Category: Spiritual Formation
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He Guides the Heart
Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:5 a prayer that He will guide my heart to two destinations… 1. the love of God & 2. the patience of Christ personal experiences with Him that become observable qualities in me only…
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You Can’t Have Two Altars in Your Heart
The book of Judges is an account of one of the darkest periods in the history of God’s people. Armed with His promises but weak in faith, the first generation to enter the Promised Land convinced themselves it was too hard to drive out the Canaanites. Defeat became a way of life. Settling down to…
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What God Starts, God Finishes
“…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6 Does the Bible really say that? I was stunned sitting in that pew on a Sunday night… and deeply moved. A few months earlier I had been sitting…
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“Pray like this…”
My Father Unseen, but always seeing me Your name… let it be deeply revered by all Your kingdom… let it come, Your ruling Presence Your will… let it be fully expressed on earth in my circumstances as it is in heaven where Your will is unopposed Today Here are my needs, I leave them all…
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When the manna stops falling…
“Then the manna ceased . . .” Joshua 5:12 “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from…
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Stones, Serpents, and Scorpions… or Life in the Spirit?
For most of my journey as a Christ-follower, I have repeatedly asked the questions, “How does God change a man?” and “Am I changing?” Consequently, I am—at best—a student of what happens to someone in the Presence of God. No experts here—so I pen these words with a continual readiness to be corrected and better…
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Transformation as an Expression of the Kingdom of God
“You can build a great church or you can build a great people. I’m not sure you can do both.” The older pastor looked at me steadily as his words settled into my thoughts. Hyperbole to make a point? Perhaps, but his point was well-taken. Now, decades later, I recognize how easy it is for…