Blogs

Cathy Kawar is a CLU student in Jordan. She is taking our Prayers that Heal the Heart training module which includes journaling questions for each area of your life. She has permitted me to blog about her five days of journaling concerning “The dreams God has for her.” As you read, allow God’s amazing love to touch your heart. Journal about these five questions and receive His wonderful counsel. Let your heart be inflamed with His faith, hope, and love.

Do you know that you are a child of God? What effect does this knowledge have on you? An identity crisis is a serious foundational problem, but how many people do you meet who really know who they are? A foundational sense of being goes beyond nationality, church, family, education, wealth and all the other markers that people normally identify with. It should neither inflate nor depress you, but give you a sense of stability. This knowledge that you are connected to eternity and divinity should give you the courage and confidence you need to face a future that is otherwise uncertain.

Is it more important to you to get paid for your work or to do something worthwhile? It would be desirable to have both, and economic necessity may force you to take paid employment that you don’t find to be satisfying. If you are independently wealthy then you can be selective in the work you choose. Everyone needs money, but everyone also needs to feel that their life and efforts are making a difference. You are fortunate if you can satisfy both of these requirements with the same activity.

I enjoy reading the life stories of leaders and asking, “God, what would You have me take away from this person's story?” I recently read books on the life stories of Elon Musk and Einstein (both written by Walter Isaacson), and Trump (written by Trump).

What does your church teach you? Do you receive instruction in the Bible and in prayer? What else? Does your church teach you how to deal with a faith crisis? This is rare, more so than faith crises are, so people who experience them are normally left to deal with them on their own. A faith crisis can be an opportunity for growth and development, but it is helpful to have considered the matter before you are in the midst of it. Do you double down on all your original positions? Do you examine them for revision? You don’t have to assume that you got everything right at the first.

I received this question from one of our Christian Leadership University students who is completing his master's degree.

Are you familiar with the stories about the Road to Emmaus and the Road to Damascus? These dramatic encounters with me took place on a journey from one place to another. Neither was scripted in advance. In this way they had much in common and they were still very different. Have you had an encounter with me that fits either profile? You could have an unexpected encounter with me of a different variety altogether. Is this the characteristic of a believer, or is that more doctrinal? These encounters are transformative. You can’t arrange them but you can be open to them.

The New Testament speaks much about freedom. You are to stand fast in the liberty in which I have made you free, and whom the Son sets free is free indeed. If you continue in my word you will know the truth and be free. What does freedom mean to you? Having enough guns to defeat any tyrant or oppressor? But these passages were written in an occupied country and nothing in the context suggests a political uprising. Then what dimensions of freedom do these passages refer to? Do you know anyone in a state of internal bondage? Can anything more severe be imposed from without?

Craig shares the meditation below as he prayerfully reflects on “History 2 – Divided Kingdom” in our “Old Testament Scholar" series of modules.