While Americans celebrate two hundred and forty-two years of independence and freedom today, thousands of immigrants are being held in “immigration detention.” How should Christians respond to this?
We have dreams or thoughts that they feel like revelations, but their meaning alludes us. We feel confused and lack confidence in what God has spoken to us. What’s frustrating about this is that Christians should be able to tell when God is speaking to them. Why does it seem so hard, at times? Here are a few things my wife and I are learning that help us better discern when God actually is saying something to us.
Each of us has a story shaping who we are and what we believe. When I observe Anabaptist young people, I sense a general anxiety about whether the story that shaped their lives has any value in the world today. I believe it does. I see four things anyone from Anabaptist background has to offer the world, today.
A few posts back, I asked the question “Do we have a male-dominated expression of faith?” Particularly, has the Anabaptist subculture neglected to make space for women to put into practice their faith in active and engaging ministry? In this post, I’m going to share a few thoughts I have as I observe Scripture and what it says about women and their role in the church.
What is a woman’s role in church? What place are women given in faith communities today? What place should they be given? Do men dominate the faith scene in America? These are the questions we’re diggin’ to answer in this post.
None of us want the bondage of pornography. Yet, unless we have something practical we can do with our sex drive that is not also sin, we will continue struggling with moral failure. It doesn’t matter how much we resist lust, or how much we rest in God’s promises that He will give us victory and remind ourselves of God’s truths concerning His plan for us. If there is not something we can do meaningfully in living out our sexuality, it looks pretty hopeless.
I have learned that even if I am living in greater victory than ever before, Satan will continue throwing accusations at me. Finding lasting freedom means dealing with those accusations so they don’t become the terms of life I agree to. In this post, I look at how I have personally dealt with three specific lies I have faced.
Forgiveness is almost like a swearword in Christianity. We spit it at people as the solution for any kind of relational problem. And probably because it is. However, those of us who have had that word spat at us likely resent it because we don’t really know what forgiveness means. When we remember how God forgives us, we can find it in our hearts to forgive others. And that releases us from bitterness, and bitterness drives lust.
What can women do (or not do) in church? What is their role? Can they speak? Can they lead worship? Can they teach? Can they be pastors? In this Patron-sponsored post, I share three observations from my church experience and scripture about a woman’s role in church.
People often quote Romans 8:28 when tragedy strikes. And while we can look at other parts of the Bible and see that God can work tragedy for His glory and use it for good, I do not believe we are being fair to the message God is speaking through Paul here in Romans. In fact, I will go so far as to say what Paul is talking about has nothing to do with tragedy. It might actually have more to do with porn.
What happened that causes us to wrestle with lust and pornography? Why is it that we experience pain and sometimes hurt others, ourselves? Because we have chosen to listen to another person’s voice instead of God’s.
But instead of giving us what we deserve (death), God has taken personal responsibility for restoring us back to His original design. He’s done something reckless, in our human way of looking at it. Without it, we have no hope.
So, when a guy struggles with pornography or masturbation, does he struggle because his sexuality is so strong? Does he desire sex too much? Could it be that his sexual desires are actually too weak?
Author Asher Witmer knows what it’s like to want freedom from sexual sin only to continually fail. We’re often told we need more personal discipline, that we need to think godly things instead of fleshly things.
What if I told you that discipline won’t solve your problem with lust?
Our male sexuality is given by God for advancing beauty and goodness. But somewhere along the line it becomes something that causes devastation and guilt. The good news is we don’t have to live with guilt. In Live Free, Asher Witmer shows us how we can find freedom from sexual sin, live with nothing to hide, and be able to fight for others.
