Month: April 2017

Luke 11:23 Whoever is not with me is against me… The temptation, when I read this verse, is to think that it has no application to me today.  In this passage, Jesus said that everyone consciously chooses to follow him, or by default, they oppose him.  As I became a Christian long ago, I have made my…
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Luke 11:9 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you…. How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! When I was in junior high, I watched a certain boxing movie in which the star-spangled…
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Luke 10:41 Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Admittedly, there are defects of which I know little.  Though I have many flaws, being overly organized is not one of them.  So, I had to stretch a little to come up with some way in which I…
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Luke 10:27 You shall love… your neighbor as yourself. As I was out for a long run yesterday, contemplating this passage, I was reminded of my own Samaritan moment.  In the story of the Good Samaritan, a lawyer questioned Jesus about his command to love thy neighbor.  Who is my neighbor?  The lawyer wanted to…
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Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. If you have ever visited the doctor with an injury, you have likely encountered the one to ten pain scale.  One is mild.  Ten is arms being bitten…
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Luke 9:61 I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.  One of my favorite questions to ask those new in recovery is, What is going to be different this time?  It was one of my least favorite questions I was asked in treatment, but it was necessary.…
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Luke 9:54 Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Looking back, the angriest I have been in my adult life, and the closest I have come to physical violence, has probably been over matters of faith.  It is embarrassing to write, but my most childlike tantrums…
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Luke 9:24,25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? I have this fear that if I truly follow God, He will make me sell…
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Luke 9:23 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. I went for a long run last night, which is usually good meditating time.  I felt distracted though and found it hard to listen.  I realized my day had been me-focused.  I am trying…
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Luke 8:39 Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. God delivers me from myself.  This is what I tell people that God does for me.  When I go to jail or when I meet a patient struggling with some self-inflicted destruction, I tell them that they do not need…
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