Tag: struggles
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I Beg You, Pray
Superman is invulnerable. Pastors are not. God’s people are not. Pastors have flaws, temptations, and struggles. Pastors have insecurities. Pastors do not always know exactly what should be done next. Pastors yell or want to yell at their kids. Christians are all clay called to shine the light of Christ. What is the answer? Pastors need…
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Walking With Each Other Toward Christ
Commiserate. This word comes to us from two Latin words. It means to “lament with”. Commiserating happens when we walk with each other through our struggles. Have we really thought about how important walking together through struggles is? Paul shares with the church in Corinth that – “We had the sentence of death within ourselves…
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Shadows at Christmas?
I was thinking last week about the dark things that we sometimes miss seeing when we talk about the first Christmas. We overlook that Joseph was about to abandon Mary. We tend to not talk about the babies that were killed by Harod. We gloss over Simeon’s blessing in the temple that includes declaring that…
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The Background of the Believer’s Life
What does it mean to you to say that God is in control? Is that something that gives you confidence, or is it something that makes you confused? In God’s Word the sovereignty of God is the underlying assumption of every act of faith. With the exception of extreme suffering, the faithful saw God’s sovereignty…
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When God is Important to Us, We Find Joy
What moves you? What makes your heart beat with passion or your eyes light up? It’s worth it, isn’t it? It’s worth the effort. It’s worth the struggle. It’s joy! Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over…
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Faith – In Disappointment (part 1)
We have all experienced it. Maybe it was when you were little and Grandpa promised you an ice cream cone, and then you were crushed when no ice cream cone came. Maybe it was in middle school when you experienced your first crush, and your beloved didn’t return your affection. It may have even happened…
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Troubleshooting 101
When I was a kid, I did a lot of troubleshooting. No, I didn’t call it that back then, but I did it. When I was faced with a problem like a ball stuck on a roof, I would think through possible solutions until one presented itself. Sometimes, I would do foolish things to solve…
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Preparing for Christmas – A Struggle of Faith
Sometimes we forget how much of struggle Christmas was for the first people who experienced it. I think of the struggle of Mary and Joseph as they made their way to Bethlehem. I think of the struggles of everyone who was visited by an angel. At each encounter, the angel had to say, “Do not…
Pastor John D Jakes 