These were all reader submissions. Thanks for contributing! May they deepen your faith and expand your prayer life. Presence Isaiah 54:10 “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” says the Lord who has […]
life
My 7 Favorite Free Prayer Tools
Do words fail you when you pray? Are you ever not quite sure what to say? Do you ever get distracted? I can honestly answer yes to all three, and I think I’m not the only one. Using a guide/resource when you pray doesn’t make you any less spiritual. Here are some tools that help […]
3 Steps to Praying More Powerful Prayers
I used to think that prayer was telling God what your problems were and then expecting an answer from him sometime later. You know, kind of like filing an insurance claim. I’m astounded at how much my views have changed since then. Would you like to pray more powerful prayers? When you pray, would you […]
Travel Journal: Thailand
My connecting domestic flight was delayed in the Bangkok airport. Tired and ready to be at the conference as I was, I felt the strong pull of the secluded food court. I had not gotten used to the exchange rate of US dollars to Thai baht, so I didn’t realize until I was signing the […]
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Why You Don’t Pray: 4 Truths You’ve Forgotten/Missed
Would you like to have a better prayer life? Do you need motivation to carve out time against your maxed-out, packed-out schedule? Here’s four scriptural reasons to keep first things first in your relationship with God. 1. It’s the most important question When the disciples of Jesus saw his miracles, they had only one question. […]
Process through Your Heartache WITH God: 4 Steps
What do you do when life knocks the breath out of you? How do you handle heartache and discouragement? I’ve dealt with low-level chronic pain for more than a decade. Rather than ignoring the pain, do what I learned. Process through the pain with God. 1. Tantrum – This first step may surprise you. Whether […]
My Infatuation with Miss Mystery
“What I think you really want is God,” my friend said to me. What a slap in the face. No, I want the girl! The protest nearly made it out of my mouth, but I caught it when it was still in the back of my throat. Surprised at me? I wasn’t talking about my […]
What My Church Never Told Me (Cont.)
In college, I got a group of friends around me that were like me in that they believed in Jesus, but they were different in some surprising ways. They talked about relationship with God in a different way than I’d ever considered. For them, the Christian walk was not so much about getting from spiritual […]
What My Church Never Told Me
Walking to the edge of our theology, the farthest reach of what we understand of God, is like getting waist deep in the ocean that goes on as far as the eye can see. I was raised in a church culture that did not value mystery. In it, the most important thing about life was […]
The 1 Thing that’s Missing in your Christian Life
The flea market is often where you find the most spiritual people. For many years, my cousin’s father sold collectors’ knives at the local market. I remember going with Kyle to visit his dad’s stand one time. We leisurely wandered around looking at all of the lights, wall decorations, used furniture, antique stoves, classic video […]
Hosted Amongst the Tribesmen: a Descriptive, if not Humorous, Anecdotal Recollection (Part Four)
– I wish you could be standing here with me right now. I’m far outside any signal that my cell phone could pick up, where a dirt opening before me stretches with a few trees, and then behind me lies a community of manyattas. This particular community is called Tubcha 3, where we don’t know […]
Hosted Amongst the Tribesmen: a Descriptive, if not Humorous, Anecdotal Recollection (Part Two)
– I didn’t think we were risking our lives bringing the seemingly unknown stranger atop our vehicle. There’s such a honor culture here that we knew he legitimately just wanted a lift. The people in East Africa are quite friendly and content it as a whole, and the tribal individuals in this area especially so. […]