2012 - Page 4 of 23 - Flowing Faith

Forgiveness Means Freedom

October 22, 2012 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 8 comments

Forgiveness means freedom. For real. First of all, God forgives us for Christ’s sake. When we receive God’s liberating grace, we are truly free. Nothing quite like it. Suddenly there’s air in your lungs, you can breathe! Everything looks brighter and more beautiful. Life gets the meaning and there’s a new spring in your step. Priceless. But that’s not the end! We are also called to practice forgiveness. When we have experienced life-giving forgiveness ourselves, we are asked to do…

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Weekend Prayer Wall {Oct. 20-21}

October 20, 2012 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 6 comments

No one can believe how powerful prayer is and what it can effect, except those who have learned it by experience. Whenever I have prayed earnestly, I have been heard and have obtained more than I prayed for. God sometimes delays, but He always comes.~ Martin Luther

The Battle Within Christians

October 19, 2012 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 6 comments

What does help you to stay strong and steady on your Christian walk? Are you aware of the enemy’s sneaky ways to steal your joy and peace? How do you deal with joy-stealers, doubt-raisers and hope-snatchers? I’ve found that I need to turn to God as soon as I wake up in the morning. Like John Piper says in his recent sermon “every morning there is a war in the Piper household”. Well said. I think there is a battle…

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Why Do We Not Quit Believing

October 17, 2012 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 12 comments

Isn’t it utterly amazing that in the midst of truly hard circumstances people still praise the Lord? How on earth do they do that? Why doesn’t everyone just quit believing in God when things get rough?

The Everything Life

October 16, 2012 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 8 comments

How can Jesus be our everything? That’s the key question in Mary DeMuth‘s book Everything. Mary’s answer is simple yet life-changing: “Jesus is the pathway to the Everything life. That’s why an Everything life has more to do with surrender than personal triumph.” We can’t achieve the everything life. It’s all grace. We only need Jesus for abundant life. And Jesus is God’s gracious gift to us. God gave his only son to die for our sins that we could…

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Called to Fulfilling Lives

October 15, 2012 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 9 comments

“What is it that you want? Do you want an easy life? Or do you want what’s best for you? Do you want to fit in with the crowd? Or do you want to abide in Me?” Can you hear God challenging us this morning? “So, Jeremiah [insert your own name here], if you’re worn out in this footrace with men, what makes you think you can race against horses? And if you can’t keep your wits during times of…

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Weekend Prayer Wall {Oct. 13-14}

October 13, 2012 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 4 comments

If you don’t pray often, you won’t gain a love for praying. Prayer is work, and therefore it is not very appealing to our natural sensibilities. But the simple rule for prayer is this: Begin praying and your taste for prayer will increase. The more you pray, the more you will acquire the desire for prayer, the energy for prayer, and the sense of purpose in prayer.~ Leslie Ludy The goal of prayer is to live all of my life…

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Surprising Spiritual Disciplines

October 12, 2012 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 2 comments

Spiritual disciplines are nothing more than ways to connect with God in such ways that increase spiritual growth. They are ways that help us to get to know God deeper and deeper. They are ways that get us refocused on God. They are also ways that prepare us for service and mission. The deeper we abide in Christ, the more God can use us in his service. That’s why Christians have used spiritual disciplines from the beginning. Just like Jesus….

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Seeing God

October 10, 2012 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 32 comments

What is true Christian living? What is true worship? Martin Luther once said “true worship is the tenth leper turning back”. His remarks were based on Luke 17:11-19 (MSG): It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Taking a good look at…

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Don’t Waste Your Life!

October 8, 2012 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 6 comments

I once posted this Eugene H. Peterson quote on the Flowing Faith Facebook page and have not been able to forget it ever since: “What a waste it would be to take these short, precious, eternity-charged years that we are given and squander them in cocktail chatter when we can be, like Jeremiah, vehemently human and passionate with God.” I think all human beings are afraid of wasting their lives. We crave for meaning and purpose in our lives. It’d…

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