paravanes:meditations

If you believe in generational curses, or have observed how negative habits and outcomes are passed from generation to generation, the solution begins with prayer. If there is such a thing as a "successful prayer", that success begins with: 1. Submission to the will of God, and knowing God's will is our best and highest good. 2. Knowing prayer is not a tool to manipulate people, nor is it a tool to attempt to manipulate or demand something of God. 3. Accepting our identity as beloved creatures of God who have access, or direct connection, to God through our embrace of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, God's son and the eternal savior. 4. Accepting the truth of each individual's responsibility for their life experience and eternal destiny. When individuals reach an age of accountability (approximately 20 years of age, based on Numbers 24:26-35), family members, elders, and others no longer have spiritual responsibility or authority for the choices of t...

How does God, as expressed in the life and work of Jesus Christ, save us by grace? Among other things, God never looks away from us. God never turns from us. God gazes upon us, but not with anger or resentment for our failures. God gazes upon us with love, with mercy, with compassion. God holds out to us the offer of an honest, reliable path that will allow us to move from failure to fantastic, from brokenness to full healing and wholeness, from disconnection and confusion to loving community and clarity. This offer of true life is open now. It's available now, in this very moment. Today is always the most important day. It is now that God's offer of whole life is extended to all people. Knowing this is the beginning of knowing God's grace.