heaven is your true home!
Ask fifty people to finish the statement "Live As If" and you are likely to get fifty different answers. For Christians it will mean something different than for non-Christians. Incorporated into the top graphic are the answers given by friends of mine. It is our desire that your answer will be different each time you visit.
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Bible and Quote - May 4-8
'Bible verse and quote' from Jan Couns
You know my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Psalm 139:3 Many say in their hearts, "God seeth them not," while with their tongues they confess he is an all seeing God. Joseph Caryl, 1602-73, English Independent minister
You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. Psalm 139:4 (Message) Heed words not yet spoken that the Holy Spirit may affect their delivery.
You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Psalm 139:5 When a man becomes conscious of
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The Anatomy of Revival
'God's Words For US' from Cecelia Lester
Prayer groups devote quantity time asking God to bring revival to our lands. As we pray for renewal in our churches, we study how revival begins.
Confession and Forgiveness
The Asbury revival began when a group of students attending chapel began confessing their sins to God and to each other. In our 21Century world, we still have to confess our sins to God and to one another. I grew up hearing the adage, “Confession is good for the soul.”
Forgiveness carries with it three different connotations. When we forgive,
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The Decision of Bearing Our Cross
'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' from Tom Kelley
Just recently I fought a bought with esophageal cancer. The ordeal started December of 2006 with some swallowing problems. I was diagnosed July 31 and went through radiation and chemotherapy for five weeks in late August and through September. During my treatments I was in Stamping Ground, KY, the town near our church, when a woman from a neighboring congregation approached me to ask me how I was doing. A comment that she made toward the end of our conversation caught me dead in the heart. The comment? She said, "Now you know the cross the Lord wants you to bear."
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Religious Relationship
''Winging It' from Stan Smith
Christians know the Good News. We're all sinners (Romans 3:23), but while we were sinners, God sent His Son to die for us (Romans 5:8). If you place your trust in Him, your sin can be forgiven and you can be given the righteousness of His Son (2 Corinthians 5:21). Good news, indeed.
But, as, we are often reminded, "It's not a religion; it's a relationship."
Imagine, then, this Judge before Whom we stand clothed in sinner's rags. "How do you plead?" He asks. You can answer nothing but, "Guilty." But your trust is in Christ Who stands alongside.
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Include Christ in your daily life, Part 1
'The Way' from Kevin Pauley
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. - 1 Corinthians 10:31
There once was an elderly, righteous and holy man, who was determined to incorporate God into every aspect of his life. As he sat to eat, he breathed a prayer of gratitude. As he taught his children, he mentally begged for God’s guidance and for His blessing on the children. Even when he dressed in the morning, he tried to dress in such a way that God would be praised by his clothes.
Over time, the old man built ritual into every aspect of his days so that his
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Justification XXV (3-30-11)
'Today's Little Lift' from Jim Bullington
“But Now You Say...”
I remember hearing as a kid, “The biggest word in the English language is but!” I may have gotten the gist of the little pun then, but it makes a lot more since now that I have the experienced life as an adult. One of the most significant buts in any conversation was contained in Jesus' closing statement in John while speaking to the self-willed. He said, “But now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.” (John 9.41). That is the opposite of justification; it is self-condemnation.
“But now you say...”
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The Party Goes Wrong Big Time
'Word from Scotland' from Sandy Shaw
Daniel Chapter 5 is the record of the last days of the Empire of Babylon.
The message of Daniel Chapter 5 is similar to the message which God gave to David duPlessis - "God has no grandsons". It is as simple as that. Godliness cannot be inherited. It does not follow that if your
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Pass The Salt
'Voice of Inspiration' from Andy Castro
Let your speech at all times be gracious (pleasant and winsome), seasoned [as it were] with salt, [so that you may never be at a loss] to know how you ought to answer anyone [who puts a question to you]. (Colossians 4:6 Amp)
My friend once told me a trick he used to help him avoid eating all the food on his plate lest he over eat. He would open the salt shaker and pour salt over the remaining food. I’m not so sure it was a good plan. It may have solved the issue at the moment but what about the discipline it takes to live a healthy lifestyle.
The apostle Paul wrote
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Jesus the Passover Lamb
'Refreshment in Refuge' from Gina Burgess
Centuries before Jesus was led to Golgotha, God provided a picture of that event, a promise to His chosen people in the form of the Passover. He said it was to be an ordinance forever. Even today, Jews have Passover Sedar and speak the Hagadah. All Christians should understand how completely Jesus fulfills the Passover. We remember Him when we take communion, but we need to understand that Jesus was promised for millenea before He was cut off, and that everything prophesied was fulfilled in Him.
The lighting…
The lighting of the candles... Only the woman of the
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The Permanent Solution
''Christ in You...'' from Dale Krebbs
Over and over again the nations of the world of the bibical old testament obeyed, rebelled and disobeyed. They repented, and then disobeyed again - over and over again and again, and again! Nothing was ever resolved. It still hasn't. Why? Throughout the Old Testament, God raises up nations of that time. Then, when that nation's sins reach a certain point, He reveals through His prophets what He will do as punishment . Not only what He will do, but usually the reason why. Even a casusl read of the prophets, one sees a pattern. There are so many raisings up and putting down of nations
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Choosing Your Words Carefully
'Inspiration For You' from Randy Mitchell
Have you ever been to a party, or other form of social gathering, drinking, talking, laughing, even dancing when all of a sudden, in a blink of an eye, the mood suddenly pauses, even swings to a deafening silence? The cause? Someone, somewhere, decided to say something inappropriate causing everyone to take notice, clearing the room, looking for the nearest exit to run toward. And they didn’t need to be spoken words. It could be something written, an expression you gave at just the wrong time, or a thumbs up or down you clicked in social media land. No matter what, and no
Some people were made to own a dog. Or should I say have a dog. The concept of ownership never really enters the true dog lover's mind. My brother-in-law, Terry Simpson, is the classic example of a person who is supposed to have a dog. Terry treats a dog with love and respect and, quite truthfully, spoils the living daylights out of them.The first one I remember is Tootsie. Tootsie was an outside dog but Terry did everything but bring
Daily Refractions
Daily WisdomProverbs 16:9 - The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.
Words to Ponder
Neither love, grace, faith, nor sin have any but a passing meaning except as they rest on the holiness of God, except as they arise from it, and return to it, except as they satisfy it, show it forth, set it up, and secure it everywhere and forever. Love is but its outgoing; sin but its defiance; grace is but its action on sin; the cross is but its victory; faith is but its worship. - P.T. Forsyth (20th century)
'Daily Reading Plan'
from StudyLight.org
Bible-in-a-Year NAS
1 Kings 18; Amos 2:1-3:2; 1 Corinthians 5:
So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the household. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly; for when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.) Then Ahab said to Obadiah, "Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the river valleys; perhaps we will find