Tag: Melissa Kruger

Links for the Weekend (1/29/2021)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

4 Misconceptions about Contentment

It is difficult to grow in contentment if we have the wrong idea of what it is. Melissa Kruger writes to correct some of our misconceptions about contentment.

Contentment does not mean that we are free from desires, longings, or heart-wrenching circumstances. If you are hurting or someone you love needs healing, cry out to God in prayer. Contentment isn’t apathy or a sort of “grin and bear it” mentality. We can seek solutions and help in our trials. We can tell others we are suffering. Crying out to God for relief is not in opposition to contentment.

An Open Letter to a Sinner

How do we fight against strong temptations when the battle has raged on so long? Mike Emlet helps us understand in this article.

I see that you are at a true crossroads. You’re getting weary and discouraged, fighting against desires that threaten to take you far afield of God’s design for your life. But it’s more than that. I heard notes of cynicism as you spoke. You’re entertaining voices that say, “God wants me to be happy, not miserable” or “It shouldn’t be this hard” or “What’s the point of these oppressive rules?” Increasingly, obedience seems pointless to you. You’re thinking, “Why not give in and give up, once and for all?”

Foundations Podcast with Ruth & Troy

Here is a podcast suitable for the whole family. Using Scripture, hosts Ruth and Troy Simons talk through 12 key truths (one for each episode) to connect all family members’ hearts to God. This might make a good choice for your next round of family devotions.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article by Erica Goehring called Work as for the Lord. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Thanks to Maggie A for her help in rounding up links this week.

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (6/26/2020)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

It’s the End of the World as We Know It

Keith Mathison reflects on what the behavior of Christians during crises communicates to the unbelieving world. Will we wring our hands in panic, or will we trust the Lord, who controls all things?

Christians need to be encouraged by what God has revealed to us in Scripture, and that is the fact that the enemy simply cannot win and will not win – even if he kills us. Re-read Revelation 20–22 if necessary. The enemy is already on death row. His judgment is sure. Whatever happens here and now, however difficult it may be to experience, is part of God’s sovereign plan that ultimately ends with the final judgment of the enemy and our inheritance of a new heavens and new earth where we will be face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ forever.

Let’s Talk: Battling Discontentment

The Gospel Coalition has launched a limited-run podcast for women featuring discussions between Jasmine Holmes, Melissa Kruger, and Jackie Hill Perry. Check out this episode on contentment.

Be an Intentional Encourager

This is a helpful meditation on Hebrews 10:24 by Cindy Matson. She views the verse in the context of the book, and gives attention to each of the author’s commands. I commend this teaching on encouragement.

However, in another sense, I am responsible, particularly for the brothers and sisters in my local church. I am accountable to them. I am obligated to intentionally find ways to give them reasons to love God, their neighbor, and their enemy; and to do good deeds. The writer of Hebrews tells us that this doesn’t happen by accident. If I don’t carefully consider how I’m going to do it (and of course then do it), I’ll never get around to it. Rarely, do we accidentally stumble into godliness.

Thanks to Maggie A for her help in rounding up links this week!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (3/1/2019)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

When God Says ‘No’

Melissa Kruger helps us think about why God seems not to hear us, or why he seems not to care, when he doesn’t answer our prayers the way we want.

I’ve seen the Lord teach me these very lessons by withholding the things I wanted so much. And, yet, when a new “no” is given, I stumble around in the darkness of my understanding, wondering again what the Lord is doing and why he withholds the yes I believe I so desperately need. It’s tempting to believe the lie that a yes from God confirms his blessing, while a no is a form of punishment or heavenly disapproval. Or perhaps, we wonder, does God even hear our desperate cries?

Is Your Smartphone Making You Unhappy?

At The Good Book Company’s blog, Emily Robertson writes about contentment and the comparisons we tend to make when using (and over-using) our phones. An article like this could read like a ten-minute scold, but Robertson points us to Christ and leaves us with hope instead. I appreciate that!

Comparison is not a modern phenomenon. (The phrase, “all comparisons are odious” was recorded as early as the 15th century. And you don’t have to read very far into the Bible to see the destructive outworkings of envy.) But, arguably, this age-old struggle has been intensified in the 21st century by the rise of personal technology and social media.

Your Fight Against Sin Is Normal

Brian Hedges offers hope for saints who are weary in their fight against sin: the conflict is normal, the battle is winnable, and the war is coming to an end.

Athletes speak of hitting the wall when they experience extreme exhaustion due to depleted reserves of glycogen in the liver and muscles. Many believers feel similar spiritually. If you find yourself in an ongoing cycle of three steps forward, two steps back; if your prayers, resolutions, and frustrated attempts at mortification still leave you struggling with the same old sins; if you are weary in the race set before you and feel ready to quit, you’ve hit the wall.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published Sarah Wisniewski’s article, God Is in the Fish. Check it out!

Thanks to Maggie A for helping me round up articles this week!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here.