Feeling out of control? This is unpleasant, isn’t it? That is the nice way of describing it. If you are like me, or the other 8 billion people on the planet, control is something for which you strive. It may be conscious or unconscious. But we really want control. What I am about to share with you is very personal. By personal, I do not mean secret. I mean it was meant for me, in my life, at a specific point. It may or may not be helpful for you, in your life, as you are reading today. A few years ago, as I was praying, a very specific phrase…

First, it is important to spend time in Scripture. Do that more than anything else. Start there. Continue there. Finish there. Start again. Complementing Scripture, there are many great resources to help you know and follow Jesus. Here are seven books I have found helpful in my journey with Jesus. Most are a collection of writings, not meant to be read through in one sitting. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun Devotional Classics by Richard Foster The Philokalia The Golden Book of Prayer by Donald B. Aldrich Moving Mountains: Praying with Passion, Confidence, and Authority by John Eldredge Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans by…

In Scripture, God tells us to “pray without ceasing.” That may seem like an overwhelming task. In fact however, it is no task at all. It is an invitation to constant relationship with Jesus. One way Jesus followers through the centuries have prayed without ceasing is through “breath prayers.” The most famous of breath prayers is The Jesus Prayer. It goes like this, “Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” You can create your own breath prayer as well. Here are some examples: Jesus, let me feel your love. O Lord, show me your way. Holy One, heal me. Holy Wisdom, Guide me. Breath of Life,…

Not long ago, if you had asked me what a spiritual discipline is and how many are there, I would have given you a pretty short answer. “Well, it is a way to connect with God. There is Scripture, prayer, going to church and…. Some people fast.” Yeah, that was about all I had. Then a friend gave me this amazing resource on spiritual disciplines called the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Calhoun. It has like 50 spiritual disciplines to learn about and practice. I’ll give you the same advice my friend gave me. Don’t try and read the book through. Each discipline is about 3-4 pages. Check out the…

Prayer is kind of boring. I know I’m not supposed to say that in a post about prayer. For most of my life, though, this is how I thought of prayer. It is simply that thing some people do before they eat. It is part of a transition in a Sunday service so the next person can get on stage while everyone else closes their eyes. It is a long list of requests we make to Santa, I mean God, when we are desperate. Prayer is a one way conversation. If you are like me, you did not grow up with a big emphasis on prayer in your life. Perhaps…

Two primary ways to hear from God are through the Bible and prayer. A lot of my Listen posts this month will center around reading Scripture and praying. I will share some of the things I do, ideas others share with me and resources I have but may have not tried much yet. I’ll include some other spiritual disciplines also. To start off, check out my previous post on Lectio Divina. This is one of my favorite spiritual exercises. It includes prayer and Scripture. If you are like me and prayer was not a huge focus growing up, this will be challenging in a good way. Let me know if…

As a friend and I were ending our college career together, we were sitting and talking about next steps. He shared with me that God was calling him to move across the country to go to grad school. At the time, I was a fairly skeptical believer. I asked, “What’s her name?” In case you missed the sarcasm here, in my question was the assumption that my friend was not hearing from God. Rather, he had probably just found a girl to follow. So, I just got straight to the point. Of course, if there was a girl, he would confirm what I already believed, most people use God to…

As I’ve been praying about this year, the Lord led me to the word “abide.” I do not hear this word outside of church much, nor do I use it in my everyday life. I was not crazy about it, so I kept listening. The word continued to come to mind as I prayed. In John 15, Jesus tells his disciples to “abide in me.” He tells them he is the vine and they are the branches. We must abide in him in order to bear fruit. Some translations use the word “remain” instead of “abide,” which is more familiar of course. As I prayed, I got a picture of…