“When Pope Julius I authorized December 25 to be celebrated as the birthday of Jesus in A.D. 353, who would have ever thought that it would become what it is today. When Professor Charles Follen lit candles on the first Christmas tree in America in 1832, who would have ever thought that the decorations would …
Don’t you love a good adventure story? You know, the stories that keep you up reading long after you should be in bed. The stories made into movies that you watch repeatedly because they are that good. Most of us are drawn toward and into the good yarns, the good stories that capture the heart …
Image via author, unnamed lake, Wallowa Mountains, Oregon The book, "The Spiritual Guide" by Miguel de Molinos, has been a widely read and popular book since its original publication in 1675, and with a few short years it was translated into nearly every language on the European continent. Despite being banned by the Catholic Church …
Continue reading Notable and Quotable: “The Spiritual Guide”
Image via author, unnamed lake, Wallowa Mountains, Oregon The book, "A Guide to True Peace," was published in its current form in 1815 by two Quakers, William Backhouse and James Janson. Since that time, the book has been an enormous influence in the lives of untold numbers of true seekers of the deeper life. It …
Continue reading Notable and Quotable “A Guide to True Peace”
Image via author, Moose Lake, Boundary Waters, MN. True faith does not rely on “common sense.” Every time you venture out in your life of faith, you will encounter something that will seem foolish from a commonsense standpoint. But common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. In fact, they are as …
"Let the peace of Christ, to which you were indeed called in one body, rule in your hearts; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do …
Image via author, Ice Lake, Wallowa Mountains, Oregon In our last post on true faith, we learned that Paul says works without faith is dead. James says faith without works is dead, but faith that produces obedience is a justifying faith. How shall we measure the truth of our faith? We can do so against …
Image via author, White Cloud Peaks, Idaho The writer of Hebrews stated that "...without faith it is impossible to please God...." But how shall we understand the nature of true faith? Some argue that faith requires no action, that belief in the facts is sufficient to count as true faith. These will point to Romans …
Image via author, Emigrant Wilderness, Sierra Nevada In the previous post entitled, "I'm Hatin' Life Right Now," I posed this question: "What would bring people to “hate this life,” meaning to forsake all to be inhabited fully by His life?" And the answer is love. "When one gives oneself over to loving our God above …
Image via author, unnamed lake, Wallowa Mountains, Oregon Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910), an English non-conformist minister who was born in Scotland. “Love is the foundation of all obedience.” “You have nothing to do but to receive the things that are freely given to you of God—the forgiveness, the cleansing, the life, that come from Christ by …
Without Limit 