Knowing & Being Known

The Religious Spirit has turned discipleship into a soul-killing exercise of principles. Most folks don’t even know they can walk with God, hear his voice. He’s stigmatized counseling as a profession for sick patients, and so the wounds of our hearts never get healed. He’s taken healing away from us almost entirely, so that we sit in pews as broken people feeling guilty because we can’t live the life we’re supposed to live. And he takes warfare…

It’s far too easy to become busy for God—serving, singing, teaching, preaching, and going to the mission field. None of these things are wrong; in fact, they’re all good. But they’re often a misguided attempt to create intimacy with God. Why would believers choose artificial closeness with the Lord when He wants to give His children the real thing? One reason is that being known by God requires intense vulnerability and the humility to receive His.…

Everyone is trying to find their way to joy, and if not joy, at least happiness. That’s a good desire, by the way: It fuels our search. It keeps us moving forward. Folks who give up even wanting to be happy are deep into what might be called depression. But in Christendom there seems to be this perennial debate about how to get there. One camp, rising in popularity for obvious reasons, promises a life above and beyond suffering. If we just worship/believe/proclaim,…

How we arrange our days and spend our time is central to becoming the kind of king to whom God can entrust his creative power. It is this slow and steady exercise—or better said, consistent practicing over time—that produces the kind of king God intends us to become. What is the relationship between the kind of human Jesus was on earth and how he spent his time? We can draw from several foundational truths expressed through his life. We know he spent time in.…

There are some things you will never learn on your own. You only learn them in community. To grow and develop your potential, you must learn from other people. For instance, you can only learn forgiveness in relationships. You can’t learn that on your own. You can only learn loyalty in relationships. You can only learn love in relationships. You can’t learn kindness or faithfulness or graciousness or unselfishness without others. In fact, the most important…

After seeing the risen Jesus, everyone rejoiced—except Thomas. Recorded as the sole disciple who said, “I will not believe,” he often gets a bad rap, but can you imagine being the only one of your friends who was unsure? Thomas probably felt alone in his doubts—he may have sensed pressure to be excited and could have assumed he was disappointing his fellow disciples. He might even have felt embarrassed when Jesus singled him out to touch His wounds …

In 2020, the Ecuadorian volcano Sangay erupted. The BBC described the “dark ash plume which reached a height of more than 12,000 m.” The discharge covered four provinces (about 198,000 acres) in gray ash and grimy soot. The sky turned dingy and grim, and the air was thick—making it difficult to breathe. Farmer Feliciano Inga described the unnerving scene to El Comercio newspaper: “We didn’t know where all this dust was coming from. . . . We saw…

The time has come for a generation that will walk with God to rise up. A generation of integrity that will not only speak about their faith but live it. A generation that will be known to God and will keep their eyes fixed on Christ Jesus. Then, as their feet remain placed on the earth, they will be ready and eager to serve and be the light. When Jesus ascended to heaven after His resurrection, he left us the best tour guide to guide us into God’s presence: The Holy.…

Somebody can know a person by name, where they live, where they work, the name of their wife and children, what car they drive, their height, their hometown, their age, and many other things, but still cannot know the desires and intentions of that person’s heart. We live in a time where many people know who God is, who Jesus is, what the church is, or what Christianity is, but even so, they still do not know the heart of God, His desires, and the desires of His.…