Category Archives: Ginger

10 Ways to Beat Selfishness

Selfishness can be an uncomfortable topic. We want to think we are better than the pettiness of selfish actions and attitudes.

Yesterday I realized things I was upset about really came down to…being too caught up in my own interests. Busted!

Simple ways to put others first.

Nothing?

Do nothing from selfish motives or self-conceit. Nothing? Oh, this is hard! Self-focus is the natural default setting of our sin nature. If we could see a print out of our motivations over the last week, we’d be shocked at how pervasive selfishness is in our thinking.

There is a striking contrast in the progression of verses in this passage.

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Truths to Fill Your Soul With Strength

Soul, do you feel far way from God?

Susie

  • Do you know the comfort of God’s presence when days are hard or do feel He has left you on your own?
  • Do you know the healing of His touch or do you feel brittle with a thousand cracks from wounds that never seem to heal?

What we think about God

has everything to do with how we relate to Him.

For the child of God, He is always constant within. We often forget this, relying on feelings rather than faith. Strong emotions can reveal what we are really believing in the moment.

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The Antidote to Worry

 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me

–John 14:1.

How many times have I read this verse? Quite a few, yet because I am prone to worry, I come back to it again and again.

John 14

Isn’t it easy to grab hold of a verse and try to stick it onto our souls like a bandaid? As if one quick fix and the bleeding of our hearts will stop.

No more worries and no more struggles.

Yet bandaids will not cure the troubles of our souls, any more than pulling a single verse out of context will fix our brokenness.

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Searching for the Gift of Christmas

When Angel’s Sing

Shepherds stand on the dark hillsides outside Bethlehem, working a job few wanted and none respected. The glory of God cracks open the night sky with news that will change the world.

Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

Glory to God in the Highest

No ordinary night.

Shocked to the core at this unimaginable sight, the shepherds respond with urgency,”Let us go straight to…and see.” Wonder turns to action as they leave in haste, seeking to find this child, born to save the hearts of men.

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Dare to Believe You are God’s Masterpiece

Do you like me? Am I valuable? Am I beautiful?

Psalm 139:13-14

Have you struggled with any of these  questions? The desire to know that we’re loved, valuable, secure, and accepted is  part of being human. These are the questions that our hearts ask when we are depending on ourselves to feel beautiful and whole.

What’s underneath this need to know that we have what it takes? Have you tried to build an identity on what you can accomplish or what you look like? The longing to prove we are adequate, valuable,and loved lurks beneath the surface of all our trying. You may think you’re the only one who feels this way, but we all feel this way at times.

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When You Can’t Hold Back

Have you ever been tempted to think of Jesus as one who was so spiritual that He didn’t need to pray?

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Surely He had a special connection with God, an influence because He was God’s son. Right?

Here’s what the Bible has to say about that:

In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:7-8 NASB).

We have a glimpse of the depth of Christ’s heart as He prayed.

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When Martha Learns to be Mary

Sometimes it’s hard to keep my mouth shut.

My brain is always working, spewing out thoughts and feelings. When my brain isn’t in conversational overdrive, activity is the name of the game. Doing and productivity push me to want to conquer my never-ending tasks.

Sometimes the better thing is to be still. The better thing is to listen rather than jibber on. The better thing is to step away from the pressure of my day and enter in to sacred secrecy with God.

Jesus said to a frantic and frazzled Martha–the one I know–the one trying to get it all done and get it all right:

… you are worried and upset over all these details!

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Faith to Move Your Mountain

When you need faith to move your mountain…

Faith to Move Your Mountain.jpg

This passage has been a challenge to me. It’s easy to feel like somehow we must manufacture mountain-moving faith–as if it is some secret formula only the most devoted can learn.

Sometimes we’re trying to move the wrong mountain.

I struggled with the questions in my heart about how to have faith to move my mountains. But sometimes we’re trying to move the wrong mountain and too often we ask the wrong question.

Jaque Banas of Vision Writer’s International teaches the concept of journalizing, a specific way of meditating on Scripture by taking dictation from the Holy Spirit and writing to capture, assimilate and obey His personal instructions.In

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