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When the Fruit Fails

Have you found that God seems to begin some good work in you only to have it seem to evaporate, to disappear, as if it had never been there at all? He may have begun some emotional healing, restoring some relationship, or bringing some fresh awareness or understanding in your life. Then, some time later you discover that what you thought was being born in you seems to have been illusory. To use the metaphor of grapes growing on a vine, we see the small, round new grapes appear on the vine, but then, as time goes on, instead of maturing to ripeness, the grapes have withered and died. Here is look at what may have happened.

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The Root of our Problem

Pride takes many forms. There's vanity, the love of self.  There's a sense of entitlement, impatience, arrogance, hubris, desiring relevance or appreciation, incessant dissatisfaction, complaining, demanding.  Pride is a stern master. But God has given us an escape from pride. Listen to learn how you can be freed from pride and free to become your best self.

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Spinning Our Straw Into Gold

Recently I was reminded of how the Lord can take the straw of our very imperfect efforts and spin it into kingdom gold. A child we had sponsored years ago reached out and contacted me through social media. Her story reminds me of how God takes our most ineffective actions, whether we are seeking to do kingdom work or just to know him better and hear his voice, and spins our straw into gold.

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You Have to Start at the Cross

If we want to know God, good theology is important; personal experience can be sweet; but they cannot be our starting place.  We cannot start with those and work our way up to the cross, the stumbling block and folly.  We must start with the cross, the God's love for us perfectly reflected in Jesus on the cross.