IIW Blog
Forgiveness & Restitution
Ok, so say my neighbor Jon borrows my car, and when he brings it back, he says, “Thanks for letting me borrow your car. I got into a little fender-bender, but I got it repaired and re-painted.” He shows where the dent was, and you can’t tell. The body-shop did a great job. He’s repented,...Read the Post→
Forgiveness & Woundedness
Forgiving someone and being healed from the wound they gave us are two different things. Say we go to the gun range together. I’m handling my weapon carelessly and accidentally shoot you in the shoulder. You can forgive me instantly, but a gunshot wound takes three or four months to heal. Suppose I see you...Read the Post→
The Blessing of Suffering
Brother Yun, a severely persecuted house church pastor in China, was talking prayer requests with Western Christians. (His story is told in the phenomenal book, The Heavenly Man. Totally recommended reading!) They said they’d earnestly pray that the Lord would end their government’s persecution of Chinese Christians. “On no, don’t pray that!” Brother Yun responded....Read the Post→
Dependence vs Responsibility
So much truth in the Word of God consists of two opposite truths that hold each other in tension. They may even appear to conflict at first, but they really don’t conflict with each other – they complete each other. One brings balance to the other and vice versa. We’re going to talk about one...Read the Post→
Getting to Point B
Sometimes we approach our healing as a destination rather than as a process. “If I can only get from Point A to Point B, my life’ll be fixed!” Point B might be a valid goal: “Fix my marriage.” “Stop my addiction.” “Not be depressed anymore.” “Control my anger.” “Have a good relationship with my spouse,...Read the Post→
The Vows of Victimhood
Bob had a business meeting in Boston, and decided to drive instead of fly from his home in Washington, DC. His wife, Barb, called him to see how the road trip was going. Barb: How’s the road trip going, Honey? Where are you? Bob: I’m in Raleigh, North Carolina. Barb: Honey, you’re going the wrong...Read the Post→
The Love of the Father
Our world is starved for love and intimacy. We are made for love – to give and receive love. In the beginning God walked in the garden with man (and woman) in the cool of the day. It is the Father’s heart to spend time with us and to commune. We don’t have to look...Read the Post→
Loving Accountability
Does not judging mean I have to tolerate abuse or evil behavior against me? The perps would like us to think so. Abusers try to pervert the whole “don’t judge” principle to their unholy advantage. So let’s get this sorted out and bring some balance here. Judging, accountability, and our emotions are all totally independent...Read the Post→
Becoming What We Hated
We become what we judge. When I first heard this, I took some convincing. But they showed it to me in the Word of God: Romans 2:1 says, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass...Read the Post→
God’s Return
What does “don’t judge or you’ll be judged” mean? (Matthew 7:1) It means we will be judged in the same way that we judge others. This is an example of sowing and reaping that we talked about in the last post. And this is really cool, because we can set ourselves up for blessing (or...Read the Post→