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Tag: abide in Jesus

God’s Peace Guards Our Hearts and Minds

God’s Peace Guards Our Hearts and Minds

This week I learned something new about this very famous passage in the Bible. I love when that happens. The Bible truly is the living Word of our Living God. We’ve all heard we are not to worry. But when we are down, even that feels like a huge task to do. We feel we don’t have any energy to shovel worries away. But guess what! It is not our task after all! What? Yes. God’s peace guards our hearts…

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Holiness Is Christ in You

Holiness Is Christ in You

As I am preparing to teach Christian Ethics starting next week, I have been thinking of holiness a lot. We are called to be holy like our God is holy, right? It is a tall order for human beings but there is no way around it. No one is excused from pursuing perfect holiness. The Bible clearly tells us to be holy over and over. My life experience tells me it’s undoable on my own. I need help. Thankfully, God…

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We Never Approach Jesus in Vain

We Never Approach Jesus in Vain

Do you need some hope for the New Year? I think we all do. We’re starting a new year and now that we’ve reviewed all that needs to be done, the tasks seem a bit daunting. We need the courage to begin and hope to lift our spirits, right? So I was delighted to see this phrase by Päivö Parviainen on Facebook: “We never approach Jesus in vain.” How true, how encouraging, how uplifting. How so, you ask. Let me…

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How to Blossom and Flourish

How to Blossom and Flourish

We all want to blossom and flourish, right? Maybe the desire to do so is especially evident in the deep of winter. After frozen months, we’re ready to see some color, also in our own lives. How then could we blossom and flourish? What should we do to live colorful and fulfilling lives? You won’t get a detailed to-do list if that’s what you were thinking. Instead, you’re just encouraged to abiding in Christ. He will take care of the…

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God Enables Our Faith

God Enables Our Faith

Before we can work out our faith, God needs to work salvation in us. It’s always God first, then we are able to respond. God enables our faith. We are not even authors of our faith. God is. He is the miracle worker, not us. We can’t make ourselves worthy of God’s love or grace. But God can and he is continually at it. Let’s let God work in us freely. Then we can work out our faith for his…

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Lasting and Worthwhile

Lasting and Worthwhile

Fast food, fast fashion, fast anything seems to lead us to destruction. They spoil our appetites for anything lasting and worthwhile. This fast way of thinking corrupts our hearts and minds. It seems there is nothing lasting these days. Yet only things that last are truly valuable, don’t you think? This leads me thinking whether the things I do will stand the test of time or not. Do I waste my time on things that are fast and fun but…

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Grow Strong in Faith

Grow Strong in Faith

Sometimes we think we should have strong faith right away. And that belief might cause some to shy away from faith altogether because they think they’re not cut out for faith. But faith is a gift from God, to begin with. And very few of us start out strong in faith. We slowly grow strong in faith. It’s a process empowered by the Holy Spirit and not about our own merits. Faith is based on grace from start to finish….

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Discipleship Is an Invitation for More

Discipleship Is an Invitation for More

Discipleship doesn’t make us giddy, does it? Rather it is something we see as boring or tiresome, something we are not too keen on doing. It reminds us of kitchen privilege or chores we’d rather not be doing. But discipleship is not a chore, it’s an invitation to get to know our Maker better. Discipleship is an invitation for more. It’s a start of the lifelong process of becoming like Jesus. How come it’s not a chore then, making yourself…

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What Happens After Easter

What Happens After Easter

I don’t use any Bible reading plans. My plan is simply to read a chapter or two or three both in the Old and New Testaments every day (and, no, I don’t manage to do it every day). Once I’ve read through, I start rereading them again, usually in a different translation. So I was utterly delighted by the divine orchestrating that on Easter Monday I was reading through the last chapters of the letter to the Hebrews. It so beautifully…

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Experience the Joy of Your Faith

Experience the Joy of Your Faith

Unfortunately, people don’t think God is joyful. And by believing that they deprive themselves true joy. You see, God is joy and all joy derives from him. Somehow people have convinced themselves the opposite like God would want us to be miserable. But you could not be further from the truth. God wants you to be joyful. Not artificially but thoroughly joyful with every fiber of your being. Joy is possible because of God even in dark seasons of our lives. It…

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