When evil seems invincible: Two surprising sources of hope
Where two malignant narcissists ruled, so did ruthlessness. Where evil seemed invincible, Mordecai and Esther seized on two surprising sources of hope and life.
Where two malignant narcissists ruled, so did ruthlessness. Where evil seemed invincible, Mordecai and Esther seized on two surprising sources of hope and life.
When God’s people push against, instead of moving with, his Spirit, he knows the situation is dire. He sounds the alarm: My people aren’t breathing! Code blue!
Receiving and releasing the Breath of God is key to getting the toxins out and the life-giving stuff in, no matter what you're going through.
Was there grief in that ark? Yes! Was there tension? Absolutely. And anger. And fear. So many emotions; such great loss. Yet through it all, they were upheld.
Some illusionists fool us to amuse us. Abusers and abusive systems fool us to control us. Freedom and life hinge on seeing the illusionists we have not seen.
Once, in Malachi, God may have said that he hates divorce. Repeatedly, in Jeremiah, God reveals how much he hates divorcing. Repeatedly, he laments the nonstop betrayals that did, and could, bring him to do it.
If you have been betrayed by a spouse: The God who sees you has been there. He hates treachery. He calls out the treacherous - and he defends the betrayed.
“She cannot say that!” the woman yelled. Half a world from my home, she forbade me to invite the churched to repent. Then, we watched the Lord break through.
It’s so enticing, and so much a part of the US evangelical church culture. Yet the lure of celebrity can deceive us into agreeing with much that is not God.
“Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak.” The meaning of that quote from 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is obvious, right? God silences women, and the inspired apostle Paul affirmed it. Or maybe, just maybe: The Lord and Paul both snort at the idea – and we have not known it.