by Crystal | Jun 30, 2014 | A Pastor's Heart
Self-Control June 30, 2014 Whatif you’re not strong enough to pursue self-control?Wehave contradictory ideas about self-control. We admire self-disciplinedOlympic athletes; we yearn for more self-control so we can lose weight. But we also have strong, if ill-defined...
by Crystal | Jun 23, 2014 | A Pastor's Heart
Chasing Patience June 23, 2014 We’veheard the joke, “I want patience Lord, and I want it right now.” Thatmakes it sound like a quality we can’t get. We’ve probably also heard,“Don’t pray for patience, or God will give you trials.” That makes itsound like a good...
by Crystal | Jun 15, 2014 | A Pastor's Heart
How Do We Grow? June 15, 2014 We can answer this question in ways that are true, butnot as helpful as they could be. For instance, if we just say “pray”,we’re leaving out a lot. Let’s consider these ways to grow:Prayer: If we focus on prayer instead ofpraying to...
by Crystal | Jun 9, 2014 | A Pastor's Heart
Going Wrong or Growing Right June 9, 2014 Afriend raised a good question about seeing the fruit of the Spirit increasingin our lives, “Yes, but how do you do it?” Itfeels as if our own efforts would produce proud legalism but that just waitingon God would produce...
by Crystal | Jun 2, 2014 | A Pastor's Heart
Strong Points & Weak Points June 2, 2014 We don’t like to fail, but failing in our strong pointsblindsides us. It’s not what weexpect. We expect failure in our weakpoints. But is this true? Do we really fail in our strong points? Consider Saul,...