In my early years as a young minister, my prayer was to be a good husband, a good father, and a good minister. I made plenty of mistakes, but I knew my identity.   A lot of controversy has surrounded identity in recent years. For you and me, there is an identity we have as... Continue Reading

Whatever battle the Lord has placed before you today, he has done so to show his strength through you. Whatever battle you are facing is no match for the voice of the Lord. Whether your struggle is long or short, fierce or simmering, external or internal, the Lord sits as king forever (v. 8).  ... Continue Reading

When emotion rules, then stands for truth – if they cut against someone’s emotions – are seen as attacks on them as persons. We conflate relational acceptance with moral affirmation. If I do not affirm something as true or moral, then it is seen as relational rejection. Or worse, bigotry and prejudice. Or hate.  ... Continue Reading

Some of you are carrying on like Christmas is a storybook. You are breathing the same air He once did and pretending He never came. You need to stop. Today. That is not just foolishness. It is sin. Others are searching. Something flickers behind your ribs when you hear His name. You’re drawn, even if... Continue Reading

Responding to worry with prayer is an act of faith. We don’t inform God of new developments in our lives,; we entrust ourselves to the one who not only knows our future but promises to work all things for our good and his glory (Rom 8:28).   I’ve noticed a pattern in prayer requests. They... Continue Reading

“…whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13. Living water is moving water. It doesn’t lie still and wait to be drawn. A spring bubbles. But in Jesus’s analogy, it does far... Continue Reading

The Word says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), even though we were created in his image (Genesis 9:6). But the Word also says that God loved us so much that he gave his only Son as a sacrifice for our wrongs and rebellion against him, so... Continue Reading

The best way to address today’s questions is with an awareness of where we’ve been. Anyone seeking to address the debates today would do well to root themselves deeply in the best of sources the tradition has to offer.   I recently discovered that my classroom arrivals have become something of an urban legend. I... Continue Reading

Tozer said we should pay no attention to a man who pays no attention to God. Wise advice. And wise is the man who lives his life praying, who maintains unceasing communion with the God-Who-Made-Him-and-Knows-All.   All men are different in multiple ways. But there is a foundational difference between a man of this world... Continue Reading

One cannot read the divines’ chapters on adoption, sanctification, saving faith, repentance unto life, good works, perseverance, and assurance of grace and salvation (chs. 12–18) without noting the deeply practical and pastoral ways in which the doctrinal truths of Scripture have a bearing on the lives of God’s people.   Throughout the twentieth century, it... Continue Reading