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Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because he shows us both God and our own wretchedness.3 What do you see in your own heart?
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Edward T. Welch |
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When you have to manage the world, please everyone, earn more than you did last year, and work off five pounds, you will be driven. If not, you run the risk of being un-American or even un-Christian because our economy and churches rely on such people. Even when paralyzed by circumstances, a stressed person is a driven person.
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Edward T. Welch |
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Fear" in the biblical sense is a much broader word. It includes being afraid of someone, but it extends to holding someone in awe, being controlled or mastered by people, worshipping other people, putting your trust in people, or needing people."
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Edward T. Welch |
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God's self-revelation is a higher authority than our feelings.
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Edward T. Welch |
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Aren't most diets, even when they are ostensibly under the heading of "health," dedicated to impressing others? The desire for the "praise of men" is one of the ways we exalt people above God."
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Edward T. Welch |
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The love of God can be a profound answer to just about any human struggle, but sometimes we can use it in such a way that it becomes a watered down version of profoundly rich truth. For example, sometimes, because of shortcomings in us rather than Scripture, this answer misses the call to "consider others better than yourselves" (Phil. 2:3), or it ignores personal repentance. Sometimes it still allows us and our needs to be at the center of..
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Edward T. Welch |
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What is shame? You are shunned. Faces are turned away from you. They ignore you, as if you didn't exist. You are naked. Faces are turned toward you.
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Edward T. Welch |
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Side by side is most suitable for helping. We
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Edward T. Welch |
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To look to Christ to meet our perceived psychological needs is to Christianize our lusts. We are asking God to give us what we want, so we can feel better about ourselves, or so we can have more happiness, not holiness, in our lives.
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Edward T. Welch |
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God, open my ears. I don't clearly hear your care and compassion when you tell me not to worry or be afraid, but I know they are there. Father, open my eyes. I act like I see all reality. I act like I can see even more than you do. But I am seeing now that there is an entire world that is blurry to me, and that world is you. It is you I don't see well. I want to trust in what you say and see the things you have revealed. That leaves me no c..
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Edward T. Welch |
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Need theories can thrive only in a context where the emphasis is on the individual rather than the community and where consumption is a way of life.
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Edward T. Welch |
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Do you believe that it is impossible for the Holy God to love you and even delight in you? If so, you are believing Satan's lie that God loves you because of what you do. The truth is that he loves you because he is the God who loves, and the sacrifice of Jesus proves it. The cross of Christ expresses God's delight in all who believe, and if you believe that Jesus is the risen Lord, he delights in and loves you.
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Edward T. Welch |
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The perceived meaninglessness of work is often part of depression. It usually, however, is a sign of depression rather than a cause. Death.
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Edward T. Welch |
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Screwtape warns Wormwood] Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's [God's] will, looks around upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.4
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Edward T. Welch |
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We must hate the evil and ungodly assumptions of the world, we must hate our own sinful nature, and we must hate Satan. To accomplish these tasks demands the most powerful resources we have: the Word, the Spirit, and the body of Christ.
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Edward T. Welch |
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There is a resiliency in the human spirit that keeps us going even when we have no reason to continue.
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Edward T. Welch |
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Yes, genuine pain and loss coexisted with the deliverance, but it did not have the last word. Its power to hurt him was weakened because he could see the bigger things God was doing in, for, and through him. You can probably find similar events in your life. Hard things persisted, there was no apparent deliverance, but, with closer inspection, you notice a deliverance that went much deeper. And these are eleventh-hour deliverances on this s..
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Edward T. Welch |
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Control and certainty are myths.
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Edward T. Welch |
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Superstitions and eccentric habits are a Western substitute for actual idols.
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Edward T. Welch |
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No one cares about their reputation or their bank account when they find themselves in the shadow of death.
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Edward T. Welch |
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Hope will only grow in the ground of humility.
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Edward T. Welch |
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It is only fair to add that you should be undecided about spiritual causes too. By this I mean that you can't immediately say that there is one core sin that has caused your depression. Some people race toward this explanation; they hope that once they discover that sin, everything will change. Others run from this perspective; they think spiritual explanations are prehistoric and misguided. The truth is in the middle of these two poles. Si..
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Edward T. Welch |
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Even if medication relieves some of the burden of depression, it may be functioning like aspirin. That is, it takes away some of the symptoms but the root problems persist.
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Edward T. Welch |
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James intentionally enlarges the scope of suffering when he writes, "trials of many kinds." By doing this, he invites those who experience depression to learn that, whatever the cause, depression will test our faith and serve as a catalyst for growth rather than a reason for despair. Yes, depression is spiritual in the same way that all suffering brings us face-to-face with critical spiritual realities."
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Edward T. Welch |
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Since the desires for power and control are in every heart, you don't have to look overseas for lawless brutality. It happens every day between parents and children, boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives. Where there is injustice, shame will be part of its fallout.
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Edward T. Welch |
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Sin is not rational.
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Edward T. Welch |
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Humans are needy by design. Will we abandon the myth of independence and seek God?
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Edward T. Welch |
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Worldly honor is passe. It is part of a fading kingdom. Honor in Christ is the only true honor.
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Edward T. Welch |
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knew something about prayer, asked Jesus how to pray (Luke 11:1). Here is where prayer really
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Edward T. Welch |
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Humility means that you acknowledge you don't know everything, and you might be especially confused when it comes to God.
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Edward T. Welch |
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The key to learning the fear of the Lord is to stay in Scripture. When you are in the Scripture, pray that God would teach you that he is the Holy One.
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Edward T. Welch |
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The key to learning the fear of the Lord is to stay in Scripture. When you are in the Scripture, pray that God would teach you that he is the Holy One. 1. Review the creation psalms: Psalms 8; 19; 29; 65; 104. 2. Meditate on the enthronement psalms: e.g., Psalm 95-97; 99. 3. Memorize Psalm 139. It states that God's providence is so extensive it goes into all the details of our lives. 4. Go through a hymn book and highlight songs that expres..
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Edward T. Welch |
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They are God's liturgy, prepared for you in advance. How
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Edward T. Welch |
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Can you see how worries multiply? Suddenly you are a gifted prophet
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Edward T. Welch |
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The thing or person you trust in is actually the object of your worship. Look
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Edward T. Welch |
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When you know that the kingdom is God's alone (though he gives it to us), that is the only thing that can lead to peace and rest. Owners are the ones who do all the worrying; stewards simply listen to the owner's desires and work to implement them. Owners are responsible for the outcome; stewards strive to be faithful.
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Edward T. Welch |
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The more you read Scripture, the more you actually talk to God rather than think about fear.
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Edward T. Welch |
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When you are confident that you are the Father's treasured possession, you are also confident that his loving care will continue forever. Building warehouses is a waste of time and space. His gifts to you become things you want to give him back in gratitude. Then he gives you even more.
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Edward T. Welch |
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Anxiety asks for more information so it can be prepared for the coming apocalypse. It also asks for more information so it can manage the world apart from God.
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Edward T. Welch |
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God tests us because we are so oblivious to the mixed allegiances in our hearts. The purpose of the test is to help us see our hearts and if they are found traitorous, we can turn back to God.
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Edward T. Welch |
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Beneath our questions about God's generosity and his care for our needs is something darker. What we really care about is our wants.
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Edward T. Welch |
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At this point, we know that worry and fear are more about us than about the things outside us. They
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Edward T. Welch |
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My wants are what concern me. That's where the battle must be fought. I
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Edward T. Welch |
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Life in the kingdom isn't easy, at least not when we want to share the throne. But
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Edward T. Welch |