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Month: September 2011

What if You Took Your Faith Seriously?

What if You Took Your Faith Seriously?

What would happen if you took your faith seriously? What if you embraced the fact that you were created for his glory and to do his will and work in this world? Martin Luther has said “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.” We are called to put our confidence in God’s grace. We are called to boldly seek God’s will for our lives. We are called to daringly embrace his plan for our lives. We are called…

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Fresh Start Feels Good – Now What?

Fresh Start Feels Good – Now What?

Don’t you just love how God works? How he gives us a fresh start time after time? How he pulls us out of chaos and shows us the right way to go?    But me he caught—reached all the way       from sky to sea; he pulled me out    Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,       the void in which I was drowning.    They hit me when I was down,       but God stuck by me.    He stood me up on…

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What to Do With Regrets?

What to Do With Regrets?

Do you have regrets? Or are you carrying bitterness or hurt around? Do you keep your real feelings from God? Do you only bring the good in you before God and deal with the bad on your own? Many of us do just that. We might forget the regrets for the most of the time but they are there. We might hold ourselves accountable and don’t forgive ourselves our own wrong doings. We might have been badly hurt and we…

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Live, Pray, Love

Live, Pray, Love

Prayer is as important as breathing to Christians. We all know -no matter how busy our lives are- we need to find time for prayer. Or maybe especially because our lives are hectic we need more and more prayer. Like Martin Luther has said “the less I pray, the harder it gets. The more I pray, the better it goes”. Well prayed is indeed half done. Without God’s guidance and blessing there is no point to do anything. But when…

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9/11 or Not – We Are in God’s Hands!

9/11 or Not – We Are in God’s Hands!

Where were you on 9/11? I was a rookie professor in Minnesota. I had just moved across the Atlantic Ocean. All my cupboards were still very empty, I did not yet know many people, and I was still searching for the right church home. So the horrendous news made me feel very vulnerable and lonely. But I was not devastated. Because I knew my life was in God’s hands. I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from…

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Living God’s Words, part 2

Living God’s Words, part 2

So you are a Christian, saved by grace through Christ. What now? We have not been left alone to wander through life. God is alive and active! Christ operates through his followers. The Holy Spirit encourages us to live God’s words in our lives. So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front…

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Living God’s Words, part 1

Living God’s Words, part 1

You have heard the good news of Easter: Jesus is risen. And you have heard of the general resurrection of the dead in the future. What’s going on between the resurrection of Jesus and the promised resurrection of all? This is no time of zero activity! God is active and at work in us. Christ is resurrecting his children every single day. My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received…

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Christ! No More, No Less!

Christ! No More, No Less!

Yesterday we talked about how we all need Christ because we are fallen. These two verses from the letter of Paul to the Colossians sum up the previous post pretty well: For he [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col.1: 13-14, NIV) Let’s continue to look at what living in this freedom really means to us, how…

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Lessons from Tracking the Lost Innocence

Lessons from Tracking the Lost Innocence

Persistently people assume you need to do something bad in order to end up in hell. They are very surprised when I tell them “all that’s already taken care of”; they don’t need to do anything and they will end up in hell. Yes, humankind lost its innocence back in the garden of Eden: 1The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not…

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Put Your Faith in Practice – Daily!

Put Your Faith in Practice – Daily!

“Remove Christ from the Scriptures and there is nothing left”, states Martin Luther. That is so true. Without Christ there would not be a way back to God. Without Christ there would not be life and more life to come. Without Christ we would be lost. That’s why I agree wholeheartedly with Paul writing:  For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified…

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