Category: Spiritual Formation
-
Love Comes First
Most churches discover the depth of their love for one another only when conflict demands it. By then, it is almost too late. When a church is fighting among themselves, the last thing anyone is thinking about is “loving one another” (John 13:34-35). We are more preoccupied with destroying one another. But Jesus commanded His…
-
Discipleship as Spiritual Parenting
One of my “fathers in the Lord” used to say that every believer needs a spiritual elder, and every pastor needs a pastor. He lived that out, showing me every day that Jesus was real and that He loved me with words and actions that continue to color my walk with the Lord to this…
-
A Brief Apologetic for Doing Life Together
While you have begun meeting again as a church, there are dear ones staying at home… they don’t believe that there is a need for them to be physically present when the church gathers. They argue that their relationship with God is “private” and no one else’s business. But we know that the gathered church…
-
Escape from Exceptionalism
Does God love me? Have you ever asked yourself that question? I have. Some will find that odd because I have been speaking and serving in churches since I was seventeen. You would think that someone who has spent so much time in ministry would not struggle with believing God loves Him. But I have.…
-
Eleven Days or Forty Years?
Can it take 40 years to complete an 11-day journey? It will when any people refuses to trust God. The result is that forward movement towards spiritual maturity gives way to a wandering, aimless existence. “It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. Now it came to pass…
-
The Walk
1. It is waiting on the Lord who renews and sustains me (Psalm 103:5, Isaiah 40:31). 2. It is a walk He sustains (Psalm. 63:8). 3. It is a walk that originated in the Garden and was damaged and destroyed by sin. Man no longer naturally longs to walk with God. Man would rather wander…
-
The Way
I cannot ascend spiritual mountains on man-made trails. I cannot achieve Holy Spirit objectives with plans conceived by a human heart. I cannot advance against a supernatural enemy while confined within the thick walls of science or superstition. I cannot live if only death waits for me at every exit. But there is a way…
-
Insight: John Newton on Seeking God
Every Christian is on a journey to know God more fully (John 17:3)… but rarely does anyone explain that the path is not an easy one nor is it well-populated. It can be strange and disorienting, especially as you look around and it seems no one else is travelling with you, or that no one…
-
Insight: A.W. Tozer and the “Prayer of a Minor Prophet”
Aiden Wilson Tozer was 23 years old when he was called to pastor a new church in Clarksburg, West Virginia. On August 18, 1920 at a campground a few miles outside Cleveland, Ohio, leaders of the Christian and Missionary Alliance scheduled an ordination service. After the formal ceremony and laying on of hands, Tozer was…