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Our lives today are cluttered and crowded. The list of responsibilities that we feel we must accomplish grows overnight like Jack’s beanstalk! We keep taking on more and more until before we know it we are bowed down with burdens, panting through a never-ending program of projects to complete, people to meet, and places to…
Learning to discern God’s voice is vital to our life and ministry. But hearing God speak is not like using a vending machine! It’s part of growing in a conversational relationship with him. All relationships have natural ebbs and flows. In our most important relationships we probably experience times of enjoying intimacy and times of…
It seems like everyday I talk with someone who needs to hear God’s voice. “How do I help my family in this situation?” people ask. Students and others in career transition pray, “Lord, are you calling me into ministry?” In the course of our lives we need to make choices about marriage, job, where to…
We long for soul talk with a friend that helps us experience God’s presence. You can facilitate these life-giving spiritual conversations. I’ve been doing this for many years, not only in my ministry as a Psychologist and Spiritual Director, but also in my marriage and friendships. I love to elevate conversations into experiences of soul…
“Gospel” means, “Good news!” Does the gospel you believe bring good news for the life you’re actually living today? Jesus’ Gospel is the best news but few people today really understand it. For many Christians their good news is waiting for them in heaven when they die and in the meantime they’re just holding on. They’re…
All true Christians and many other people from a great variety of religions and cultures would say that they want to be like Jesus. But most people don’t make much progress. Why? How does someone love God and other people like Jesus shows us? How did Jesus become the man we see on the pages…
Eugene Peterson has been a spiritual mentor to me through his writings. Years ago in his book Working the Angles: the Shape of Pastoral Integrity I came across his penetrating words to pastors about Sabbath. I was convicted. Despite being a Christian leader for two decades I was not keeping a sabbath, other than going to…
One of our Soul Shepherding ministries is to guide pastors, pastors’ spouses, and other leaders and caregivers in the practice of solitude and silence with Jesus. Today it’s probably the most important discipline we could practice to grow in our intimacy with Jesus and our capacity to love God and other people. We call this…
Insights and Applications From The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard This Spiritual Disciplines List features some main disciplines for life in Christ with concise definitions for each. We call these “spiritual disciplines,” but the activities are physical, not spiritual. They are bodily activities that can engage and effect our whole person (Romans 12:1-2). So a more accurate…
Maybe you’ve experienced meditating on a Bible passage using the spiritual discipline of Lectio Divina. Maybe you also have a small group or a friend that you meet with for prayer. Why not combine these two practices? What a blessing it is to open God’s Word with soul friends so we can listen to the Lord together,…