God Still Talks ...

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God still talks to those who listen.  He still intervenes on behalf of those who seek Him.  He still helps those who call on Him.  He still works through those who obey Him.

 But the question is ... Do we believe it?  Do we live like it?  Do we seek Him, listen for Him and to Him, call on Him when we need help, and obey Him?

 Or do we think we can do better without Him?  Or maybe better than Him?

Most Popular Posts of the Week:

Spiritual Warfare: Sword of the Spirit 5 (Scripture-based prayers)

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And finally, to end the "Sword of the Spirit" posts: When I was going through my worst, hardest times and was full  of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and helplessness, there were a few things that helped give me some relief (herbal teas, herbal tinctures, homeopathic remedies, positive thinking, walks, mindless but relaxing TV shows, worship music, reading the Bible, saying verses out loud or writing them by hand, etc.).   But I could tell that my soul needed something more, something deeper, more powerful, more effective.   And so I decided to try something that I had always  been curious about: Praying Scripture back to God, turning verses into prayers, grabbing onto the truths and promises in Scripture that fit our need at the moment and praying them back to Him,  trusting Him to answer.   And when I did that, it calmed my anxious soul in a way that nothing else did or could.   Even just looking through God's Word for th...
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Three Guidelines For Christians Regarding Halloween (repost)

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Halloween is coming up.  And of course the question for Christians is "How much should we participate in Halloween, if at all"? Truthfully, I don't know. My personal choice would be to have nothing to do with Halloween, except for eating candy.  (Thankfully, my boys never wanted to dress up in costumes.)  I don't feel comfortable participating in anything that "celebrates" death, violence, demons, witches, the occult, etc.  Those kinds of things are very real in the world and shouldn't be encouraged, laughed at, or glorified at all . But I also don't think there's anything wrong with meeting with friends, having some good clean fun, eating candy, enjoying God's wonderful Autumn blessings, etc.  Even dressing up just for fun isn't inherently wrong.     But is that too close to "celebrating Halloween"?   (I will admit that I am uncomfortable with the idea of "dressing up" for Halloween.  To me that seems to be the ...
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"The Candid Calvinist"

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  My husband just found this "satirical" 6-minute video about what Calvinists say vs. what they hide.  It's called  "The Candid Calvinist"  and it's brilliant.  This guy does a great job covering some of the confusing contradictions and deceptive word-choices of Calvinism.  I hope he does more videos like this.  (And does he not remind you of a young Ben Shapiro?)
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List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, Websites, etc.

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I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various  "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist"  posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one.  [FYI: I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.] So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinist," in my estimation.  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify ...
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My Testimony

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I've scattered bits of my story all over my blogs, but I’m gonna pull it all together here, about how I became a believer and some things I’ve gone through and how my faith has been affected.  (I’ll include links to posts where I explain things more fully.) Starting the journey:    I became a believer when I was eleven years old.    (I am now getting close to 50.   I don't know how that happened. )    At a Christian camp, on one of the last nights, they gave an altar call.    I wanted to go up but was nervous about standing up in front of everyone.    But being more nervous about the window of opportunity closing, I felt myself stand up and walk to the front.    I knew exactly what I was doing, that I was making a commitment for life.    And I meant it.    I really meant it.    I knelt down, asked Jesus into my heart, and have never turned back.    It hasn’t been an easy, carefr...
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Help for Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Thoughts (repost)

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It's so sad to hear about all the celebrities who have recently committed suicide (or about anyone who has committed suicide, for that matter).  My heart breaks for them, for the pain they went through, and for the ones who love them, for the pain they are now going through.  It is truly a tragedy. To anyone who is hurting really badly, who is struggling with overwhelming anxiety or depression, who is considering taking their own lives ... I dedicate this post.  Please, take some time to look through some of the links here.  This is a round-up of some on-line resources or posts about dealing with anxiety or depression, particularly as a Christian. But first: Quick tips for help: If you are desperate for some immediate help and don't want to look through the links I have below, try some of these (or if it's really bad and you're afraid you might hurt yourself, call 911 or go to the emergency room): 1.   Put on a worship song right now.  Or sing a...
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Spiritual Warfare: Sword of the Spirit 4 (the sword)

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Okay now, onto the list of verses I shared with my family member for her to use in spiritual battles, when Satan's got us down and cowering in fear.  These were specifically chosen for comfort, encouragement, and strength (and I added a few extra here for different kinds of temptations or trials).  I suggest p rinting them out, reading them over and over again, writing them out, mem orizing some, taking a list with you wherever you go, etc.  Whatever it takes to get through the hard times. And when the attacks, temptations, or hard times come, turn them into prayers  (I'll share my own personal Scripture-based prayers in the next post)  or simply s peak out loud the ones that fit your particular struggle, trial, temptation, or fear.   Declare to yourself, to the struggle/temptation, and to the spirit world/the Enemy that "It is written ..." and then quote a verse that fits.  A nd let God's Word comfort and still your soul as the sword of the Spiri...
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Spiritual Warfare: Overestimating Ourselves, Underestimating Satan

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In the last post  of this series, we looked at the danger of underestimating ourselves and overestimating Satan.  Today let's look at the reverse: overestimating ourselves and underestimating Satan.  (This will be a little scattered because there's several angles I want to look at this from.)   While we shouldn't think Satan has more power than he does, we also shouldn't think he has less.  He  is the ruler, the "prince," of this world right now and has been given a lot of leeway (by God's permission) to move around and cause trouble.  Yes, God is still in control over Satan and has him on a leash, but he's still allowed to cause an enormous amount of pain and damage (just look at the world around us, maybe even your own lives).  So may we never be flippant about him or ignorant of his schemes and power.    Here are a handful of verses about Satan/demons (what he's called, what he does, what he's capable of): Satan is called "the pr...
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Spiritual Warfare: Satan's Schemes #5 (innocence, naivete)

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Okay, let's keep chugging along here on the spiritual warfare study.  I had no idea I'd write this much about the times we're vulnerable to Satan's attacks, but next up is... Innocence, naivete Innocence is one of the most endearing qualities someone can have.  We love it in babies and young children and the pure of heart.  But innocence with naivete can make us especially vulnerable to Satan's deceptions because we're too trusting and too uneducated in the ways of evil to know better.  Let's look at the attack Satan launched on someone who was the most innocent and naive of all, to see what we can learn from it. Deception (twisting the truth, God's character, or God's Word) is one of Satan's first (and best) tricks.  He used it on Eve in the Garden of Eden.  God had forbidden Adam and Eve from eating from one tree out of a whole garden of trees.  All the rest were allowed.  But Satan cleverly asked Eve  "Did God really say, 'You must no...
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How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist (simplified version)

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(For the extended version of this post, which I recommend, click here .  It is loaded with lots more information.  This simplified one is just the highlights.  And feel free to copy this and share it with others, to help them learn to identify Calvinism when they see it.  Just make sure to share the link to this post so that they can find the original one if they want it.  Thank you.   New :  For the super-short version,   click here .   And FYI:  I found a couple times when the Calvinist author of an article I linked to changed the article after I linked to it.  So if an article doesn't seem to match what I said about it, it may be because they altered it. ) We just left our church of almost 20 years because of the dogmatic Calvinist pastor who recently came on board.  ( Read my "Letter to Our Elders Regarding Calvinism Growing in Our Church" here.)   And I was thinking about what precautions I might take to...
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