fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the. parts of the body. It corrupts the whole pe
The Ministry of a Wilderness Guide by Erin Green Solo Night: Set up with: • • • • • • •
Verse against fear letter to yourself from yourself letter to yourself from God letter to God letter to yourself a year from now picture of your relationship with Jesus write a psalm
The letters: great for Solo Night reading Galatians: Focuses on the Gospel. What is the Gospel? What does it mean for us and our lives? Ephesians: Focuses on unity in the church (Jews and Gentiles are called to be one body under Christ) 3:17, "rooted and established in love," my favorite and I think one of the most powerful prayers in the Bible (3:14-21) We are made alive in Christ Overall, Ephesians is a powerful letter from Paul that calls the Ephesians (and us) to function as one, love each other as one, and imitate Christ. Only 6 chapters, great for solo night and not too overwhelming or hard to understand. Would help to give a little back story on Paul and the Ephesian church and the Jews & Gentiles before sending kids out with this book. Philippians: Paul is imprisoned because of his faith, like he is throughout all of the letters, but it's clear that he is not bitter, but rather has faith that his poor circumstances will advance the Gospel, and despite his suffering, he knows 1
Jesus is better & it will all be worth it. He goes on to talk about what it looks like to imitate Christ's humility, and the importance of putting our confidence in Christ rather than ourselves. He concludes with a call to "press on towards the goal," and thanks God for his circumstances. I love every word in Philippians. I think it could be great for kids in hard circumstances, especially situations that they have no control of, or kids that feel entitled and prideful. But really, everyone has something to learn from the book of Philippians.
Colossians: • Talks about establishing roots: "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." 2:6 • Christ is supreme and we are reconciled through him- our sins are dead and we are alive in him • not living a legalistic life, but living with freedom in Christ (2:13-16) • taking off our old selves, dying to the world, setting our hearts on what is above- we are being renewed • talks about thankfulness over & over again (could be cool to have kids count or highlight each time) • I don't think you can go wrong with Colossians!
1 Timothy: Not good to do with campers. Verses 2:9-16 are very controversial regarding the position of women in the church. James: It's great but there is SO much. Seems like the topic switches every four sentences. It's full of incredible things, but should be focused on one piece at a time. Could be a lot to give to campers to take on all on their own during a solo night. • "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kids, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." 1:2-4 2
• "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." 1:19-20 • "Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgement!" 2:12-13 • 2:14-26- faith without deeds is dead • "When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." 3:3-6 (taming the tongue) Quiet Times: Philippians 1:12-30 Paul is 100% about Jesus. He is not just a Christian; he is so enraptured by Jesus that every thought, every action, every word is centered around & rooted in Christ. • What is your favorite thing that Paul said? • If you could pick one aspect of Paul's mind/heart in this situation and transfer it to your own, what would it be? • What would it look like for your life to be completely about Jesus? • Paul does not treat heaven like a distant fantasy, but an absolute reality. What would our lives look like if you believed in and desired heaven the way Paul does? Philippians 3:1-11 • Paul has everything. By Jewish standards, he was a saint. He had done everything right and was righteous in the eyes of the law. He had money and fame, a celebrity by today's standards. • He gave it all up for Jesus. Why? • If anyone had a reason to cling to his past way of life, it would have been Paul. What are you clinging to? Do you believe Jesus is better? Colossians 3:1-17
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Fruits of the Spirit Galatians 5:16-26 Could be good for kids who think they are following Jesus but there's no evidence of it in their lives. What stood out to you? What are the desires of the sinful nature? What are the fruits of the spirit? Which do you see more of in your life? Everyone share one specific desire of the sinful nature and one fruit of the spirit most apparent in their lives. Where do we go from here? The Worst of the Sinners 1 Timothy 1:15-17 Surely no one is "too far gone" to be saved Matthew 16: 13-16/Mark 8:27 What is Jesus asking? How do they respond? What do their responses mean? How do people in your life view Jesus? How do you view Jesus? How does Jesus view you? -orWho do your friends say Jesus is? Who does the world say Jesus is? What in your life demonstrates that? Draw a picture/poem Luke 8:5-15 What is the "soil" of your heart? John 11:17-44 Raising Lazarus What do you believe? What are you putting your faith in?
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Luke 15 (Parable of the Lost Son) What would you expect your father's response to be? Describe the sons and father. How did the father in the story respond? Which character do you relate with? Which son is "better"? John 4:1-29 Woman at the Well Describe the two people Jesus encounters What does Jesus offer? How do they respond? What does it look like in your life to follow Jesus?
Psalms I love: • Psalm 103: a beautiful song of the gospel • Psalm 107: testimonies/say-so • Psalm 63: "my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." • Psalm 66:16: life stories, "Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me." • Psalm 69: basis of Drew & Ellie's "Mercy"
Trail Talks: • Beaver dam: you can't see the beavers, but we see evidence of them. We can't always see God, but we know He is there because of evidence and we can trust in that. Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." • Continental divide: water on one side flows east, other side flows west. God has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west • Aspen trees: some trunks are small, some are large, but all of the leaves are the same size. Despite how old we are or how big we are or how long we have been Christians, we can bear fruit • Aspen trees: connected root system, fed by the earth, supported by each other. We survive when we are rooted in community, and are fed by Jesus.
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• Clean water vs dirty water: easy to find but not life giving vs. more effort but life giving • A really hard hike: I know that I'm going the right way, but it's so hard. If I know that I'm doing the right thing, traveling the right path, why is it so hard? Sometimes as believers, following the path that is set before us is hard, but it's still God's plan, and it is leading us where we need to be. Things can be really hard and really right at the same time. Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Mountain Verses: • "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." Psalm 42:1-2 (could work well for a hike without water, as well as Psalm 63) • "Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me." Psalm 42:7 • "Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell." Psalm 43:3 • All of Psalm 46- good for a struggling hike • "For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be all over the earth." Psalm 57:10-11 peak content, view of the sky, continental divide • "Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Psalm 61:1-2 "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I" • "my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." Psalm 63:1, waterless hike • "You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by our power, having armed yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of nations. Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy." Psalm 65:5-8, or the whole thing. Creation & God's power. David is in awe.
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Waterless Hike: • "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." Psalm 42:1-2 (could work well for a hike without water, as well as Psalm 63)
Pack Switch: • "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you ill fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2
Peak Content: • "Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you? Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up." Psalm 71:19-20 • Sin carry • Crucifixion • Celebration • As far as east is from the west • Creation (God said this was good, but you are very good) • Prodigal son: Luke 15:11-31 Verses on Guiding: • "For this God is our God forever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end." Psalm 48:4 • "For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life." Psalm 56:13 • "Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:23-26 • I Thessalonians 2 • "What we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done." Psalm 78:3-4
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• "Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." John 4:37-38 -we get to reap the benefits of what these leaders have sown for years • Philippians 2:5-11 we are not here to be served but to serve. We must humble ourselves
On Beauty, Insecurity, Boys, Heartbreak, and Being Loved with an Everlasting Love: • "Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father's house. The King is enthrall end by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord." Psalm 45:10-11 Dating: • "Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity." 1 Timothy 5:1-2 • "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body." 1 Corinthians 6:18 Living for Yourself: • "but man, despite his riches, does not endure." Psalm 49
Family/Broken Families & an Eternal Father: • "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing." Psalm 68:5-6 • "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." 1 Timothy 5:8 • "Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home." John 19:25-27 • "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." Isaiah 49:15-16 8
Broken Friendships: • Psalm 55:12-23 (applicable to a "backstabbing" friend, read through it first) Forgiveness: • "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as The Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14 The Good News & Accepting Jesus: • John 5:24 "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life." • John 6:40 "For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” • John 11:25-26 "Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” • Romans 1:16 "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." • Romans 3:24-25 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice..." • Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." • Romans 5:10 "For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" • Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." • Romans 8:15 "The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
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• 1 Corinthians 15:56-57 "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." • Psalm 103 • Ephesians 2:8 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" • 1 John 4:9-10 "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" • John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, • Philippians 2:8 "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death-- even death on a cross!" • Titus 3:4-7 " But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." • Isaiah 53:4-6 "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. Be he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." • Matthew 9:12-13 "On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” • Colossians 1:21-23 "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant." • 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the 10
message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." • Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." • Hebrews 11:1 "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." • Ephesians 1:3-10 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ." Life Stories: • Psalm 107 • Woman at the well: Jesus knows her story even before & as she's telling it. Jesus knows her. We are known by Jesus and not treated shamefully. • 1 Corinthians 12:12-31: we're all different parts of the body with different gifts and different places of fitting in. We all have valuable stories • 1 Thessalonians 2:8 • Paul, Silas and Timothy are talking about their visit to the Thessalonians. They did not come merely to share the gospel and leave, but they loved the Thessalonians and wanted to share their lives with them. As guides, we don't take kids on the trail merely to tell them the gospel and leave. We want to know them and love them deeply. We want the campers to know and love each other deeply. You cannot be fully loved until you are fully known. That's why we share life stories.
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Setting up Quiet Times: • John 6:15 "Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself." • Matthew 14:23 "After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone." • Lamentations 3:25-28 "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence for the Lord has laid it on him." • James 4:8 "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." • Psalm 62:1-2 "Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken." • Psalm 63:1 "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you in a dry and parched land where there is no water." • Psalm 46:10 "He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”"
Closure: "We all have moments when we feel better than ever before, and we say, “I feel fit for anything; if only I could always be like this!” We are not meant to be. Those moments are moments of insight which we have to live up to even when we do not feel like it. Many of us are no good for the everyday world when we are not on the mountaintop. Yet we must bring our everyday life up to the standard revealed to us on the mountaintop when we were there. Never allow a feeling that was awakened in you on the mountaintop to evaporate. Don’t place yourself on the shelf by thinking, “How great to be in such a wonderful state of mind!” Act immediately— do something, even if your only reason to act is that you would rather not. If, during a prayer meeting, God shows you something to do, don’t say, “I’ll do it”— just doit! Pick yourself up by the back of the neck and shake off your fleshly laziness. Laziness can always be seen in our cravings for a mountaintop experience; all we talk about is our planning for our time on the mountain. We must learn to live in the ordinary “gray” day according to what we saw on the mountain. 12
Don’t give up because you have been blocked and confused once— go after it again. Burn your bridges behind you, and stand committed to God by an act of your own will. Never change your decisions, but be sure to make your decisions in the light of what you saw and learned on the mountain." -Utmost
A Study of Peter & his Relationship with Jesus introduction to Peter ordinary guy, called into an extraordinary life by Jesus he met Jesus and his life was never the same Peter is relatable Jesus calls Peter, Luke 5:1-11 Why did Peter react the way that he did? Jesus came to look for Peter; Peter didn’t have to go looking for Jesus. Jesus finds him, comes into his world, and says “follow me.” What does this tell us about the character of Jesus? Jesus Walks on Water, Matthew 14:25-32 as long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he could walk on water Peter asked Jesus for a challenge and stepped out of his boat what would it mean for you to step out of your boat? Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand, John 6:1-15 Why did Jesus choose a little boy to feed the people? What does this tell us about the character of Jesus? Where is Peter in this story? Where would you be in this story? What do we have to give to Jesus? How can he multiply that? After witnessing this miracle, some declare Jesus is “the Prophet,” (v. 14) Who would you say that Jesus is after witnessing this miracle? Jesus Calms the Storm, Matt 8:23-27 “Who do you Say that I Am?” (Peter’s Confession of Christ) Mark 8:27-30 or Matthew 16:17-20 others declare Jesus is the Christ, John 7:25-41 Who does Peter say that Jesus is? What led him to believe that? Who do people in your life say that Jesus is? Who do you say that Jesus is? How does this affect our lives?
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Jesus Washes His Disciples Feet, John 13:1-17 Jesus’ Prediction of Peter’s Denial, John 13:31-38 or Mark 14:27-31 What does Peter say in response to Jesus’ prediction? Why do you think he is so emphatic with his claims to never deny Jesus? The Denial, Luke 22:54-62 Why do you think Peter denied Jesus? What do you notice about Peter’s denials? (they get progressively more intense) How would you have felt if you were Peter in this situation after you heard the rooster crow? Matthew 16:17-20 What does Jesus say about Peter’s position in the future? John 21:1-19 How many times does Jesus ask Peter the same question? Why do you think he asks three times? Jesus not only forgives Peter for his denials, but reinstates him as the leader of his people. How do you think this made Peter feel? After Peter denies Jesus, Jesus comes back and the first thing he does is make Peter breakfast. What does this tell us about the character of Jesus? What do we learn about his grace?
Acts 4:5-12, 18-20 What is different about Peter’s response here vs. his denials in Luke 22? How does Peter change after receiving forgiveness from Jesus? After seeing how Jesus forgives Peter & gives him purpose, how can we apply this to our lives? What would it look like for Jesus to change your life the same way he did Peter’s?
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"I Made Her Because I Love Her"
I made her...she is different. She is unique. With love I formed her in her mother's womb. I fashioned her with great joy. I remember with great pleasure the day I created her. I love her smile. I love her ways. I love to hear her laugh And the silly things she says and does. She brings me great pleasure. This is how I made her. I made her pretty and not beautiful. I wanted her to search out her heart and learn that it would be ME in her that would make her beautiful... And it would be Me that would draw others to her. I made her in such a way that she would need me. I made her a little more lonesome than she would like to be... Only because I need for her to learn and depend on Me. I know her heart. I know that if I had not made her like this, She would go her own chosen way And forget Me...her Creator. Because I love her, I have seen her broken heart... and the tears she cried alone. I have cried with her and had a broken heart too. Many times she has stumbled and fallen alone... Only because she would not hold my hand. So many lessons she's learned the hard way because she would not listen to My voice. So many times I have sat back and sadly watched her go her merry way alone... Only to watch her return to my arms, sad and broken. And now she is Mine again. 15
I made her, and I bought her... Because I love her. I have to reshape and remold her To renew her to what I planned for her to be It has not been easy for her or for Me. I want her to be conformed to My image. This high goal I have set for her... Because I love her.
WHO I AM IN CHRIST I am more than a conqueror – Romans 8:37 I am the head and not the tail – Deuteronomy 28:13 I am created in His image – Genesis 1:27 I was made just a little lower than God – Psalm 8:5 (NAS, NLT) I am a spring of living water – John 7:38 I am an agent of change for good – Matthew 5:13-14 I am my beloveds (and He is mine) – Song of Solomon 2:16 I am fearfully and wonderfully made – Psalm 139:13-14 I am known by God – Galatians 4:9 I am accepted – Ephesians 1:6 I am God's child – Romans 8:16 I am a friend of Jesus Christ – John 15:15 I am His lover – Song of Solomon 1:15 I have been justified – Romans 3:23-24 I am united with the Lord, I am one with Him and have been bought with an incredible price and I belong to God – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 I am a member of Christ's body – Ephesians 1:22, 23 I was hand-picked by God and adopted as His child – Romans 8:15 I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins – Colossians 1:14 I am complete in Christ – Colossians 2:10 I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ – Hebrews 4:16 I am free from condemnation – Romans 8:1 I am assured that God works for my good – Romans 8:28 16
I cannot be separated from the love of God – Romans 8:39 I have been established, anointed and sealed by God – Colossians 3:3 I am hidden with Christ in God – Colossians 3:3 I am confident that God will complete the good work He started in me – Philippians 1:6 I am a citizen of Heaven – Philippians 3:20 I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind – 2 Timothy 1:7 I am born of God – 1 John 5:4 I am a branch of Jesus Christ, the true vine—a channel of His life – John 15:1 I am God's temple – 1 Corinthians 6:19 I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm – Ephesians 2:6 I am God's workmanship – Ephesians 2:10 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me – Philippians 4:13 I have the mind of Christ – 1 Corinthians 2:16 I have access to the power that turned dead flesh into a resurrected, living, glorified, incorruptible body – Ephesians 1:19-20 I am His great delight – Psalm 18:19 I am a partaker of His divine nature – 2 Peter 1:4 I am set apart for Him – Psalm 4:3 I am not under law but under grace – Romans 6:14 I am God’s fellow-worker – 1 Corinthians 3:9 I am God’s field – 1 Corinthians 3:9 I am God’s building – 1 Corinthians 3:9 I am competent to judge – 1 Corinthians 6:2 I am a letter from Christ written by the Spirit of the Living God – 2 Corinthians 3:3 I am Abraham’s seed—the fulfillment of God’s promise – Galatians 3:29 I am blessed – Galatians 3:9; Ephesians 1:3 I am free – John 8:36 I am His pleasure – Revelations 4:11 I am commissioned by God – Mark 16:15-18 I am captivating, beautiful – Psalm 45:11 I am royalty – 1 Peter 2:9; Revelations 5:10
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Life stories: The Great Change- Conversion. By Charles Spurgeon I have heard men tell the story of their conversion, and of their spiritual life, in such a way that my heart hath loathed them and their story, too, for they have told of their sins as if they did boast in the greatness of their crime, and they have mentioned the love of God, not with a tear of gratitude, not with the simple thanksgiving of the really humble heart, but as if they as much exalted themselves as they exalted God. Oh! when we tell the story of our own conversion, I would have it done with great sorrow, remembering what we used to be, and with great joy and gratitude, remembering how little we deserve these things. I was once preaching upon conversion and salvation, and I felt within myself, as preachers often do, that it was but dry work to tell this story, and a dull, dull tale it was to me; but, on a sudden, the thought crossed my mind, "Why, you are a poor, lost, ruined sinner yourself; tell it, tell it as you received it; begin to tell of the grace of God as you trust you feel it yourself." Why, then, my eyes began to be fountains of tears; those hearers who had nodded their heads began to brighten up, and they listened, because they were hearing something which the speaker himself felt, and which they recognized as being true to him if it was not true to them. Can you not remember, dearly-beloved, that day of days, that best and brightest of hours, when first you saw the Lord, lost your burden, received the roll of promise, rejoiced in full salvation, and went on your way in peace? My soul can never forget that day. Dying, all but dead, diseased, pained, chained, scourged, bound in fetters of iron, in darkness and the shadow of death, Jesus appeared unto me. My eyes looked to Him; the disease was healed, the pains removed, chains were snapped, prison doors were opened, darkness gave place to light. What delight filled my soul!—what mirth, what ecstasy, what sound of music and dancing, what soarings towards Heaven, what heights and depths of ineffable delight! Scarcely ever since then have I known joys which surpassed the rapture of that first hour.—C. H. S.
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