paravanes:meditations

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” – 2 Corinthians 6:19, 20  (NIV) More questions than answers can lead to growth. Keeping that in mind, I ask myself: How is a temple cared for?  What does a living temple look like? Is it well-kept, clean, and representative of its God? How would I dress and groom myself if I believed myself to be an ambassador and representative expression of God in  and to the world? How much restful sleep and exercise would I give myself? Would I see these as gifts or burdensome duties? How much, and what type, of food and drink would I consume? How would I eliminate stress and tension from my heart and mind? Would I have a plan for this, or simply “suppress my stress”, or leave stress reduction to chance? How much time would I spend listening to the God...

“Whatever We Ask In His Name” “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” –Jesus Christ, in John 14:13 (NIV) I have longed to hear a sermon or lesson on this topic, a sermon or lesson explaining why so often we ask for things and don’t get them. Aren’t we trying to do the will of God? Don’t we pray for what we think are good things? What goes wrong? Are we asking for things that bring glory to us, or to something (church, club, organization, etc.) we’re affiliated with, rather than things that bring glory to God? What does it mean to ask for something in Jesus’ name? How many prayers have we heard that had the phrase “In Jesus’ name we pray, amen” tacked onto the end of the prayer? What happened? Did everyone see the results requested? Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words defines “name” in many ways, but here is the most useful ...

Can you evaluate your own spiritual progress, the state of your own heart and spirit? Do you need feedback from someone else to know where you stand? Outside input is often helpful, but there are things you can do on your own In Matthew 12:34 (NIV), Jesus says: "You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." The Apostle Paul wrote the Christians in Corinth that they should examine themselves. How do we test ourselves? What going on in my heart? Jesus said out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. How often do I catch myself "overflowing" with these types of statements: "I knew it wouldn't work out." "This is too much!" "I'm sick to death of (him, her, this, etc...)" "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go." "As soon as we save a little money, some disaster comes along and sweeps away our savings." "These kids...