Tag: despair
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Despairing Flames of Joy
It is for times such as this, that wisdom literature may help us. Wisdom literature won’t hand us the cure. Wisdom literature can help us step back from our immediate responses and reactions, and help us to develop a framework with which to handle reality.
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Forward
The story is about Job’s faithfulness to God. Despite all his troubles, he never gave up on God, even when his wife told him to.
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Looking for Light or Dark?
Jeremiah 30:12–22; John 12:36–43; Psalm 105:1-11 (read online ⧉) The people of Israel were in turmoil. Their kings changed allegiances to the bigger powers on the world stage. They were in the middle of two warring empires. They were devastated by war and taxes. Today’s passage in Jeremiah starts as a summary of the pain…
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Mocking Truth?
Luke 23:32–43, 2 Peter 3:1–18 (read online ⧉) Humor can be cruel. Often it is aimed at an individual who is different than us. Sometimes cruel humor helps us avoid our own insecurities. Humor can be quite painful at times. However, it the cruelty that wraps itself in humor that becomes something completely different. It…
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Prayer Fighting
Exodus 3:1–10, Psalm 4, Isaiah 56:7, 1 Timothy 2:1–4 (read online ⧉) Phrases such as“fight your battles on your knees” and “win your battles on your knees”, along with terms such as prayer warrior, along with movies such as “War Room” all have an underlying assumption…prayer is a battle. There is far too much truth…
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Failing In Grace and Faith
2 August 2019 Genesis 6:5–8, Romans 7:15–20, Galatians 5:16-26 Human depravity is nothing new. The cleansing of the Earth by the flood made that abundantly clear. Yet, to this day, one of the common questions of humanity is why is there so much bad? We’re not talking about evil. We’re just talking about the basic…
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Grace for the Askers
Luke 24:36–49, Matthew 28:16–20, James 1:2–18, Jude 20–25 So, this guy you’ve been hanging out with for three years dies a brutal death. A few days later, he’s alive. He was dead and buried, and now alive. Must be a ghost…except they could touch the wounds and he ate. They doubted. After some more time,…
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6th Saturday after Easter
Exodus 33:18-23, Exodus 34:29–35, 1 Kings 19:3–18, John 1:10–18 Have you ever hidden your face? Embarrassment. Shame. Guilt. Avoidance. The Israelites hid their faces from God. Originally it was out of fear. They only understood fearing gods, as gods were capricious and unpredictable. Now they were in the presence of a god that they were…