Today, I want to introduce to you two important concepts about marriage. I want you to understand the difference between a consumer marriage vs a covenant marriage. One of the reasons why marriages struggle and even fail is because one or both of them approach marriage as a consumer rather than approaching it as a covenant. Continue reading
Author: Jeff Stott (Page 1 of 36)
If you are not careful, you can be so busy doing life that you don’t even notice the presence of God in your life. This is what happened to a man named Jacob. Jacob lived a life on the fast track doing business deals and making lots of money. He was on the go. Going from one thing to another. One night God caught up with Jacob in a dream. Jacob woke up from the dream and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” (Genesis 28:16, NLT). Continue reading
One of the weapons against anxiety is awareness, spiritual awareness. The devil does not want you to be aware of what he is doing, what God is doing, or what is happening inside you. The devil wants you to be oblivious to what you are thinking, feeling, and doing. He doesn’t want to see God at work in your life or around your life. Awareness implies vigilance in observing what is occurring around you. Continue reading
If you are going to live in peace, it’s not going to happen by accident. Every day you have opportunities to get upset, to be offended and to be worried. Life happens. People get on your nerves, unexpected bills, a family member is in the hospital, the kids mess up the house, and your spouse is inconsiderate. If you wait for all your circumstances to calm down and people to do what’s right to have peace and to stop worrying, you will be waiting your whole life. God never promised you that He would keep you from difficulties. He never said that you wouldn’t have storms, but He did say He would give you peace in the midst of the storm. He calls it a peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:6-7). That means despite what is going on around you, you can experience peace within you. Continue reading
We are taking a look at the seven practices of peace. Today we are finishing our examination of practice #2, the practice of gentleness. Continue reading
When you are going through a stressful time and you are experiencing anxiety, anger, worry, fear, irritation or being annoyed by something you will be tempted to be unkind, harsh, rude, cruel, and insensitive to the people in your life. Instead of being unkind and rude God wants you to be gentle. He wants you to be aware, calm, and present for others even when you are hurting. No matter what kind of trouble, problem, pain, or difficulty you are going through it is no excuse for you to be harsh and cruel to someone else. One of the keys to experiencing peace in the middle of your anxiety is to let the gentle spirit inside you control you. Continue reading
God’s Word says, Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant (1 Cor. 12:1, NIV). God makes it clear that He does not want you to be ignorant or uninformed about spiritual gifts? To become more informed and knowledgeable let us begin with a Biblical definition. Continue reading
The Bible mentions several different types of spiritual gifts. Here they are with a brief definition for each one in alphabetical order. Continue reading
God wants you to be joyful! The devil wants you to be ungrateful, unkind, cold, distant, unfriendly, and unpleasant. God wants you to be full of joy, while the devil wants you to be full of discontentment, dissatisfaction, irritation, and anger. When you are in a state of joy, you are more aware, calm, and present for God and others. When you have joy, it is easier to care about others. When you have a lack of joy you are more concerned about you.
God has given you the seven practices of peace to combat your anxieties. We find these in Philippians 4:4-9. Let’s look at God’s Word and take a look at the practice of joy. Continue reading
God wants you to experience His peace in the middle of your chaos. He wants to train you how to defend that peace and manage your anxieties, worries, and fears. The devil is going to do everything he can to get you to focus on what stresses you out. Instead of being aware, calm, and present for God and others, the devil wants you to be self-absorbed about your problems, your troubles, your worries, and your fears. He wants you to be overly concerned about your health, stressed out about your finances, worried about your children, fearful about the future, or focused on what’s not right in your nation or overly concerned about what’s happening around the world. Continue reading
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