Tag: Spiritual Life
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Gospel-Driven Sanctification
by Jerry Bridges Early in my Christian life I heard someone say, “The Bible was not given to increase your knowledge but to guide your conduct.” Later I came to realize that this statement was simplistic at best and erroneous at worst. The Bible is far more than a rulebook to follow. It is primarily…
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Spiritual Formation Beyond Decency
We must stop using the fact that we cannot earn grace (whether for justification of for sanctification) as an excuse for not energetically seekng to receive grace. Having been found by God, we then become seekers of ever-fuller life in him. Grace is opposes to earning, not effort. The realities of Christian spiritual formation are…
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Ecstasy & Delight
Ecstasy and delight are essential to the believer’s soul and they promote sanctification. We were not meant to live without spiritual exhilaration, and the Christian who goes for a long time without the experience of heart-warming will soon find himself tempted to have his emotions satisfied from earthly things and not, as he ought, from…
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Lord Dissolve My Frozen Heart
Lord, dissolve my frozen heart/ By the beams of Love Divine;/ This alone can warmth impart/ To dissolve a heart like mine. O that love, how vast it is!/ Vast, it seems, though known in part;/ Strange indeed, if love like this/ Should not melt the frozen heart. Chorus: The love of Christ passes knowledge./…
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Natural Born Skeptics
To doubt the good will of God is an inborn suspicion of God with all of us. Besides, the devil…goes about seeking to devour us by roaring: ‘God is angry at you and is going to destroy you forever.’ In all these difficulties we have only one support, the Gospel of Christ. To hold on…
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Faithfulness vs. Floating Along
Here is a helpful insight from D.A. Carson, in his book For the Love of God, that reminds us that while, as Christians, we are Justified and freely forgiven by God through Faith alone in Christ alone, we grow in Spiritual maturity by God’s grace AND our diligent faithfulness: People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort,…
