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Showing posts from September, 2012

Colossians

      One of my favorite books of the Bible is the letter of Colossians.  I have spent many sessions teaching this little letter in the past.  I love the care and concern that Paul expresses to these believers even though he has never met them.  I love how unselfish he is.  He is in prison, yet he doesn't go on and on about how hard things are for him.  He also doesn't ask for material things or pray for the Colossians that they would be comfortable.  Rather, Paul focuses on how Christ and the cross are of first importance.        I have heard that there are over 40 opinions on what the heresy or problem was that caused Paul to write to the Colossians.  Though there is much to be commended about them, including their faith, hope and love.  There is a problem or concern that Paul had.  It seems that someone is trying to add to the gospel with some type of philosophy or tradition, whether it is a Hellenistic group of Jews or gnostic group or something else.  It is possible that

The Armor of God

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    Upon coming home from Liberty Univerity last week, I decided that I would commit myself to studying and reading the word more.  I picked a study about the armor of God to study for this last week based on passage in Ephesians 6:10-17.  The focus is on the fact that since as a believer, we are in a spiritual battle then the believer should do what Paul said and put on the armor of God.  The armor of God consists of the belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet and sword.  Paul's words to us are emphasized that we should "stand".  The implication is that we can only stand up and fight when we are wearing the armor.    One thing that I noticed about this is that it is a conscious choice for us each day to put on this armor or not.  We can try to work and live each day under our own strength, wisdom and direction or we can rely on the Lord.  We have to go back to God each day for our strength and guidance.  Trust is as much about our nurturing our relationship with God

Spiritual High

   "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."  Eph 6:12     This week for me has been a wonderful experience of going to Liberty University and being a part of a small group of believers.  During the class, we had an experience where we could share with each other and pray with each other and encourage each other.  I drove away from the experience feeling renewed and encouraged.  It was mentioned before we left that Satan likes to kick us back down when we are on a spiritual high.  He doesn't want us to stay there and will try to attack us where we are vulnerable.  So, it is important to put on the full armor of God.      The armor of God is mentioned in Ephesians 6.  The first item that scripture tells us is a part of that is the "belt of truth". (Ephesians 4:16).  This carries with it the idea o

Facing Your Biggest Fears

     When I was a chaplain at WakeMed in Raleigh, one of my biggest fears is that the Trauma calls would come one right after another and that I wouldn't be able to respond to all of them.  Or that I would not know how to respond to them or that I would experience a infant death on my unit and not know what to say.  In the course of the year and four months that I was a chaplain in that setting, I experienced all of those problems.  I wanted to say a little about what I learned from that.       After five trauma calls in 90 minutes, I realized that not only did I survive that nightmare, but I actually did much better than I thought.  I had thought that people would analyze and be critical of what i had to say, which really wasn't that much to begin with.  What I found out was that presence matters more than what you say.  I can remember sitting outside of ICU with a family of about 30 people who were awaiting word on a loved one.  I asked if I could pray with the family and