All posts in " transformation "
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Joyful confidence in God

By Dave Henning / March 20, 2015

As John Ortberg concludes Chapter 16 of Soul Keeping, he notes that Walter Brueggeman speaks of “psalms of disorientation.”  The are psalms in which the soul is disoriented, God appears to be absent, and darkness is winning.  The psalmist vents and boils over at God rather than demonstrating a polite piety- an honest faith. John […]

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Soul- survival

By Dave Henning / March 12, 2015

John Ortberg concludes Chapter 12 of Soul Keeping by considering the second and third levels where the soul gets trapped. 2.  Sinfulness. The next ring on the target, sinfulness, has to do with our orientation.  Pastor Ortberg defines the difference between sinful acts and sinfulness: “Sin is a deeply entrenched pattern way below the surface- insidious- […]

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Overwhelming Positive Passion

By Dave Henning / February 15, 2015

“We are all governed by an Overwhelming Positive Passion.”- Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods John Ortberg begins Chapter 6 (“It’s the Nature of the Soul to Need”) of Soul Keeping by stating that the soul is vulnerable because it is needy.  If we try to meet that need with anything other than God, life will be […]

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The Shallow Soul

By Dave Henning / February 10, 2015

“Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil.  And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.”- Mark 4:5-6 “Superficiality is the curse of our age.”- Richard Foster, Celebration of […]

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Lessons from an amaryllis

By Dave Henning / February 2, 2015

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”- 2 Thessalonians 3:18 “The fatal metaphor of progress, which means leaving things behind us, has utterly obscured the real idea of growth, which means leaving things inside us.”- G. K. Chesterton My wife Vicki’s favorite flower is the amaryllis.  It is […]

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Reaching toward praise

By Dave Henning / January 20, 2015

Timothy Keller concludes Chapter 12 of Prayer by noting that the last Psalms of the Psalter are all praise.  In his book Answering God, Eugene Peterson states that just as the Psalter ends in unbroken praise, all prayer is framed by praise.  In the end, all prayer should and will end in praise: “[This means] […]

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Beholding Christ’s glory

By Dave Henning / January 16, 2015

“My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face.’  Your face, Lord, will I seek.”- Psalm 27:8 In Chapter 11 of Prayer, Timothy Keller writes that when we speak to someone, we address the person to his or her face.  Thus, to seek God’s face is “to have our hearts enabled by the Holy Spirit to […]

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The deadly peril of familiarity

By Dave Henning / December 30, 2014

In Chapter 8 of Prayer, Timothy Keller embarks on a detailed discussion of the Lord’s Prayer.  That discussion covers the address, the seven petitions, and the ascription.  The address and first petition are presented today. Pastor Keller prefaces his discussion with the assertion that the Lord’s Prayer is an untapped resource, partially because it is […]

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The fear of God

By Dave Henning / December 25, 2014

“If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.”- Psalm 130:3-4 In Chapter 7 (“Rules for Prayer”) of Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God, Timothy Keller discusses four rules of prayer in John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion.  […]

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Knowing God

By Dave Henning / December 10, 2014

“For through him (Christ) we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”- Ephesians 2:18 As Timothy Keller concludes Chapter 3 of Prayer, he emphasizes that prayer can be much more than superficial conversation (where there isn’t much self-disclosure) with God.  Some conversations go deep.  That happens when we reveal not just information but our very […]

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Mystical versus prophetic prayer

By Dave Henning / December 8, 2014

“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”- Colossians 1:27 In Chapter 3 (“What is Prayer?”) of Prayer, Timothy Keller presents his concept of prayer by drawing on two seemingly opposing views on prayer- mystical versus prophetic […]

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The centrality of prayer

By Dave Henning / December 4, 2014

In Chapter 2 of Prayer Timothy Keller focuses on the hardness (difficulty) and the centrality of prayer.  He cites The Still Hour, a classic book on prayer by nineteenth-century American theologian Austin Phelps.  Phelps began with the premise that “a consciousness of the absence of God is one of the standing incidents of religious life.” Pastor […]

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