Sin, Satan, culture, and even a well-meaning church have all challenged the biblical understanding of God as a tender Father, sovereign King, passionate Bridegroom, and jealous Judge. We’ve believed lies to one extent or another, which has caused us to approach prayer like we would approach a vending machine. Our quantity of prayer and zeal in prayer become two sides of the coin we insert into the vending machine called “God”. Almost automatically, we believe when we press the right combination of buttons by praying with the right scriptures and fasting a large number of days, God is...
All blog posts in the category "Intimacy with God"
Topics on intimacy with God, the Song of Solomon, the knowledge of God.
Blog entry
Suffering and the glory of Christ
Posted on October 28, 2011
Earlier I was reading this article on Voice of the Martyr’s persecution.com, a website dedicated to assisting the worldwide persecuted church. The article briefly described how a 30-year old Indian Christian was deported from the Maldives simply for possessing a Bible in his home.
Upon reading more articles from the site, I was struck afresh with the normalcy of suffering to the Christian life. The circumstantial ease of the West has contributed to a false understanding of suffering, persecution...
Blog entry
Taught by grace
Posted on June 30, 2011
Undoubtedly we’ve all had a memorable teacher in our lives at one point or another, whether in school growing up, on the job, or at a later point on our life. Teachers, instructors, mentors, and tutors all serve a common purpose – to make the seemingly complex and difficult into something tenable, simple, and attainable, and then to see their students be successful in what they’ve learned.
In writing to Titus, the Apostle Paul spoke of a teacher that every Christian who has trusted in Jesus for salvation has available to them - the grace of God:
“For...
Blog entry
The beauty of Jesus as the Servant of All
Posted on November 8, 2010
One of the highest expressions of God’s love is His meekness and servanthood. As the glory of God is seen plainly and perfectly in the face of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6), we are beckoned in to see God’s meekness, humility, and servanthood throughout every moment of His life. Jesus was fully satisfied in taking on flesh and emptying Himself of so great an exaltation (...
Blog entry
The Glory of Christ: Fellowship in the mundane with the lowly
Posted on October 18, 2010
We live in a world where one’s nearness to God is often gauged by their ministry impact. Because of that, a position in ministry is sought by so many as the way to greater intimacy with God. Unfortunately we’ve dichotomized “ministry” and “the rest of life”, and thus trivialized and belittled the common tasks of our day and think of them as “less than”, never giving them opportunity to be an escort into deep fellowship with the Holy One. It’s because of this that I am fully convinced I am not even close to understanding how near God came to us in the Incarnation.
Jesus of...
Blog entry
A Wounded Heart
Posted on July 15, 2010
The disciples and close friends of Jesus were consumed with a prevailing, singular yearning such that their lives were lived as ones who had been exiled. Their freedom from the entanglements of this life and this age enabled them to love their brothers, sisters, and neighbors with reckless abandon. So often in their writings to one another, we see this common yearning – an eager expectation for their Bridegroom, King, and Judge to return to the earth.
This “eager expectation” pervades the New Testament and defines what it means to belong to Christ. “Christ, having been offered...
Blog entry
The Glory of God in the face of Jesus
Posted on July 5, 2010
The word “glory” fills the conversation, writing, prayer, and preaching of many in the Charismatic and Evangelical world today. We claim to be seeking for God to “release His glory” on people or places or for Him to “show us His glory”. It has become such an ambiguous term that can mean almost anything, and we seek Him so earnestly for it as if He has yet to actually show it to us in fullness.
What are we really seeking? I fear we have made it more complicated than it was ever meant to be.
In contrast to the confused Charismatic understanding of “glory”, the Bible’s...
Blog entry
The joy of humility
Posted on March 30, 2010
I’ve blogged several times in the past on humility, but I wanted to write about it again today because I am convinced that it is one of the primary things the Lord is highlighting to me personally and to the body of Christ in this season.
So often we just look at humility as going as low as possible, gritting our teeth and pasting a smile on our face as we endure a difficult situation, person, or circumstance. Yes, embracing humility is difficult. There are moments where our pride begins to rise up and say “No! I deserve better! I have better skill! I can say it better! I can...
Blog entry
Wholeheartedness - for today, not just 20 years down the road
Posted on March 11, 2010
As Christians we all know about what Jesus called the "first commandment", found in Matthew 22:37-38:
“Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment.”
(...
Blog entry
The humanity of Jesus
Posted on February 20, 2010
So often we show up to our Sunday church service, sing the songs, enjoy the teaching and the fellowship, and then go about the rest of our day when church is over. We perhaps spend some time reading the Bible during the week, and attend the Wednesday night prayer meeting. On the busy highway of life, we'll take a brief exit to refuel, only to get right back on afterwards and keep driving towards a dream we can often times never fully articulate.
In the midst of this highway of life rises one distinguishing feature that should cause us to take the next exit, find directions to a...
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