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Dana Rongione 07/03/2024 Dana Rongione 07/03/2024

Losing Our Edge

Did you know a dull knife can be more dangerous than a sharp one? It's true! Without that razor edge, you apply more pressure and risk slipping as the blade catches. Who knew?

Similarly, spiritually dull Christians pose hazards, too, often without realizing it. Now, I'm not suggesting we go around stabbing people with convictions, but lukewarm faith does subtle damage.

When passion cools and vision blurs, we drift along numbly. Rather than piercing darkness, our words and witness lose edge. We fear ruffling feathers with truth. But Proverbs 27:6 says, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend,” meaning caring rebuke holds more value than mute passivity.

Dana Rongione 29/01/2024 Dana Rongione 29/01/2024

Lukewarm Faith

As you can see, Jesus had nothing good to say about the church of the Laodiceans. Even the way he addressed the letter showed his disapproval. With every other church, their letters were addressed to the "church of [insert city]" or "the church in [insert city]." This time, the letter was addressed to the church of the Laodiceans. In other words, the church of the people. The Lord recognized how the people there viewed the church as "theirs" rather than "God's". No wonder this church made Him sick!

That being said, can you imagine Jesus saying He wants to spit you out of His mouth? That's some tough love right there! But the Laodicean church was just going through the motions. They showed up on Sundays but had no passion or zeal for God. Their faith was like a cup of tea that's been sitting out too long—not hot enough to be soothing and not cold enough to be refreshing. In a word, yuck!

Dana Rongione 22/01/2024 Dana Rongione 22/01/2024

Complacency Kills

The letter to the church in Sardis starts with Jesus introducing Himself as the one with the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. This shows He's got it all—complete fullness of the Spirit and authority over the church. But unfortunately, the believers in Sardis didn't reflect those same characteristics. Despite having an excellent reputation among other churches, they were just faking it on the outside. In reality, Jesus called them out for being spiritually dead, much like he did with the religious leaders of Israel when he commented, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27)

Dana Rongione 18/01/2024 Dana Rongione 18/01/2024

Holding Fast

Jesus introduces His message to Thyatira with imagery of blazing eyes and burnished bronze feet, representing divine judgment. Despite this sobering opening, He commends them for their outstanding spiritual growth and abundant works of love, faith, and perseverance.

However, a severe problem threatened their progress. Jesus rebukes Thyatira for tolerating false teachings from a woman, “Jezebel”, who encouraged immorality and idolatry. Though she called herself a prophetess, her doctrines came straight from Satan. Tragically, her deception had corrupted some believers.

This grave spiritual and moral compromise stirred Jesus to warn of impending judgment striking Thyatira unless they repented. Those misled by this false prophetess had been given time to turn from her wickedness, confirming God's patience toward sinners. But they refused, and judgment inevitably follows unrepentant sin.

Dana Rongione 15/01/2024 Dana Rongione 15/01/2024

Taking Sin Seriously

Jesus introduces His message to Pergamos by reminding them of the sharp two-edged sword proceeding from His mouth. This symbolises the Word of God that will soon cut to their hearts concerning compromise in their midst.

The city of Pergamos was an epicentre of pagan idolatry and immorality. Yet Jesus commends the believers there for clinging to His name despite persecution. For the most part, they had resisted the rampant evil around them.

However, Jesus takes issue with Pergamos' tolerance of sin within its walls. Some members dabbled in idolatry and sexual immorality. These wayward sheep should have been confronted and corrected for their own good. But instead, they remained unchallenged as part of the flock, to its detriment.

Dana Rongione 31/05/2023 Dana Rongione 31/05/2023

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

Some days I want to withdraw from social media altogether. One would think my aversion and distress would be due to worldly influences, and while there is a degree of that, my current frustration with social media lies primarily with Christians using it to attack one another. What’s up with that?

Like most things in life, social media has the potential for both good and evil.

Dana Rongione 17/05/2023 Dana Rongione 17/05/2023

Hope for the Heavy Heart

Some of you have probably wondered where I’ve been and why I haven’t been writing. It’s quite a long story, so let me sum it up the best I can. In the past three weeks, our entire ministry team has been sick with the flu. Tennille and I finished preparing for and hosted the annual ladies’ retreat with nearly 60 ladies in attendance for the week. Jason celebrated his birthday. And we’ve been finding and setting up a new sponsorship in Wales after finding out that the church hosting us was told they no longer qualified. Yes, due to some weird changes in the wording of the laws regarding sponsorship, our sponsorship was revoked, making our visas invalid.

Dana Rongione 25/04/2023 Dana Rongione 25/04/2023

Don’t Fall For Satan’s Lies

Today’s video is an excerpt from my Wilderness Wanderings Series from several years ago. If you want to get the full context of the story, I encourage you to read Numbers 22-25. The focus today, as the title states, is to remind us to beware of Satan’s attempts to deceive us. I hope it will be a blessing to you.

Dana Rongione 11/04/2023 Dana Rongione 11/04/2023

What Were You Thinking?

During my devotion time this morning, I had an “aha” moment while reading another familiar passage. I’ve been making it a practice to stop and think about every word in each verse instead of just getting the gist of the verse. This has opened my eyes to many things, and this morning was no different.

Do all things without murmurings and disputings: - Philippians 2:14

In the past, when I read this verse, I summed it up like this: do everything without complaining—a command which is far more difficult to obey than it appears at first glance. However, as I broke the verse down into individual words this morning, I had to ask, What’s the difference between murmuring and disputing?

Dana Rongione 04/04/2023 Dana Rongione 04/04/2023

Tired of Playing Games

A little over a week ago, I was reading through the Lewis Carroll classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It had been so long since I had read the tale that I wanted to refresh my memory. At one point, I laughed aloud while wiping tears from my cheeks. It wasn’t that the scene was that comical but rather that I could relate so very well at that moment.

While playing croquet with the Queen of Hearts, Alice soon discovers that the game is anything but ordinary. The mallets were live flamingoes, and live hedgehogs served as the croquet balls. The card soldiers bent backward to form the arches through which the balls could roll. The problems with this setup were many.

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Dana Rongione