Where is God Amidst All This Chaos?
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daily word - open the door

Dale Cresap's picture

Have you ever held a door open for someone else or had them do this for you? This is about the smallest possible gesture of social grace, but it comes in larger versions. Have you ever been in a group of people and been the first to take the risk to be vulnerable and share your weaknesses or shortcomings? What usually happens as a result? Doesn’t this open the door for others to do the same thing? This allows everyone to take part in a discussion that goes deeper than the superficial and artificial? Haven’t you found such encounters to be healing for you?

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daily word - disorganized religion

Dale Cresap's picture

Have you heard people raise objections to ‘organized religion’? Presumably they are referring to churches and structure and programs, although some churches are more organized than others. In order to be a valid distinction the term organized religion implies that there must be such a thing as disorganized religion. What would this consist of? Perhaps it would consist of everything in your life that occurs outside of church – an everyday life of integrity and character, generosity and kindness. Can you rate one of these things as being more important than the other? Both are important.

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daily word - face to face

Dale Cresap's picture

In ancient times direct communication was the only means possible. Now you have the ability for remote communication by telephone, text, and other methods. These are an immediate and convenient way to communicate across great distances, but who would argue that texting is equal to face-to-face? Given that, how do you rate  the quality of your communications with me? I spoke to Moses face-to-face as a man speaks to his friend. Would you describe your own experience of me as seeing in a glass darkly?

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daily word - buying ideas

Dale Cresap's picture

Have you ever heard in regard to a story or proposition that someone ‘bought it’ or ‘didn’t buy it’? You know what was meant by this, and you also know that no money changed hands. Yet this monetary metaphor is widely used to describe the acceptance or rejection of an idea. This is consistent with the concept of being invested in an idea. In a parallel to monetary investments, the ideas you are invested in are a form of wealth. You are careful in how you spend your money, and look for value. You should do the same thing with the ideas you accept. Lay up your treasure in heaven.

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Appropriating the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus

Mark Virkler's picture

The following is two-way journaling handed in from a Christian Leadership University student taking the course, “Naturally Supernatural.”

Lord, speak to me about the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. How have I been using it? Have I failed to use it?

You have used it on occasion but have largely lived out of a sense of duty and striving to do only what I can do through you. This is a hard lesson to learn especially for those who have been taught from an early age to perform, strive, to do and not to do. My way is so much better. It is the only way of Life. The other is certain death and defeat. You have experienced both the life and the death, but far too often you have experienced the death.

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daily word - risk?

Dale Cresap's picture

Are you afraid of vulnerability? This requires a lowering of your defenses and the risk of attack. If you initiate contact with a stranger seeking friendship you run the risk that you will be rejected. Rejection and attack may not be quite the same things, but both are painful. Yet someone has to make the first move, and take the associated risk. If you refuse to do so you remain in a defended state. Is this more secure? Yet refusing to take the risk defends you against positive outcomes as well. You can’t lose if you don’t play the game, but you can’t win either.

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daily word - pray for your enemies

Dale Cresap's picture

Do you pray for your friends? What about people you know who have departed from the faith and made bad choices? Do you think they are getting what they deserve, and reaping what they have sown? Do you pray for my favor and blessing upon them? Remember that I still love them, and that I loved you while you were yet a sinner. Invoking me on their behalf is a time for mercy and compassion rather than judgment. Wounds are painful and require healing even if they are self-inflicted. Do you remember that I make the sun shine and the rain fall on the just and on the unjust?

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daily word - undefended

Dale Cresap's picture

 Have you ever been defensive? This happens to everyone at times, but you should avoid it as much as possible. Being in a defensive state prevents you from learning and growing. You cannot defend and be open to growth and change at the same time. You need to accept vulnerability and risk if you are to move forward. Healing is something else that defensiveness interferes with, particularly of spiritual and emotional trauma. Have you observed that people are not healed spiritually until they reach a place of acceptance? Have you experienced it yourself?

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daily word - more?

Dale Cresap's picture

Do you always want more? You live in a culture driven by scarcity and acquisition, that doesn’t appreciate the question of how much is enough, if more is always better. But this is not the only possible view. How about a culture of sufficient provision? What if the resources you have in hand were adequate to do what you needed to do? What has been your own life experience? How often have you been unable to do the things that really mattered because you didn’t have enough? I have an unlimited supply for your provision. Can you see the possibilities in what I have already given you?

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daily word - rest

Dale Cresap's picture

Come to me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your soul, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Are you weary from carrying great burdens? How many of these are imposed on you by necessity and the circumstances of life, and how many do you pick up voluntarily? What is your attitude toward rest? Do you see it as a regrettable necessity and fill the time allotted for it with other activities? No wonder you are tired. I want you to see your time of rest as sacred as anything else you do. I created both day and night for a reason.

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