Tag Archives: Personal Growth

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Establishing Spiritual Disciplines

Creating Habits That Will Foster Spiritual Formation

Growing my faith, my relationship with God, is my top priority. Above all else, my relationship with Christ must come first. Everything else in my life hinges upon this. But in order to do that, you have to develop a series of disciplines that will help you grow and mature in your faith.

Establishing Spiritual Disciplines

As a minister, all too often, I have conversations that center around how to grow and mature in our faith. I have discovered that most people have no idea what to do to deepen their faith. Most of the people I have these conversations with want to deepen their faith, they just aren’t sure how to go about doing that.

As a result, I’ve decided to write a series of posts about spiritual disciplines. These are habits that I believe are necessary to grow in our faith. These are habits that are either prominent in Scripture, or have been proven through the lives of other, spiritually mature believers.

Not everyone grows in the same fashion or speed. What might be a breeze to one person may be a difficult discipline to master for another. But I firmly believe that each of these disciplines play a part in our becoming who God has created us to be.

Over the course of the next few weeks and months, I will be writing a series of posts about these disciplines. Each post (or posts, maybe) will define each discipline, and give some practical ideas on how to implement this effectively in our lives.

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Enjoying Life

Jesus Came To Give Us Life To The Fullest

Sunday marked the beginning of our Christmas series at my church. We will be looking at three different perspectives of the birth and incarnation of Christ from John, Matthew, and Luke. I’m excited about what God has in store through it.

Enjoying Life

As I studied the nativity accounts in both Matthew and Luke, and as I have been preparing for some future preaching series, I spent a lot of time looking at the reasons why Jesus came to earth. John’s gospel offers a lot of insight into that question as he covers the teaching ministry of Jesus.

One particular verse stood out to me. It’s a short statement Jesus made, and I’ve read it over and over, quoted it numerous times, and generally understood it. But something about it really jumped out this time through it. It’s found in John 10, right in the middle of Jesus’ discussion about being the Good Shepherd. In verse ten, Jesus tells us what the purpose of the enemy is for us, to steal, to kill and to destroy. But then he says this:

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Jesus came so that we could have life. How many times have you read that? How many times have I? Probably too many to count. But have you ever stopped to consider just what “life” Jesus is talking about?

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Sometimes The Unexpected Occurs

When Things Don’t Go Like You Plan

I love having a plan, and everything going according to that plan. But that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes the unexpected occurs.

Sometimes The Unexpected Occurs

Like this week, for example. I had a lot of things planned over the past few days that I wanted to get done. We had a special speaker in for the weekend at our church. And I wanted to get a few articles written in advance for this site while I am on a retreat the first week of October.

But apparently, that was not to be.

Last Thursday evening, I went home feeling exhausted. I didn’t think anything of it, because it had been a long day. But overnight, I started running a fever. By midday Friday, I was miserable. And I ran a fever off and on for the next several days. After almost a week, and a trip to the doctor, I started to feel better.

As I have reflected on this over the past couple of days, I came to realize that, no matter what my plans may be, sometimes things happen that change my plans. I can respond in one of two ways. Either I can be frustrated and angry that things aren’t going my way, or I can shift my mindset to this new thing, and see what comes of it.

While my tendency is to be frustrated when things don’t go according to plan, and to stress out over the unexpected, I have chosen the alternative way of seeing this past week. I’m watching to see what God may be teaching me through this. He could be saying slow down. He could be saying that I need to trust him and not my own efforts. He could be showing me that things will go on regardless of whether or not I accomplish my plans. There are a lot of things that I have seen through this that I may have missed had I not been forced to stop and rest.

And at the end of the day, there’s always tomorrow, and the day after, and next week, unless Jesus returns first, in which case it won’t really matter at all. I’ll shift my plans from last week to this week, and to next week if need be. Because I would rather slow down and hear these kinds of things than stay busy and miss hearing the voice of God in my life.

Sometimes it takes a sickness to accomplish that.

Question: Do you take time to rest and listen for God’s voice? Or does he have to get your attention in more drastic ways? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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One Word 365 – 2017 Edition

Forget The New Year’s Resolutions - Just Choose One Word

For the past six years, I have selected one single word to focus my life on for the duration of the coming twelve months, instead of making a bunch of New Year’s resolutions that I probably won’t keep. This one word is the word I will strive to live by for the coming year.

Identifying a word to live by for the year helps me to keep my focus on a specific area of growth, and helps me become more of the person God has created me to be.

One Word 365

I’ve set my focus on several different words over the last few years. For example, in 2011, I chose to focus on the word passion. This word underlined all I did throughout the year. It defined the year. Everything I did, I did with enthusiasm, and passion was pretty visible in most areas of my life.

In 2012, I chose the word commit. One of my biggest struggles in life has been to stick to many of the things I decide to do. Focusing on this word helped me to address that deficiency.

In 2013, I chose the word intentional. We have a large family, and as a result, we have a lot going on. I realized that I needed to be intentional, especially in my relationships with family and friends, and in my ministry.

In both 2014 and 2015, I chose the word wait. I tend to be very impatient at times, and focusing on waiting helped me see the bigger picture. And, rather than take matters into my own hands, it allowed my faith to grow by waiting on the Lord.

In 2016, my word was prudence. It simply means to use wisdom and discretion in all that I do. It’s actually very similar to the word wait, and God has continued to teach me to be patient and wait on him.

Each year, I choose to identify and implement a single word as a part of my Life Plan. I add this word to the beginning of my plan, and try to use it as a piece of the foundation for every portion of my plan. Some areas are more successful than others.

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2017 Bible Reading Plans

Because It Matters What You Read...

I believe that spending time in God’s Word is one of the most important pieces of our daily spiritual growth. God’s Word really has no way to impact our lives unless we are exposing ourselves to it consistently. Bible reading is perhaps the most critical of the spiritual disciplines.

2017 Bible Reading Plans

I’ve written several times in the past about this discipline:

This is an extremely critical element of our spiritual lives, and it seems to be occurring less and less in our culture. But when you begin to experience the many benefits of consistent, daily time spent in God’s Word, you’ll develop a craving for more.

God’s Word truly does change us.

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Dealing With Spiritual Dryness

What To Do When You Feel Like You’re In A Desert

One of the more difficult times we experience in our spiritual lives are those moments when we feel spiritually dry and drained. It almost feels like we are in a desert.

Spiritual Dryness

Spiritual dryness can be overwhelming at times. It can lead to feeling down and almost feel like depression. And we all experience it. It’s a fact of our spiritual lives. We enjoy the mountaintop experiences. But what do we do when we hit the lower places, the valleys, the deserts?

Sometimes, life just throws us a curve ball, and our lives take a pretty strong hit. A couple of years ago, my wife fell and broke an ankle while pregnant. Soon after, I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea, followed by a diagnosis of cancer. It seemed like our world was turned upside down overnight, and we didn’t know what to do.

I felt like that time was one of the driest spiritual stretches I have ever encountered, and yet it was also a period of time where I experienced the most spiritual growth. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, I know. But looking back on that time, and the weeks and months following it, my journal is filled with ways that I can see God molding me into more of the person he wants me to be.

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One Word 365 – 2016 Edition

Forget The New Year’s Resolutions; Just Choose One Word

I have developed a habit over the past few years of selecting one single word to focus my life on for the duration of the coming twelve months. This is the word I will strive to live by for the next year.  Identifying a word to live by for the year helps me to keep my focus on a specific area of growth, and helps me become more of the person God has created me to be.

One Word 365

I’ve settled my focus on several different words over the last few years. For example, in 2011, I chose to focus on the word passion. This word underlined all I did throughout the year. It defined the year. Everything I did, I did with enthusiasm, and passion was pretty visible in most areas of my life.

In 2012, I chose the word commit. One of my biggest struggles in life has been to stick to many of the things I decide to do. Focusing on this word helped me to address that deficiency.

In 2013, I chose the word intentional. We have a large family, and as a result, we have a lot going on. I realized that I needed to be intentional, especially in my relationships with family and friends, and in my ministry.

In both 2014 and 2015, I chose the word wait. I tend to be very impatient at times, and focusing on waiting helped me see the bigger picture. And, rather than take matters into my own hands, it allowed my faith to grow by waiting on the Lord.

Each year, I choose to identify and implement a single word as a part of my Life Plan. I add this word to the beginning of my plan, and try to use it as a piece of the foundation for every portion of my plan. Some areas are more successful than others.