He super-regards and cares when enemies set traps, or hunt us down in hot pursuit (in all places that they lurk – at home, school, work, minds or even church). We may be in a gravely weakened, enfeebled, state, or hyper-triggered by stress and prone to constant fainting fits: still, our first, last and best... Continue Reading

Paul draws a sharp contrast between tongues and prophecy, but he’s careful to not declare tongues worthless or a problem. He makes this clear with , “Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.” But that line is sandwiched between two harsh statements. Paul’s point is that speaking in... Continue Reading

Raising children well weaponizes them for advancing the gospel. Building well enables you to fight well. I wanted my stories to reenchant the world — but what if I raised sharp children who are renegades, mavericks, iconoclasts, insurgents, and terrors to all the dark enchantments of unbelief? Kids don’t anchor ambition; they amplify it. They... Continue Reading

A young man with the Holy Spirit has a destiny mapped out by God’s sovereignty.  So this reality requires the pastor to recognize that he will pour into the young men, guiding and correcting them, but his job is not to suppress them.  Many ministry successions have been ruined because a clinging pastor refused to... Continue Reading

We’ve simply been reading a chapter of Proverbs each day as a family at the breakfast table. We’ve done the time-tested practice of reading the chapter that corresponds to the day of the month (for instance, Proverbs 12 on the 12th, etc.) My wife and I and our two older boys take turns reading verses... Continue Reading

Our theology may be sound, but we’re often worse than our theology. Deep down, we can still harbor contempt for those who we perceive haven’t come as far as we have—or at least as far as we think they should have by now. Can you truly delight in people who aren’t like you, who do... Continue Reading

We might wonder, though, how God can forgive sin and yet “not clear the guilty”? Isn’t that the nature of forgiveness: to clear guilt, to leave wrongs unpunished? This tension confronts us all throughout Scripture, as well as our experiences in life: How can God be both good and just? One answer is that in... Continue Reading

If people saw that he was a godly man and that he accurately taught the Word of God, then they would know that he was worthy of commendation.   We often think too highly of ourselves. If we need to consider who we really are before God or speak of ourselves to others, how can... Continue Reading