Note: This is a guest blog by Pastor Mark Kelly who is working his way through Soul Physicians section by section and blogging along the journey. Thanks Pastor Mark! Visit Mark’s excellent, informative blog at: http://gracedependent.com/
Posted on August 25, 2009 by gracedependent
This is part three of an ongoing reading / studying of Dr. Robert Kellemen’s counseling resource: Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction
I’ve heard it stated this way before and was interested to see what Dr. Kellemen’s take on it would be: “God’s Word…is His love letter to you.” It is in Scripture that we find, not only that we are part of a Heroic Grand Adventure but, we are smack in the middle of a passionate romance novel. God is love – we know that; but how does that impact me on the morning that I get a pink slip at work, the doctor reveals that the dark spot on the lung indeed is cancerous, or I find myself choosing again to sin in a destructive manner? What are the things that pull at my mind and heart during these times? How can I make sense of it all? Does Scripture speak to any of that…and is God really loving if He allows all this?
Dr. K makes an incredible statement in this chapter: “For the Bible to make a difference in our lives, we need to understand the difference the Bible intends to make. The Bible is God’s love letter designed to melt our adulterous hearts.” When we truly live a life that is impacted by God’s love, we live dying to self and living for God and others. (All part of those “love” commandments that Jesus referred to). And the only way we can do that is through the grace found in Jesus Christ. We constantly make choices of “lovers” in our life: will I love Christ or will I be seduced by Satan?
As we journey through struggles and sins, Satan bombards us with fallacies, such as: “Doubt God/Trust Yourself” which leads to “Doubt God/Hate Yourself” and finally “Doubt God/Beautify Yourself”. These are expounded in this chapter – a must read.
Christ battles these fallacies and provides the ultimate “antidote” to these wrong ways of thinking through faith and hope. Faith destroys mistrust and Hope vanquishes condemnation.
It is through the pages of Scripture that we see the hope for ourselves and others as we “…understand that justification is [our] current standing before the Father, that sanctification is [our] ongoing promise by the Spirit, and that glorification is [our] future guarantee in Christ.
In the upcoming chapters (4-7) we’ll see how Dr. K describes “Knowing the Creator of the Soul: The Great Physician – the Trinity”. If you have not yet picked up a copy of Soul Physicians, please visit RPM Ministries today.
Preview here: http://bit.ly/7vaE
Posted on August 25, 2009 by gracedependent
This is part three of an ongoing reading / studying of Dr. Robert Kellemen’s counseling resource: Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction
I’ve heard it stated this way before and was interested to see what Dr. Kellemen’s take on it would be: “God’s Word…is His love letter to you.” It is in Scripture that we find, not only that we are part of a Heroic Grand Adventure but, we are smack in the middle of a passionate romance novel. God is love – we know that; but how does that impact me on the morning that I get a pink slip at work, the doctor reveals that the dark spot on the lung indeed is cancerous, or I find myself choosing again to sin in a destructive manner? What are the things that pull at my mind and heart during these times? How can I make sense of it all? Does Scripture speak to any of that…and is God really loving if He allows all this?
Dr. K makes an incredible statement in this chapter: “For the Bible to make a difference in our lives, we need to understand the difference the Bible intends to make. The Bible is God’s love letter designed to melt our adulterous hearts.” When we truly live a life that is impacted by God’s love, we live dying to self and living for God and others. (All part of those “love” commandments that Jesus referred to). And the only way we can do that is through the grace found in Jesus Christ. We constantly make choices of “lovers” in our life: will I love Christ or will I be seduced by Satan?
As we journey through struggles and sins, Satan bombards us with fallacies, such as: “Doubt God/Trust Yourself” which leads to “Doubt God/Hate Yourself” and finally “Doubt God/Beautify Yourself”. These are expounded in this chapter – a must read.
Christ battles these fallacies and provides the ultimate “antidote” to these wrong ways of thinking through faith and hope. Faith destroys mistrust and Hope vanquishes condemnation.
It is through the pages of Scripture that we see the hope for ourselves and others as we “…understand that justification is [our] current standing before the Father, that sanctification is [our] ongoing promise by the Spirit, and that glorification is [our] future guarantee in Christ.
In the upcoming chapters (4-7) we’ll see how Dr. K describes “Knowing the Creator of the Soul: The Great Physician – the Trinity”. If you have not yet picked up a copy of Soul Physicians, please visit RPM Ministries today.
Preview here: http://bit.ly/7vaE
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