Jer 29:11-14 (ESV)
11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, 14I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
Welcome to my blog.
This is a Christian Blog. The theme and purpose come from Romans 12:1-2 Being transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Romans 12:1-2 NIV Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
In Christ,
Lance
I have updated the menu structure. The menu item "BLOG" will contain general updates that are for the entire site. Each series has been moved to a separate menu item. The most recent series will be moved to the top of the menu structure. I hope this structure makes it easier to read through a specific series of posts.
Introduction 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus are referred to as the Pastoral Letters of Paul. These letters addressed to Timothy and Titus give instructions "about he responsibilities of pastors in leading and ministering to God's people1." They also serve as instructions to anyone in a leadership position. These instructions can apply to any position ...
Summary and Final Comments This series of blog posts was intended to be an introduction to prayer and is why the series is named Prayer 101. I have not gone into detail on topics like the types of prayer, the authority we have in prayer, spiritual warfare, or many other topics in the broader subject of prayer. These may be topics I will write a new...
For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. Amen. Some translations leave out the passage "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." I am including it in this teaching on prayer because I think it is relevant as a pattern of prayer. In the opening verse Matthew 6:9 we begin "Our Father in heaven, Hallowe...
Deliver us from the evil one: Temptation and the flesh, our old nature, are internal to humans. But we also have an external enemy who wants to destroy us. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us that the enemy is constantly seeking who he can destroy. Make no mistake about it we are in a spiritual war. The more I pray and read the Word the more I become aware of the...
Lead us not into temptation… Being tempted is not sin, Jesus was tempted by Satan at the start of His ministry, after fasting 40 days in the wilderness. It is no different for us today. Being tempted is not sin. Giving in to the temptation, dwelling on the temptation produces sin on our lives.We are in a spiritual war and the enemy wants to rob us ...
And forgive our debts, As we forgive our debtors There are two parts to forgiveness. First we ask forgiveness for our sins, second we must forgive those who have sinned against us. Matthew 6:14-15 tells us that God will forgive us to the extent we forgive others. Forgiving others releases bitterness or resentment we may have in our hearts. Read Mat...
Give us this day our daily bread Pray about your needs. This is your opportunity to tell God your needs. He already knows your needs but you need to "make your requests known to God." James 4:3 tells us we "do not receive, because [we] ask with wrong motives." God wants to and is able to provide for our needs, for our ministry, and for our families...
Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, What is God's will for your life? What do you want for your life? What is in the will of God for you on a daily basis? Below are some examples from scripture. But the real question is what is God's will for you today? Ray Stedman tells1 of a man who concerned about his career. The ma...
Hallowed be Your name: (part 2) In this section I rely primarily on two of my cited works. Nathan Stone Names of God and John Paul Jackson I AM. I have tried my best to keep the citations correct. However, there are many similarities between the two. I give credit to these authors and apologize for any errors in the citations. Jehovah-Jireh The Lor...
Side note: I use a writing tool for these posts and write them in the style of a research paper then export the paper and split it up into blog posts. I discovered that if I create the blog posts in the writing tool and export each post separately the citations that are part of the post will export as end notes. Starting with this post end notes wi...
Matthew 6:9-13 The Book of Matthew contains what is commonly called the Beatitudes or the Sermon on the Mound, which covers Matthew 5, 6, and 7. This passage is often referred to as the attitudes that should be. This passage is where Jesus explains the standards of life for a Christian. Starting in Matthew 6:5 Jesus speaks about prayer. Verse...
Worship Worship is an act of acknowledging and acclaiming greatness of God in ways that He prescribes.4 We often think of worship in terms of corporate worship, something done on Sunday morning at church. While corporate worship is an important part of worship I believe worship should be defined in more personal terms, in terms of our daily activi...
Obedience The one consistent requirement of God for His people, that we listen and obey, was true before the Law, under the Law, and under Grace3. The requirement for Adam before the Law: Genesis 2:15-17 NIV The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. [16] And the LORD God commanded the man, "Y...
Preface I like the writings of A.W. Tozer. In the preface to "The Pursuit of God" Tozer1 says: Nothing here is new except in the sense that it is a discovery which my own heart has made of spiritual realities most delightful and wonderful to me. Others before me have gone much farther into these holy mysteries than I have done, but if my fire is n...
These are the citations as complete as possible. I will correct any errors as I discover them and update these citations. Note as of 11/05/2019: I use a writing tool for these posts and write them in the style of a research paper then export the paper and split it up into blog posts. I discovered that if I create the blog posts in the writin...
A new series will begin tomorrow morning. A series on prayer titled Prayer 101. It is based on Matthew 6:9-15. Prayer forms the basis for our relationship to God. There are many good books on prayer. I have cited some of my favorite in the citations post that will also be posted tomorrow. What I have learned is that the only way to learn to pray is...
The Lord's Prayer What does Matthew 6:10 mean to you? Throughout all covenants there is one consistent requirement from God. "…if you diligently listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do …" This was true before the Law, under the Law, and under Grace. It is the one way to have God's blessings chase after you. If you do ...
Realize you are in a long war5 Realize the reality of the spiritual battle we are involved in is that this is a long war_6. When Joshua was at the Jordan River just before the Israelites crossed into the Promised Land, God told Joshua that He would give them "every place where you set your foot." This was God's promise, the land was theirs. Joshua ...
Resist Resist the devil. James 4:7 says "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Prince gives seven steps to resist the devil. James 4:7 NIV Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 1. Establish a clear scriptural basis for resisting the devil. When Jesus was tempted by the devil He answered on the b...
