Pride is Evil in the Sight of God
In the book of Proverbs 8:13, it is clear that God severely frowns on pride. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate." It was the very thing that rocked the heavenly realm long ago, altering God's original plans and introducing to mankind a surefire way to hell.
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Trusting God in Hard Times Necessitates Good Stewardship of Money
Affluence can give rise to laziness and financial carelessness, which may make it challenging initially when it's suddenly time to tighten the belt. Poverty can induce people to be greedy and stingy, and even to steal, and hard times can fuel that wrong thinking. Whatever background someone may be struggling with, Biblical principles can be learned and Christians can discover how to prosper and flourish in hard times by trusting God.
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Christians Must Learn to Be Diligent and Prioritize, Plan, Prepare and Persevere in Hard Times
God set up the principles of sowing and reaping, and the law of giving and receiving extends to diligence and conscientiousness in one's work. Many Proverbs commend diligence, and bring to light the results of laziness.
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The Parable of the Importunate Widow Teaches that Persistence Pays
The parable of the Impoprtunate Widow teaches that persistence pays. People can be so impatient that they give up and quit right before their answer comes. At the end of this parable, Jesus discusses the concept of persistent faith.
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In Hard Times, It is Important to Get the Wisdom, Love and Strength of God
Believers are challenged to put more confidence in God's ability than in their own, to not try to analyze and figure out every detail themselves, but to place their belief in God's wisdom, love and strength, to lean on God instead of relying on themselves or anyone else.
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The Importance of Trust and Opening up in a Christian Recovery Group Setting
The Never Gossip rule should be discussed in detail because gossip is always harmful. In most group situations, members tend to form subgroups and cliques, expressing negative reactions outside of the group while remaining silent when in session. This causes a lack of trust and feelings of isolation for those not included.
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Humbled Christians are Obedient to God
Proverbs has many verses about humility, contrasting pride and haughtiness with humbleness. The pride of man will bring him shame, but with the humble is wisdom.
Haughtiness precedes destruction, but humility leads to honor. These are promises and benefits that should discourage pride in a person, and encourage one to learn true humility.
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The Parable of The Pharisee and the Publican is a Lesson on Humility
The parable of The Pharisee and the Publican is lesson humility. Being inflated with what is really a false sense of worth is foolish and condemned in Scripture. To trust in one self-righteousness is deception. Humility is required to be submissive and obedient. Obedience to God is literally doing God's Word with a heart of love and reverence for Him.
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How to Reach the Hearts of the Young
They are not little kids, nor are they adults. They are teenagers -- hurricanes of hormones and emotions transitioning from adolescence to adulthood as fast as they can in an increasingly malicious world. More than ever, parents need to oversee and watch over, not lord over, their teenage children. Yes, children. They are not 'of age' and while young, they remain the responsibility of their parents/guardians.
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In Hard Times, Christians Must Pray and Mediate on the Word of God to Draw Near to Him
If ever there was a time to get closer to the Creator, now is the time. It's not a time to be self-serving, or wasteful, thoughtlessly squandering money or time. Although the secular world says that time is money, in reality, time is life! Trusting God in hard times can become second nature when time is spent in daily reading of His Word, being prayerfully in His presence.
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