Way[s] to grow in the knowledge of God your Father even if your father sinned against you: 1. Identify and take responsibility for the specific lies, false beliefs, desires, expectations, and fears that poison your relationship with God. 2. Find and apply specific truths in the Bible that contend with those lies and cravings. 3. Turn to God for mercy and help, so that the Spirit of truth would renew you, pouring out His love freely. 4. Take responsibility for the specific sins you express toward your father (i.e. bitterness, willfulness, avoidance, blame-shifting, brooding, fears, people-pleasing, slander, lying, self-pity, etc.). 5. Turn to God for mercy and help, that the Spirit of love would enable you to bear his fruit thankfully. 6. Identify the specific sins committed against you… Identifying the wrongs helps you know what to forgive. It also makes it clear what God calls you to tackle constructively. 7. Ponder the good things your father did for you. 8. The Father gives the power to return good for evil rather than evil for evil… Come up with a plan for specific changes (i.e. forgiving, giving love, seeking forgiveness, forbearing, confronting constructively, refocusing your attention, pouring your energies into God’s calling, etc.). 9. Find wise believers to pray for you, hold you accountable.
David Powlison

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Never Unloved

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#1 · April 13, 2014, 6:42 pm

Posted by: bneumann848 <bneumann848@...>

Never Unloved

April 13, 2014

 

The Lord appeared from of old to me
[Israel], saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore
with loving-kindness have I drawn you and continued My faithfulness to
you. (Jeremiah 31:3 AMP)

 

Do you realize there’s never, ever been a moment in your
life when you were unloved? Not a single second.

 

“They found grace out in the desert, these
people who survived the killing. Israel, out looking for a place to rest, met
God out looking for them!” God told them,
“I’ve never quit loving you and never will.” (The Message)

 

It’s amazing to consider, isn’t it? Every single moment from
the instant you were conceived until the present day, the intense love that sent
Jesus to the cross has rested on you. You may not have known it. You may not
have felt it. You may not have deserved it. In fact, I know you didn’t deserve
it because none of us do – or ever did. Yet His love remains.

 

As you celebrate Palm Sunday and look ahead to Easter,
please remember this: The cross wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was horrendously
graphic. But Jesus endured it. He suffered the beating and the scourging and
drug a very heavy cross down the Via Dolorosa and up Golgotha’s hill. He took the
thorns and the nails and the scorn. He chose to walk that road – because He
loves you with an everlasting love.

 

Via Dolorosa with movie clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6dwOX6N_Tk

 

Via Dolorosa with drama troupe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31urACOSS1o&list=RD31urACOSS1o

 

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