Christian Living

Pages here are about the Christian living. Including: Prayer, service, evangelism, church, worship, faith.

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Make Me a Servant, Make Me a Servant Today

Make me a servant, humble and meek. Lord let me lift up those who are weak. And may the prayer of my heart always be: Make me a servant, make me a servant, make me a servant today.

Making Prayerful Decisions

SOME IGNATIAN PRINCIPLES FOR MAKING PRAYERFUL DECISIONS Good article on discernment. https://www.marquette.edu/faith/ignatian-principles-for-making-decisions.php

Pledge

Joshua’s Pledge A father and his son say a pledge, in the car, on the way to school. Transcript and video: http://aplus.com/a/joshuas-pledge-jenabu-williams “Today is going to be a good day. I thank God for waking me up today. I am going to school so I can learn, go to college, and be the leader that …

Start (and end) With Why

Start (and end) With Why Inspired by: Star Wars the Last Jedi: Luke Skywalker asking Rey (on the island), “Why are you here?” Simon Sinek  has written books Start with Why; Leaders Eat Last (and others) https://startwithwhy.com/  and did an excellent TED talk https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action   The primary quote from Sinek is People don’t buy what …

The Big Themes

An attempt to list the big themes of the Christian Faith I’ll try to put these in Prezi. God Jesus Christ (including in Christ alone) Holy Spirit Grace Love Scripture (including by scripture alone) Salvation God’s Glory – Glorify God Praise Holiness Lord Kingdom Transformation Prayer 1st Great Commandment Worship 2nd Great Commandment Sin Crucifixion …

Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions is a book published in 1975. Description here: https://www.kevinhalloran.net/the-valley-of-vision-prayer-book/ More information here: https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/devotional-books/the-valley-of-vision/ Can be viewed online here: https://archive.org/details/valleyofvisionco0000unse Awesome Prayer for the New Year is on page 120, and below. Some example devotions can be read here: https://banneroftruth.org/us/devotional-series/the-valley-of-vision-devotional/ Here is a (searchable) TOC …

Joe Stowell

Agape Love and New Community People

Joe Stowell gave four messages, titled A New Community People (maybe one long message broken into four parts). http://getmorestrength.org/  One, two, three, four. He has many good and useful things to say. The general theme is Jesus’ new commandment to love one another as he loved us and using that agape love to build community. …

Morning and Evening

Morning and Evening with Charles Spurgeon Podcast: http://toddadkins.com/category/morningevening/ Webpage: https://www.morningandevening.org/ Webpage: https://www.christianity.com/devotionals/morning-and-evening-charles-spurgeon/

By Faith Alone

A W Tozer, in his Book The Pursuit of God has a great chapter 2. See the quote in the graphic.

Servant Ldrshp

Servant Leadership

Aaronic Blessing

In Numbers, God tells Moses to tell Aaron, the priest, to give God’s blessing. Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV) 24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance[a] upon you and give you peace. This can …

Abide in Christ

Abide in Christ by Andrew Murray (first published in 1864, and regularly ever since) is 31 readings on how we can abide in Christ. Online book: https://files.tyndale.com/thpdata/firstchapters/978-1-64158-224-7.pdf Audio: https://librivox.org/abide-in-christ-by-andrew-murray/ (I have some notes and highlights in Google Play.)

Accept, recommend, encourage

There are a number of behaviors, for which I can accept, love, and honor those practicing the behavior, but I do not recommend or encourage the behavior (for myself and my charges).

Grace in Pilgrimage Notes

Pilgrimage Life is a pilgrimage. A pilgrimage is a journey, often a long* one, made to some sacred place**, as an process† of devotion††. *As Christians our whole life can be considered a pilgrimage. **Ultimately, our destiny is Heaven. †As disciples, this is a continuous growth process. ††Through faith we follow God’s commandments and decrees. …

Iron Sharpens Iron

The websites are:

Music

Music ministers to our soul and we need that. This is a list of special songs. Sandra McCracken Sandra McCracken is an amazing communicator and she has a wonderful singing voice. She often writes one-page articles for Christianity Today.  They are balanced, meaningful, and helpful. Her songs are also relevant, beautiful, and meaningful. Recommended songs: …

Pilgrim’s Progress

A friend, Craig Shaegren, often referred to The Pilgrim’s Progress during our Bible studies. Audio The Pilgrim’s Progress John BUNYAN (1628 – 1688) https://librivox.org/the-pilgrims-progress-by-john-bunyan/ The Pilgrim’s Progress (version 2) John BUNYAN  https://librivox.org/the-pilgrims-progress-by-john-bunyan-2/ Text Guttenberg Full version Child’s version References and Helps Cliff Notes summary Spark Notes Spark Notes Characters Outline and good overview of Themes A …

Catechisms

Heidelberg Catechism (1563) http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds3.iv.vi.html Can also be found in Google Books 129 questions and answers. These are divided into three main parts: I. The Misery of Man – This part consists of the Lord’s Day 2, 3, and 4. II. The Redemption (or Deliverance) of Man – This part consists of Lord’s Day 5 through …

Mission Opps

Mission Opportunities This is an attempt to compile a list of mission agencies where mission teams (people) can go to serve (work) and make a difference for Christ. Specific Needs Now (page created 1-6-2016) Mississippi River flooding (from MNN) Record MIDWEST Flooding EFCA Texas Community See Triple Disasters UMCOR General List of Agencies United Methodist …

Hymns to Memorize

I need to move my files here. Here’s my list from my other (older) site: https://l2e2.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/master-list-of-hymns-to-memorize/ Here are some more: Come, Thou Almighty King by Charles Wesley https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/3 Trinity; Power; Praise; Glory. Seek Ye First https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/ns/120 [1] Seek ye first the kingdom of God And His righteousness; And all these things shall be added unto you. …

Blessed to be a Blessing

My theme for Christmas this year (2017) is Blessed to be a Blessing. I went on https://flipscript.com/ and made an ambigram. (You have to pay for it, but it’s reasonable.) The ambigram is shown below. An ambigram is a design that may be read as the same word, or as a different word, when rotated …

E. Lutzer – Decisions, choice, change, and growth

Some ideas on pastoring and preaching by Erwin Lutzer Being a Christian is all about making decisions, making choices, changing, and growth. In fact, life is all about making decisions, making choices, changing, and growth or decay. So, more accurately being a Christian is all about making helpful decisions, making healthy choices, changing for the …

Frances R Havergal

Frances Ridley Havergal (1836 – 1879) was an English religious poet and hymn writer. Take My Life and Let it Be (sung here) and Thy Life for Me (also known as I Gave My Life for Thee) are two of her best known hymns. She also wrote hymn melodies, religious tracts, and works for children. …

Prayer List

3/2017 I’ve begun using the Prompter prayer list app for iOS. 7/11/16 Lawrence family 6-13-16 Streaming Waters Work Week 1-20-16 Man from Scott’s office and wife and family 1-4-16 Poor family with children in Macomb Where we should go for the mission trip 11-30-15 2 families adopting children (frm Tawnya) Couple from IN: 16 yr-old …

For the Glory of God and His Grace in Pilgrimage

This is my motto: I am here For the Glory of God and His Grace in Pilgrimage Glory of God [GG] I recognize the awesomeness of the GG. I praise the GG. I do all for the GG. I’m humbled by the GG. I’m continually growing in my understanding of the GG. It’s my job …

Objective discussion of perspectives

I’d like to compile a one-page handout in which I Define ‘Understanding perspectives’ State the purpose of the discussion. List guidelines for the discussion.   A few resources: https://jimbergman.net/7-groundrules-for-an-intelligent-conversation/ http://www.crlt.umich.edu/publinks/generalguidelines#rules  

Orthodoxy by GKC

Orthodoxy by G.K.Chesterton Great book. Available on Librivox audio and the reading by J A Carter is great. Gutenberg text online or for Kindle. Summaries https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/264/chester.htm Quotes https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1807543-orthodoxy

Read Aloud Stories (especially Christmas stories)

I love the tradition of reading aloud. On this page I want to make a list of stories work reading and hearing. Most are available on http://www.gutenberg.org/ and https://librivox.org/ This page is under construction. Please email me if you have ideas. The List Of course, I must begin with The Story of the Other Was Man …

Communication, Relationships, & Community

Communication, Relationships, & Community A consequence of the commandment to Love One Another is to Communicate Build relationships Build up communities Below are pages on Communication, Relationships, & Sense of Community

Being a Christian Now

Being Christian and the Church in Our (yes, changing) Times This page is prompted by an excellent column in the Washington Post by Michael Gerson. The Post uses the title, How should conservative Christians handle a rapidly changing culture? with  comment, Hint: by being Christian When the column is use across the country, many other papers …

Lean into the struggle

The message we try to consistently send to our students through our words & actions is this: “We love you. We believe in you. We know you can do hard things. We know leaning into the struggle is what will free you from it. And that’s why we will continue to insist that you do.” …

School of Obedience

School of Obedience by Andrew Murray https://librivox.org/the-school-of-obedience-by-andrew-murray/

The Primacy of the Self

Here I want to collect articles on The Primacy of the Self. Expressive Individualism: What Is It? – Introductory article on expressive individualism, with links to more. Utilitarian individualism, Expressive individualism, and Republican tradition – Brief definitions (from Robert Bellah et al., Habits of the Heart, 2nd ed. (University of California Press, 1996), 333-5.    …

Christmas Boxes

(This page is not yet complete.) I have an annual tradition, at Christmas time I enjoy making Christmas boxes out of used Christmas cards and sharing them—with something inside. There is a theme each year. Here is a very brief list of some of the years. (More need to be added.) 2021 – The Tiller …

Physical Fitness

Stretching I’ve found dynamic stretches to be useful for me.  I use, for running (1) hips-in wall stretch for calves, (2) leg (lateral) swings, (3) lunges, (4) Straight leg kicks, (5) Butt kicks, (6) foot raises in front, (7) hamstring stretch. Before lifting, various arm circles and arm/shoulder dynamic stretches. Googling, I found 5 essential, …

Standards, Commandments, and Obedience 

From encyclopedia http://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/commandment-commandments.html Save

The Decision for Submission

Draft – this is a very rich topic that needs to be fleshed out. Submission is something person B does for person A. (See wives submit to your husband.  There is an equivalent/parallel commandment for husbands.) This is in contrast to subjugation and subjection which person A does to person B. Also, with these, person …

The Family Greenhouse

Tim Price has a nice posting about our role as parents with young children as we help grow them up with a godly view of life.  The metaphor is that a home is like a greenhouse, which helps grow healthy plants. He has 6 suggestions. He is succinct. These are good things for all of …

Discipleship: The 4 D’s

The 4 D’s of discipleship Desire Denial Dedication Direction From the Moody Bible Commentary. Matt 16:24.

To live to the glory of God means:

  What Does “Coram Deo” Mean?

Resources

Websites Wisdom Hunters – Proverbs 13:20, “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” iDisciple – Resources and devos from many sources.