Your Best Self Asks for Help
If you have been around the Life Model for a while, you have probably come across the maturity charts. One aspect of child level maturity is learning to ask for what you need. Just that idea alone brings up all types of different reactions in each of us. Everyone has different thoughts, questions, arguments, fears […]
Resources for Creating Transformational Small Groups
(Part 10 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Having explained the practices, pitfalls, and perils of talking things through to find “peace,” let’s turn our attention to resources that can help. These materials encourage the development […]
Finding Identity and Transformation by Seeking Things Above
(Part 9 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Followers of Jesus are in the process of being transformed into the image of Jesus. We are born into an entirely new identity from the moment we receive […]
Grace as a Foundation for Peace in Your Small Group
(Part 8 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri The word grace was around for hundreds of years before Paul used it in his epistles. Grace is a relational term that implies an ongoing, mutual connection between […]
Breaking Through the Fog
(Part 7 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Looking back over the previous blogs, it is clear we have been misapplying what the Bible says. In a sense, we have been creating fog around the topic. […]
The Shortcomings of Denying Wounds to Fake Peace and Building Community According to the Flesh
(Part 6 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Hurt and wounding is destructive. Such experiences fester within us. That is why it is blatant stupidity to deny or try to toss away wounds by claiming they […]
Shortcomings of Enveloping Our Identities in Sticky Sin to Build Spiritual Community
(Part 5 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Our perception of reality is skewed by all the wounds and hurts we experience — whether they result from our sin or someone else’s. Throughout every life, Satan […]
Sharing Wounds and Pain to Develop Attachment and Intimacy
(Part 4 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Getting to know each other by talking things through is often used in Christian circles to form spiritual community. We get to know each other by discussing as […]
The Shortcomings of Trying to Talk our Way Back to Peace
By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri (Part 3 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) God sees through heaven’s eyes — an infallibly gracious perspective. Until you and I are with Him, our objective is to cultivate peace in our lives by sowing […]
How We Are Escaping Enemy Mode In Our Marriage
By Ray and Deborah Woolridge When have you had an enemy mode conversation with someone you love? How does it feel to you? How does it make them feel? As a couple married 36+ years, enemy mode feels like falling down a cliff. Falling into enemy mode is much easier than climbing out of it. […]
Vision and Leadership
by Ed Khouri “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”-Proverbs 29:18 I often hear this verse misquoted to explain the importance of articulating a clear and compellingvision for people to follow. Immature leaders with vibrant, personal charisma are especially at risk ofmisusing this verse. Viewed in context, the original word translated as vision refers […]
Enhancing Our Faces
By Michael Sullivant “As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” Proverbs 27:17 NKJV. Practicing the Life Model has much to do with the importance of faces … God’s face, the face of Immanuel, other’s faces, and our own face as well. God has given us, even in infancy, the […]