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A Prophecy and a Promise, Part 2

Your Lent may have gone many ways up until this point—you may have felt yourself drawing closer to God, or you may have felt the inadequacy of your own strength. Probably it is a little of both, and probably, either way, you may have come to understand what it means to lose your life and fall into the earth and die.

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A Prophecy and a Promise, Part 1

God may well call you to a time dwelling apart—or God may call you to a time dwelling in the very midst of the world. But God will never issue you a call that does not ask you to seek the welfare of all_ _people.

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Manage Your Hungers, Part 4

Galatians 5 shows us that the Spirit of God helps us when it comes to managing our hungers. On the one hand, the Spirit sets us free from “fleshly desires” that reflect the sin within us. On the other hand, the Spirit forms us and guides us so that our lives might be characterized by “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Inner work isn’t something we do by ourselves. Rather, the Spirit of God shares in this work with us, showing us where we need to grow and helping us to grow in these very ways.

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Manage Your Hungers, Part 3

The management of our sinful hungers is a matter, not mainly of trying _not_ to do certain things, but rather of focusing on _doing_ something positive and life-giving. We will be enabled to manage our fleshly desires when we live in an intimate, intentional, continual, and growing relationship with the Spirit of God. 

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Manage Your Hungers, Part 2

Psalm 139 doesn’t mention our hungers explicitly, but it does point to the role God plays when it comes to managing our hungers. God sees all of our desires: the good, the bad, and everything in between. God knows what’s on the surface and what lies deep within us. The same Spirit of God who sees everything about us will help us see ourselves more fully and truly. 

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Removing Dragon Skins

Although our outer selves (our visible actions and audible words) reflect the reality of our (invisible) inner lives, our inner selves are not transformed simply by focusing on superficial appearances. Transformation requires getting at the heart, which only God can do. Yet, though the transformational work can only be done by God, and not by our own willpower, we are called both to surrender to that work and to participate in it, which may prove painful as well as joyful. In the imagery of C.S. Lewis, it took the claws of Aslan to remove Eustace’s dragon skin.

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Removing Dragon Skins

Although our outer selves (our visible actions and audible words) reflect the reality of our (invisible) inner lives, our inner selves are not transformed simply by focusing on superficial appearances. Transformation requires getting at the heart, which only God can do. Yet, though the transformational work can only be done by God, and not by our own willpower, we are called both to surrender to that work and to participate in it, which may prove painful as well as joyful. In the imagery of C.S. Lewis, it took the claws of Aslan to remove Eustace’s dragon skin.

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Dragonish Hearts Grow Dragon Skins

Who we are on the inside will ultimately be revealed on the outside. As with Eustace in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia story _The Voyage of the Dawn Treader_, if our inner selves hide the heart of a dragon, we will eventually also have the skin of a dragon. To be transformed into the image of Christ, it is not enough to focus on our outer dragon skin; we need the inner work that will transform our inner selves.

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Manage Your Hungers, Part 1

It seems clear that one of the first steps toward managing our hungers is knowing them, and this requires intentional inner work. Physical hunger makes itself plainly and easily known. Emotional hungers, however, may be less obvious. They may be more layered and elusive. 

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Whom Are You Holding?

If we are going to be “holders” of others, then yes, we need to be available to them. But we also need to do the inner work that will motivate and set us free to “hold” them in their time of need. In particular, we can ask the Lord to release us from the grip of our fears so that we might care for others with genuine compassion. 

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Who’s Holding You? Part 3

As adaptive leaders who create safe “holding environments” for others, we need a place where we can be held. Trusted friends and colleagues can provide such a place. And so can God, who comforts us as a mother comforts her child (Isa 40:11). Jesus’s Parable of the Prodigal Son reminds us that God does not hold us only when we are tidied up. Rather, God’s arms of love embrace us, not because we are deserving, but because God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exod 34:6). Safe in God’s love, we are free to do the inner work of knowing our childlike hearts. 

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Persevering Encouragement

Gospel reminders between fellow co-laborers keep us focused.

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