Category — Conversing with God

God uses trials to produce Christlike character in us. There are other great passages like Romans 5:3-5 and James 1:2-4 that also demonstrate this. But suffering does not guarantee holiness. If we respond to suffering and hardship in defiance and anger, pushing God away and rejecting his love and compassion, we thereby choose not to allow God to work in our lives. We thus reject his discipline. So how do we respond rightly to suffering?

We need to recognize the relational nature of suffering. Suffering always affects our relationships—with God, with others and even with ourselves. That’s why we so often jump to the conclusion that God doesn’t love us or that he’s angry at us when we suffer. Since suffering is a deeply relational issue, we must turn to God in a deeply relational way. [Read more →]

Hardship and suffering also provide us with the opportunity to experience transcendent joy—a joy not linked to our circumstances, but linked to our deep satisfying relationship with Jesus. Paul refers to this in 1 Thessalonians 1:6 NLT, “So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you.”

Just a few weeks ago, a good friend of mine was hospitalized. Five years ago he had battled colon cancer and now the doctors were convinced he was suffering the side effects of liver cancer. They gave him a couple months to two years life expectancy. The next morning he was to be operated on to biopsy the tumors on his liver and have a port installed for chemotherapy treatments. [Read more →]

In the final stanza of this prayer we thank God for what he’s done for us out of his goodness and greatness:

God is good.
God is great.
Thank you for our food. Amen.

God is good; God is great and he is worthy of our praise and thanksgiving! Thanking God for our meals (and everything else he has given us) is not merely an act of politeness on our part—though thanking him is polite. By thanking God we acknowledge that he is our Provider. We declare that our hope is in “God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” (1 Timothy 6:17) [Read more →]

Like simplicity, the purpose of fasting is to eliminate distractions and help us focus more intently on the Lord. In one respect fasting is simplicity in a concentrated dose. We deny ourselves food, drink, or a particular activity for a specified time in order to center on the Lord.

The Bible provides no specific instructions on how long a fast may be. One may fast from food for a meal, a day, a few days or longer. Sometimes a fast is limited to depriving one self from “choice foods, meat, and wine” as in Daniel’s case in Daniel 10:2. Daniel also indicates that he refrained from using “lotions” during his three-week fast. His purpose in fasting was mourning, humbling himself before God and prayer (Daniel 10:2 & 12). [Read more →]

The term solitude is a bit misleading, for in solitude we do not seek to be totally alone, but alone with God. Solitude is one of the most intimate relational graces. We long for solitude because of the personal time we get to spend with the Lord in the absence of others and anything that distracts. Our desire for solitude with God flows from our love for and enjoyment of him.

From the preceding description of solitude we understand that to “be by oneself” does not constitute solitude. Instead, solitude is a deliberate retreat from others and distractions in order to spend time with God. Linda and I spend a lot of time with other people both socially and in ministry. But we both long for times of solitude with each other—when I’m there totally for her, and she for me. Our times of solitude with God are similar in that we want to be preoccupied with him and his presence with us without distraction. [Read more →]

Many of us have developed horribly flawed ideas about prayer. I know because I’ve been one such person! Some of us see prayer as though it were an elaborate incantation requiring a specific formula for it to work. Just a few weeks ago I heard a Christian man suggest that for God to hear us we must observe the right posture and say the right words.

Others of us have treated God like a genie in a lamp. We come to him in prayer, “rub the lamp” and expect him to perform for us. Still others view prayer as a contractual agreement and that if we meet certain conditions God must meet our demands. Such thoughts demean and belittle our holy, awesome, sovereign God! [Read more →]

We don’t typically view the study of the Word relationally, but more intellectually, scientifically, grammatically, culturally and historically. To be sure, all of those disciplines come to our aid in understanding the meaning of the text for the original reader and then for us. However, because the Bible is God’s Word—his communication to us—we cannot rightly approach the Bible apart from relationship with its Author. This viewpoint is not optional but foundational for studying God’s Word.

I would further add, that if we come to God’s Word with a purpose other than getting to know him better, we may be studying it for the wrong reasons. Even a life time of study will not unearth all the gems that God’s Word has to offer us. But those gems are not merely “nuggets of knowledge” but jewels of God’s character and works through which we can know, love and enjoy him better.

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Repentance is a core or basic relational grace that we need in order to reconcile a broken or neglected relationship. Whether we rebel openly against God, ignore him and go our own way, or continue to feed some sin—however small—our relationship with him will be damaged. The writer of Psalm 66:18 NLT declares, “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” (NIV – “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”)

We must repent of sin in order to enjoy God. If we cherish some sin in our lives, we can only do so by pushing God out. No harmony exists between enjoying sin and enjoying God. If we enjoy sin, we become fearful of God—a fear associated with dread of judgment. We cannot dance with sin and enjoy God. [Read more →]

How do we follow Jesus? God wants to change us. His plan for us is to transform us—to make us more like him, more like Jesus in character. As we have seen, his Holy Spirit plays a central role in bringing about this life change as he lives in us and communicates with us. Living and walking and communicating in relationship with him is essentially what it means to be a disciple or follower of Jesus Christ.

So, how do we follow Jesus Christ? To answer that question let’s look at what Jesus told those who wanted to be his disciples. Jesus told his listeners:

“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23 NLT) [Read more →]

What do we do with what God tells us? A couple of years ago a young man came to me in complete frustration and confusion about God’s leading in his life. Steve was totally convinced that God had told him to pursue a relationship with a certain young lady. (She is also a follower of Christ.) Steve’s frustration came when this young woman refused to enter into a romantic relationship with him. She simply had no such affections for him, nor felt God leading her the way Steve insisted God was leading him. This internal conflict went on for some months, during which I had several meetings with Steve.

Then one day, this young lady announced her engagement to another man and soon married. Steve was heart-broken over his loss, but even more difficult was his confusion and disappointment over God’s leading in his life. Did he or did he not hear God say, “Pursue this woman”? The outcome does not necessarily answer that question. And I could not tell Steve with certainty whether he had or had not heard God correctly or at all. [Read more →]