Are you growing in your Christian life? When I disciple a new believer, I always emphasize four areas she needs to keep balanced in order to grow deeper in her relationship with the Lord: Time in God’s Word Time in prayer Fellowship with other believers Sharing the gospel with non-believers The first two areas strengthen our vertical relationship with God, and the second two areas strengthen our horizontal relationships with others. All four areas are
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When I disciple someone and take them through the Spirit-filled life, there are always questions. Here are some of the questions that typically come up. 1. Are all Christians Spirit-filled since all believers have the Holy Spirit? No. I was a believer but not a Spirit-filled believer my first two and a half years in college. The turning point for me was when I went on a date with a guy in one of my
Read More →Have you been praying for something that is a desire of your heart? You may be single and asking God for a husband. Or perhaps you are asking God for your first child and it’s taking longer than you had hoped. It may be a specific job, or a “dream” of accomplishing something, or a new direction, or healing from a condition or disease. How do you handle it when God doesn’t give you that
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How do you become a Spirit-filled Christian? To be Spirit-filled means to be controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit, but how do we get there? Although God does not give us a step-by-step “formula,” He does give us direction in His Word. 1. Sincerely desire to be filled and directed by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 You must want it. If you don’t want the Lord to be in control, then it’s not going
Read More →Last Monday I celebrated a “milestone” birthday. You know – the milestone birthdays are the ones with a zero at the end. I have to admit that it is sobering to realize I have lived over half my life on this earth. I want to finish well. My day started off with a surprise. My assistant greeted me at the church Monday morning with a wheelchair and “rolled” me down to the All-Staff
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Are you living the abundant Christian life the way that God intended? Or do you feel defeated much of the time in your Christian walk? Do you struggle with areas and question if you’ll ever be able to gain victory over them? Are you growing as a Christian, or do you feel a bit stagnant? I was not living the abundant Christian life in college until Bonnie explained to me about the Spirit-filled life. Once
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When I was a little girl, I came very close to drowning one summer in Lake Plain Dealing. That event had a huge impact in my life. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and crying out to God, “Lord, you didn’t take me home. You left me on this earth, so you must have a purpose for me.” Even as a little girl, I felt a sense of purpose for being
Read More →I shared with you a few weeks ago that I was taking my 96-year-old mom home to Plain Dealing, Louisiana (and Bossier City) for one “last” visit. It was definitely the right thing to do, and Mom handled the seven-hour road trip well for her age. I’m so thankful the Lord allowed us to go home. Mom was thrilled to see her two sisters and other family and friends and loved going back to
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Is there a past sin in your life that haunts you? Something you hope no one will ever find out about; something you regret deeply. Sometimes you wonder if God could really forgive you for that sin. Or you feel that you need to punish yourself or serve Him even harder to insure that you’re forgiven. You may even be wondering if perhaps you have disqualified yourself from being used by God because of your
Read More →I have asked Sandra Glahn, my mentor and co-author of Sumatra With the Seven Churches, to write a guest post, giving an example of pressing on in her life. I think you will enjoy it greatly! The ultimate neighborhood babysitter, I believed I was destined for motherhood. I loved living in a large family; I never felt lonely; I always had a cheering section for viola concerts; and we had killer seven-part harmony on road
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