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Taking Sin Seriously

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.

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Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
Spiritual Warfare, Spiritual Growth Dana Rongione Spiritual Warfare, Spiritual Growth Dana Rongione

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.

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Hope for the Heavy Heart

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 Yes, due to some weird changes in the wording of the laws regarding sponsorship, our sponsorship was revoked, making our visas invalid.

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Don’t Fall For Satan’s Lies
Deadly Darts of the Devil, Spiritual Warfare Dana Rongione Deadly Darts of the Devil, Spiritual Warfare Dana Rongione

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.

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What Were You Thinking?

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?

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Tired of Playing Games
Spiritual Warfare, weariness, Encouragement Dana Rongione Spiritual Warfare, weariness, Encouragement Dana Rongione

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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Battling Discontentment

Battling Discontentment

Last week, Jason and I were in Manchester, England, for a missionary retreat. It’s a time for several missionary families to get together and encourage one another in the Lord. There’s food, services, and of course, fellowship. All in all, it’s a wonderful event.

Before leaving, Jason and I cleaned out the refrigerator to make sure we didn’t come home to any surprises. One of the things we needed to toss out was a partial loaf of bread already showing signs of molding. (In this damp environment, bread products do NOT last long.).

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The Formula for Productive Prayers
prayer, Spiritual Warfare Dana Rongione prayer, Spiritual Warfare Dana Rongione

The Formula for Productive Prayers

In our Wednesday evening Bible study last night, we were looking at Psalm 62. Like many of the other psalms, I related to David’s ups and downs as he worked through this prayer song. I also recognized trends in my own prayer life that made me smile and helped me see what a productive prayer time should look like (plus or minus a few elements). Let’s walk through it together.

Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. - Psalm 62:1-2

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When the Enemy Won’t Quit

When the Enemy Won’t Quit

Yesterday was our weekly hike date, but it was a bit unusual. We had a couple of light snowfalls over the previous weekend, and the temperatures had remained sub-freezing all week. That being the case, there was still some snow and ice dotting the landscape around us, but we knew the surrounding areas weren’t bad at all.

Unfortunately, the area we had planned to hike had gotten considerably more snow than we had. The winding roads were white and icy, and when we arrived at our destination, we discovered the trails were buried under at least three inches of snow.

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For a Season
Spiritual Warfare Dana Rongione Spiritual Warfare Dana Rongione

For a Season

Do you ever grow weary of fighting the same battles? Facing the same temptations? Slaying the same giants? I don’t know about you, but some days I wonder what I’m doing wrong. I’ve heard testimonies of people who have recovered from addictions or were brought out of some deep sin and now testify that since being saved, they’ve never even wanted to return to their old ways. They’ve never been tempted to take another drink, inhale another drug, or participate in another affair.

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