Growing in Grace

This article was posted on the blog Desiring God by Jon Bloom on August 29, 2014. It is titled "Lay Aside the Weight of Self-Indulgence". I have shared the article in its entirety below; but you can find it here on the blog along with other related articles. I found this to be very thought-provoking. It made me stop and ask myself, "Are there things I turn to instead of God for my happiness?" How I pray I will forever find my true joy in the Lord. We are all self-indulgers. The whole lot of us. Let’s just admit it upfront and help each other fight. Biblical self-indulgence is feeding the “passions of the flesh” ( 1 Peter 2:11 ). It’s indulging ourselves in any pleasure that is harmful to our souls, that does not spring from faith ( Romans 14:23 ). Recognize the Danger Self-indulgence is spiritually dangerous to us because it’s a form of idolatry. It’s something we turn to instead of God for happiness. It dulls our spiritual tastes and curbs our spiritu...

Birthday #44 was five months ago; but I'm still going to write my birthday post. . . because I can! My heart and mind have been focused on what I've learned about God, how what I know about Him affects my life, and ultimately, what I want my life to be characterized by. Here are the top ten things I have found myself thinking on as I begin another year on this earth. 1. I have learned to trust God with my life. Everything He allows to enter my life has a purpose. I may not understand what that purpose is, but I believe Romans 8:28 that all things work for my good and His glory. 2. When those hard things come into my life I know God will give me everything I need to get through them. However, I must choose to seek Him and not try to get by on my own strength. 3. I accept God's provision for my life. I focus on what I do have and give thanks for them instead of what I don't have. Gratitude truly is the key to contentment. Complaining about what I don't have ...

The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis is one of my favorites. In his story, we see the promise of Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. Photo Credit My kids and I are finishing up our study of Genesis with Kay Arthur's inductive Bible study book "Joseph, God's Superhero". In this study the kids learned (and I was reminded) of the character traits of God Himself. I loved how she simply summarized each trait so that the kids could easily understand these important truths about who God is. God is SOVEREIGN. In Isaiah 46:9-11 we read the following: " Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; fr...

I've continued to make my way through Beth Moore's book Breaking Free . Following her discussion of the benefits and obstacles of being a child of God; she moved on to talk about how to look back at the difficult things in our lives. In our fallen world, bad things happen to people. We can look back on those things and allow them to keep us captive, or we can look back on them to help better equip us to move forward. Sometimes there are areas of devastation or defeat that have occurred in our family. It's important that we identify these. We are not to use these as excuses to continue on in the same manner; we must chose to break the cycle so that we can be free from their hold on us. Bethe Moore reminds us that "even Christ had a blend of the negative and positive in His lineage. . . He broke the chains of all kinds of bondage when He gave His life for us. . . We need to recognize any generational bonds and ask God to remove them" (p. 86). Second, she writes ...

Photo Credit I finished reading Franklin Graham's book "Living Beyond the Limits". I wrote about the introduction and first chapter here . I truly felt like I was reading a spy novel. Franklin Graham has been to some very dangerous places and seen a lot of "action" both by man and God. As I finished reading each chapter, I wrote down what I learned about how to live beyond the limits in sync with God. The stories that go along with each of these points are worth reading; so I highly recommend reading the book in its entirety. Chapter 1 - If we want to be used by God; we have to trust ourselves to His care and say, "Let's go". . . . We can live beyond the limits of fear by trusting the Lord and giving Him room to work even when the road seems uncertain and is laden with devastating possibilities. Chapter 2 - To live a life beyond the limits, we must learn to be courageous when dealing with those who are steeped in worldly lifestyles. Chapt...

It is easy to believe that God can use our lives when we see immediate results, when positive feedback encourages us to push on. It is hard to keep walking when we see little sign that what we are doing is making a difference. Sheila Walsh God’s desire is that His Word and His Spirit be guides for life. Being a follower of Jesus Christ means becoming more and more like Him - letting His spirit transform us into all we were created to be. That happens, dear friends, from the inside out. Luci Swindoll Perhaps there is little immediate satisfaction in what you have been called to do, but if you will faithfully push on through the night the Lord is the one who carries a reward in His hands. Sheila Walsh What are you resisting? Has God been nudging you into action and you’ve either said “no” repeatedly, or “well maybe” so weakly that no one can hear it? I can tell you from my own experience, the very thing we say “no” to just might be God’s blessing in disguise. He wants to bless us; He wan...

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” These trials have come, the Scripture says, “so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine” (1 Peter 1:6,7). This genuine, refined by fire, holding-on-for-dear-life faith will result in praise and glory to Christ.” Nicole Johnson We will go through trials, but we can submit to them so that our faith, the most precious thing we have, may be authentic. When people see our lives they know we are honest people. Suffering makes us real, and that brings glory to God. Nicole Johnson Lord, how frequently and mindlessly we kick against the very constraints you put in place for our growth and refinement. Remind those of us who get so caught up with the earthly that to do so is to miss the heavenly. Your plan for each of us is not one of earthly ease but of heavenly peace. Marilyn Meberg How do we truly...