Tag: truth
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The sword that divides
John 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” Psalm 119:104 “Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” In John 17 Jesus prays that His followers would be sanctified, i.e., set apart to God and separated from the world and all the sin that so characterizes it. This is the concept…
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A word fitly spoken
Proverbs 25:11 “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” Have you ever had someone say something to you that was just the right words that you needed for that moment in time? I’ve definitely had such things spoken to me, particularly words of encouragement when I was going…
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The way things really are
Proverbs 11:24 “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.” Have you ever noticed how many of the statements that are made in the Bible are 180 degrees removed from the way we normally and naturally think about things? One such example appears in the verse…
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What does it mean to “receive” God’s Word?
John 17:8 “For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them. . .” Mark 4:16-17 “And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.” What…
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The marks of a Christian
Proverbs 3:3 “Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.” The marks of a Christian can be summed up in two words: mercy and truth. Mercy, whose Hebrew equivalent is also translated as “kindness” and “loving-kindness” elsewhere in the Bible, is what results…
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Knowing ourselves
Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” Have you ever noticed how many people are on a quest to “know who they are?” So many people are searching to know themselves. …
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Who knows God?
John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Do you know God? Jesus said that to know God is to have eternal life. Conversely, according to Jesus, if you don’t know God, you don’t have eternal life. But what does it even mean to “know…
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The Amen
John 17:1 “Father, the hour has come.” What is prayer? A simple definition would be “talking to God.” But what does one talk about – to God? To hear most prayers, we would think that prayer is a matter of asking God for things – certain favors, or help of some kind – perhaps for…
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The truth
John 17:17 “Your word is truth.” “Tell me the truth!” How many times have you heard this said to you, or how many times have you said it to someone else? Parents often say this to their children, for they ultimately want to get to the bottom of whatever the situation may be. It’s difficult…
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The simple life
Deuteronomy 11:26-28 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am…
To Encourage You 