Watching January race to its conclusion for 2022 intensifies my focus on this month’s theme—SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE—and fills my mind with a flurry of messages to sneak in before the calendar flips to February. Today, that message is a short-and-simple reminder of our responsibility to TAKE ACTION and not sit back “hoping” our spiritual maturity will grow.    This idea came to me while I was...

These words sound crazy as my fingers send them crawling across the screen, but I woke up this morning in the DARK and immediately began thinking about the LIGHT. With coffee brewing across the room and spraying its aromatic wonder through the air, the darkness had welcomed me to another day. But it also triggered the need to address how that same darkness can hijack our effort to be SPIRITUALLY DISCIPLINED,...

THIS JUST IN FROM OUR GLOBAL ONLINE TRIBE:    “I really like this series on SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE, but I lack the confidence you write about that allows Christians to trust God and live a Christ-like life. I am afraid of everything.”    I understand this question VERY WELL. Early in my faith walk I was afraid of everything, too. Topping my list were the fear of failing; the fear...

Originally developed to help us avoid getting up to change the channel on our tv “set,” the REMOTE CONTROL has evolved into a metaphor for life itself. Since we’re living in a remote-control culture, it’s only natural that Christians can be tempted to apply that instantaneous one-click thinking to our spiritual maturity.    Remote technology has enabled us to control things–from a...

I woke up floating in the still and quiet darkness of another day consumed by this thought:    We are programming SILENCE out of existence.    That’s bad on its face. But for me the tragedy of losing silence is how it jeopardizes our ability to live out the spiritual imperative of having SOLITUDE with GOD.    Why is pulling that off so difficult?    Because...

After NOT writing about COVID for many months, I woke up this morning thinking it was time for a reminder of how the pandemic—re-energized by its new Omicron variant–represents the kind of threat that can disrupt or derail our commitment to develop SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE.    We should NOT be surprised that the COVID nightmare keeps playing in our mind’s theater. THAT’S LIFE! If it’s...

Christians trying to develop SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE are engaged in a complex and complicated WAR that pushes us to “TRY HARD” and “FIGHT HARD” to win. I get it. But we should reconsider that TRY-HARD, FIGHT HARD approach by looking at the Chinese General Sun Tzu who crushed his enemy WITHOUT fighting. Sounds Christ-like, doesn’t it?    It’s true that Christians trying to develop SPIRITUAL...

This month’s deep-dive into SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE sent me on a hunt for inspiration when I slipped downstairs in the dark to greet the new day’s blank canvas. Still trying to shake my grogginess, I landed at my five-foot high stack of hand-written journals and leafed through the coffee-stained pages from a time very early in my faith walk. One of the entries stopped me in my tracks–Plan A versus...

Why do millions of Christians around the world—INCLUDING ME–have trouble developing SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE to the level God commands?    “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness keeping yourself spiritually fit.” 1 Timothy 4:7    If you are expecting a long answer to that question, it’s not coming. The answer is complicated, but short. Here it is:    Most...

THIS JUST IN FROM OUR GLOBAL ONLINE TRIBE: I have been putting in a lot of effort lately to be spiritually disciplined and grow my faith, but it’s like I’m running in place and making absolutely no progress. Doesn’t God see my effort?    This is a powerful question that produces a thought-provoking and “scary” answer that should stop us in our tracks.    Effort does not earn points...