Fuller

young girl blowing dandelions

Lifting Up Those Who are Bowed Down

For those who are powerless Psalm 146 offers a compelling word of hope. If you are oppressed, hungry, and otherwise weighed down, God is on your side. God is your helper. For those who been entrusted with some measure of power, Psalm 146 offers an implicit word of exhortation.

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woman holding bundle of tulips

Take Stock of Your Life, Part 2

Ephesians 4:32 says “Be kind.” Are you? Kindness involves doing good things for others, especially in situations when others are unworthy or unable to reciprocate. If you do good because you owe someone or because you might get something in return, that’s not really kindness. God’s kindness, for example, can be seen in the fact that he is good “to the ungrateful and wicked” (Luke 6:35). Earlier in Ephesians, we saw that God’s kindness is an expression of his incomparably rich grace (Ephesians 2:7). You think of kindness as a tangible expression of grace.

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black and white of froth of waves

Take Stock of Your Life, Part 1

There are times when we need to take stock of our lives. Perhaps we’re facing a job transition, or a challenging relationship. Perhaps we’ve done something that has brought negative consequences. Perhaps we’ve attended a memorial service and begun thinking about the measure of our own lives. In these and so many other contexts, we stop to reflect on our lives, to pay attention to how we’re living.

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person leaping for joy in desert

Let Your Words Be Pleasing to God

There are many different ways to use words to give pleasure to God. To be sure, our words of worship, whether spoken, prayed, or sung, can please the Lord. But, Ephesians 4:29-30 reminds us that our words can please God not only when they are directed to God in worship but also when they build up others, meet the needs of others, and benefit those who hear them.

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One day flower in bloom

God Delights in You!

In last Thursday’s devotion, I began to wonder about something suggested by the notion of grieving the Spirit: Can we also give God joy? I think this question deserves a clear biblical answer. So, the rest of this reflection will be unusual: not an exposition of this verse from Ephesians, but rather a collection of biblical texts that help us answer the question of whether or not we can give joy to God.

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A collection of used paintbrushes

What’s Your Function? A&E

What you do matters to the Kingdom, and ultimately it matters to God. Your task is to tell whatever narrative(s) God has given you.

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Plate with the Battle of David and Goliath

Leadership Prayers: Psalm 138

In the context of a congregation, the psalmist acknowledges that leadership is a vocation lived in all aspects of life: in the court of public opinion, among colleagues and competitors, and particularly in the presence of deadly adversaries, a life of faithful leadership plays out. Faith for the psalmist is neither tangential nor compartmentalized. It is central and integral to leadership, even a matter of life or death.

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bird flying overhead beach

Call on God in Truth!

The more we allow the written Word of God to permeate our minds and hearts, the more we will be able to pray in light of God’s true nature and true will. When we pray in this way, not only will we find that our prayers are answered positively, but we will also sense the presence of God in our lives. He will be “close” to us as we meditate upon his truth, growing into a deeper relationship with him.

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woman sitting with crossed arms and legs in shadow

Can You Give Delight to God?

But before we leave Ephesians 4:30 I want to ask a question that isn’t addressed directly in the verse but is something about which we might wonder. If our speech can grieve the Holy Spirit, is it also possible for what we say to give joy to God? If our hurtful words can sadden God’s Spirit, can our edifying words give delight to the Lord?

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Why Do Your Words Matters So Much to the Holy Spirit? Another Answer

Thus, if we say and do things that injure the body of Christ, the Spirit is grieved, not only because what we’re doing is sinful, but also because it opposes a central work of the Spirit. If we use language that hurts a brother or sister in Christ, we’re failing to seek the unity of the Spirit and are contributing to disunity. Therefore God’s Spirit grieves.

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dark treetops on snowy mountain

Why Do Your Words Matters So Much to the Holy Spirit?

The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is a sign, a guarantee of the full redemption that is coming. Then God will make all things fully right—including us. In that day, our relationships will be completely what God intends them to be. All of our words will build up, offer grace, celebrate beauty, and be expressions of love. So when we act and speak in ways contrary to our future redemption we grieve the Spirit who is the guarantee of that redemption.

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Fuerteventura plant in sand

The Surprising Additional Power of Your Words

The next verse in Ephesians, 4:30, reveals something quite astounding. It shows us that our words have additional power, perhaps more power than we would have imagined. Let’s look carefully at verse 29 and 30.

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A green field at dawn

Why Do You Stand There Looking Into the Sky?

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?” (Acts 1:10-11)

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A woman offering a basket of plums

It’s Not Mine.

We’ve all made that same mistake at some point in our lives. I know I have. I’ve forgotten that every good and perfect gift is from God. My work, my friendships, my community, my church, my future, my home, my health, and all the rest. All of it is God’s.

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old woman smiling

God is My Rock

Psalm 144 begins with a call to praise the Lord, who is identified as “my rock.” What does it mean to call God a rock? In what sense is the living Lord like an inanimate object? How could God be a rock?

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