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Showing posts with the label happiness

Responding to God's Kindness

"Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" - Romans 2:4 For many years, my walk with God lacked knowledge of the above truth; I knew God was kind, forbearing and patient towards me, but was ignorant of how I should respond to it. Various passages of Scripture confused me such as Exodus 34:6-7,  “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” For some years I felt self-condemned over patterns of sin in my life. I would think to myself, "Am I among the forgiven or am I among the guilty?" Was I one of God's enemies or one of His children? After all, my pattern of sin ...

Crashing the Pride Party

Isaiah 14:12-14 “How you are fallen from heaven,      O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground,      you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart,      ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God      I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly      in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;      I will make myself like the Most High.'" Pride. If there is a "king" among the different kinds of sin, perhaps this would be it. Indeed, Isaiah directly speaks regarding the evil king of Babylon but he also alludes to the prideful spirit of Satan himself. The sin that caused God to cast Satan out of heaven is the same sin that causes us to believe that we have no need of God. To the mind of natural man, it is detrimental to think that he is dependent upon someone...