Kinds of Victory
In the 1997 film Life is Beautiful, we are introduced to Jewish father Guido Orefice and his son Giosue. They have been separated from Dora, Guido’s wife and Giosue’s mother,…
Foothold
Every time evil doesn’t get a foothold in our lives, we win. Sometimes bad things happen to us, and we are hurt or betrayed or savaged by life. But there…
Levels of Biblical Interpretation
Found this while trolling today, a simple summary of an ancient concept. THE RULES OF PARDES INTRODUCTION The modern manner of interpreting Biblical text is commonly called exegesis….
Sympathizer
Because God sympathizes with us and wants us to experience his power and dignity and image alive and at work in us, he becomes one of us and shows us…
Scapegoat
Have you ever heard of a scapegoat? In philosophy, a scapegoat is someone everyone else decides to blame for all their troubles. If you imagine a pre-industrialized village where all…
Mnemonic Victory
Mnemonic devices are little strings of words we use to help us remember big concepts. I often find them very helpful in wading through the vast stores of scriptural knowledge…
Victory Isn’t Getting What You Want
Victory isn’t about getting what you want. It’s about getting what God wants in you and loving it. It’s his victory, not yours. He died on the cross to spare…
The Instrument of Your Defeat is the Occasion of Your Victory
None of the dark powers understood why Christ came into the world. If they had, they wouldn’t have pinned him to the cross (see 1 Corinthians 2.8). Maybe these dark…
Prayer
God wants to establish his lordship over the cosmos through us. He wants his bride to reign with him (2 Timothy 2.12; Revelation 5.10, 20.6). This was the plan from…
You Have To Care
Despair is the enemy of victory. In war, if two equal and opposing sides cannot be differentiated by anything other than morale, the sad side loses. Period. It’s the same…
Planting Pitons
Two spiritual clichés come closest to the point, but miss it still. The first, “we are all on a spiritual journey,” correctly indicates that the spiritual life is gradual, ever-progressing,…
Not Total Victory
I believe Christ is working through us to heal the world. God is working to accomplish his kingdom purposes through us, to slowly colonize Earth with the spirit of heaven….