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I’ll be taking a break from posting regularly here for a while. Please take a moment and subscribe to this blog with your e-mail address (in the left-hand column), so that you will be notified when I start posting again.Thanks, so much, for reading my …

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Jesus’ kingdom is radically different than the way of this world. In Jesus’ kingdom, our battles are won, not through violence, but through LOVE.

Jesus re-defined love at the cross. There, He taught us that love isn’t based simply on feelings, neither is it found in selfishness (What can I get out of this?). Rather, Christ-like love is self-sacrificial love.
Jesus willingly laid down His life to bring about our redemption.
His love for us (as seen through the cross) has a purpose in the here and now. It isn’t something for us to simply receive; rather, it is to be lived out for others (self-sacrificially).
(Think of Jesus’ instructions to His disciples in John 13.)
And, get this: Jesus didn’t say to love only those who love us, but to love even our ENEMIES. He called us to love those who hate us, hurt us, and spitefully use us.
Think of this. In the book of Acts, the apostles were able to stand before kings (even in the midst of persecution) and declare the gospel of Jesus. I always believed that it was courage (through the Holy Spirit) that gave them the strength to do this, but now I understand that it wasn’t courage, but love. They truly loved even their enemies, and therefore they were able to stand before them (even facing death) and speak the truth.
Love changes everything.
The Enemy lives (really, thrives) through hate and false love, but he (and his influence over us) begins to die the moment we live out Christ-like love.
The kingdom of Jesus is radically different from the way of the world. It isn’t brought about through violence or war, but through peace. It isn’t seen in hate, but in love. It isn’t found in self-centered power, but in the giving up of power through self-sacrificial love.
How is the Holy Spirit leading me to live out that Christ-like love today?
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That day in the future, you know the one I’m talking about. That dream of becoming a (Insert dream) will only be accomplished when you do the work today that needs to be done in order to get there. Dreams rarely just fall into your lap. Therefore, hard consistent effort must be you daily exercise. […]

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JOE PARKINSON, The Wall Street Journal SOFIA—Bulgaria sacked its finance minister on Monday after a weekend of demonstrations over electricity prices brought tens of thousands onto the streets, raising pressure on a government that had until recently defied political gravity by retaining popularity in the teeth of an austerity drive. Simeon Djankov, a former World […]