As I listen to missionaries describe dramatic conversions with changed families, I wonder if American church goers are asleep. For me I’ve gone to church and tried to do what is best for my family, but did I miss the point of kingdom living? Like the author of today’s study highlighted, the crowd looked for the drama and rushed to see what Jesus would o. The disciples couldn’t, and maybe the crowd had skeptics and critics like today’s doom scrollers. But Jesus kept His cool and demonstrated the inversion of what we think is normal.
“John 14:12
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
“How do we do even greater things? It starts with prayer! Prayer is the difference between the best we can do and the best God can do. And that’s an awfully big difference—a ninety-three billion light-year difference! Prayer is escape velocity. It’s how we get outside our spacetime limitations. Prayer is the way we write history before it happens. It’s like our prayers exit the dimension we call time, and we never know when or where or how God will answer.” - Excerpt, A Million Little Miracles by Mark Batterson
“The obstacle to experiencing God anywhere in life is shame. Shame (feeling unworthy, not good enough) needs to be confessed. You know why? Shame is a false identity. Everything from “I look at pornography,” “I eat too much,” “I drink too much,” “I don’t do this,” “I need to do that,” and so on makes me feel one of three things: fear, guilt, or shame. Fear, guilt, and shame are false identities. It won’t matter how many accountability groups you go to, podcasts you listen to, or books you read. If you live in fear, you are still going to try to control things in order to cope with your anxiety. Your identity is fear.” - Jamie Winship, Living Fearless
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