Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Moviegoer. I have found exactly the same - memorising scripture using this site has become a great tool for daily devotion each morning. I started learning verses, then I switched to learning chapters. And thanks for your comments about difficult passages too. I agree that the process of slowing down to memorise gives more opportunity to explore these passages with God.
Treeswallow, I’d say there’s a difference between receiving the Spirit (as Jesus said in John 20:22) and being filled with the Spirit (as described in Acts 2). All Christians receive the Holy Spirit when they accept Jesus as saviour (2 Cor 1:22). But for me at least, being filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:4) was a separate event. I can still vividly remember the first time, and I have experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit numerous times since.
3 years! That’s amazing! I’m happy to congratulate you and rejoice with you as you store up God’s word in your heart. Will you continue the new-verse-each-day habit even though there’s no further badge to aim for?
Congratulations indeed on finishing 1000! And thank you too for what you wrote in the Halloween discussion. Your love for your neighbours shines through so strongly. May God bless you continually as your learn his word and share his love.
I too pray for you, JDJDJD, that you will know the powerful reassuring presence of God as you go into the hospital this morning. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him. (Romans 15:13)
Here’s how J. John put it in a Facebook post on Monday…
Let me explain why I don’t agree with Halloween:
First, Halloween deceives us about evil. It creates a cartoon vision of evil as trivial, harmless fun that no one could possibly see as a threat. Yet all evil is serious and any messing with supernatural evil particularly so. To fool around with evil is a fool’s game.
Second, Halloween distracts us about evil. It presents evil in terms of the obvious and the spectacular; things that proclaim their identity with fangs and claws, cackles and cloaks. Yet evil is at its most seductive when it is silent and subtle. The most dangerous evils are not clumsy figures in skeleton outfits knocking on your door; they are infinitely better disguised. In the real world the most deadly evil doesn’t turn up with nocturnal cries of ‘Trick or treat!’ Instead it tiptoes around unannounced in broad daylight. It is there in the sudden opportunity to lie, gossip, slander or steal. The problem with the road to hell is that it never states its destination. By focusing on the recognisable and the grotesque, Halloween obscures the fact that most evil wears a charming face.
Finally, Halloween denies the defeat of evil. In Halloween, supernatural evil is presented as unchallenged and victorious. Yet as a Christian I believe that that’s only half of the story and the darkest half too. The reality is that evil has been defeated at the cross and that one day the crucified King, Jesus Christ, will return and abolish even the memory of it forever. That, not Halloween, is the story that I want to celebrate.