Soul Shepherding’s Sabbatical Guide has met a huge need. In its first year it was accessed over 10,000 times! We’re thankful that pastors and leaders like you have found this resource and then passed it along to your staff or colleagues, whether in church, Christian education, or nonprofit ministries. It is our hope at Soul Shepherding…
You may think of Lent as hard, somber, or only for Catholics, but more and more Christ-followers are finding it a blessing. But my experience is that Lent is like the easy yoke of Jesus: It’s hard to get into it, but once you do you discover it to be the best life! Lent starts with…
I imagine you’ve had to let go of something precious and it hurt to do it. Maybe you’re feeling that now. Let me tell you a story about a time that God called me to follow in Abraham’s footsteps and sacrifice something precious. (Genesis 22:1-19) By the age of thirty I’d written three books with…
Try this simple, inspiring discipline to live with the cross of Christ and empty tomb in your mind. It helps us turn from sin to Jesus. It’s great for Lent.
How do you respond when a family member speaks harshly to you? When you’re publicly criticized or slandered? When you’re vandalized or abused? Often it’s people we love or those we serve who mistreat us. We all suffer in these ways, especially pastors and others who serve the Lord in ministry. How are we to…
Readers of our Soul Shepherding Devotionals will know that being unhurried with Jesus is a theme I often write about. That’s because hurry is such a problem for many of us. So I was thankful to have Alan Fadling, a friend and colleague of mine, give a talk for a group of pastors and leaders on his new book, An Unhurried Life: Following Jesus’ Rhythms of Work and Rest. Here are my notes.
Planning to Be More Like Jesus Jesus lived in the Easy Yoke he offers us. He didn’t push, press, or strain. He didn’t try to make things happen, but lived in submission to the Father. He was never in a hurry. He didn’t worry. He was relaxed and so he had time for people and was hospitable toward…
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time” (1 Peter 5:6). I consider submission to God a discipline of abstinence because its about denying ourselves the power or privilege we want. We’re choosing not to make things happen for ourselves, not to control people or situations even…
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8). Keeping a Sabbath day is more than a discipline, it’s also one of the Ten Commandments. To keep a Sabbath is to set aside a 24-hour day in which you do no work to rest in God’s person and provision. Sabbath is a time to refrain…
While fasting Jesus said, “My food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34). Fasting as a discipline for the spiritual life is a primary discipline of abstinence or self-denial. Properly understood, Fasting is Feasting. Jesus shows us this and it’s why he taught us, “When you fast do not be…