Romans 15:13, Psalm 42:5

Almost as important as oxygen for human survival is hope. According to Dr. Arnold Hutschnecker, “Since my early years as a physician, I learned that taking away hope is, to most people, like pronounci...

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Prayer of ConfessionGod, there are

Author

Jacob Traeger

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Prayer of Confession God, there are times when we are impatient. We are impatient with you. We want to know all the answers. We get frustrated when we don’t see your justice. Your plans and your way...

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Sad Will be the Day

Author

John C. Maxwell

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 6:8 , Exodus 3:10-12 , Nehemiah 2:2-5, Philippians 3:12-14, Psalm 42:1-2, Matthew 4:18-20

Phillips Brooks, the author of the famous hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” He wrote: Sad will be the day for every man when he becomes absolutely contented with the life he is living, with the thoug...

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Author

Jerry Bridges

Keywords

Habits

Scripture

Luke 14:33

Jesus said, "Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33). We must honestly face the question, "Am I willing to give up a certain practice or ha...

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Never Giving Up

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:2-4, Romans 5:3-5, Psalm 73:26, 1 Peter 2:4-5, Hebrews 13:15, Isaiah 40:31, Colossians 3:23-24

In Circle of Quiet , Madeleine L’Engle describes how her young adult novel A Wrinkle in Time was dismissed by eight publishers before it eventually landed with the publishing house of Farrar, Str...

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Author

Florence Nightingale

Keywords

I attribute my success to this - I never gave or took any excuse.

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Scarcity vs. Abundance

Author

John C. Maxwell

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 41:14-44, Nehemiah 2:1-8 , 1 Kings 17:8-16, Luke 16:10, Psalm 37:5-6 , Galatians 6:9

Nick believed his purpose was to speak to audiences, to become a motivational speaker, yet he had no experience, no resources, and no invitations. He decided to begin calling schools and offering to s...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 16:24-26, Colossians 3:1-3, Romans 8:12-13, Romans 6:18-19, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:5, 2 Timothy 2:3-4, 1 Peter 4:1-2, Luke 9:23, Mark 8:34-38, Luke 14:26-28

Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end...

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An Invitation to an Unhurried Lent

Author

Alan Fadling

Keywords

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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"The Batman Effect" The Power of Identity

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Scripture

Romans 13:14, Colossians 3:9-10, Ephesians 4:22-24, Hebrews 12:2, Colossians 2:6

A group of researchers sought to study the nuances of self-control. They conducted a study with a few dozen kindergarten students and gave them a painfully boring, repetitive task designed to test how...

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The Most Important Thing About Us

Author

John Mark Comer

Keywords

The twentieth-century writer A. W. Tozer made a stunning claim: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Really? The most important thing? M...

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Identity and Pastors: Struggle, Success, and the Silent Battle

Author

Geoffrey V. Dudley

Keywords

"Not Against Flesh and Blood..." There is an unspoken battle that every pastor faces—a battle not against flesh and blood , nor merely against the seen forces of ministry challenges, but...

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Climbing the Pastor's Ladder: Holy Ambition and Escaping the Comparison Trap

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

We pastors don't drive fancy cars or rake in the dough (most of us, anyway). But there is still a temptation to a skewed version of "holy success" that we need to watch out for, the idea...

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The Difference between Avoiding Pain and Seeking Comfort?

Author

Mark Scandrette

Keywords

What’s the difference between avoiding pain and seeking appropriate comfort? I have a friend who says, “The first episode of my favorite TV show is soothing. But if I’m watching the fifth episode in a...

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Author

Brené Brown

Keywords

Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging an...

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Love for the Long Haul

Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 30:18, James 5:7-8, Psalm 37:7

Patience is love for the long haul; it is bearing up under difficult circumstances, without giving up or giving in to bitterness. Patience means working when gratification is delayed. It means taking ...

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Jonathan Edwards’s Consecration

Author

Mark Batterson

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:23-24, 2 Corinthians 8:5, Psalm 73:26, Galatians 2:20, Romans 12:1, Joshua 3:5

Jonathan Edwards is one of America’s most influential philosophers and theologians. Edwards wrote dozens of books, sparked the First Great Awakening, and was influential in the lives of hundreds of mi...

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The Banshees of Inisherin Movie Review

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 4:null

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or. what's a heaven for? " Robert Browning A part of our desire at The Pastor’s Workshop is to help pastors connect the stories in ...

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Author

Eric Thomas

Keywords

Don't quit. You're already in pain. You're already hurt. Get a reward from it!

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Asking for More and More and Giving Less & Less

Author

Andy Crouch

Keywords

All idols begin by offering great things for a very small price. All idols then fail, more and more consistently, to deliver on their original promises, while ratcheting up their demands, which initia...

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Free Hugs

Author

Laura Sumner Truax and Amalya Campbell

Keywords

On a Friday in July of 2007, fourteen-year-old LaSaller David Melia stumbled upon people giving away hugs outside a movie theater. Strange, he thought, and refused to take them up on their offer. Hour...

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Cultivating a Spirit of Generosity: A Pastoral Call to Year-End Giving

Author

Aaron Schweizer

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 11:1, Philippians 4:18

As a five-year-old at Christmas I remember how excited I was to get my first bike. It was a yellow BMX Huffy, a mean machine for a kid in the late 70s. It is one of my fondest memories because I remem...

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Author

Steven Furtick

Keywords

Failure isn’t final until you quit!

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An Opportunity to Come out Strong or Never

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

The novel Martin Chuzzlewit , written by Charles Dickens, is one of his least successful works, though Dickens himself commented to a friend that he believed it was his greatest work up to its pu...

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Psalm 30 | Gratitude for Rescue and Healing

Author

C. Hassell Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 30:, 1 Samuel 13:14, Hebrews 12:2

Ancient lens What’s the historical context? Autobiographies Have you ever thought about writing your autobiography? It would be a little like reliving your life, at least in miniscule. As a write...

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Almighty God–Father, Son and Holy, You Tell

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Psalm 136:1, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Isaiah 40:31

Almighty God–Father, Son and Holy Spirit: You tell us to pray with thanksgiving...and we do; giving thanks for Your daily provision and care, for the birth of a child, for new jobs and new friends, fo...

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Lord–You speak, and things happen. At

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Lord–You speak, and things happen. At the beginning—you spoke and creation happened; and you keep on speaking, giving us promises we can count on, and admonitions to heed. When we need comfort—you spe...

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Risen Lord, Loving Father ... and

Risen Lord, Loving Father ... and Ever-Present Spirit: Thank You for reaching into our doubts, giving us the faith we lack. Thank You for Your gracious condescension reaching from the glories of heave...

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What We Love to Do & How We Love to Be

Author

Stephen W. Smith

Keywords

In his highly insightful work, Inside Job , Stephen W. Smith shares insights on the topic of rest from the poet David Whyte: [The] poet David Whyte opens our minds and hearts to rest when he writ...

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