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Baptism in the Holy Spirit, deception, delusion, discerning the spirits, exhortation, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, the old self
For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” (Lk 8:17-18 ESV)
Picture from http://hosts.blogtalkradio.com/talkteachtestify/2015/04/29/the-counterfeit-christianity-unfolded-the-great-deception-of-satan
A dear brother shared a link with me today which led to an article that describes the latest alleged “outpouring” of a spirit – I do not dare to call this spirit the Holy Spirit of God since I really cringe in my heart and soul about this blend of truth and lies we are offered there. Alas, I found a very uncritical entry by a Christian magazine as I followed the link. 😦 If you want to read the whole thing, below is the link. It could serve as a training to sharpen the ability of discerning the spirits in us.
Well, I believe that these supposed occurrences in the Ukraine represent another fake revival where the focus was on people and what miracles they experienced instead of on repentance and drawing sinners to Christ. The fact that people utter words and tell others that they believe in Jesus does not change them into real believers. Even demons know that God exists and Satan as an angel of light often appears as “Jesus” to those who think that could be our Lord. I know some believers who truly think that they believe in Him, yet are being terribly deceived by their own imagination and reasonings. Mind you, if it is really Christ who appears us, then the fear of God immediately grips the human heart and leads man and woman to repentance. That does not mean that miracles cannot happen. Yet those who in their old and uncrucified soul really long for revival and healings, will easily fall prey to these temptations of the end time. I do understand the desire to be healed if you are chronically ill, no doubt about that. However, dear brothers and sisters, please, be cautious and ask the Lord about everything regarding a possible revival. Ask for His wisdom and He will share it with you as James promised (cf. Js 1:5).
Now I only want to share a short quote from this article with you on here. The two paragraphs beneath refer to Sid Roth, the host of ‘It’s Supernatural!’.
This fascination with the supernatural is a key to Roth’s outreaches. At the events, Roth prays for nonbelieving Jews to “walk in the same power I operate in, which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” After teaching them about meditating on the promises of the Bible, Roth explains how to be filled with the Spirit and the value of speaking in tongues.
“Right from the start, they got to witness ‘normal’ Christianity—normal as defined by the Bible,” Roth wrote in his newsletter. “They saw 50 percent of the people at the first meeting instantly healed. They saw over 99 percent of 1,000 unsaved Jews make professions of faith. By the way, there was a high percentage of amazing miracles in the second meeting also, including a deaf boy getting healed.”
Let us keep the following Scripture in mind.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thes 2:7-12 ESV)
I want to express my concerns about people who think they have been baptized with the Holy Spirit although it was only a mix of satanic forces to which they had to submit after having been “baptized” publicly by “chosen people” who did that by laying their sinful hands on them (cf. 1 Tim 5:22). To be completely honest here, there are not only a few I know here in Germany and on the net who had such experiences and have been kept in delusion, even for decades. My heart is very grieved about that right now… 😦 May God help them to escape! Amen.
Entering the Promised Land 
Well said, Susanne. I am all for miracles and healing, but sometimes I think there is a lack of humility going on. Sometimes our suffering serves a purpose, sometimes there is value in our afflictions. A bad cold may be a sign that you need emotional and spiritual rest, a few days in bed to take care of yourself. Headaches can have a spiritual and emotional cause that needs to be resolved, rather then simply curing the symptom. God’s healing goes right to the core, it is far more profound then relieving us of our physical ailments. He can do that too, but I think He goes for the root, the whole person. Remember those 10 lepers Christ cured and only one said, “praise God?” Over and over again we are told, your faith has healed you, faith being a thing that has substance and evidence to it, it is within us and tangible. “Your” faith speaks more to our willingness to turn to Him and to believe. He can make us well instantly, but He wants to make us well forever, for eternity, whole as a person, not just relieved of our symptoms.
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A beautifully written response, dear Gabrielle! ❤
I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with me!
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Susanne, you wrote: “The fact that people utter words and tell others that they believe in Jesus does not change them into real believers.”
I have been feeling a leeriness in my bones. Not to be critical or even fearful, just aware. My spirit is being moved to look to and focus on Christ alone. For there is no doubt much deception going on now and in the time to come.
Sending love across the world,
B.
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It is so important to be aware, dear Becky, not because we mistrust human beings whom we should all love, but because of the spiritual deception going on in the invisible realm. As for me, it was not easy to tell the good from the bad, that is, to see that loving the truth, (i.e., Christ) can also mean to separate myself from others who do not know which spirit they are of and who could easily influence us through the false spirits inside them. If God had not given me the fear of Him and the authority to say a clear, ‘No!!!’ in such cases, I would have remained trapped forever, thinking I should love everyone by opening up my heart toward them. But alas, exactly that behavior helped Satan to continually attack me lately. As I finally got aware of my mistake, I truly wondered how I could have been so blind before. However, Jesus never told us that the whole world would love us, did He? He said we would be hated and even persecuted BECAUSE of Him! Pheeeew! Not really a consumer-friendly gospel, is it? 😛 Taking a stand for the truth is crucial and impossible without His help.
I am happy to hear that you feel you need to focus on Christ alone. Thus you can never go wrong, dear Becky! ❤
As for being aware of what is really going on behind the scenes, the following Scripture came to mind.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” (1 Pt 5:6-9 ESV)
I received your love. BIG HUGS to you! 🙂
Susanne XOXO
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Revival. Ask 10 Christians what it means, you’ll get 10 answers. Most seem to think it’s a more exciting religious service. Twenty years ago, when I was still in the IC, a friend in the worship band told me during a break from practice that he had been praying for revival with the pastor every Wednesday morning for a year! I asked “what is revival?” He replied “I don’t know”. We both laughed – because I had no more idea back then what revival was than he did.
Still, it was one of those things God used to stir me up – the question “what is revival and why does it elude us” kept me up the better part of the night.
His answer didn’t come right away – it was revealed over time … repentance precedes revival and conviction precedes repentance … and in the end, the Lord gave me one of His “bone to chew on” answers:
Revival comes through destruction. *
Man has that bone provided some good chewing and wonderful revelation.
Can’t say I would have signed up for revival had I known before hand its cost. In fact, I can’t say I had any choice in whether or not God would revive me. Sometimes, I think God says to Jesus “let’s have some fun with this one” and gives a man a God-sized thrill ride through life. It was certainly terrifying at first … watching everything come tumbling down … loss of family, friends, job, health … the Job treatment … praying for Him to just take my life and be done with it. And then, new life, renewal, restoration …
And you know, I would not change a thing. I have the Lord, He has me, and I have the Lord’s choice in a wife for me and I’m loved and in love. You can’t beat that for revival. But oh what it took to get here.
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That was a very helpful contribution to my blog post. Thank you, Jack!
The experience of “watching everything come tumbling down” has been mine as well. It seems to be part of dying to self, I believe.
I like the way you always ask God about everything you want to know regarding divine matters, like the meaning of revival here. If we ask Him first, we can never go wrong.
Be blessed in your marriage with Karen!
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The bottom line is to ask yourself the question, ” is Jesus being glorified?”. Are people repenting and are truly turning away from their sinful lives or are they getting what I call a Holy Spirit buzz. Are people making Jesus Lord of their lives or just asking Him into their hearts so that He is just a part of their lives? Jesus is either Lord of all or not Lord at all. The true evidence, I believe, of one baptized in the Holy Spirit is a changed life.
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Very well put! Thanks, Tony! ⭐
And that is so very true. You said,
Amen to that!
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In light of this post, I would appreciate your input, Susanne.
When I hear of “healings” such as these, I tend to be resistant — in part for the reasons insanitybytes22 gave (above), in part b/c I am a jaded NY attorney. I do believe that healing is possible. I simply do not credit every report of it.
When I listen to preachers, who sound biblical and give every indication of being sincere, assert that the Lord’s return is imminent, I am similarly unsure. David Jeremiah and Hal Lindsey are two examples. I am no expert in eschatology, so I readily defer to their expertise. Frankly, the temptation is to believe, since the world is daily growing darker. Yet again I resist.
For the most part, I wrestle w/ God rather than see or hear Him. How can I tell the difference between God’s leading on these matters, and my own worldly mind?
With thanks,
A. ❤
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I just decided to answer your reply before all others on here, dear Anna.
After asking the Lord about your concerns regarding eschatology, He led me to an article which am going to link below. I hope you will find it helpful since it explains the lie Satan has spread quite well, I believe. You will see that the author writes about Hal Lindsey and esp. David Jeremiah in this entry too.
http://biking4theblind.blogspot.de/2009/01/false-eschatology.html
Even without this article, I need to only look at the picture of someone in order to immediately know which spirit they are of. This is also part of discerning the spirits. And looking at David Jeremiah’s pic on the net makes me shudder. Often times, false teachers have a natural charisma, they are looking good and have a wonderful voice to listen to. I do not know whether it is the same with him since I never heard him before, but that is a common trap we may find ourselves caught in. Such preachers work “for God” in their natural self-will powers of the soul and never gave up anything regarding their old self life. Why? Because they have had success in doing so. We need to be really cautious here. Since as soon as we open up (our hearts and minds) toward someone, their false spirits can enter us through their words. If we listen to them more often, we get more and more familiar with their thoughtlife and way of thinking; we even adjust our thinking to theirs. Alas, that is exactly the way Satan works. 😦
God instead offers us His thoughts which are mostly the first thoughts that come to mind without passing the “reasoning test” before. However, since God’s voice is so gentle and never urges us to believe what He suggests, we in our natural thinking are easily tempted to give in to the “roaring lion” who offers our minds a lot of reasonable stuff like, “Jus take a short glance at the world’s occurences and the evil everywhere…. this must be the endtime, don’t you see?”
Well, we have lived in the last time since Jesus was on earth and He has not yet returned. But we know from Scripture that the evil one will come before Jesus’ second coming, and that Satan will manifest as the Anti-Christ with many lying signs and wonders before. If I may only add one Scripture here, then it would be this one. Jesus said,
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” (Mt 24:36 ESV)
Dear Anna, I was trapped in an eschatological Christian cult for more than five years and I was always in fear regarding the circumstances and about what I could observe happening in this world. We may know that Satan is the Master of Fear, Doubt, and Anxiety and he won’t stop tormenting us unless we turn to God who gives us peace and protection.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord.” (Jer 29:11-14 ESV)
I hope it helps. 😉
With love,
Susanne ❤
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Thank you so much, Susanne.
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You’re most welcome, dear Anna. 🙂
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Dear Anna,
Further below you might find my exchange with Skylla. She found out that the blogger to whose post I linked (David) seems to be a SDA. I had not realized it since I only checked a few paragraphs of that long article that seemed to fit. I am sorry that this happened, Anna. 😦 That does not change my opinion about David Jeremiah and Hal Lindsey, but you see, how easy it is to overlook something. That there is truth in this article, though, might have to do with something Michael observed. He said,
“It is not uncommon for one cult to attack another cult and to even print true things about where the other one is in error.”
God can speak through everyone, therefore we truly need God’s wisdom in all things.
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Susanne, Thanks for this warning. You and I have seen this “dog and pony show” before. As for Sid Roth, it seams he has been in on the Toronto, Brownsville, Bill Johnson spiritualism movement as well as some other dangerous heresies like the Jewish Roots movement. One thing that stands out on his many websites his organization maintains, is that he is still “Jewish” when it come to the love of money. But the love of Mammon seems to pass totally unnoticed as being anti-christ in today’s Christian cult-ture.
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/who-is-sid-roth-does-he-teach-the-truth/
“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Paul could not have been more clear as to the nature of satan’s work in these final days. The very elect CAN and ARE being deceived, but thank God that He is able also to pull some of us who have been deceived out of the fire.
“For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw– each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:11-15, rsv)
Bless you, my dear sister, for following the Spirit and speaking out! ⭐
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You’re welcome, Michael.
Yes we two are quite familiar with that “dog and pony show”, aren’t we… 🙄
Thanks for sharing this link and for mentioning that it is easy for EVERYONE to be deceived. Oh, may God open our eyes if we are tempted to think we stand although our fall is at hand!
As for me following the Spirit and speaking out, I want to refer to Paul’s words here. He said,
“Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16 ESV)
I believe He was gripped by the fear of God, too, in order to do God’s will and no longer His own since he also admitted,
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20 ESV)
Every blessing to you, my brother!
Susanne 🐱
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Susanne, that quote from Paul is wonderful. I hope and pray that we all may come under the fear of God and His authority as well as His love in our lives and have what Paul wrote here… Not I but Christ that lives in me.
Bless you, dear sister, for you are a real blessing to me,
Michael 🐻
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Thank you, Michael. You have a been a real blessing for me since I have come to know you!
Susanne 🐱
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As a newbie to your blog (ok I have known about it for awhile now but just got the “go ahead” to really dig) I feel strangely naked since I don’t have a blog too! Seems like you are frequented by others who are clothed in way more maturity so I step out here in meekness. The Lord has been clear to me about certain things, not so clear yet in others as He deals with us here on earth. My view on eschatology isn’t the issue here but discernment about false movements is. Having gone to the link that you shared with Anna, the alarm went off pretty much from the beginning. There is definitely some truth here but the roots from where it has spring is dead. The author quotes The Great Controversy, a book written by a false prophet Ellen G. White, the prophet of the Seventh Day Adventist church. It is a massive work over 600 pages so you’d better get started LOL just kidding but there is one particularly egregious doctrine within it called the Investigative Judgment which is especially disturbing. I was raised a SDA; went to all their schools my whole life. By God’s grace, woke up late in my teens but my family remains infiltrated wholly. Here is a link for a simple overview of this doctrine:
http://www.truthorfables.com/investigative_judgment_made_simple.htm
I hope you receive this in the spirit in which it is given which is for the sake of truth. Yes, many abuse and injure others in the name of truth and for that, I am grieved. I really hope I don’t come across in any way like that. But the SDA agenda is specific and clearly not what we see in the Spirit.
XOXOXOXO as always love you
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No doubt, that there might be truth and lies in that article I linked to, dear Skylla. I admit that I did not read the whole thing, only two or three paragraphs that seemed to fit.
To be honest, you rarely find an article which is completely God-inspired, therefore we truly need our discerners and to be connected to God 24/7.
Love you too – always! ❤
Susanne
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Yes, you seem to be right, Skylla, “David” to whose blog I linked could be a SDA; I had not seen that before. Sorry about that!
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Skylla,
I informed Anna in a comment above about our exchange down here too.
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Totally right Susanne, discerners and red flag alerts are key – but they aren’t where it ends, we turn our hearts to Jesus with whatever the thing is and ask Him about it. And no, I’m no authority on anything whatsoever – still very much in process and hopefully continually helplessly dependent. We all need each other “And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you” 1Cor. 12:21
Love you, love your blog, love everything you are in Him, still reading and getting caught up, this could take years! LOL
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I love “helplessly dependent” – that is exactly the place where I find myself in, again and again. First dependent on Him, and then dependent on one another In Him – what a mystery this is! 🙄
I do hope you won’t need years to read my blog which is almost only 1 1/2 years old. XD
That was sooo sweet….”love everything you are in Him” – thank you, my sweet sister in Him! ❤
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Dito! ❤
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Thanks, Michael – love you too! 🙂 ❤
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Thank you Michael for sharing Susanne with me, she’s a treasure!
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Hahahaha – XD. You are a funny girl, Skylla! ❤
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Yes, Skylla, she is a treasure from God, no doubt. ⭐
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Many thanks to you two treasures from Heaven, dear Skylla and Michael! ❤ ❤
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Skylla, you are a treasure of the Lord for us, too! ⭐
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Ooey Gooey didn’t mean to start all that LOL hahahaha OH WELL 😉
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😀
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Very good blog. It got me to thinking about my own walk with God. To search my heart that I am not listening or being lead by false imaginations. I love Jesus and being filled with his precious spirit is so important to me, as a believer. However, there are so many that profess being full of the spirit and power, but their fruit is strange. May we all reflect the pure righteous image of our Savior in the last days..
Thank for this heartfelt blog!
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Thank you for your kind words, Renee.
I am sorry for late moderation and reply; my hubby is in hospital at the moment and my computer glasses broke. With this plastic reading aid I bought this morning all things get blurry and after a few minutes staring at the screen, I get a headache too. ARGH! 😛
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I am praying for you and Paul, dear Susanne, that our Father uses all these things to continue bringing forth His Son in you in an ever richer manifestation of His glory.
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Thank you very much for your prayers, dear Michael!
I believe that what Satan meant for evil, God meant for good. It is not always easy to see THIS in the midst of our tribulations, but faith (our eyes of the heart) at times catches a glimpse of what cannot be seen as yet.
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I hope your husband’s surgery goes well.. And I hope you get another pair of glasses, to avoid headache. Reading headaches are not fun at all. Have a stress free day today. Blessings to you and I hope your husband have a quick recovery.
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Dear Renee,
Paul’s surgery was on Tuesday and he had two tough days. But today he was doing much better and I am very grateful for that. 🙂
Actually, I got my “old” glasses with a new frame this evening and now I am sitting here and can clearly SEE what I typed again. Thank God! XD
I know you know that headaches are not fun since I read on your blog recently that God healed you from migraines (worst of headaches, I believe 😛 ).
Every blessing to you and yours, too, my sweet sister! XOXO
Much love,
Susanne
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Glad to hear that everything is improving, Suzanne.
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Thanks, Lloyd.
God bless,
Susanne
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Susanne, you wrote, “but faith (our eyes of the heart) at times catches a glimpse of what cannot be seen as yet.”
Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the descendants; not to those only who are of the law, but to those also who are of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead, and calls those things which are not as though they were. (Romans 4:16-17, KJ2000)
Truly that God gives unto us calls those things that are not as though they are.
Good to see that you can see the computer again!!! ⭐
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Hahaha – Yes, Michael, I am glad to be back too! XD
That Scripture nailes it, for sure, my brother! Very good! ⭐ Thanks for sharing it with me.
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Good comments, Renee. I’ve discovered a fantastic book called, “The Valley of Vision.” It is a book of prayers by the Puritans–those folks who are so often ridiculed this time of year. The prayers (one on each page) are so rich that some of them will bring tears to your eyes.
When it was first recommended to me, I felt a bit reticent, for two reasons. First, I generally think of prayer as a conversation with God. Written prayers ordinarily have little appeal. Secondly, I expected that anything written by the Puritans would be overburdened with heavy Elizabethan English. I was wrong on both counts. I bought it from Amazon.com after seeing an abundance of rave reviews.
Typically, I read a page a day during my devotional time. The prayers are both exhilarating and convicting.
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Hi Dr Lloyd Stebbins,
Thank you. I will definitely read “The Valley of Vision”. It sounds wonderful!
Daily, I pray, read and worship. It’s really a lifestyle I so enjoy. So, reading the prayers would be a wonderful addition to my life.
Thank you again!
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You’re very welcome, Renee. Check out my blog at lloydstebbins.com. Suzanne and Michael comment on it from time to time.
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I sure will…Thank you, Dr. Lloyd Stebbins
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