this little excerpt is taken from John Piper’s blog (you can read the rest here): Why does God allow Satan to live? …before I answer it, let’s make sure that we agree that it is true that God could take Satan out anytime he chose. Because I think there are some who would say, “He really can’t, because of some rights (or authority, independence, free will, etc.) that Satan has.” But the reason I know God can take Satan out without turning me into an automaton or breaking any rules is because he is going to take him out. He is going to throw him in the lake of fire. And the question is, “Why didn’t he do it yesterday? If he had done it yesterday I wouldn’t be tempted the way I am today. The Bible says, ‘Lead me not into temptation.’ Well, the best way not to be… [Read More]
Posts Tagged ‘John’
why does God allow satan to live?
November 28th, 2008 
dave 
Posted in American Christianity 
Tags: authority, bible, calvinism, Christ, death, eternal, God, gospel, hell, Holy, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, kingdom, life, love, murder, pain, power, relationship, satan, sin, Spirit, struggle, temptation 
No Comments »Frozen Fear
May 9th, 2008 Dana Fisher For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. – 2 Timothy 1:7 God’s up there right now with a great sense of humor just chuckling away. At least that’s how I feel in my life. I’m never used in the ways I envision or things I think would be best. And there’s a flaw in that last sentence…”I”. Isn’t it true of all of us that the situations we’re placed in stretch us just a bit outside our comfort zone if we are doing what He asks? Each time making us more and more well rounded. I struggle with this one a lot simply because I’m not a very outspoken person. If I know you and I’m comfortable with you my personality blossom’s but throughout my life I’ve been a shy, laid back personality, content in my own… [Read More]
Salt Water Taffy
March 19th, 2008 Dana Fisher …but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. – John 4:14 I love salt water taffy! One minute you’re chewing on cinnamon, the next mint chocolate. Any flavor you can imagine probably exists as a piece of salt water taffy somewhere. One of the best and worst parts is how chewy and sticky it really is. It gets stuck so far down in your teeth you taste it for hours. As I grabbed a piece from the candy jar at the pet store the other day it got me thinking; I’m just like this little piece of taffy. In the scope of things this little piece of taffy is insignificant. If it fell on the ground, or got dirty and was unusable we’d throw it away. We get dirty every day with sins we don’t even realize we commit. Yet Jesus comes along and cleans us off,… [Read More]
We’re all searching
February 3rd, 2008 Dana Fisher For in the image of God has God made man. – Genesis 9:6 Our DNA is hard coded to worship Jesus. For any of us who follow Christ daily this fact is undeniable. When we worship it stirs up emotions we don’t feel at any other time. At points it drives us to tears of repentance, sometimes tears of joy, and other times tears of shear awe. For those who don’t serve this God, who have doubt, who have questions, this seems perplexing. How can worshiping something no one can see help me? How can it possible change my life? How do I know it’s even real? John 16:13 says “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.” When Jesus died, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven God sent His Spirit as our guide.(John 16:5-11) In worshiping God and surrendering your… [Read More]
Posted in Christian Living, Radical Christianity Tags: 1 peter, bible, blessings, blood, change, Christ, Christian, christians, church, death, eternal, genesis, God, grace, heart, heaven, jeremiah, Jesus, John, Lamb, life, Lord, Matthew, Peter, Repent, saved, sin, Spirit, truth, war, worship No Comments »It smells so good!
January 16th, 2008 Dana Fisher Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. -Romans 6:11 A couple of months ago I was walking to my car after work and recognized an unmistakable smell; The smell of autumn. It was 45-50 degrees, the sun was beginning to set, and it just smelled like fall. I love that smell for some reason. Maybe it’s memories, maybe it’s the changing landscape but something about that smell seems calming. I started thinking about what the smell actually was and it dawned on me that it was leaves. And I started thinking about why leaves die and regrow, why they change color, and why do they smell so good in the fall. God gives us a perfect example of His word in a real world visual. See, leaves bud, the sun gives them light and they grow. They mature and turn in to a vibrant color… [Read More]
$500 free at Best Buy
December 3rd, 2007 Dana Fisher ‘Do not steal. ‘Do not lie. ‘Do not deceive one another. – Leviticus 19:11 On Black Friday I went down to Best Buy and waited patiently in line all night in search of a GPS system for my car. When I left I had bought a tv and a laptop and picked up a tv for my father. He’s one lucky guy. Sleeping in his warm bed while I waited out in line in the cold all night. Oh, I did get my GPS too. I love my new tv, it’s very nice and an obvious upgrade over what I had. My dad’s tv…well, not so much. We pulled it out and I set it all up for him but he was disappointed with the picture quality. It was a cheaper model and so I did except somewhat lower quality. The second night he was watching tv and the red… [Read More]
He told me to write a letter
November 28th, 2007 Dana Fisher He who belongs to God hears what God says. – John 8:47 Back in September I heard a voice. No I don’t need to be institutionalized. It took me a while to figure out that it wasn’t just me, that it was the Holy Spirit. John says: But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come(16:13). Okay, lets backtrack to January 8, 2006. My then girlfriends father gave me a recliner. Very long story short I decided to pick up the recliner and carry it into the house by myself. Being muscle man and all, I figured no big deal. 12 hours later four paramedics were lugging my large body out the door an into an ambulance. Turns out I… [Read More]
