What do the choices of your life say about what you believe? Observe your word choices. Observe your tone of voice, your body language, your spending habits, your food intake, your time alone, your media habits, your clothing. We make loads and loads of choices every day. Those choices are writing your biography. And notContinue reading “Three actions that Christians should be known for – 1 Thessalonians 5:5-11, Part 3”
Tag Archives: armor of God
Resources for learning how to …Pray in the Spirit, Part 5
This week we have been learning what it means to pray in the Spirit. There are some helpful resources I would recommend. For the beginning of the day: The Daily Prayer services in the Book of Common Prayer. For the end of the day: St. Ignatius’ Prayer of Examen. It has five steps. There areContinue reading “Resources for learning how to …Pray in the Spirit, Part 5”
What to do when praying seems difficult or impossible – Praying in the Spirit, Part 4
When my wife and I are sitting on the sofa in the evening, and she is talking, I will admit to you that sometimes I fall asleep. Not good. She is gracious. Not necessarily happy about it. But gracious. I will also admit to you that when I practice meditative prayer, gazing on the beautyContinue reading “What to do when praying seems difficult or impossible – Praying in the Spirit, Part 4”
How to have two-way communication with God – Praying in the Spirit, Part 3
More than praying through lists, we were built to commune with God. He doesn’t want us to be like the spouse that just gives him a to-do list (as I mentioned in this post). God created us for communication, for a two-way relational conversation, not just with other humans, but also with him. He createdContinue reading “How to have two-way communication with God – Praying in the Spirit, Part 3”
What I learned in a prayer class about…Praying in the Spirit, Part 3
In my sophomore year of Bible college I took a class on Prayer, and we had to pray for 30 minutes every day. 30 minutes! That sounded impossibly long. My history with prayer as a child and teenager, for the most part was those 5 minute or shorter prayer sessions, where I did all theContinue reading “What I learned in a prayer class about…Praying in the Spirit, Part 3”
To-Do Lists and…Praying in the Spirit, Part 1
There was a husband and wife who were having marital difficulties. One of the spouses would wake up in the morning, lean over to their spouse and start listing what they wanted the spouse to do that day. The list wouldn’t take long to recite. Maybe five minutes at most. Some days less. Some daysContinue reading “To-Do Lists and…Praying in the Spirit, Part 1”
Why I don’t like the phrase “Prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us” – Praying in the Spirit, Preview
Have you ever heard that phrase, “Prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us”? Frankly, I don’t like that quote. Well, to be precise, I don’t think the quote is nuanced enough. The quote is attributed to Danish Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), whose work I generally appreciate, that is, when I understand it, which isContinue reading “Why I don’t like the phrase “Prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us” – Praying in the Spirit, Preview”
You can have victory over temptation – Sword of the Spirit, Part 5
I started this week talking about Tolstoy’s short story, How Much Land Does a Man Need. Read that post here. The main character of the story, Pahom, is hiking around land for sale. As he hikes, he stakes out the land. He has from sunup till sundown to make it back to his starting stake,Continue reading “You can have victory over temptation – Sword of the Spirit, Part 5”
How to use scripture to fight temptation – Sword of the Spirit, Part 4
I believe we need to have a balanced approach to studying the Word. We need community study where we can study and discuss it together. We need Sundays where we hear the word from preachers and teachers. And we need personal study. Psalm 119:9-11, for example, says, “How can a young person stay on theContinue reading “How to use scripture to fight temptation – Sword of the Spirit, Part 4”
What we can learn from Jesus’ battle with Satan – Sword of the Spirit, Part 3
Temptations pull at me. I struggle with the empty self. It is very easy to desire a new car to replace our 2010. It often feel discontent about my car. But that car continues to get me around. It is super difficult to know when the right time is to pull the plug and getContinue reading “What we can learn from Jesus’ battle with Satan – Sword of the Spirit, Part 3”
Engaging Scripture 