HKHaugan's Blog – December 2009 Archive (16)

Christmas 6 Reshaping the Heart

Christmas 6 Reshaping the Heart



To reshape the heart we have to recognize it starts with the mind. As Paul said, “…transformed by the renewal of your mind.” The mind is where we believe, where we analyze on the basis of what we believe. What we believe determines how we arrange our thoughts about life, God, people and existence. The mind is a reservoir of ideas, concepts and principles we choose to diagnose our experience. The stuff of life is processed by the mind and conclusions… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 31, 2009 at 8:09am — No Comments

Christmas 5 Reshaping the Mind

Christmas 5 Reshaping the Mind



“Are you out of your mind? - Where is your mind? - Keep your mind on what you’re doing. - My mind can’t handle it. - He’s playing mind games. - They’re trying to get into my head. - I can’t get my mind around that. - He’s got a screw loose somewhere. - He’s not playing with a full deck. - His elevator doesn’t go to the top floor.” All of these are common expressions recognizing the importance of how we think.



The first part of God’s recovery… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 30, 2009 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Christmas 4 Christmas Begins the Process

Christmas 4 Christmas Begins the Process



If forgiveness is the starting point of salvation then what we do is accept the One who forgives, the Lord Jesus, and see what we do after that. When Peter preached to the crowd in Jerusalem about why Jesus was crucified they asked what they should do in response. Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 29, 2009 at 9:24am — No Comments

Christmas 3 How Christmas Continues

Christmas 3 How Christmas Continues



Jesus came “…to give his people the knowledge of salvation

through the forgiveness of their sins…(Lk.1:77)”



People had to know that salvation was available; that they had access to it and that there was someone who would provide it. That was the task of John the Baptist. Again, as we have said, that is our task as well. John is the model, the example of being a forerunner. We lay out the knowledge that salvation is possible, that… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 28, 2009 at 9:13am — No Comments

Christmas 2 Christmas is Just the Beginning

Christmas 2 Christmas is Just the Beginning



Christmas is not a season that begins with advertising at the end of summer and builds toward Dec.25 only to end on Christmas Day. Christmas morning with presents and the afternoon with its heavy meal are not climactic events. The benefit of Christmas celebration in some other countries is that it starts on Christmas Eve and continues for two weeks until Epiphany, which symbolizes the spread of what began on Christmas. It is in this period… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 26, 2009 at 10:26am — No Comments

Christmas 2009 Another Day Closer

Christmas 2009 Another Day Closer



We have just covered the Advent season as a time to tune up our minds, our hearts and our souls. Tuning up means to check out our spiritual condition as we near Jesus’ return. Are we believing spiritually, trusting spiritually and motivated by the Holy Spirit to faith?



When Jesus was born of a virgin it was to make very clear to the world that Jesus was already the Son of God who could enter the world only one way and that was by the pure,… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 24, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Advent 10 Tuning Up the Spirit

Advent 10 Tuning Up the Spirit



One of our vacations a few years ago found us driving from North Carolina across the border into a remote part of Tennessee. As we moved toward the border we saw an increase in hillsides that had been stripped of timber. Crossing into Tennessee it became worse. It must have once been strip-mined. We arrived in a small town with buildings that looked beaten down and people actually looking as beaten as the buildings. We drove slowly down the main street,… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 22, 2009 at 4:59pm — No Comments

Advent 9 Tuning Up the Heart

Advent 9 Tuning Up the Heart



“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jer.17:9)”



In a passage that describes the devil’s heart, Isaiah 14:13-14 records, “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!” Here you ask why would God declare such a fall? His answer is clear, “You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 22, 2009 at 8:51am — No Comments

Advent 8 Tuning Up the Mind 2

Advent 8 Tuning Up the Mind 2



Before we get into the tuning of the heart we need to look a bit more at the mind. We don’t want to underestimate the need for philosophical discourse since it would cut off dialogue with the intellectual who spends his life in search for truth, pure orderly thought. There are two words that describe an intellectual’s search for truth, worldview and wisdom. The first is a thinking package into which existence and experience can find an orderly pattern to… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 21, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Advent 7 Tuning Up the Mind

Advent 7 Tuning Up the Mind



“We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God…(2Cor.10 The Message).”



The principles that set our thought, the logic we use, the basis for thinking--- outside of God they are philosophies. Whether it is the complicated conclusions of the Greeks, the meandering thoughts of Hume, the pyramidal conclusions of Hegel or the rantings of a psychotic like Nietzsche, it is the mind… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 20, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

Advent 6 Time for a Tune-Up

Advent 6 Time for a Tune-Up



“We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ (2Cor.10:5 The Message).”



Regardless of where a person is in mind, heart and spirit there are strongholds that are used for self-protection. Self-protection arises out of the need to adjust to the world around us. From outside of us… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 19, 2009 at 9:38am — No Comments

Advent 5 How He Did It

Advent 5 How He Did It



“The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 18, 2009 at 7:47am — No Comments

Advent 4 War Along the Trail

Advent 4 War Along the Trail



We are still talking about the trail between hearts being the longest trail. It is a spiritual trail filled with obstacles to faith in God. Along that trail guerrilla warfare is the devil’s order of the day. It’s not open warfare but one fought defensively on the perimeter of the heart. The devil sends his spirits of fear, lust, greed, envy, jealousy and anger, to name a few, so that defensive walls are built around the heart. Remember he is the prince of… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 10, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Advent 3 The Longest Trail Revisited

Advent 3 The Longest Trail Revisited



“Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning (Lk.12:35)”



If you really think about it the longest trail is between hearts. We can take a plane and in one day be in Asia. We can go by car and reach the West Coast in a comfortable five days. We can ‘Skype’ on the computer and in a matter of seconds see and communicate with people around the globe. Physical distance is no longer a barrier. But there is a distance that seems to… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 6, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Advent 2 The Longest Trail is Between Hearts

Advent 2 The Longest Trail is Between Hearts



In cross country skiing you have a forerunner, that is, someone who blazes a trail through new snow to make way for the next skiers. If you are a group of people you each take a turn blazing the trail since new snow takes more effort and energy. Each one may take a few hundred yards then the next does the same and so on. Each skier helps the one behind. They all know where they are headed and what has to be done along the… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 5, 2009 at 6:32am — No Comments

Advent 1 He's On His Way Back

Advent 1 He’s On His Way Back



Matt.12:6 Jesus said, “But I say unto you, that in this place is one greater than the temple (KJV).”



Which is really greater? Is it the building, the people, the leaders, the institutional forms and rules under which they operate, or the One for whom the building, the institution and the people exist? Another way of putting it, are the forms more important than the substance? Are the structures superior to the One who initiated… Continue

Added by HKHaugan on December 4, 2009 at 3:30pm — No Comments

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