Month: November 2006

Nov

2006

“and forgive us … as we forgive…”

Charles Stanley this morning in his series on the Ways of God spoke on the topic, “He Forgives Our Sin.” We typically listen to his InTouch telecast as we are getting ready for church on Sunday mornings.

What jumped out at me this morning was his relating the portion of the Model Prayer (aka The Lord’s Prayer) that asked, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Matthew 6:12).

Dr. Stanley pointed out that we are asking the Father to forgive us in the same manner that we forgive others. So, if we are not forgiving someone, we are actually telling God not to forgive us. Our walk and fellowship with the Lord are therefore hindered. BTW, it doesn’t help to avoid saying the Lord’s Prayer. We are instructed to forgive just as Christ has forgiven us, Ephesians 4:32. So not forgiving others is disobedience. This is true whether they deserve or ask for that forgiveness.

Nov

2006

Holy Spirit and Prayer – What difference do they make?

I’ve been re-reading, after several decades, Edith Schaeffer’s L’Abri in which she quotes her husband Francis Schaeffer. “Supposing we had awakened today to find everything concerning the Holy Spirit and prayer removed from the Bible-that is, not removed the way liberals would remove it, but that God had somehow really removed everything about prayer and the Holy Spirit from the Bible. What difference would it make practically between the way we worked yesterday and the way we work today, and tomorrow? What difference would it make to the majority of Christians’ practical work and plans? Aren’t most plans laid out ahead of time? Isn’t much work done by human talent, energy and clever ideas? Where does the supernatural power of God have a real place?”

Very good question! How are we living as believers in the God of the Bible that is any different from the way an agnostic or atheist lives?

I’m afraid I find myself most consistently living as a practical atheist.

Lord, make my life a demonstration that You, the Personal-Infinite God are really there.

Nov

2006

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A blessed and Happy Thanksgiving to you all from Gary & Lynda Crocker.

Nov

2006

Theme of the Bible: “Trust Me!”

The overall theme of the Bible can be summarized as God saying,

I created you.
I am holy.
Your rebellion against me is serious!
You need Me.
Trust Me.

This obviously leaves out a lot of detail, but the essence is there. Many of the ‘problems’ of Scripture fall into place, at least for me, with this basic outline. I’ll try to develop this in coming weeks. (See my caveat under “Pages” in the upper right column.)

Recent Posts