Category: Uncategorized
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Making Room for the Spirit
Scripture “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials.”— Acts 15:28 Reflection Acts 15 tells the story of one of the church’s earliest and most important debates. Gentiles were coming to faith in Christ, and the church had to decide what that…
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Courage to Be Renewed
Scripture “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.”— Romans 12:2 Reflection Paul’s words to the church in Rome remind us that Christian faith is not only about changed behavior. It is also about changed thinking. The mind matters. The way we see the world matters. The…
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When God Says Look Again
Scripture “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing.”— Isaiah 43:18–19 Reflection There is a kind of remembering that strengthens faith. We remember God’s faithfulness. We remember the stories that formed us. We remember the people who taught us how to pray, how…
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When Jesus Questions the Questions
Scripture “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem… But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”— John 4:21, 23 Reflection When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well,…
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Faithfulness – Thinking New Thoughts
Scripture “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”— Acts 10:15 One of the most important turning points in the early church came when God confronted Peter with an assumption he had never seriously questioned. Peter had been formed by the traditions of his faith. He knew which foods were clean and unclean.…
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Freer, Not Richer
Scripture:“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…”— 1 Timothy 6:10 Reflection:The real promise of the gospel is not that Jesus will make us richer. It is that Jesus will make us freer. That is such an important distinction. Prosperity theology says the good life is about increase, success, and…
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Christ is Enough
Scripture:“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.”— Philippians 4:11 Reflection:Contentment is one of the most countercultural words in the Christian life. We live in a world that constantly teaches us to want more — more money, more comfort, more recognition, more security,…
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The Cross is a Blessing
Scripture:“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…”— Galatians 6:14 Reflection:That sentence can feel jarring at first: The cross is a blessing. It does not fit the way the world talks about blessing. The world calls blessed whatever looks strong, successful, admired, and victorious. The cross looks…
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Suffering is Not Failure
Scripture:“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”— 2 Corinthians 12:9 Reflection:One of the cruelest lies prosperity theology tells is that suffering must mean failure. If blessing always means success, then hardship must mean weakness. If health always means favor, then sickness must mean spiritual deficiency. If increase always…
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Vending Machine Faith
Scripture:“…men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.”— 1 Timothy 6:5 Reflection:One of the clearest distortions in the prosperity gospel is the idea that faith works like a formula. Believe enough, give enough, pray enough, confess enough, sow enough, and then…
