Why Believing and Abiding Is the Key to the Happy Life [Encore Podcast]

07/26/22 • -1 min

Podcast: Light on Life Season Nine Episode Thirty

Missionary pioneer J. Hudson Taylor of China was working and worrying so frantically that his health was about to break. Just when his friends feared he was near a breakdown, Taylor received a letter from fellow missionary John McCarthy that told of a discovery McCarthy had made from John 15—the joy of abiding in Christ. McCarthy’s letter said in part: Abiding, not striving nor struggling, looking off unto Him, trusting Him for present power ... this is not new, and yet ’tis new to me.... Christ literally all seems to me now the power, the only power for service; the only ground for unchanging joy. As Hudson Taylor read this letter at his mission station in Chin-kiang on Saturday, September 4, 1869, his own eyes were opened. “As I read,” he recalled, “I saw it all. I looked to Jesus, and when I saw, oh how the joy flowed!”

Writing to his sister in England, he said: As to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult; but the weight and strain are all gone. The last month or more has been perhaps the happiest of my life, and I long to tell you a little of what the Lord has done for my soul.... When the agony of soul was at its height, a sentence in a letter from dear McCarthy was used to remove the scales from my eyes, and the Spirit of God revealed the truth of our oneness with Jesus as I had never known it before. Believing and abiding is the key to a happy life. That’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.¹

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What Are Fruitful and Unfruitful Places with God?

The word ‘abide’ is also a favorite word of John. He uses this word forty times in his gospel.
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Why Believing and Abiding Is the Key to the Happy Life [Encore Podcast] Why Believing and Abiding Is the Key to the Happy Life Why the Jesus Way Means Total Trust All the Time

Podcast: Light on Life Season Nine Episode Thirty

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download | Subscribe in iTunes

What Are Fruitful and Unfruitful Places with God?

The word ‘abide’ is also a favorite word of John. He uses this word forty times in his gospel.
Click To Tweet

The post Why Believing and Abiding Is the Key to the Happy Life [Encore Podcast] appeared first on emeryhorvath.com.

Why Believing and Abiding Is the Key to the Happy Life [Encore Podcast] Why Believing and Abiding Is the Key to the Happy Life Why the Jesus Way Means Total Trust All the Time

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Why Hardheartedness is Not Part of the Abundant Life of Jesus

Podcast: Light on Life Season 9 Episode 29

Hardheartedness is what we are focusing on in today’s episode. You know that’s not part of the Abundant Life or the High Life that Jesus references. The Abundant Life is the will of God for your life. In a classic “Peanuts” comic strip, Charlie Brown goes to Lucy for psychiatric help. He says, “What can you do when you don’t fit in? What can you do when life seems to be passing you by?” Lucy leads Charlie away from her booth and says, “Follow me. I want to show you something. See the horizon over there? See how big this world is? See how much room there is for everybody? Have you ever seen any other worlds?” Charlie replies meekly, “No.” She continues, “As far as you know, this is the only world there is...Right?” Even more meekly, Charlie says, “Right.” Lucy pressed on, “There are no other worlds for you to live in...Right?” Charlie admits, “Right.” “You were born to live in this world...Right?” “Right,” says Charlie. Lucy then explodes, “Well, live in it then! Five cents, please.” While we may disagree with Lucy’s counseling technique, we recognize she is on to something. We need to make the most of our lives and really live.¹ The point is well taken. If you choose to live the Christian life, then live the abundant life found only in Jesus. Why Hardheartedness Is Not Part of the Abundant Life of Jesus. We’re going to take a look at it on this week’s Light on Life.

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When Is It Right to Fight?

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More of Why the Dark Life Is Not the High Life in God Why Callousness and Sensuality Are Not Part of the Abundant Life of Jesus Why It’s Vital to See Yourself as God’s High Powered Creative Workmanship

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Why Callousness and Sensuality Are Not Part of the Abundant Life of Jesus

Podcast: Light on Life Season Nine Episode Thirty-One

Callousness in the spiritual life, what is it? Sensuality? Why is it deadly? According to God, in Ephesians four, these are two traits that are not to be named among Jesus followers. These two traits are part of the life you used to live and not the abundant life you should be that Jesus gave us. Oscar Wilde rose to become the toast of London, appreciated not only for his plays, Lady Windemere’s Fan, The Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest, and his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, but for his grace, wit, and charm. And then, at the height of his success, his star fell. On trial at the Old Bailey, he was convicted of indecent behavior and sentenced to two years of hard labor, which ultimately broke his spirit and heart¹ In one of his last two books, he wrote the following. “The gods had given me almost everything. But I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless and sensual ease...Tired of being on the heights, I deliberately went to the depths in search for new sensation. What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion. I grew careless of the lives of others. I took pleasure where it pleased me and passed on. I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character and that, therefore, what one has done in the secret chamber, one has some day to cry aloud from the housetop. I ceased to be lord over myself. I was no longer the captain of my soul and did not know it. I allowed pleasure to dominate me. I ended in horrible disgrace.² Oscar Wilde fell from the graces of his success because he gave into sensuality. Why Sensuality is Not Part of the Abundant Life of Jesus that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.