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GraceRenewal Today

1) Confession: I tend to walk slow, think slow (analytically), and talk slow (weighing every word). It is an inborn temperament trait and can be a setback when I talk (with sensitivity but not apology) for two hours (the length of a movie or ballgame) to fast-paced temperament types, especially in this age of flash sounds and visuals, also addictions, which tend to erode our ability to focus.

2) Grace Concepts are understood one thin layer at a time, one upon another, over an extended period of time. The ability to focus can be cultivated through self-discipline, but more powerfully, the Fruit of the Spirit

·       “Love” tweaks our values,   

·       “Longsuffering” slows us down, and

·       “Temperance” supports us for staying focused.

Don/GraceRenewal

GraceRenewal Today

1) We don't celebrate it, but we are willing to confess that, in this world, we are opposed by the adversity of aging, the fallenness of our human nature, and the flaming missiles of Satan. They are real. 

2) But so is our experience of the Heart of Christ to renew us day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16), especially to produce in us the 9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) - including meekness which supports us for being willing to admit to God, to ourself, and to anyone else that we are broken and in need of help. 

Don/GraceRenewal

GraceRenewal Today

1) I continue to welcome the opportunity to talk with you to provide some support. 

2) That support, of course, is mostly for learning how to read the Scripture in order to hear God 

• communicate to you that he unconditionally values you and to also 
• call you to open the door of your heart to experience him (which is the meaning of worship). 

3) Reading the Scripture at any time of day will have value.  

4) But because of our brokenness, and because Satan lies in wait to ambush / blindside us, we make a strategic error and put ourself at risk when we do not take quiet time in the morning to read the Scripture in order to be renewed by Christ.  

5) In our overconfidence and impulsiveness sometimes, we may tend to think we don't need God, and even if we humbly confess our need for him, we may still neglect to take the extended quiet time needed in order to be renewed by him. 

6) Reading the Bible in order to learn more about what it says has its benefits, but it is not the same as reading in order to hear and experience Christ. 

7) The more the Holy Spirit unfolds in our understanding the Message of Grace (in all of its meaning, as Paul wrote), the more we are supported for this "Growing in Grace" journey we are on. 

8) And the more we understand Truth, the more we will humbly confess how so very little of it we understand, and the more we will seek support to be increased in it - which means, the more we think we know, the more we may be in denial of how little we know. 

9) Praying without ceasing doesn't mean to continually be talking to God or pleading with him to help us, but means to remain quietly connected to him like the branch remains quietly connected to the Vine in order to receive from him, especially the flow of his Life into our heart. 

Don/GraceRenewal

GraceRenewal Today

Consider: 

1) If you are paying a counselor, you may be mostly a customer and the counselor mostly a charlatan. 

2) Our greatest need is to be renewed by the Resurrected Life of Christ each day. 

3) No one can support us for experiencing Christ who is not themself experiencing him. 

4) No one can support us for health and happiness who is not themself healthy and happy. 

5) Pastoral counseling provides support without charge, beginning with learning how to read the Scripture in order to experience Christ to a fuller measure each day. 

Don/GraceRenewal