Memoirs of Abiding

What is self-forgiveness? Do we have the power to forgive ourselves?  How then do we move past the shame we have for the things we previously did without self-forgiveness? Romans 6:20-23 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving  from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is deat...

Forgiveness of other people in our lives. Forgiveness is not about what WE GET from it.  How do we walk in forgiveness when it is aimed at others? OR when we have wronged others? Colossians 3:13 - Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,...

What is sin that we need forgiveness? It isn’t necessarily the ugly evil in the world. God sees us in our horrendous circumstances, and wants to desperately rescue us from this horror. Forgiveness covers everything that is mankind’s separation from God. Old 2 Samuel 13 Psalm 103 - Bless the Lord, O my soul,And all that is within me, bless His holy name. 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,And forget none...

How should John 14 and 15 pave the way for our prayer life to look?  Similar to what was said in John 14. The Fruit of John 15 is looking more like Jesus and abiding closer to him.  The example of a healthy prayer life is if it is aligned in the will of God. Our prayers look like Jesus’ prayers. We want God’s will to be done. How should a healthy prayer life look for an abiding believer in Christ?...

How do Christians normally expect God to answer a prayer?   I asked this of one of my groups the other night.  Answers: with exactly what I prayed, signs, an audible voice, opening/closing doors, in music, symbology, through others. Wisdom previous illumination or word of God, standard mind of Christ Evaluating prayer life in terms of what the Bible shows What does John 14:13-14 truly mean? Luke 2...

What does it mean to persevere through a trial? How do we know we have done it? Luke 22 Jesus deeply troubled in garden of Gethsemane. Perseverance through a trial should look like Jesus did, translate my pain into your glory. That I grow more into the image of Jesus. That we trust him, and grow in our faith, that we can handle the next trial more comfortably.  2 Corinthians 12: What does the outc...

Part 2. The pain and trial: Many times we experience tremendous pain and grief at the loss in our lives.  Why do we want to avoid the pain? Avoid sorrow, experiencing discomfort, stuck point to stay away from hurt Luke 22- discipleship sleeping in the garden to avoid the sorrow. Why doesn’t He always remove the pain from the loss or trials? The Exodus 1 Peter 1:5-9 Romans 7 How can we experience t...

Part 1. The initial outlook: Looking at loss in life can be difficult. There are many types of loss we may experience: Loss of significant other, friends, jobs, clout, ability, financial stability, control, or even loss of self identity. All these cause a varying level of grief in the life of the individual who is going through this. We understand this grief and can see it manifest in many differe...

Genesis 1:26 Many different descriptions for made in Our likeness. Many aren’t correct in their interpretation. THere are rules to understanding the Word of God, it isn’t a ragtag series of verses. We need to understand the context of the writings of that book, what would have been understood by the original hearers and readers.  We don’t see God telling us what the image of God is. We do see Him...

As a citizen of heaven we have been left here by God to represent the kingdom of heaven. As people then see us, then they see Jesus.  Hebrews 11:13 If our hope is in our nation or government, in our citizenship here on this place we have very little hope. The world is falling apart, cultures are being destroyed and governments are being corrupted. If that’s truly our hope, we won’t find any streng...

There is a lot in a name, identity. It can give us a purpose, and meaning in life. We see that in the Bible in Cephas (peter), Abraham (Abram). In pop culture we see it in Lord of the Rings characters Aragorn, and in the Gladiator movie for Maximus.  Everyone is in search for meaning and purpose. Identity is the struggle our culture is facing these days. What everyone is looking for is the ultimat...

Why is knowing our identity so important? How does actually knowing our identity affect our life on this planet? I’m a lot of things, isn’t Christian just another label? The Contrast, before and after: Romans 3:10-20-> Romans 8:14-17 Are we really children of the Most High? 1 John 3:1-2 Romans 8:15-16 John 1:12-13 Galatians 3:26

God uses us to comfort others, we are the hands and feet, eyes and ears. This is seen in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14.  2 Corinthians 1:3-7 Walking with Jesus will nearly always bring us to a point of suffering.  Many times we hear the idea that the best person to comfort you is someone who has gone through the same thing. That may not always be the wisest position. While this may not be wrong, but we...

Resting in God’s work 5 miracles of salvation bring us into a spiritual new life on earth.  Adoption Justification Redemption Reconciliation Regeneration Conclusions we can come to based on the word of God IF there is sin, we can know trouble will haunt us.  This is because of the consequences of sin. This can either be due to ignorance or willful disobedience to God Praying for relief of weakness...

-Barrier to resting 1 John 4:13-18 love can drive out fears You can deal with your fears through abiding in His love.  -How Fear can prevent resting in the peace of the Lord People Pleasing Worried that others could be offended People always vying for their attention and time. Eventually no time for devotion, relax, allowing the brain to settle.  perfectionism to find acceptance Luke 22 -How can w...

-finding peace in the battles Psalm 37:7 Psalm 23 Matthew 11:28-30 Sometimes we feel like we need to rest from our vacation. Rest with the Lord is about restoration. This doesn’t always require time away, but with our relationship with the Lord we can find rest in Him. This comes out with peace in our lives.  As we continually come to Jesus, he continually gives us rest. The Lord produces it in us...

We have to look at and start with the physiological or biological position first. An individual who is addicted needs to know there are different options to help them to get back to a position where they can think straight again. Rehabilitation, medical aversive therapy, or other similar organizations can be options, though rehabs usually have a very low efficacy. In other words, many people retur...

Abiding in the Word of God can bring us through in a situation where we have interaction with an addict. We can see this through the reading of John 12-18. Even through all of this we may find anxiety and angst each day when it comes to dealing with this person. And for the co-parent it can be worse because children are involved. How then can we abide through this? What are some areas we can see t...

Start with Genesis 3. Our search for meaning and purpose drives us to need something to identify with in this world. Outside of God it comes from what we experience or our family/friends. This comes from a combination of our personality or temperament, and the environment they grow up in.  James 1 No one wants to be an addict. They become a slave to whatever the addiction is. Their will is subordi...

In this episode we review the use of a concordance and a bible dictionary. For this we use the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, keyed to the KJV. For the dictionary we use Vine's Concise Dictionary of the Bible. These are just 2 of the resources available to a Christian nowadays to dive in and study the Word of God in Depth.

In this podcast we look at the grammatical context of main clause and subordinate clause. We dive into Matthew 28:19-20 and look at the main point. We also look at the letter to the church in Philippi. We dive into looking at an epistle within the context of its original meaning. How to distinguish Main and sub points.

Making Observations, then bringing questions based on the observations can help us to look deeper at the Word of God. John 3:1-8 As a good Bible Student looks at the questions, how does one start to understand what all these words mean, Born Again, Kingdom of God. We can find these explained within the scriptures throughout the new testament.  Noting the observations and getting the questions answ...

Making Observations, then bringing questions based on the observations can help us to look deeper at the Word of God. Sometimes when we don’t look at the deeper context or wider sections of scripture we miss the character of God. Or maybe we come up with different theological points not based on the Scriptures. Or it can lead to a life without the transformation, both in perspective and action. It...

How to Study God’s Word Context;  Historical,  What did this mean to the times? What was known by the people originally reading this? From Creation to the Cross , Albert H. Baylis Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible,  Grammatical,  What is the tense of the wording? Is it literal or figurative? within greater narrative Looking at the larger text’s topic or theological position

Why is abiding important in the daily life of a person? Have to be careful to describe abiding in a terminology people can understand, and not into phrases that many may not fully understand.  How can I have a relationship that is measurable as your (Peter’s) relationship was with Christ? 1 John 3 If what John said was true, it is everything for us.  How does this change my thought process, my emo...