This was written by SEA member Bob Anderson in response to John Piper’s recent post “What Made It OK for God to Kill Women, Children in Old Testament?” He gave us permission to post it…
Devotionals
I Bless God
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name.
I bless the Arms of God that reached out to me during times of loneliness and despair.
I bless the Artistry of God for the beauty in nature and in every sunrise and sunset.
I bless the Authority of God that makes Him the great and undeniable, “I AM”.
I bless the Breath of God that gave life to all living creatures great and small.
I bless the Brightness of God that outshines the blinding brilliance of the sun.
I bless the Closeness of God that He regards me as His friend.
I bless the Compassion of God that looks beyond my faults as He continually cares for me.
I bless the Creativity of God for all creatures that walk, run, crawl, hop, swim, leap, jump, and fly.
I bless the Cross of Christ that assures the promise of eternal life to every believer.
I bless the Desire of God in that He wants me to be at one with Him forever.
Arminian/Non-Calvinist Daily Devotionals
We received a request for suggestions for daily devotionals that do not come from a Calvinist perspective. Here are some suggestions that our members have come up with: Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest…
For God so Loved the World
Merry Christmas all. This post was first published by Dr. Olson on the 8th of Decemeber, hence it being an “Advent Meditation”. However, we felt that it was such a wonderful expression of God’s love through Christ that it would be perfect for Christmas day:
by Roger E. Olson
For God so loved the world . . . that He couldn’t stay away. Yes, to academics and scholars it sounds simplistic and even smacks of folk religion. But if you strip from it any connotation of God being “lonely” or absent it’s an apt statement of the gospel itself. And it nicely expresses the essence of Arminian theology: that God’s love for the whole world demonstrated in the incarnation and cross stands at the center of theology as its critical principle.
Ephesians 2:14; A Devotional
For He is our peace, having made both into one and having broken down that wall which divides us, that hostility by His flesh. Is there a greater verse to demonstrate the notion of how…
Ephesians 2:13; A Devotional
But now, in Christ Jesus, you, being once distant, have become close by Christ’s blood. It is important to remember that Paul’s primary concern in the book of Ephesians is dealing with the Gentile believers…
Ephesians 2:11-12; A Devotional
Therefore, remember that at one point you — the Gentiles in terms of flesh, the ones called “foreskin” by those called “the circumcised”, a handmade thing of flesh — that at that time, you were…
Ephesians 2:10; A Devotional
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared for us to do.The beautiful thing about this verse is how close one feels with God when thinking that He…
Ephesians 2:8-9; A Devotion
For you see it is from grace that you have been saved through faith; not from yourself. This is a gift of God, not from works so that none may boast. Ah yes, we are…
Ephesians 2:6-7; A Devotional
And also with Christ, God has raised us up and sat us down in the celestrial realms by Christ Jesus so that within these coming times He has shown, in His kindness, the overwhelming riches…
Enjoying The Good News Of Christ
[The following post was authored by Ben Henshaw, and has undergone some revision with the author’s permission for inclusion here.]
Calvinists often argue that God’s love has failed if Christ’s atonement was made for all and yet not all are saved. I find it strange that Calvinists, who are so quick to criticize Arminians for holding to a man centered religion, argue that unless man responds to God’s love in saving faith, then His love for them has somehow failed. How is it that they feel comfortable equating the success or failure of God’s love with man’s response to that love? Is the nature or validity of God’s love dependant on man’s response? Doesn’t that seem a little man centered?
Gerald Owens, Exodus 34:5-7
“Why do you love me?” This question from the beloved strikes terror in the hearts of the unprepared lover, for the answer will be taken with more seriousness than the response to “what movie will we go to tonight?” This is because the answer also answers questions like “How much do you know me? Do you value the same personal qualities that I do? What are you after? What is it that you truly admire in a person, and what does that say about you? Have you been paying attention to the ‘deep me’ that determines what I reveal of myself?” Wise is the lover who has previously asked the beloved the question “Tell me about yourself!”, for in the beloved’s answer is the mine from which the lover digs out the answer to this most significant of “why” questions!
In Exodus 33, Moses asks God to show him His glory. His request is answered in Exodus 34:5-7.
Ephesians 2:4-5; A Devotional
But, being rich with mercy, God, through His great love with which He has loved us though we were dead in trespasses, has made us alive with Christ (by grace you have been saved) The…
Ephesians 2:3; A Devotional
Along with them, we all once lived by the passions of our flesh, doing the desires of the body and of the mind. Like the rest of them, we were children of wrath. What do…
A Calvary-Focused Faith
“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; [And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Col 2:13-15 AV)
During a recent discussion of the relevance of the resurrection with regard to Christ’s crucifixion at Calvary, this passage from Paul’s epistle to the Colossians came to mind. There is a thought I want to touch on dealing with the sufficiency of Christ’s finished work at Calvary.
Ephesians 2:1-2; A Devotional
And you were dead because of the transgressions and sins in which you once walked, as the world has through the ages according to the ruler of domain of the air ; the spirit now working in the unyielding6 sons.
A major aspect of Christian life is remembering where you came from. Christianity is fundamentally a faith of redemption. Part of redemption is being redeemed from something.
There are two common problems we encounter when dealing with our sinful past.
Ephesians 1:22-23; A Devotional
And He set everything under His feet, and made Him head over the assembly which is His body: the very thing which fills every bit of everything.
Ok, let us recall Paul’s context:
Ephesians 1:19b-21; A Devotional
…according to the work of His mighty strength which was worked in Christ, arousing Him from the dead and sitting Him at God’s right side in the celestial realms, far above any ruler, authority, power,…
Ephesians 1:18-19; A Devotional
“…having your mind’s eye enlightened in order to perceive what is the hope of His invitation, what is the glorious wealth of His inheritance in the saints and what is the surpassing greatness of His…
Ephesians 1:17; A Devotional
…that the God of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation on the knowledge of Him… This verse is a verse about the Father, and,…
Recent Posts
Roy Ingle, “Calvinism and the Atonement”
Why Does God Deny the Opportunity of Choice for or Against Him to Young Children Who Die and the Mentally Impaired?
Mark K. Olson, “Wesley’s ‘Warmed Heart’ at Aldersgate – What Really Happened?”
Adam Roe, “The Crucial Thread of Prevenient Grace: A Wesleyan Perspective on Divine Drawing”
