14 Ways to Sabotage Your Prayer Life

1. Pray only when you feel like it.  Disregard any fanatic ideas of praying “day and night” or “without ceasing.”
2. Try to impress God with pious prayer performances so that you can win max­imum spiritual credit.
3. Pray publicly with an eye to exhibiting your “spiritual maturity” for others to admire.
4. Let your prayers degenerate into mindless repetitions.  Re­cycle the same old phrases even when your mind is far away.
5. Imagine that it taxes God’s ability to meet your needs and respond in the best possible way to your prayers.
6. Convince yourself that God doesn’t really care about you and your silly little struggles and trials and tears anyhow.
7. Pretend that God doesn’t like to be bothered, and that he’s “put out” by your numerous cries and appeals.
8. View prayer as a way of putting God’s arm behind his back.
9. Demand instant results.  Dismiss the idea that God would have you persevere in prayer, or that your loving Heavenly Father might be free to answer, “No.”
10. Imagine that prayer won’t make any difference anyhow.
11. Shrink prayer by equating it with asking.  So bypass all that fluff (like praise, confession, thanksgiving) and go straight to the real thing:  your requests.
12. Reserve the worst hours of your day for prayer.  This way you can give to God what has the least value to you.
13. Think of prayer as doing God a favor.
14. Reduce prayer to a mental exercise, a sort of self-therapy to put the mind at ease, and in this way remove God from the picture entirely.  How about that, prayer without God!

Discontented Contentment

This summer has been a season of wrestling to find the wise and healthy “place” the Lord has for me—and for all his children—somewhere between chronic restlessness and sinful complacency.

On the one hand, Jesus offers us “rest”:  Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matt 11:28).  He brings peace (John 20:19, 20).  So release your anxieties into his fatherly care (Matt 6:25-34)!  Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything—that’s how we receive God’s peace that passes understanding (Phil 4:4-7).  Christians under pressure (e.g., 1 Pet 4:12) are to cast their anxieties on God since he cares for them (5:7). 

The life Christ calls you to, here and now, is one of peace, rest, and humble trust.  Anxiety breaks out in our souls when we forget who we are—and who the Lord is!  But godly contentment takes root as we lift up our eyes to the One who loves and saves and sustains and cares for us eternally (Psalm 121:1-2; 123:1-2).  Are you walking with Jesus today in an attitude of contentment?  Or is your heart being lured by the Enemy into a fretful, anxious, contentious state? 

The thing about the restless, straining, driven, overly idealistic path is that, the further you take it, the harder it is to get back.  We know we ought to “be still” (Ps 46:10), but we feed off of the ego boost that comes with all our great work and in imagining our­selves so far ahead of others, and we want more.  And more!  Yes, God is able to deliver us from this swamp—but you may lose the desire to turn to him! 

So peace, rest, calm… that’s the one hand.  On the other hand, the Bible calls us to a life of striving:  Jesus goes on in Matthew 6 to teach his disciples to “seek first God’s kingdom.”  Seek.  Paul tells his story of relentless straining and striving, pressing on, pursuing the prize (Phil 3:12-14); he portrays the life of faith in terms of diligent labor (2 Tim 2:1-7).  God says, You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart (Jer 29:13).  Lukewarm, ho-hum, blasé spirituality in the church is revolting to the Lord (Rev 3:16).

So we’re called to a restless restfulness, a discontented contentment.  That’s our paradox.  And it’s a very delicate balance:  we fallen humans easily slide into one sad propensity or the other—that is, to relax our way beyond contentment into complacency and self-serving mediocrity, OR to strive our way beyond the quest for growth in godliness so we end up as proud, straining achievers who really long to feature our own success rather than the glory of Christ.

What’s more, in some seasons of life we lose balance in an ambitious, striving direction, while in others we tip toward sloth, stifled imagination, and lost vision of earlier dreams.  In light of the fact that we oscillate like that, how can we thrive together in Christ as a church community?  For example, as a family with loved ones at different “places” along the continuum living under the same roof—strivers and resters?  Or as a church family made up of members who are in every possible position along the striving-resting spectrum?

Here are a few words of encouragement when it comes to shaping a life of discerning, humble, hopeful spirituality.  First, remem­ber that we all still have a long way to go in terms of spiritual growth.  Which is to say:  you have not “arrived,” nor is your case hopeless, nor are you too old to make new strides, nor are you too young to have grand hopes.  Settling into a life of “settling” dishonors the Lord:  he is at work in you to will and to accomplish his good pleasure (Phil 2:12-13), and his good pleasure includes your development of a healthy, humble rhythm of spiritual life that truly rests in God’s love and that also truly presses on in pursuit of Christ.

Second, be on the lookout for your own “signature sins” (to borrow a phrase from Michael Mangis’s book by the same title).  Know thyself.  Are you prone to slip into the mire of self-pity or doubt or sloth—and are those actually expressions of unbelief?  Or are you inclined to plateau and lock in to a no-change life—and is that actually a way to try and exert control and insulate yourself from life’s harsh winds and waves?  Or, in the other direction, are you prone to push and pull and strive and strain, always seeking more, never at peace, ever chasing some magnificent ideal—yet is that actually a way your heart slides into self-promotion mode while sidelining Jesus Christ?

Third, have mercy on your brothers and sisters in Christ, even if they’re driving you crazy with raging ambition or torpid sluggish­ness.  Be patient (1 Thess 5:14).  Lovingly encourage one another (Heb 3:12-13).  And bear with one another, always ready to forgive:  you must forgive, just as Christ has forgiven you (Col 3:13).

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Summer Challenges

It’s almost June now—a fine time to check and see if we’re really ready for all that summer brings.  I don’t mean ready with sun-screen or a new BBQ grill, but with spiritual resolve to grow strong in Jesus during this odd season called summertime.  Here are several challenges:

• Don’t "bail" on the church—you need your church family and they need you all year round.  Baseball is seasonal; so are garden­ing and golf and raking leaves.  But being the body of Christ isn’t seasonal.
• Don’t take a vacation from your routine spiritual practice—from reading Scripture carefully (with your own Bible, pen in hand) and responding to God’s Word through prayer.  Summer’s disruptions make it all the more crucial to stay close to Jesus.  The rest of the year our more regular schedules help us keep our bearings and stay on track:  we’re creatures of habit.  But summer throws us a curve.  So brace yourself, and make plans now so that shifting schedules don’t stifle your walk with Christ.
• Make your decisions about what to wear this summer with the good of others in mind.  Your own style preferences or whatever’s the current fashion are hardly the guiding standards.  Gals, your brothers in Christ will be grateful if you choose modesty.
• The flipside of that topic is guarding your eyes and directing your vision away from lustful gazing.  Jesus doesn’t buy excuses like “Boys will be boys” or “I couldn’t help it” (Matthew 5:27-30).  Commit your eyes to honoring the Lord (Job 31:1).
• In an article on the “Summer Mindset,” John Piper counsels all who yearn for R&R:  “Jesus Christ is refreshing.  Flight from him into Christless leisure makes the soul parched…  Don’t let sum­mer make your soul shrivel.”  This is God’s good earth.  “But it is all prelude to the real drama of heaven.  It is a foretaste of the real banquet.”  The heavenly city “has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev 21:23).  “The summer sun is a mere pointer to the sun that will be.  The glory of God.  Summer is for seeing and showing that.  Will we have eyes to see?  Do you want to have eyes to see?  Lord, let us see the light beyond the light."

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God's Work and Our Weakness

I’ve found both of the following resources to be of great help for processing the struggles of this life under the sovereign oversight of God. What’s more, both stories help believers see how it really is true that God’s grace is sufficient for us and his power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Joni Eareckson Tada's book, "A Place of Healing," is available this month for free from https://christianaudio.com/. You can download and listen at your computer or from your MP3 player. Joni herself reads the book. (Obtaining this audio book requires registering and establishing an account.)

John Knight is interviewed regarding his spiritual pilgrimage in the aftermath of the birth of his son, Paul, who was born blind and with various other serious health issues. If you want to see (or just listen to) this interview, go to http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/interviews/john-piper-interviews-john-knight-part-1?lang=en. Note that at the bottom of the video there are links to parts 2 and 3 of the interview. John Knight also blogs at http://theworksofgod.com/.

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Summer Spirituality

Click here for a great reminder to challenge and encourage all who follow Jesus Christ as we approach that annual escapade called "summer."

See also my earlier post on "Summer struggles."

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Preaching through Hebrews

This Sunday I’m beginning a sermon series on HEBREWS, “Christ Supreme.” The idea is to move through the letter from beginning to end, care­fully weighing each statement and closely tracing the line of thought, and setting out practical applications of God’s gripping truth along the way.

The Letter to the Hebrews is amazing. But one could say more: it’s complex, rich, demanding, deep, imposing, daunting … and simply breathtaking. Hebrews is like a rugged mountain peak, so the heights must be scaled with great care—and intense anticipation! Grappling with Hebrews is like standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon: it makes your legs ache with that sense of reverent wonder. The majesty of Christ is staggering! I'm praying for the Lord's all-important help in the preparation and proclamation side of things, and that he'd awaken (and re-awaken) Christ-exalting faith in the hearts of his gathered people.

By God’s help, immersion in Hebrews will rivet our eyes on Jesus Christ. At the heart of this letter is the argument and passion that Christ reigns supreme. The glory of God revealed in his Son is a treasure of matchless worth. And so, above all else, cling to Christ—or come to Christ, if you don’t yet trust him!

Hebrews is brutally realistic about the world’s appeals to turn back from the Lord and find our security in lesser “gods,” even though they can never truly satisfy our thirsty souls. But Satan will try to anesthetize you with the delirium of disinterest in Jesus and the vain hope of worldly security and the lazy attitude that quickly labels Hebrews “too difficult”: be warned.

This letter brings a no-nonsense message, confronting hypocrisy and pointing the way of authentic faith. Numerous warnings against sin and spiritual immaturity grab the reader’s attention: don’t turn back from Christ—you’ll lose everything!

Hebrews helps us understand the relationship between the testaments. How is the Old Testament valid for today’s Christian, and in what sense is it superseded by a new way of relating to God: how new is the New Covenant? Getting this right is immensely important if we intend to treat the whole Bible with respect as God’s relevant word for our day and every day.

Sound kind of heady? It is—and “hearty” too. It’s no secret that God’s Word makes demands on your mind; healthy faith calls for careful study. And among the biblical books, it may be that Hebrews leads the way in this regard! We live in a profoundly impatient culture that shuns thoughtful reflection and rushes on to action: do, do, do. What about you? Too busy to study? All that “academic” stuff not your cup of tea? I guess you’re saying you only have time for baby-bottle spirituality.

Finally, Hebrews prepares believers for the real trials and temptations that we hit along the discipleship path. Following Jesus is a joy; no other life can meet your heart’s deep longings. But following Jesus can also be hard. Perseverance is a necessary dimension of authentic faith in Christ, and in order to stand firm, God’s people need to be pulled and pushed (i.e., encouraged and warned) to cling to Christ all the way to glory. Hebrews is God’s gift to his church to do just that.

(For Goshen Baptist Church sermon audios, click here.)

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Ever Forming, Never Formed

For many years I've been working on a book about spiritual formation and the ongoing battle with sin. A book about how the Bible calls us to be holy but also states that we remain sinners. A book about being content in Christ yet not complacent with sin. And a book about this paradox of authentic Christian growth: the more you advance in faith and spiritual maturity, the more conscious you become of the odious presence of sin in your life. The book is called Spiritual Formation: Ever Forming, Never Formed, and it releases on Nov. 10.

I'll be grateful to receive feedback on this work that readers may wish to offer (peterknelson@gmail.com)!

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Reflections on "Crazy Love"

Francis Chan’s recent book, Crazy Love (2008), has been among Amazon.com’s 100 best sellers for the last 255 days—currently it ranks #69, and #1 for books on “Christian Living.” I’d been wanting to read it, and on vacation this summer I had the opportunity to do so.

Just to be clear, in this case “crazy” has entirely positive connotations. Radi­cal devotion to Jesus and detachment from fleeting earthly treasures may look foolish to unbelievers, but Chan helps us see how it’s really any­thing else that’s crazy if you know and love Jesus. In fact, it’s insane to love things and yawn at Almighty God.

The book begins with a few chapters to help readers “see” God—to correct our small, shallow, and desperately inaccurate view of the Lord. Countless problems in countless stagnant, small-minded, conflict-ridden, love-starved churches are rooted in a failure to truly see God: horizontal troubles follow from vertical failings. “The core problem isn’t the fact that we’re lukewarm, halfhearted, or stagnant Christians. The crux of it all is why we are this way, and it is because we have an inaccurate view of God” (22). The theater of nature provides a special stage on which God displays his splendor: the heavens declare the glory of God. Chan goes to great lengths to help us step back and wonder at the awesome reality of the Lord God!

The key contrast in the book is between “lukewarm” and “obsessed” Christians. Lukewarm religious people make God puke—he wants to spit them out (see Rev 3:15-17). Chapter 4 profiles the lukewarm. The message is chilling, and indicting—and I must admit that I feel sin’s pull toward many of the ugly manifestations of the bland, nominal religion Chan attacks. But note, his frontal assault on the American church stems not from meanness but broken-hearted love for the church, the beloved bride of Christ.

Chan contends that “Lukewarm Christian” is an oxymoron—that is, there’s no such thing (83-84). Lukewarm church-goers, like the Laodiceans, aren’t Christians. “We will not see them in heaven” (84). Authentic followers of Jesus are moved, aroused and drawn to live out their faith in zealous (i.e., “hot”) ways. And so, those who profess to be Chrsitians should examine themselves (2 Cor 13:5); don’t assume you’re “good soil” (Mark 4:20) unless you’re fruitful in cherishing and spreading Jesus’ love. “I think most American church­goers are the soil that chokes the seed because of all the thorns” (67).

In bold contrast with the lukewarm, Chan points to the “obsessed” (ch. 8). Genuine believers are not just “nice,” decent, law-abiding folk, friendly and polite. There’s more, so much more, to true faith (130). Like loving enemies, and forgiving those who commit even heinous crimes against us. Christians are risk takers, bold to step out in faith and witness. Chan laments how the American church is so often safety-centered. “We’ve elevated safety to the neglect of whatever God’s best is…” (133), and his best for us is not always earthly comfort.

Authentic Christians are “obsessed with Jesus,” and that means they: give freely, love those who hate them, live lives that connect with the poor, admit their pride, seek to make themselves less known and Christ more known, think about heaven frequently, have a passionate love for God that overshadows every other thing and being, don’t put on an act for others or God, have a 24/7 spiritual life, and take joy in serving people (it isn’t a burden to them). Secular people may call such obsessed Christians “fanatics,” but the radical, unconventional love of Jesus that exudes from them will reach the hearts of many critics. Chapter 9 then gives several mini biographies of Christians, many of them relatively obscure, who’ve lived “obsessed with Jesus” lives (terrific stories!—though I have questions about some of those named).

This is a great book, and I hope you read it! But it does require some discernment—some (shall we say) “unpacking.” I think in particular of how Chan tends to err in the direc­tion of oversimplification. Like the many times readers are exhorted to “surrender totally,” be “obsessed,” give up everything, it’s all or nothing, no half-heartedness, trust God completely, be faithful in every aspect of life, hold nothing back…

Of course, this call to devotion is biblical and right and necessary, and we need to be confronted in our religious play-acting and self-protection. But Chan does not do enough to help us see how all these great biblical ideals are reached—even by the most mature of believers—only progressively and only in part this side of heaven. He does not do enough to help Christian readers process the present and future realities of ongoing sin. This is not to excuse willful sin, but to grapple with the Bible’s pervasive theme that we remain far from perfect all our days, all the way to glory (e.g., Matt 6:12; Phil 3:12; Jas 3:2; 5:16; 1 John 1:8-10). To be sure, Chan admits that Christians do sin and indicates that the aim in this life is move­ment toward Christ and not perfection (87-88). But the fierce “in your face” message of the book—as good and necessary as it is—becomes weakened by the shortage of attention to the way we exper­ience all the great, biblical ideals that are set forth only in part this side of glory.

With that word of clarification, I recommend the book. The strong points far outweigh this weakness. Chan’s word is a breath of fresh air and a kick in the pants all at once. Don’t miss it!

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Identifying that Special Someone

In the last post, I talked about how important it is, when preparing for marriage, to BE the right one rather than just to find the right person. Here, then, is a follow-up question: what should you be looking for in a potential spouse? How do you know that he or she really is “the one”?

Look for someone, and definitely wait for someone, who shares your faith in Jesus Christ (1 Cor 7:39; 2 Cor 6:14). Marriage is hard enough even when you both desire to follow the Lord and obey his Word. Not being on the same page spiritually leads to all kinds of confusion and trouble with: time allocation, spending, values, leisure, parenting…

Look for someone helpful—who’s learned (or is learning) to serve and support and bless others. When you see him with his family, does he help out around the house? Does she expect to be waited upon?

Marry a hard worker. A man who doesn’t provide for his family is out of line (1 Tim 5:8). A godly woman works with eager hands (Prov 31:13).

Look for someone with good friends. Having healthy friendships means a person knows how to give and take, listen and share, offer and receive correction, and be a steady support—good “practice” for marriage.

Marry someone whose character you respect. Attraction is not enough.

Look for humility—someone eager to learn and willing to apologize (Phil 2:3). Watch out for the refrain, “That’s just the way I am.”

Look for someone who has positive relationships with his/her parents.

Marry someone who’s a careful, patient thinker. For example, someone who can see the grain of truth in a viewpoint they reject, or who avoids sweeping generalizations that toss the baby out with the bath water.

Look for a maturing Christian who’s committed to a church body and is actively serving, learning, caring, and spreading Christ’s love.

Don’t marry someone you hope will change later: they won’t change. And marriage will only accentuate what bothered you before the wedding.

Marry a stable person, steady under pressure. Is he all roller coaster, highs and lows? Do you never know what mood she’ll be in? Then slow down—the stability for marriage isn’t there yet.

And by all means, be patient about this decision: better to be single and wish you were married than married and wish you were single.

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Prayer Is Hard

Prayer is difficult! Sound strange to say that? How hard is it just to talk to God—to tell him your concerns? You don’t have to yell or speak some fancy language or have lots of merit points to talk to God: just pray, talk (out loud, silently—or even “talk” with your posture, with your eyes, from the heart). Prayer is simple.

Okay, true enough. But acquiring and preserving the inclination to pray is hard. The longing and readiness to make time to be still before the Lord are easily destroyed. Why is this? There are several reasons.

First, Satan never opposes Christ-followers more than when we pray. After all, we’re no threat to his evil schemes on our own—that would be laughable, we’re like a fly to his bulldozer. But when we call out to the Almighty, Satan cringes. So if you mean to pray, be assured that Satan will come against you fully armed! Prayer is hard because prayer is war.

Second, prayer is hard because we’re proud. We want to be applauded as bright, successful achievers who can say, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” But prayer is that place where you fall flat on your face and see with painful clarity that your work is not what counts: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor 4:7).

Third, prayer is hard because we’re pragmatic. This outlook asks, “What works?”: we act, plan, organize; we live to check off the “to do” list. Pragmatists love visible, tangible, temporal effects—like numbers, dollars, bricks and mortar. But this fixation on human action and earthly results pushes soul-probing prayer down the list of priorities to a place where it shrivels up.

Fourth, distraction also ruins prayer—multi-tasking, busy-ness, frenzied lifestyles, the inability to quiet down and sit still. Our culture values maximum juggling of activities (email – work – text – shop – errands – study – clean – write – call…). Juggling is “in,” and yet how much can you really concentrate on each ball that’s in the air? But God says “Be still” (Ps 46:10). Jesus says, “Come and rest” (Mt 11:28-30). Are we willing to go against the current of a busy culture?

Fifth, we also find it hard to pray, of course, if we’re harboring sin in our hearts. Any time known sin is allowed to linger or (worse yet) is nurtured in our twisted hearts, we effectively put a lid on our own prayers. For example, God commands husbands to treat their wives with loving consideration “in order that your prayers may not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7): sin torpedoes prayer. Failing to fight sin is an attitude—whether we admit this or not—that says we don’t take God seriously and we don’t really care to speak with him in prayer.

So, watch out for these spiritual land mines—they’re deadly!

But having said that, take heart: God invites and commands us to pray (Matt 7:7; 1 Thess 4:17), and he’ll help us. Remember, greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). Draw near to him, and he’ll draw near to you (Jas 4:8). The Lord is at work among his people “to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). And he’s able to do far more than we ask or imagine for the sake of our spiritual progress and his greater glory (Eph 3:20-21)!

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Read the Bible in Two Years

I just began again with a two-year Bible reading plan. I don't know about you, but I really benefit from the structure of a plan/schedule for regular Bible reading. Otherwise I end up wandering and fizzling out. Here's a two-year schedule I developed: click here.
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The Tiger Woods Drama

Of all the adjectives used to describe the Tiger Woods mess, maybe the most apt is simply “sad.” Sad all around—for Tiger and Elin and their children, for their families and friends and his fans. For everyone.

But notice what the media isn’t saying. They’re not claiming it really doesn’t matter if married men fool around. They’re not saying Tiger’s reputation has to do entirely with his golf skills while his “personal life” is no one else’s business. They’re not suggesting we’ll all still cheer at his fist-pumping victories and buy Nike and Buick (etc.) just the same.

In fact, today’s media is oozing with morality: we as a people know—deep down we know this—that those who cheat on their spouses commit a grave offense. It’s not a question open for debate; no one’s out there arguing Tiger should really just feel free to set up a harem. The subtext of this whole frenzy is our world’s blaring cry that marriage matters, fidelity to your wife matters; wedding vows are profound and breaking them is dead wrong. Period.

How do people know this? Because God built us to respect his design for marriage: “What God has joined together, let no one separate” (Matt 19:6). He’s wired people to know that the marriage covenant is sacred. If you’re married, you and your beloved both said “I do.” But it wasn’t the two of you who formed the union, nor was it the minister who officiated. “What GOD has joined together…” At a deep level, people know this.

So on this gray day of dismay and disillusionment in which a “hero” has fallen (more accurately: when we’ve found out a hero had fallen), don’t miss the cloud’s silver lining: God’s image within us shines through!

Allow me to caution followers of Christ about how to respond to this debacle. 1) Don’t hate Tiger for his perverse hypocrisy—hate isn’t Jesus’ way (Matt 5:43-44). 2) Don’t congratulate yourself because you’ve done better (read Matt 5:27-30 and Luke 18:9-14). 3) Don’t say “Boys will be boys” and shrug it all off (but then again, above we’ve noted that we just can’t bring ourselves to do this). 4) Don’t say you can’t believe he was so stupid (Satan is very devious and he deftly lures otherwise intelligent people into sin and its misery; resisting sin isn’t just about brains).

Instead: 1) PRAY for Tiger and his family—to meet Christ, find mercy, and get a life! 2) Realize your vulnerability (“There but for the grace of God go I”; and see 1 John 1:8; James 4:7-8). 3) Make sure you’ve got Christian support and consistent accountability to help you say no to Satan’s seductive lies. 4) "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes" (Eph 6:11).

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Vision and Vista

So much talk in the church about "vision" has to do with practical plans and measurable goals that we can lose sight of this crucial underlying question: just what is it we lay our eyes on as we look forward? Vision as an exercise of faith-driven imagination is vital in the lives of God's people, but just what is it that authentic faith in Christ envisions? What is the object of our attention and energy and passion when Christian vision is operating?

Even though we might list many wonderful tangible outcomes which we trust the Lord to bring about (I'm thinking of everything from mended relationships to ministry funding to new ventures launched to people getting saved), the main vista the Bible calls us to envision--the ultimate object of our heart's and mind's attention--is the Lord God himself. We need to see God! And in fact, to go further, if the soul is not drawn to and moved by "gazing upon the Lord," all other tangible outcomes of vision setting will be hollow. The vertical must be alive and well, or the horizontal will lack life and eventually fizzle.

Hear the Word of God summoning his people to look up into his glorious face:

“I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy” (Ps 123:1-2).

“Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’” (Isa 40:9).

“I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Ps 121:1-2).

“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (Ps 27:4).

“My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare” (Ps 25:15).

“But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge…” (Ps 141:8).

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18).

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every­thing that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:1-2).

“Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always” (Ps 105:4).

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10 Questions

I appreciate Donald Whitney’s book, Ten Questions To Diagnose Your Spiritual Health. The chapter titles can serve as vital, probing questions to be asked of any Christ-follower (individually) or any fellowship of believers (collectively): it's a way of taking your spiritual temperature.

1. Do You Thirst for God?
2. Are You Governed Increasingly by God’s Word?
3. Are You More Loving?
4. Are You More Sensitive to God’s Presence?
5. Do You Have a Growing Concern for the Spiritual and Temporal Needs of Others?
6. Do You Delight in the Bride of Christ?
7. Are the Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life Increasingly Important to You?
8. Do You Still Grieve Over Sin?
9. Are You a Quicker Forgiver?
10. Do You Yearn for Heaven and to Be With Jesus?

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Soul Food

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4, ESV).

“More to be desired are they [i.e., God’s words] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10).

The Word of God is a priceless gift we have in our hands: do you cherish it? Do you go to the Scriptures for soul food? Do you study and meditate, do you listen to the Lord and respond in prayer? Is the Bible sweet to you—is it treasure? There is more to the Christian life than joyfully diligent Bible study, but never less!

Satan is always at work tempting us to bypass God’s Word:

• "There’s no time for serious Bible study in my schedule"
• "I’m no scholar—it’s too hard to understand"
• "The Bible doesn’t inspire me—it’s not relevant to my life"

Satan has a lot of lies, those are just a few. And people fall for them! I hope you don’t. You make time for food, right? Skipping the Bible leads to spiritual starvation. The daily news is relevant, right? How much more pertinent to your life and eternal joy is the news of God’s greatness and grace?

The bottom line is that authentic Christianity involves trusting in Christ—we’re saved by faith (Eph 2:8-10). How is faith gener­ated and sustained? “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). Reading and wrestling with the Bible is how we grow in faith; as we spend time with Jesus Christ via the pages of Scripture, the Lord arouses faith / trust / devotion in our hearts. By contrast, failing to dig deep in God’s Word and study it carefully destroys faith.

Let’s be candid: Does the Bible receive your undivided, eager attention on a regular basis, and are you involved in groups or classes that help you dig deep into the treasure of Scripture? Or are you walking away from Christ? It’s one or the other.

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