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  3. <channel><title>Latest Articles from Heartlight</title>
  4. <description>The latest articles from Heartlight.org.  Ⓒ 1996-2025 Heartlight, Inc. This material may not be reproduced in part or whole for commercial use without written consent.</description>
  5. <link>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/</link>
  6. <lastBuildDate>Sat, 12 Jul 2025 02:00:00 -0500</lastBuildDate>
  7. <language>en</language>
  8. <copyright> Ⓒ 1996-2025 Heartlight, Inc. This material may not be reproduced in part or whole for commercial use without written consent.</copyright>
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  10. <item>
  11. <author>phil@heartlight.org (Phil Ware)</author>
  12. <title>The Creator Brings Grace</title>
  13. <link>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/201506/20150615_something beautiful.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</link>
  14. <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.heartlight.org/articles/201506/20150615_something beautiful.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</guid>
  15. <pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2025 02:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
  16. <comments>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/201506/20150615_something beautiful.html#author</comments>
  17. <source url="https://www.heartlight.org/articles/two_minute/">Two Minute Meditations from Heartlight</source>
  18. <description>&lt;img src=&quot;https://img.heartlight.org/articles/3285-large.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;em&gt;Can you drown out all the noise and simply listen for the Creator&#039;s voice in the Bible&#039;s first chapter?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
  19. &lt;p&gt;  
  20. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  21. &lt;p&gt;We were in a boat along the west coast of Florida. Big thunderstorms had blown up all around our horizon. So my fishing buddy fired up his Coast Guard frequency on the radio to try to see the best way for us to return safely to the boat launch. What he got back on the radio was a muddied voice in the middle of a ton of background noise. Little by little he turned up the squelch button until the voice on the other end was clearly heard.
  22. &lt;p&gt;
  23. &lt;p&gt;There are few chapters of the Bible that match the beauty and transformation content of the first chapter of our Bibles &lt;small&gt;(Genesis 1:1-31)&lt;/small&gt;. Unfortunately, when most people think about this incredibly important message they only hear the arguments and controversies surrounding creation, evolution, and the truth of Scripture. So I am going to ask you to turn up the squelch button in your brain. Tune out all the arguments, litmus tests, and debates. Then take a few minutes to calmly read this important chapter through slowly. &lt;small&gt;(Click this link to read Genesis 1:1-31)&lt;/small&gt;. Before reading, ask the Holy Spirit to help you tune out the noise so that the voice of your Creator can be clearly heard. Embedded in this wonderful message is God&#039;s truth about who we are and the nature of the universe in which we live. Keep the squelch button turned up and drown out the noise. The Spirit can help you hear God&#039;s voice telling you how precious you are and how he longs to do his new creation work in you.
  24. &lt;p&gt;
  25. &lt;p&gt;Before time and anything we know from our world, God existed. In the mysterious pre-primal nothing of formlessness, emptiness, and darkness, our God was &lt;small&gt;(Genesis 1:1)&lt;/small&gt;. Before there was matter and energy there was nothing... just the fearful nothingness and God. God as Creator, Son &lt;small&gt;(John 1:1-3)&lt;/small&gt;, and Spirit hovering over the vast void. The Spirit waiting to create out of nothing in response to the Creator&#039;s word of grace &lt;small&gt;(Genesis 1:1-2)&lt;/small&gt;. We know that something doesn&#039;t come from nothing... unless you are God. We intuitively realize that before there can be a big bang, there must be a Big Banger, who brings into being energy, light, matter, design, and purpose.
  26. &lt;p&gt;
  27. &lt;p&gt;So with a word, God speaks. His word overcomes the fearful nothingness of pre-primal and primordial existence. Into nothingness, God speaks diversity. God calls into existence variety out of the inane void of nothing. God&#039;s gift is a dazzling variety of everything. Diversity carries a fingerprint of God&#039;s design. Variety is God&#039;s favorite color. If you don&#039;t believe it, then look at a lifetime of sunsets. The Creator defeated the monster of nothingness with variety and diversity filling a multitude of terrains, spaces, expanses, and seas.
  28. &lt;p&gt;
  29. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;
  30. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/Slide1.jpg&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;570&quot; height=&quot;428&quot; /&gt;
  31. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  32. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
  33. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/spacer.gif&quot; /&gt;
  34. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  35. &lt;p&gt;
  36. &lt;p&gt;Jesus told us that only God alone is completely good &lt;small&gt;(Luke 18:19)&lt;/small&gt;. So we shouldn&#039;t be surprised. Goodness is the divine thread that runs through the tapestry of unspoiled creation. God overcomes the indistinct formlessness of pre-creation with the goodness of his creative work. Out of formlessness, our Creator makes beauty.
  37. &lt;p&gt;
  38. &lt;p&gt;As the creative Master does his work, we find an oft-repeated phrase that goes very much like this: &lt;i&gt;God saw that it was good!&lt;/i&gt; Then, when his creative work needed its weekend&#039;s rest, &lt;i&gt;God saw all that he had made and it was very good!&lt;/i&gt;
  39. &lt;p&gt;
  40. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;
  41. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/Slide2.jpg&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;570&quot; height=&quot;428&quot; /&gt;
  42. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  43. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
  44. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  45. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
  46. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/spacer.gif&quot; /&gt;
  47. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  48. &lt;p&gt;
  49. &lt;p&gt;The ancients feared the chaos monster. This fear sounds very superstitious and crazy to us until... Then we are confronted with this monster in a severe drought, a raging fire, a rampaging thunderstorm with hail and lightning, a class 5 tornado, a storm surge of a hurricane, a slow rumbling vibration of a major earthquake, a mountain-moving explosion of a massive volcanic eruption, or an uncontrollable advance of a tsunami. These events bring chaos. They re-awaken us to our fear of chaos. They alert us to our terror at the hideous monster that lies behind such disasters. God defeated this pre-creation chaos by creating order and by creating with order, symmetry, and purpose. (See the chart in the image below.)
  50. &lt;p&gt;  
  51. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;
  52. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/Slide3.jpg&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;570&quot; height=&quot;428&quot; /&gt;
  53. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  54. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
  55. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/spacer.gif&quot; /&gt;
  56. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  57. &lt;p&gt;
  58. &lt;p&gt;As we meet the Bible&#039;s God of creation &amp;#8212; our Creator as Father, Son, and Spirit &amp;#8212; we are reminded of God&#039;s eternal desire to connect life with relationships. So out of the impersonal emptiness of pre-creation, God brings relationship to life on earth. We are made to reflect the divine relationship in our Creator.
  59. &lt;p&gt;
  60. &lt;p&gt;God did not make us to be alone. We are, after all, made in his likeness. We are made for life with him and with others. The Creator&#039;s intentionally repeated commands to love him with all we are and to love our neighbors remind us of God&#039;s relational imprint in us. This imprint testifies to both our need for others and our Creator&#039;s desire to bring us into relationship.
  61. &lt;p&gt;
  62. &lt;p&gt;For all who struggle with loneliness and the emptiness of not connecting to others, God beckons you back to him first. Without him, we have a God-shaped hole that no other person or thing can fill. Anything or anyone else is merely weak imitation, a counterfeit become addiction that can never fill that hole in our soul. By drawing close to our God, we find ourselves in the company of others. We find life together. We were made for relationship, so God defeated the impersonal emptiness to bring relationship to life.
  63. &lt;p&gt;
  64. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;
  65. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/Slide4.jpg&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;570&quot; height=&quot;428&quot; /&gt;
  66. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  67. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
  68. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/spacer.gif&quot; /&gt;
  69. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  70. &lt;p&gt;
  71. &lt;p&gt;Yet all of this variety, order, beauty, and relationship can become predictable. God&#039;s gracious gifts can devolve into meaningless monotony. This boring sameness squeezes out life as we lose any sense of purpose to our Creator&#039;s gifts. We were created with purpose and for a mission. Over time that mission changes. It shifts as the Creator keeps calling us to go on the mission for his fresh creative purposes. While God&#039;s mission for us may morph over time, underneath these changes is an undergirding truth. We are made for something. That something is determined by the very God who made us. We are made to do the work of God. Jesus said it this way:&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;My food is to do the will of him who sent me and finish his work&lt;/i&gt; &lt;small&gt;(John 4:34)&lt;/small&gt;.&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  72. &lt;p&gt;
  73. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;
  74. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/Slide5.jpg&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;570&quot; height=&quot;428&quot; /&gt;
  75. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  76. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
  77. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/spacer.gif&quot; /&gt;
  78. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  79. &lt;p&gt;
  80. &lt;p&gt;Our Creator chose to create our world, our universe, with variety, beauty, order, relationship, and purpose. These give life meaning. These fill life with joy. These call us to recognize that life is a gift among many gifts graced to us by our loving Creator. Our joy is found in celebrating and valuing these gifts, then recognizing the one from whom they come.
  81. &lt;p&gt;
  82. &lt;p&gt;When our world seems too broken, or we seem too lost from its gifts, God has given us fresh hope through the promise of having his creative work dawn fresh and new in our own lives.
  83. &lt;p&gt;
  84. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;
  85. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/Slide6.jpg&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;570&quot; height=&quot;428&quot; /&gt;
  86. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  87. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
  88. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/spacer.gif&quot; /&gt;
  89. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  90. &lt;p&gt;
  91. &lt;p&gt;In Jesus, the Creator re-creates. Our God re-defeats all the monsters of primordial nothingness and makes things right in us, and through us for the world.
  92. &lt;p&gt;
  93. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;
  94. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/Slide7.jpg&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; hspace=&quot;15&quot;  width=&quot;570&quot; height=&quot;428&quot; /&gt;
  95. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  96. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
  97. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/sas2/spacer.gif&quot; /&gt;
  98. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  99. &lt;p&gt;
  100. &lt;p&gt;Yes, in the beginning, God...
  101. &lt;p&gt;
  102. &lt;p&gt;And in every new beginning for us, is God!
  103. &lt;p&gt;
  104. &lt;p&gt;
  105. &lt;p&gt;
  106. &lt;p&gt;
  107. &lt;p&gt;
  108. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;em&gt;About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including &lt;a herf=&quot;http://www.verseoftheday.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;VerseoftheDay.com&lt;/a&gt;, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.interimministrypartners.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Interim Ministry Partners&lt;/a&gt; and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.verseoftheday.com?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;VerseoftheDay.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://img.heartlight.org/in_articles/godsholyfire.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;God&#039;s Holy Fire&lt;/a&gt; (on the Holy Spirit), and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ayearwithJesus.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;aYearwithJesus.com&lt;/a&gt;. Phil has also authored &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=Phil+Ware+gospel&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;</description>
  109.  
  110.  
  111. </item>
  112. <item>
  113. <author>phil@heartlight.org (Phil Ware)</author>
  114. <title>When the Way Out Is Through</title>
  115. <link>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/201506/20150608_outisthrough.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</link>
  116. <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.heartlight.org/articles/201506/20150608_outisthrough.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</guid>
  117. <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2025 02:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
  118. <comments>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/201506/20150608_outisthrough.html#author</comments>
  119. <source url="https://www.heartlight.org/articles/two_minute/">Two Minute Meditations from Heartlight</source>
  120. <description>&lt;img src=&quot;https://img.heartlight.org/articles/3282-large.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;em&gt;What do we do in the middle of our challenges and problems with no plan in sight?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  121. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a name=&quot;top&quot; id=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;br /&gt;
  122. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  123. &lt;p&gt;
  124. &lt;p&gt;Most folks are at least a little familiar with &lt;a href=&quot;#one&quot;&gt;the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt;&#039;s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;small&gt;*&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; deliverance his people from the Egyptian army through the Red Sea. Many folks have seen the old Charlton Heston movie, &lt;i&gt;&quot;The Ten Commandments&quot;&lt;/i&gt; since it is on TV most Easter weekends. Several new generations have been re-acquainted with the story through &lt;i&gt;&quot;The Prince of Egypt&quot;&lt;/i&gt; that was seen by kids, parents, and grandparents. This great story of deliverance is a reminder that God will see us through when we reach one of those difficult times in life. When there is no way out or around our problems, the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt; will help us find a way through those problems.
  125. &lt;p&gt;
  126. &lt;p&gt;Here&#039;s the story in a nutshell. Israel is stuck between the Red Sea and Pharaoh&#039;s army of soldiers and their charioteers on their back side. The Red Sea blocks their way from going forward &lt;small&gt;(Exodus 14:5-12)&lt;/small&gt;. They have every right to be afraid because Pharaoh&#039;s charioteers were feared by the armies of all other nations. The Israelites were untrained for war, having been slaves for 400 years. All Israel had to lead them into battle was an 80-year-old shepherd with a stick! So if deliverance was going to come for God&#039;s people, their obedience and the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt;&#039;s grace and power would have to produce it. That is exactly what happened.
  127. &lt;p&gt;
  128. &lt;p&gt;God&#039;s deliverance involved five incredible steps of grace and power:&lt;ol&gt;
  129. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;God&#039;s presence in the pillar of fire and the cloud moved from in front of the people to their rear to protect them &lt;small&gt;(Exodus 14:19-20)&lt;/small&gt;
  130. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  131. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt; Moses obeyed the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt; and stretched out his staff over the waters. God then parted the waters and dried the land in between with an east wind &lt;small&gt;(Exodus 14:21)&lt;/small&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
  132. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;The Israelite people passed safely between the wall of waters on dry ground to the other side &lt;small&gt;(Exodus 14:22)&lt;/small&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
  133. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;The presence of God in the pillar of fire and the cloud confused the Egyptians as they tried to pursue the Israelites through the sea. Their wheels jammed in the mire of what had been dry ground further adding to the confusion &lt;small&gt;(Exodus 14:23-25)&lt;/small&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
  134. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;When Moses obeyed and stretched his staff over the waters a second time, the waters buried and destroyed the army of Pharaoh &lt;small&gt;(Exodus 14:26-28)&lt;/small&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;
  135. &lt;p&gt;
  136. &lt;p&gt;This great story of deliverance is a powerful reminder to us as a people and as individual disciples that the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt; will make a way through for us when there seems to be no way! God&#039;s gracious and powerful presence will lead us, accompany us, and protect us until he gets us safely to where he wants us to be. This is great news. This is an incredible promise &amp;#8212; one that God&#039;s people put to music in the celebration song after their great victory:&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;In your unfailing love you will lead&lt;br /&gt;the people you have redeemed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In your strength you will guide them&lt;br /&gt;to your holy dwelling&lt;/i&gt; &lt;small&gt;(Exodus 15:13)&lt;/small&gt;.&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  137. &lt;p&gt;This is our story. It is not just a Bible story. This story reminds us of the character and courage that is in our spiritual DNA. We have the same God with the same power today as those people had in their day. We have the same promise that the  L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt; will get us to our destination &lt;small&gt;(Philippians 1:6)&lt;/small&gt;. Yet the nagging doubt and repeated complaint that I hear goes something like this:&lt;blockquote&gt;Yeah, Israel only had an 80-year-old shepherd with a stick to lead them into battle, but that old shepherd was Moses. We don&#039;t have anyone near the leadership quality of Moses. So it&#039;s hard for me to wait or to follow or to trust when our leaders don&#039;t seem to have it together. There doesn&#039;t seem to be a plan. If our leaders have one, they sure don&#039;t seem to be executing it!&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  138. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/moses_staff.jpg&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; /&gt;That&#039;s why after reading this story from the Bible many times, what I found this last time was so unexpected and powerful &amp;#8212; something that I seemed to have missed. Moses didn&#039;t know God&#039;s plan! What Moses first told God&#039;s people to do was only half right. Yet while he didn&#039;t know the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt;&#039;s plan, he knew the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt;! While he didn&#039;t know the way the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt; was going to deliver his people, he did know to obey the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt; in all that he asked:&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them.
  139. &lt;p&gt;
  140. &lt;p&gt;They were terrified and cried out to the LORD....
  141. &lt;p&gt;
  142. &lt;p&gt;Moses answered the people, &quot;Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.&quot;
  143. &lt;p&gt;
  144. &lt;p&gt;Then the LORD said to Moses, &quot;Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground&lt;/i&gt; &lt;small&gt;(Exodus 14:10-16)&lt;/small&gt;.&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  145. &lt;p&gt;What Moses told the people was only half correct. God would work deliverance, and the pursuing army would be destroyed. Moses was also half wrong! The people were not to stand still and wait. They were to advance toward God&#039;s future following Moses&#039; lead. They were to let the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt; handle the deliverance part, and they were to obey the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt;&#039;s call to cross the sea!
  146. &lt;p&gt;
  147. &lt;p&gt;What do we do when there is no way around or past our problems and challenges? We go through them trusting the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt; will sustain, empower, and guide us!
  148. &lt;p&gt;
  149. &lt;p&gt;But our leaders are not Moses! Yes, but our assurance isn&#039;t based upon having a Moses. Our assurance is based upon ours leaders being committed to &lt;u&gt;obey&lt;/u&gt; the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt; even if they don&#039;t know the &lt;u&gt;way&lt;/u&gt; through what they are facing.
  150. &lt;p&gt;
  151. &lt;p&gt;Sometimes the only way out or around our challenges is for us to go through them. In the middle of our fearful journey, let&#039;s remember that deliverance is the Lord&#039;s work. Obeying is ours!
  152. &lt;p&gt;
  153. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot; hspace=&quot;15&quot; &gt;
  154. &lt;p&gt;&lt;table width=&quot;580&quot;&gt;
  155. &lt;p&gt;&lt;tr&gt;
  156. &lt;p&gt;&lt;td&gt;
  157. &lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  158. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/lasaine_parting_sea.jpg&quot; width=&quot;570&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;
  159. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  160. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  161. &lt;p&gt;&lt;tr&gt;
  162. &lt;p&gt;&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
  163. &lt;p&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This image was a concept image by Paul Lasaine for the movie &lt;i&gt;&quot;Prince of Egypt&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pinterest.com/pin/27936460162279284/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;See more on Pinterest&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;
  164. &lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  165. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  166. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
  167. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  168. &lt;p&gt;
  169. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  170. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  171. &lt;p&gt;
  172. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  173. &lt;p&gt;
  174. &lt;p&gt;
  175. &lt;p&gt;&lt;u&gt;For further thought&lt;/u&gt;:
  176. &lt;p&gt;
  177. &lt;p&gt;This is the apostle Paul&#039;s take on deliverance. Notice the principles that are similar in both Moses and Paul. What are the differences?
  178. &lt;p&gt;
  179. &lt;p&gt;For a disciple of Jesus, deliverance is even more comprehensive than with Moses and the the children of Israel. Jesus&#039; defeat of death guarantees us deliverance no matter what happens to us!&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;Yes I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God&#039;s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me&lt;/i&gt; &lt;small&gt;(Philippians 1:19-26)&lt;/small&gt;.&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  180. &lt;p&gt;
  181. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  182. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a name=&quot;one&quot; id=&quot;one&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;br /&gt;
  183. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  184. &lt;p&gt;
  185. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  186. &lt;p&gt;
  187. &lt;p&gt;
  188. &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;small&gt;*&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; When the term &quot;the L&lt;small&gt;ORD&lt;/small&gt;&quot; is used in this article, it is referring to YAHWEH, the covenant and personal name God gave for his people to call him forever &lt;small&gt;(Exodus 3:14-15)&lt;/small&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;small&gt;[&lt;a href=&quot;#top&quot;&gt;Return to Top&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/small&gt;]
  189. &lt;p&gt;
  190. &lt;p&gt;
  191. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;em&gt;About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including &lt;a herf=&quot;http://www.verseoftheday.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;VerseoftheDay.com&lt;/a&gt;, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.interimministrypartners.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Interim Ministry Partners&lt;/a&gt; and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.verseoftheday.com?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;VerseoftheDay.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://img.heartlight.org/in_articles/godsholyfire.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;God&#039;s Holy Fire&lt;/a&gt; (on the Holy Spirit), and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ayearwithJesus.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;aYearwithJesus.com&lt;/a&gt;. Phil has also authored &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=Phil+Ware+gospel&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;</description>
  192.  
  193.  
  194. </item>
  195. <item>
  196. <author>p.d.odum@gmail.com (Patrick D. Odum)</author>
  197. <title>Stretching for Our Gods</title>
  198. <link>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/200611/20061130_stretching.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</link>
  199. <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.heartlight.org/articles/200611/20061130_stretching.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</guid>
  200. <pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2025 02:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
  201. <comments>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/200611/20061130_stretching.html#author</comments>
  202. <source url="https://www.heartlight.org/articles/leading/">Leading in Hope from Heartlight</source>
  203. <description>&lt;img src=&quot;https://img.heartlight.org/articles/1154-large.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;em&gt;What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve or find?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
  204. &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it&lt;/i&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt; (Matthew 16:24-25)&lt;/font&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  205. &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;I will show him how much he must suffer for my name&lt;/i&gt;&lt;font&gt; (Acts 9:16)&lt;/font&gt;.
  206. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  207. &lt;p&gt;
  208. &lt;p&gt;Some people will go to almost any length to look good &amp;#8212; literally, go to any length.
  209. &lt;p&gt;
  210. &lt;p&gt;The Chinese Ministry of Health has issued an official statement that one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries in large Chinese cities poses serious risk of disfigurement. Ministry spokesman Mao Qunan warns that the surgery, which is available in many clinics alongside more conventional cosmetic procedures, &quot;must only be carried out for strict medical reasons and performed in authorized hospitals.&quot; At least ten people are reported to have been badly disfigured by the surgery in the past year.
  211. &lt;p&gt;
  212. &lt;p&gt;The surgery in question is leg-lengthening. It involves (grab hold of something) breaking the legs and stretching them on a rack. Apparently, height is often listed as a requirement for most jobs and many schools in China. Many employers require a height of 1.65 meters for women and 1.75 meters for men. Height has also become increasingly important to potential mates, as both men and women want taller children. Because of those expectations and ideals, many Chinese are choosing to undergo the painful and potentially disfiguring surgery.
  213. &lt;p&gt;
  214. &lt;p&gt;I wonder where the Chinese got the idea that being thought of as attractive, or getting a better job or into a better school, was worth suffering for? I wonder how they could have possibly come to the conclusion that having your body broken, manipulated, rearranged, and altered by a surgeon simply to meet their society&#039;s standard of beauty is worth paying for?
  215. &lt;p&gt;
  216. &lt;p&gt;That&#039;s so ... so ... American.
  217. &lt;p&gt;
  218. &lt;p&gt;Really though, despite the fact that we live in a country in which people pay large percentages of their income to have their noses broken and reshaped, or their tummies tucked, or fat sucked out of one part of their body and injected into another, or botulinum toxin injected into their faces, America has hardly cornered the market. Human beings have always practiced the &quot;modifying&quot; of the body to meet certain standards of aesthetic or moral value. Frequently those modifications are painful, and sometimes even horrific.
  219. &lt;p&gt;
  220. &lt;p&gt;It seems that human beings all understand that some things are worth suffering to achieve. It&#039;s just a question of what matters most.
  221. &lt;p&gt;
  222. &lt;p&gt;The media tide that rises around our knees every day carries images and ideals &amp;#8212; idols, even &amp;#8212; that human beings choose to believe is worth their suffering. If we aren&#039;t willing to have surgery, many of us sweat at gyms hoping that a treadmill will transform us into the body type our gods demand. Or we pay ridiculous amounts of money for labels and styles and fabrics that the fashion gods decree are &quot;holy&quot; &amp;#8212; or at least popular in Milan and Paris. Many studies suggest that eating disorders among young women and even young men are rising to unprecedented levels. The harsh gods of Beauty and Style even make a claim on what and how we eat.
  223. &lt;p&gt;
  224. &lt;p&gt;So we know what it is to suffer for our gods. Strange that we don&#039;t seem to be so willing to suffer for our faith.
  225. &lt;p&gt;
  226. &lt;p&gt;Christianity, throughout its history, has all too often morphed into some sort of unrecognizable civic religion that creates good citizens, but not real disciples. It&#039;s been packaged and promulgated by many well-intentioned people as a faith full of promises and short on demands. &quot;Cheap grace,&quot; Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it. Cheap grace is receiving the favor of God without recognizing that his favor comes with some demands on the transformation of our character. As Bonhoeffer elegantly put it, &quot;When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.&quot;
  227. &lt;p&gt;
  228. &lt;p&gt;And Bonhoeffer didn&#039;t make that up out of thin air. Jesus equated being a disciple with carrying a cross &amp;#8212; and a person only carried a cross to his death. In a great contradiction, he claimed that life is not found in holding on to it with a white-knuckled grip, but in giving it up for him. It&#039;s human nature to preserve the self, of course. Quite intelligently, we shy away from stepping out onto limbs that look too thin to support our weight. And yet that&#039;s what Jesus asks us to do: take note of the fact that the limb doesn&#039;t look like it&#039;ll hold us, and then step out onto it anyway, knowing that whether it holds or breaks we&#039;re following our Master.
  229. &lt;p&gt;
  230. &lt;p&gt;It was onto just such a limb that Jesus invited Paul, then called Saul, to step. The Lord called Saul to leave behind a life of relative ease, comfort, and respect for a bending, swaying branch of constant travel, death threats, poverty, prison, and turmoil. And, no doubt trembling a little, Saul took the step, because what else could he do? Jesus had spoken to him. His Lord had bid Saul to come and die, and so Saul went and died.
  231. &lt;p&gt;
  232. &lt;p&gt;If we think that Saul&#039;s story is unusual, it&#039;s only because we have such a limited idea of what following Jesus involves. It doesn&#039;t always make life easier; sometimes it makes life harder. It doesn&#039;t always answer all our questions; sometimes it just raises new ones. In this age when churches trip all over themselves to provide more services to their &quot;customers,&quot; in the end, following Jesus isn&#039;t about consuming services as much as it&#039;s about being consumed by service. It&#039;s pouring out our lives, offering up our preferences and desires and dreams and hopes in favor of his.
  233. &lt;p&gt;
  234. &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;I will show him how much he must suffer for my name,&quot;&lt;/i&gt; Jesus said to Ananias about Saul. He could say it about any of us, too. And we need to hear. We need to hear him tell us what he would have us suffer for him, so we can walk into discipleship with eyes wide open. We need to understand that following him means the death of selfishness, greed, lust, and self-determination. It means that we will find ourselves in uncomfortable situations, that we will be asked to do without things we didn&#039;t think we could do without, and that we might have to choose between him and people who matter to us. It means that we will have to struggle against some of our own inclinations, and to give up some of our favorite coping mechanisms. It might mean being misunderstood and misrepresented.
  235. &lt;p&gt;
  236. &lt;p&gt;But, it&#039;s not all about what we give up. It&#039;s barely about that at all, in fact. In losing our lives for him, remember, Jesus promises that we will find life. What he asks us to give up, he replaces &amp;#8212; with far better alternatives. He gives us new dreams, new hopes &amp;#8212; and new certainties. He accepts us, loves us, and gives us reason to live. And then he gives us an eternity to live it.
  237. &lt;p&gt;
  238. &lt;p&gt;I promise, I would never pull your leg about that.&lt;hr&gt;&lt;em&gt;About the author: Patrick Odum lives in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife, Laura and son, Joshua. He is one of the ministers at Northwest Church of Christ, and an avid Heartlight fan. He enjoys writing and maintains a website of his work called &lt;a href=&quot;http://http://www.faithwebblog.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Faith Web&lt;/a&gt; where you can find all of his articles. &lt;href=&quot;mailto:.d.odum@gmail.com&quot;&gt;Email Patrick&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;</description>
  239.  
  240.  
  241. </item>
  242. <item>
  243. <author>phil@heartlight.org (Phil Ware)</author>
  244. <title>Keeping My Eyes on the Prize</title>
  245. <link>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/202108/20210819_journey-2.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</link>
  246. <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.heartlight.org/articles/202108/20210819_journey-2.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</guid>
  247. <pubDate>Thu, 26 Jun 2025 02:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
  248. <comments>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/202108/20210819_journey-2.html#author</comments>
  249. <source url="https://www.heartlight.org/articles/jesushaped/">JESUShaped from Heartlight</source>
  250. <description>&lt;img src=&quot;https://img.heartlight.org/articles/4126-large.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;em&gt;We have to follow the Lord, and Jesus promises to empower our becoming like him through the Holy Spirit.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  251. &lt;p&gt;
  252. &lt;p&gt;Politicians talk about change as if it is some precious metal not easily mined or the holy grail to be recovered. They tout their ability to bring change. They may even talk about the quality of change they hope to bring. They all seem to ignore one fundamental truth.
  253. &lt;p&gt;
  254. &lt;p&gt;Change is easy.
  255. &lt;p&gt;
  256. &lt;p&gt;Please understand me. The experience of that change may not be easy. However, change is as predictable as the sunrise. Change is everywhere. Change happens whether we do anything or not. Whether we want it or not. Change is the constant that interrupts, redirects, and enlivens each of our lives.
  257. &lt;p&gt;
  258. &lt;p&gt;Change happening is redundant!
  259. &lt;p&gt;
  260. &lt;p&gt;However, the transformational change we desire is hard, complex, and challenging. Transformation is a change with a focused goal and a clear outcome. Transformation removes the steady, mundane, and predictable and replaces it with a whole new way of being. Transformative change, the process of genuine transformation, is radical. Going through it is challenging. Most importantly, transformation is life-altering.
  261. &lt;p&gt;
  262. &lt;p&gt;So, what kind of change, what kind of real transformation does God want to see in each of us?
  263. &lt;p&gt;
  264. &lt;p&gt;Throughout the New Testament, God has a clear destination for our transformation. God wants us to become like Jesus:
  265. &lt;p&gt;
  266. &lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher&lt;/i&gt; (Luke 6:40 ESV).
  267. &lt;p&gt;
  268. &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you&lt;/i&gt; (Galatians 4:19).
  269. &lt;p&gt;
  270. &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;To [his people,] God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
  271. &lt;p&gt;
  272. &lt;p&gt;He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end, I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me&lt;/i&gt; (Colossians 1:27-29).&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  273. &lt;p&gt;
  274. &lt;p&gt;Because of the power of the Holy Spirit, we have the freedom to be transformed, &lt;i&gt;&quot;with ever-increasing glory,&quot;&lt;/i&gt; to become more and more like Jesus:
  275. &lt;p&gt;
  276. &lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord&#039;s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit&lt;/i&gt; (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  277. &lt;p&gt;
  278. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.heartlight.org//articles/202108/20210812_journey-1.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;In a previous post on Mark 1:17&lt;/a&gt;, Jesus invited disciples into the journey of transformation. Jesus described three stages to this journey:
  279. &lt;p&gt;
  280. &lt;p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;Come, now!&lt;br&gt;We have to decide to begin the process of transformation as an immediate priority.&lt;/li&gt;
  281. &lt;p&gt;
  282. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;Follow me.&lt;br&gt;We have to spend time with Jesus and learning from him daily if true transformation is going to take place.&lt;/li&gt;
  283. &lt;p&gt;
  284. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;I will help you become.&lt;br&gt;Jesus has promised to help us in this journey of transformation; in fact, his job is helping us become and be transformed.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;
  285. &lt;p&gt;
  286. &lt;p&gt;A key part of stages two and three is re-emphasized in Paul&#039;s words to the Corinthians. We have to follow, and Jesus empowers the becoming through the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul is more specific with the Corinthians. He&#039;s basically saying, &quot;Keep your eyes on the prize! Focus on and contemplate Jesus &amp;#8212; focus on what he taught, rejoice in who he is, and notice how he did it. As you focus on Jesus, reflect on who he is and how he lived among others. As you do, the Holy Spirit will transform you to be like him!&quot;
  287. &lt;p&gt;
  288. &lt;p&gt;Our goal, our prize, is to become like Jesus. We want to be &lt;i&gt;&quot;transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory&quot;&lt;/i&gt; as we &lt;i&gt;&quot;fix our eyes on Jesus&quot;&lt;/i&gt; (Hebrews 12:1-2). This transformation may not happen quickly. However, like water running consistently over limestone, the nature of Jesus wears its way into our demeanor, our character, and our compassion. The Holy Spirit transforms us because we make Jesus our all-consuming passion.
  289. &lt;p&gt;
  290. &lt;p&gt;If we want to become more like Jesus, we must realize that the goal of our lives is not changing, but Jesus. He is the prize we hope to become. We cannot attain this prize on our own. Incredibly, as we focus more and more on Jesus, we find ourselves transformed by the Holy Spirit.
  291. &lt;p&gt;
  292. &lt;p&gt;As Paul emphasized, mature disciples realize they haven&#039;t yet attained their goal of full Christ-likeness (Philippians 3:12-14). God, through the Holy Spirit, is still working on each of us (Philippians 2:13; Romans 8:28). As Jesus becomes our focus, our all-consuming passion, the Holy Spirit continues the work, doing what we cannot: he transforms us to be more like Jesus. The Spirit is responsible for handling stage three: &quot;I will help you become.&quot;
  293. &lt;p&gt;
  294. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;article-image-center-wrapper&quot;&gt;&lt;img class=&quot;article-image-center&quot; src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/in_articles/transformation_butterfly.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  295. &lt;p&gt;
  296. &lt;p&gt;Does this take a while?
  297. &lt;p&gt;
  298. &lt;p&gt;Yes, a lifetime.
  299. &lt;p&gt;
  300. &lt;p&gt;Will I get impatient with my setbacks and the long wait to become all I want to be?
  301. &lt;p&gt;
  302. &lt;p&gt;Yes, but you will find life so much richer and Jesus so much more than you ever imagined as you see yourself becoming what he wants you to be.
  303. &lt;p&gt;
  304. &lt;p&gt;So, where do I start with this focus? How do I keep my eyes on the prize?
  305. &lt;p&gt;
  306. &lt;p&gt;You can find a &lt;a href=&quot;#explanation&quot;&gt;more detailed explanation below&lt;/a&gt;, but the bottom line is really pretty simple to understand. Focus on Jesus each day. Read some of his story daily from one of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Memorize some of his words regularly. Consciously react to a situation NOT as you are tempted to react, but as you believe Jesus would try to act in that situation. Thank him for the good things that happen &amp;#8212; not necessarily in a specific prayer, but as the companion who walks with you. Share with him the things that make you struggle.
  307. &lt;p&gt;
  308. &lt;p&gt;Is transformation really that simple?
  309. &lt;p&gt;
  310. &lt;p&gt;We will add a tweak or two to the process, but remember, we supply the focus &amp;#8212; we come to Jesus, and we follow &amp;#8212; he promises to use the Spirit to help us become!
  311. &lt;p&gt;
  312. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  313. &lt;p&gt;
  314. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  315. &lt;p&gt;
  316. &lt;p&gt;This article is the second part of a four-post series on Jesus&#039; process of transformation. What follows the list of the four posts is a more detailed plan of growing in Jesus as I make Jesus my highest priority, I follow after him, and he helps me to become! Please join us for the rest of this series:
  317. &lt;p&gt;
  318. &lt;p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;
  319. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.heartlight.org//articles/202108/20210812_journey-1.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The Journey with Jesus to Transformation&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
  320. &lt;p&gt;
  321. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.heartlight.org/articles/202108/20210819_journey-2.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Keeping My Eyes on the Prize&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
  322. &lt;p&gt;
  323. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.heartlight.org/articles/202108/20210826_journey-3.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Learning to Dance with the Spirit&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
  324. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a name=&quot;explanation&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  325. &lt;p&gt;
  326. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.heartlight.org/articles/202108/20210902_journey-4.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Unleashing God&#039;s Holy Fire&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
  327. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;
  328. &lt;p&gt;
  329. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  330. &lt;p&gt;
  331. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  332. &lt;p&gt;
  333. &lt;p&gt;One of the most powerful spiritual practices to empower transformation that I&#039;ve found is simple but effective. Read one chapter each day from one of the gospels &amp;#8212; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Begin with a simple prayer for help, read one chapter a day, answer 3 questions, then close with a simple prayer. I like this order for reading the gospels: John, Mark, Matthew, Luke &amp;#8212; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.heartlight.org/gospel_reading_plan/Chasing_Jesus_ReadingPlan?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;you can download this simple reading plan for free&lt;/a&gt;.
  334. &lt;p&gt;
  335. &lt;p&gt;The prayer to pray before you read:
  336. &lt;p&gt;
  337. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;indent&quot;&gt;Father, I ask that the Holy Spirit help me to hear today what Jesus wants me to know from what I have read today, how the Lord wants me to feel about what I have read, and what he wants me to do based on spending time with him in your word. I ask this in Jesus&#039; name. Amen.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;!--close indent--&gt;
  338. &lt;p&gt;
  339. &lt;p&gt;The 3 questions:
  340. &lt;p&gt;
  341. &lt;p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;
  342. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;This is what I believe Jesus wants me to know today from his life and teaching:&lt;/li&gt;
  343. &lt;p&gt;
  344. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;This is what I believe Jesus wants me to feel about what I&#039;ve read and about my life based on what I&#039;ve read and heard today:&lt;/li&gt;
  345. &lt;p&gt;
  346. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;This is what I believe Jesus wants me to do in response to his teaching and example in today&#039;s reading:&lt;/li&gt;
  347. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;
  348. &lt;p&gt;
  349. &lt;p&gt;Close with this prayer:
  350. &lt;p&gt;
  351. &lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Lord Jesus, please make me aware of your nearness and guide me through the Holy Spirit to be the person you want me to be. Amen.&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  352. &lt;p&gt;
  353. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;article-image-center-wrapper&quot;&gt;&lt;img class=&quot;article-image-center&quot; src=&quot;//img.heartlight.org/ppt/2corinthians3_18text.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  354. &lt;p&gt;
  355. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  356. &lt;p&gt;
  357. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  358. &lt;p&gt;
  359. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;em&gt;About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including &lt;a herf=&quot;http://www.verseoftheday.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;VerseoftheDay.com&lt;/a&gt;, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.interimministrypartners.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Interim Ministry Partners&lt;/a&gt; and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.verseoftheday.com?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;VerseoftheDay.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://img.heartlight.org/in_articles/godsholyfire.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;God&#039;s Holy Fire&lt;/a&gt; (on the Holy Spirit), and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ayearwithJesus.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;aYearwithJesus.com&lt;/a&gt;. Phil has also authored &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=Phil+Ware+gospel&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;</description>
  360.  
  361.  
  362. </item>
  363. <item>
  364. <author>phil@heartlight.org (Phil Ware)</author>
  365. <title>What&#039;s the Goal Here?</title>
  366. <link>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/201205/20120520_goalhere.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</link>
  367. <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.heartlight.org/articles/201205/20120520_goalhere.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</guid>
  368. <pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2025 02:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
  369. <comments>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/201205/20120520_goalhere.html#author</comments>
  370. <source url="https://www.heartlight.org/articles/two_minute/">Two Minute Meditations from Heartlight</source>
  371. <description>&lt;img src=&quot;https://img.heartlight.org/articles/1870-large.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;em&gt;Why are we on this trip?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;br&gt;Many years ago, my dad bought a small camper trailer and we set out from Texas to go to Michigan on a family vacation &amp;#8212; three boys, two of them teenagers, my mom and my dad whose health was in serious decline. He wanted us to have a family bonding experience and see sights off the Interstate.
  372. &lt;p&gt;
  373. &lt;p&gt;We were in a camper that would have been great for a newlywed couple, but was seriously undersized for a small family &amp;#8212; and way too crowded for three boys! Plus, dad snored loudly and vibrated our little tin can hooked to the trailer hitch behind our &quot;wide-track&quot; Pontiac Bonneville. Mom couldn&#039;t sleep because of the noise, my bed was too short for me, and my brothers tried to sleep in the same bed. The only up side to all of this was that most everybody could sleep during the day during our long trips on backwoods &quot;scenic&quot; roads. Don&#039;t even get me started about forever adventure in the mountains following the Trail of Tears or losing one side mirror in rush hour traffic in Indianapolis or the other one on a small bridge outside of Memphis.
  374. &lt;p&gt;
  375. &lt;p&gt;One night after over 480 miles on the road, we set up the trailer, had supper, and about the time we were finally asleep, we were awakened with the trailer shaking violently in the whipping winds. Jagged bolts of lightning and the crackle of thunder with blinding streaks of light transformed our discomfort into terror. When the hail started, one of my brothers shot up in bed and &quot;crowned&quot; himself on the roof of the camper above his top bunk, setting off waves of laughter and streams of tears.
  376. &lt;p&gt;
  377. &lt;p&gt;By the time we arrived at our Michigan destination, we were never so glad to sleep in a motel with two adjoining rooms and a bed for each one of us. We hated the camper trailer and had long ago lost sight of why we went on this family vacation in the first place. Whatever the opposite of bonding might be, we arrived there pulling our camper behind us.
  378. &lt;p&gt;
  379. &lt;p&gt;Life in many of our churches is eerily similar to our camper trip to Michigan. We fuss and fight among ourselves, end up on detours and winding roads, and all too frequently forget why we are on the journey in the first place. We lose sight of our goal and frequently just try to survive by keeping everybody happy. So let me remind you of Jesus&#039; last words:
  380. &lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
  381. &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all &lt;u&gt;nations&lt;/u&gt;, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age&lt;/i&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt; (Matthew 28:18-20)&lt;/font&gt;.
  382. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  383. &lt;p&gt;
  384. &lt;p&gt;Many of us have simply forgotten the three-fold call to &quot;make disciples,&quot; even though they were empowered by His authority as the Son of God and fueled by the knowledge these were the Lord&#039;s last words on earth. So here is a three-point reminder of the Jesus call to us:
  385. &lt;p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;
  386. &lt;p&gt; &lt;li&gt;Cross cultures to reach all peoples and nations&lt;/li&gt;
  387. &lt;p&gt; &lt;li&gt;Baptize everyone in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit&lt;/li&gt;
  388. &lt;p&gt; &lt;li&gt;Train my followers, old and new, to obey what I have taught&lt;/li&gt;
  389. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
  390. &lt;p&gt;
  391. &lt;p&gt;
  392. &lt;p&gt;Others of us pay lip service to this call, but get caught up in &quot;churchland&quot; with all of its stuff and fuss, finding so many of Jesus&#039; harsh words directed at the religious of His day applicable to ourselves.
  393. &lt;p&gt;
  394. &lt;p&gt;Others of us have tried to personalize Jesus&#039; &quot;Great Commission&quot; into a mission or vision statement for our own churches or for our own personal lives. This usually occurs with complaints &amp;#8212; &quot;Isn&#039;t the Bible enough, why do we need something else?&quot; or &quot;Don&#039;t forget about keeping our folks happy, too!&quot; Clearly, Scripture and the will of God must be our defining call with Jesus as our Lord. Certainly we must care for Jesus&#039; sheep, binding up the hurting and caring for the wounded. However, as we look at Christianity&#039;s shrinking influence in our culture and the little difference in morality lived by those claiming to be Christians and those who are not, we have to admit the harsh reality. We have too frequently forgotten why we are on the journey.
  395. &lt;p&gt;
  396. &lt;p&gt;So when I came across Paul&#039;s words to the new believers in the small town of Colossae and heard in them the echo of Jesus&#039; last words, I was stopped in my tracks:
  397. &lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
  398. &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;To them [the Lord&#039;s people] God has chosen to make known among the &lt;u&gt;Gentiles&lt;/u&gt; the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.  To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me&lt;/i&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt; (Colossians 1:27-29)&lt;/font&gt;.
  399. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  400. &lt;p&gt;
  401. &lt;p&gt;Compare Paul&#039;s words in  Colossians 1:27-29 to Jesus&#039; words in  Matthew 28:18-20. And please note that the highlighted words &quot;nations&quot; in Jesus&#039; statement and &quot;Gentiles&quot; in Paul&#039;s statement are the same word. If you look carefully, Paul&#039;s words are a personalization of Jesus&#039; Great Commission. They are his personal mission statement: his vision of what he must do to fulfill Jesus&#039; call in his life.
  402. &lt;p&gt;
  403. &lt;p&gt;What about you? How would you verbalize your life&#039;s mission? More than worrying about what your church should be doing, what should you be doing? How are you going to live out the life of Jesus in the sphere of influence the Lord has placed you?
  404. &lt;p&gt;
  405. &lt;p&gt;Now to keep this from being merely a rhetorical question, I want to challenge you to prayerfully take some time and write out your own statement and go live it. Of course I&#039;d love for you to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.heartlight.org/thephilfiles/2008/10/19/our-goal/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;share it with us on my blog&lt;/a&gt;, but most importantly, I want to encourage you to write it down, put it in your wallet or in your purse or on your mirror, and go live it.
  406. &lt;p&gt;
  407. &lt;p&gt;We&#039;ve spent enough time with cabin fever going nowhere while getting on each other&#039;s nerves. Let&#039;s remember Jesus&#039; last words were a call to make our lives matter ... to a world that needs Him and needs us to bring His message to them.
  408. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;em&gt;About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including &lt;a herf=&quot;http://www.verseoftheday.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;VerseoftheDay.com&lt;/a&gt;, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.interimministrypartners.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Interim Ministry Partners&lt;/a&gt; and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.verseoftheday.com?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;VerseoftheDay.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://img.heartlight.org/in_articles/godsholyfire.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;God&#039;s Holy Fire&lt;/a&gt; (on the Holy Spirit), and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ayearwithJesus.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;aYearwithJesus.com&lt;/a&gt;. Phil has also authored &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=Phil+Ware+gospel&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;</description>
  409.  
  410.  
  411. </item>
  412. <item>
  413. <author>Ron@ronrose.org (Ron Rose)</author>
  414. <title>The Pentecost Challenge</title>
  415. <link>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/202305/20230528_pentecostchallenge.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</link>
  416. <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.heartlight.org/articles/202305/20230528_pentecostchallenge.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</guid>
  417. <pubDate>Fri, 06 Jun 2025 02:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
  418. <comments>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/202305/20230528_pentecostchallenge.html#author</comments>
  419. <source url="https://www.heartlight.org/articles/features/">Special Features from Heartlight</source>
  420. <description>&lt;img src=&quot;https://img.heartlight.org/articles/4333-large.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;em&gt;We long for the day when we know fully, even as we are fully known!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  421. &lt;p&gt;
  422. &lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you&lt;/i&gt; (Ephesians 4:29-32).&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  423. &lt;p&gt;
  424. &lt;p&gt;MO is at Black Rifle Coffee, Beyond Black is in the cup, silence is on the playlist, and God is in the room preparing for Pentecost this Sunday.
  425. &lt;p&gt;
  426. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://img.heartlight.org/in_articles/beyond_black_logo.jpg&quot; width=&quot;80&quot; /&gt;
  427. &lt;p&gt;
  428. &lt;p&gt;We sat in the conversation collective, talking about life and lessons learned. It was relaxing, comfortable, and intoxicating. In the middle of what seemed like a serious discussion about the Holy Spirit, one of the guys announced, &quot;You know, after you&#039;ve been around someone for almost a year, you&#039;d like to think they know your name.&quot;
  429. &lt;p&gt;
  430. &lt;p&gt;I listened to his distress and then broke in, &quot;Has he EVER called you by name?&quot;
  431. &lt;p&gt;
  432. &lt;p&gt;&quot;NO! Yesterday, I asked him, kinda jokingly, if he knew my name. His answer, &#039;I know exactly who you are,&#039; but still didn&#039;t call me by name, not even then.&quot;
  433. &lt;p&gt;
  434. &lt;p&gt;Ummmmmm.
  435. &lt;p&gt;
  436. &lt;p&gt;He continued, &quot;You&#039;d think pastors would be the best at calling people by name, that the Spirit would make it so. But for some of us, we never ask God for help. This Sunday is the birthday of the church &amp;#8212; Pentecost &amp;#8212; a celebration of the Holy Spirit. It&#039;s a good day for shaking things up a bit, to enlist the Spirit&#039;s help.
  437. &lt;p&gt;
  438. &lt;p&gt;&quot;Get in your pastor&#039;s face,&quot; he suggested, &quot;tell him your name... ask him to say it! Give him a Pentecost challenge! Let&#039;s learn everybody&#039;s name, even the janitor&#039;s name, by the end of the year. With the Spirit&#039;s help, we can do it together.
  439. &lt;p&gt;
  440. &lt;p&gt;&quot;The Pentecost Challenge can be a game changer!&quot;
  441. &lt;p&gt;
  442. &lt;p&gt;We sat in silence for a time, then I asked, &quot;Remember the theme song from &lt;i&gt;Cheers&lt;/i&gt;?&quot;
  443. &lt;p&gt;
  444. &lt;p&gt;&quot;Oh yeah, who doesn&#039;t?&quot; he responded.
  445. &lt;p&gt;
  446. &lt;p&gt;&quot;A whole generation doesn&#039;t, but they are recklessly looking for a place like it, a place where misfits, old farts, weirdos, young whippersnappers, and the boring people know each other&#039;s names... a place like Cheers Bar. I think for its time, it was perfect. And, I loved the theme song... still do.&quot;
  447. &lt;p&gt;
  448. &lt;p&gt;We sang it together... sort of:
  449. &lt;p&gt;
  450. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;indent&quot;&gt;Sometimes you wanna go&lt;br /&gt;Where everybody knows your name&lt;br /&gt;And they&#039;re always glad you came.&lt;br /&gt;You wanna be where you can see&lt;br /&gt;Our troubles are all the same&lt;br /&gt;You wanna be where everybody knows your name!
  451. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;!--close indent--&gt;
  452. &lt;p&gt;
  453. &lt;p&gt;&quot;The church is supposed to be THAT place... the Spirit must be really sad to show up and be ignored,&quot; he said.
  454. &lt;p&gt;
  455. &lt;p&gt;We talked for a couple of hours, telling stories, laughing, and calling each other by name. By the way, his name is Danny. Danny decided to take the Pentecost Challenge, whether his pastor does or not. Don&#039;t you think Abba has given us all this Pentecost Challenge?
  456. &lt;p&gt;
  457. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;hr width=&quot;60%&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  458. &lt;p&gt;
  459. &lt;p&gt;Oh, and I just met Gabe. He&#039;s a Black Rifle Coffee Company early-morning barista. He even asked me, &quot;Is your name Ron Rose?&quot;
  460. &lt;p&gt;
  461. &lt;p&gt;You know, I really liked hearing my name.
  462. &lt;p&gt;
  463. &lt;p&gt;Ummmmm.
  464. &lt;p&gt;
  465. &lt;p&gt;I believe we all &quot;wanna be where everybody knows your name!&quot;
  466. &lt;p&gt;
  467. &lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.&lt;/i&gt; (1 Corinthians 13:12).&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  468. &lt;p&gt;
  469. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://img.heartlight.org/in_articles/beyond_black_logo.jpg&quot; width=&quot;80&quot; /&gt;
  470. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;em&gt;About the author: Ron Rose has been a unique minister and friend, but he is also a noted author and leader of several ministries. Ron now makes himself available as a listener and friend as he spends time with people on the go and in coffee shops and shares grace and a listening ear connecting them with God who is always in the room!&lt;/em&gt;</description>
  471.  
  472.  
  473. </item>
  474. <item>
  475. <author>phil@heartlight.org (Phil Ware)</author>
  476. <title>Resurrection 2.8: With Christ</title>
  477. <link>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/201906/20190626_withChrist.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</link>
  478. <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.heartlight.org/articles/201906/20190626_withChrist.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en</guid>
  479. <pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2025 02:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
  480. <comments>https://www.heartlight.org/articles/201906/20190626_withChrist.html#author</comments>
  481. <source url="https://www.heartlight.org/articles/window/">The Jesus Window from Heartlight</source>
  482. <description>&lt;img src=&quot;https://img.heartlight.org/articles/3812-large.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;em&gt;Maybe you&#039;re like me and have imagined these kinds of things as you&#039;ve read the story of Jesus.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;HR&gt;Don&#039;t you wish you could have been there?
  483. &lt;p&gt;
  484. &lt;p&gt;As I have read the story of Jesus in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), I have caught myself yearning to have been present. I would love to have heard and seen Jesus at work in his earthly ministry. Because of that yearning, I&#039;ve wondered:
  485. &lt;p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;indent&quot;&gt;What was the expression on his face when he said this or did that?
  486. &lt;p&gt;
  487. &lt;p&gt;How did his eyes and touch communicate his compassion?
  488. &lt;p&gt;
  489. &lt;p&gt;Did folks have a hard time seeing when the light pierced through the dancing dust and straw when the four friends dug a hole in that roof?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;!--close indent--&gt;
  490. &lt;p&gt;
  491. &lt;p&gt;Maybe you&#039;re like me and have imagined these kinds of things as you&#039;ve read the story of Jesus.
  492. &lt;p&gt;
  493. &lt;p&gt;I&#039;ll also admit that part of me would never want to go back to Golgotha and see the Lord&#039;s horrifying agony. However, with all that he has done for me, I would like to have gone back and been there for him while he was so alone, abandoned, forsaken, denied, and betrayed by those close to him. I hope that I would have joined him in prayer for the mislead crowd who mocked him as he pleaded, &lt;i&gt;&quot;Father, forgive them, they don&#039;t know what they are doing.&quot;&lt;/i&gt; I would like to have been there to say &quot;Amen!&quot; to the Centurion&#039;s pronouncement of faith, &lt;i&gt;&quot;Surely, this was the Son of God!&quot;&lt;/i&gt;
  494. &lt;p&gt;
  495. &lt;p&gt;Most of all, I would like to have seen the resurrected Jesus. I would have been blessed to have been with Mary and the women who took the spices to the tomb and met Jesus!  I&#039;d love to have seen Peter and John as they raced to the tomb. I would have liked to have been the third disciple on the road to Emmaus. I would be thrilled to be able to go back to the upper room when the ten apostles met Jesus, and he ate fish to show them that he wasn&#039;t a ghost. I would gladly go back to have seen Thomas put his hands into scars on Jesus&#039; body and confess, &lt;i&gt;&quot;My Lord and my God!&quot;&lt;/i&gt; I would even settle for being with James, the half-brother of Jesus, when the Lord showed himself to his once unbelieving brother and ignited the faith in Jerusalem&#039;s future church leader. And, I believe it would have been a blessing to be with the 500 to whom Jesus&#039; appeared after his resurrection.
  496. &lt;p&gt;
  497. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://img.heartlight.org/in_articles/nail_scarred_palms.jpg&quot; /&gt;
  498. &lt;p&gt;
  499. &lt;p&gt;But I can&#039;t time travel. Neither can you.
  500. &lt;p&gt;
  501. &lt;p&gt;Or can we?
  502. &lt;p&gt;
  503. &lt;p&gt;What if there was a way that we could meet Jesus and share in those events that saved us? Would you believe me if I told you there was and it was something Jesus planned and anticipated for us?
  504. &lt;p&gt;
  505. &lt;p&gt;Listen carefully to the apostle Paul&#039;s words to folks who were feeling less Christian than those who personally knew Jesus:
  506. &lt;p&gt;
  507. &lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh  was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead&lt;/i&gt; (Colossians 2:9-12).&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  508. &lt;p&gt;
  509. &lt;p&gt;Paul is saying that if we have been baptized, we haven&#039;t missed out. Instead, we &lt;i&gt;&quot;have been brought to fullness&quot;&lt;/i&gt; in Christ. We&#039;ve received the full blessing!
  510. &lt;p&gt;
  511. &lt;p&gt;How?
  512. &lt;p&gt;
  513. &lt;p&gt;Well, the &lt;i&gt;&quot;flesh&quot;&lt;/i&gt; part of us, that part of us sometimes called our sinful nature, was removed from us because we died and were buried with Jesus in baptism. We entered into his death experience.&lt;sup&gt;[&lt;a href=&quot;#note&quot;&gt;NOTE&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/sup&gt; Then, through our faith in the powerful working of God, we have been raised with Jesus. We have not only believed in Jesus, but we have participated in the Lord&#039;s resurrection! The real and forever-living part of us has been raised with Christ and is guarded in the safety of God&#039;s presence until Jesus returns for us (Colossians 3:1-4).
  514. &lt;p&gt;
  515. &lt;p&gt;Paul&#039;s teaching is an astounding promise we have often overlooked. Can it be true? Can we share in Jesus&#039; death to honor his sacrifice and end the fleshly hold on us? Is it possible that we can be part of the Lord&#039;s resurrection story, today?
  516. &lt;p&gt;
  517. &lt;p&gt;When we read from other places in the New Testament, this grace of sharing in Jesus&#039; death, burial, and resurrection are talked about in even more detail (Romans 6:3-14). Our life, because of our trust in Jesus&#039; death, burial, and resurrection, is joined to his and we are given new life with him (Titus 3:3-7; Romans 6:4). Just as the Spirit of the living God revived Jesus from the dead, we too are empowered by the Spirit to live a new life. Our sins are not just forgiven; they&#039;re also eradicated from us by the grace given us in the blood of Jesus and the cleansing brought to us through the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). And, because we have been &lt;i&gt;&quot;united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his&quot;&lt;/i&gt; (Romans 6:5)!
  518. &lt;p&gt;
  519. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://img.heartlight.org/in_articles/lydia_at_the_river.jpg&quot; /&gt;
  520. &lt;p&gt;
  521. &lt;p&gt;So, let&#039;s be more joyous and celebratory when we see someone baptized. Not only are they doing what Jesus sent us into the world to teach them to do (Matthew 28:18-20), as well as doing what Jesus himself did (Luke 3:20-22), they are providing us a great opportunity. We get to share their re-living Jesus&#039; saving work as they participate in his death, burial, and resurrection and as they call on his name as Lord before us as their witnesses (Romans 10:9-13; Acts 22:16). The power of the cross and the empty tomb are real. More than a symbol or a step or work, we witness the gospel being experienced and shared (1 Corinthians 15:3-7).
  522. &lt;p&gt;
  523. &lt;p&gt;I wasn&#039;t alive when Jesus died for me. I wasn&#039;t there when Joseph and Nicodemus buried him. I wasn&#039;t there when that stone rolled away, and Jesus was raised. But, I have been united with him in those events. He didn&#039;t just do them for me; he also has done them with me! Their power isn&#039;t long ago and far away, but can be experienced in our time. The power of his grace wasn&#039;t just in those moments then, but real again in the lives of people who believe that God can do anything, anytime he wants, and with whoever believes in the saving work of Jesus. Praise God, because we get to experience this grace ourselves, &lt;i&gt;&quot;with Christ&quot;&lt;/i&gt;!
  524. &lt;p&gt;
  525. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://img.heartlight.org/in_articles/spirit_descends.jpg&quot; /&gt;
  526. &lt;p&gt;
  527. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  528. &lt;p&gt;
  529. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  530. &lt;p&gt;
  531. &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;[NOTE]&lt;/sup&gt; Sometimes people confuse baptism with Jewish circumcision based on this passage. However, if you read Colossians 2:9-15 carefully, you notice that the circumcision Jesus brings in baptism isn&#039;t like the Jewish symbol of the covenant. Instead, it cuts much deeper than the flesh. It is the &lt;i&gt;&quot;circumcision of the heart&quot;&lt;/i&gt; talked about in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6; Jeremiah 9:25; cf. Romans 2:29). In baptism, this circumcision done by Christ and accomplishes the following things as the person shares in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection (Colossians 2:13-15):
  532. &lt;p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;
  533. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;Makes us alive when we were dead in our sins.&lt;/li&gt;
  534. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;Forgives us of all our sins.&lt;/li&gt;
  535. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;Cancels our indebtedness to sin and the flesh; the things we have done to condemn ourselves are taken away and nailed to the cross.&lt;/li&gt;
  536. &lt;p&gt;&lt;li&gt;Removes us from the evil powers to have us because of Christ&#039;s triumph over them in the cross.&lt;/li&gt;
  537. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
  538. &lt;p&gt;Please notice, however, a couple of key points. None of this work of salvation is because of what the person being baptized does. When a person was baptized in the early church, they were baptized because of their faith that relied on Jesus&#039; saving work in his death, burial, and resurrection. Baptism in the New Testament is a passive verb; it is something done to the person baptized, not accomplished by that person. Christian baptism (and the baptism practiced by John the Baptist and Jesus) was different from Jewish baptism. Jewish baptisms were washings that were self-administered. But, Christian baptism was done by someone else to the person being baptized as they called on Jesus, trusting him for their salvation (Romans 10:9-13; Acts 22:16). The one being baptized submitted in faith, trusting in what Jesus did to purchase his or her salvation, not to win salvation.
  539. &lt;p&gt;
  540. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  541. &lt;p&gt;
  542. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr /&gt;
  543. &lt;p&gt;
  544. &lt;p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;article-credit&quot;&gt;Special thanks for the use of images related to Lydia’s conversion from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lumoproject.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The Lumo Project&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;em&gt;About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including &lt;a herf=&quot;http://www.verseoftheday.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;VerseoftheDay.com&lt;/a&gt;, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.interimministrypartners.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Interim Ministry Partners&lt;/a&gt; and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.verseoftheday.com?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_content=all&amp;utm_term=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;VerseoftheDay.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://img.heartlight.org/in_articles/godsholyfire.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;God&#039;s Holy Fire&lt;/a&gt; (on the Holy Spirit), and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ayearwithJesus.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;aYearwithJesus.com&lt;/a&gt;. Phil has also authored &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=Phil+Ware+gospel&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;</description>
  545.  
  546.  
  547. </item>
  548.  </channel>
  549. </rss>

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