Category: Christian Spirituality
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I Remember Christmas
Note: Refiner’s Fire will return in January 2020. In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy this reflection from my book Now for the Not-Yet: And Other Essays on Everyday Discipleship When I was small we lived in a northern part of Ontario, in Canada, and up there the snow falls early and thick on cold, clear nights…
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WDJD?: How Jesus Walked His Talk, and Why What He DID Matters
Note: Refiner’s Fire will return in January 2020. In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy this reflection from my book Still Praying in the Wilderness and Other Essays for the Spiritually Thirsty. My old journals line my top shelf, crammed in next to each other, a mishmash of colours and styles. Hardbound books, cheap scratch pads, date…
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The Other Christian Faith: On Trust, Works, and Putting Our Faith Where It Counts
Note: Refiner’s Fire is set to return in January 2020. In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy this reflection from my book Still Praying in the Wilderness and Other Essays for the Spiritually Thirsty. When I first fell in love with God, I thought the initial starry glow would never wear off. I cared so much about…
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Weak: Reflections on the Spirit and the Flesh
Note: Refiner’s Fire truly will be back soon! In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy this deeply honest reflection from my book Still Praying in the Wilderness and Other Essays for the Spiritually Thirsty. # I’m so tired. It’s two o’clock in the morning. I’m staring bleary-eyed at my computer, praying that this huge file will finish…
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Fear and Trembling: Reflections on Reality
Note: Refiner’s Fire truly will be back soon! Life and research have conspired to create a pause, but it should not last much longer. In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy this reflection on what really matters, taken from my book Still Praying in the Wilderness and Other Essays for the Spiritually Thirsty. Life can be worrisome…
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The God Backstage: On the Presence of God in the Mundane
Note: Refiner’s Fire will be back soon. I’m still wrapping up a particularly tricky bit in the middle, but it will be posted here soon. In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy this essay on God in the mundane and the high moments of our lives. (This essay is taken from my book Still Praying in the Wilderness…
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I Surrender All: Reflections on Surrender to Jesus
Note: Refiner’s Fire will be back soon. I’m currently hunkered down researching some of the history pieces for it; the next section will be posted here soon. In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy this reflection on surrender to God, especially in times when we don’t understand. All to Jesus, I surrender All to him I…
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Who Is Jesus to You? (Guest Post)
WHO IS JESUS TO YOU? by Mercy Hope Excerpt from Sacred Space: Cultivating Your Personal Eden in a Fallen World Thirteen years ago, I was at a conference where Judy Jacobs was ministering. I have a special place in my heart for that woman of God! Through a prophetic word and personal prayer, she imparted something…
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Radical Identification and the Kingdom of God: Finding God in One Other
The one who welcomes you welcomes Me, and the one who welcomes Me welcomes Him who sent Me. (Matthew 10:40) Up until this point in Matthew 10, we’ve seen Jesus call over and over for radical identification with himself and his mission. But the tables are turned here — this is where Jesus promises to…
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Losing to Find: How Surrender to Jesus Helps Us Discover Ourselves
Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it. (Matthew 10:39) Like Jesus’s prior statement that he is to be loved above anyone or anything else, including our own lives, this is not the statement of an ordinary human being or teacher. It’s an extraordinary claim.…