Daily Reading
April 4, 2024
The point of the story of the prodigal is not primarily about the prodigal. It is about the father's heart. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around hi...
Daily Reading
April 3, 2024
O Living Flame of Love...How gently and how lovingly Thou wakest in my bosom, where alone thou secretly dwellest; And in Thy sweet breathing full of grace and glory how tenderly Thou fillest me with Thy love. These words, penned by St. John of the Cr...
Daily Reading
April 2, 2024
"I'm just a sinner, saved by grace." "I'm just clothes for God to put on." "There sure isn't any good thing in me." It's so common this mind-set, this idea that we are no-good wretches, ready to sin at a moment's notice, incapable of goodness, and ce...
Daily Reading
April 1, 2024
A story is only as good as its ending. Without a happy ending that draws us on in eager anticipation, our journey becomes a nightmare of endless struggle. Is this all there is? Is this as good as it gets? On a recent flight I was chatting with one of...
Daily Reading
March 31, 2024
Late resurrection Sunday, the two fellows from the Emmaus road come rushing back to town to tell the others they have seen Jesus alive. Let’s pick up the story there: While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said ...
Daily Reading
March 30, 2024
Jesus’ silence before Pilate is stunning. The cynical little martinet dares to ask Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Jesus doesn’t even bother answering. He just stares at Pilate, letting him make the next move. You know how the story goes — thou...
Daily Reading
March 28, 2024
There is only the kingdom, friends. Everything else will slip through your fingers, no matter how strong your grasp. Why do we fight this hope, keeping it at arm’s length? We nod in appreciation but ask it to stay outside our yard. It is as though so...
Daily Reading
March 27, 2024
Jesus said we must take up our cross and die to the supremacy of Self every single day, probably many times a day (see Matthew 10:38; 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 14:27). We must crucify the exalted, offended Self, that’s clear. But what this looks l...
Daily Reading
March 26, 2024
If we choose the way of desire, our greatest enemy on the road ahead is not the Arrows, nor Satan, nor our false lovers. The most crippling thing that besets the pilgrim heart is simply forgetfulness, or more accurately, the failure to remember. You ...
Daily Reading
March 25, 2024
A personal walk with God comes to us through wisdom and revelation. You will soon discover that we need both. For a moment the King's grief and anger were so great that he could not speak. Then he said: "Come, friends. We must go up the river and fin...
Daily Reading
March 24, 2024
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...
Daily Reading
March 23, 2024
The Search is for more of God in our lives as a growing, operational reality. There are a few critical things to believe in order to make this search go well. First off, we must be confident that God wants to give us more of himself. (Do you believe ...
Daily Reading
March 22, 2024
As our soul grows in the love of God and journeys forth toward him, our heart's capacities also grow and expand: "Thou shalt enlarge my heart" (Ps. 119:32 KJV). But the sword cuts both ways. While our heart grows in its capacity for pleasure, it grow...
Daily Reading
March 21, 2024
Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. (Ephesians 2:4–5) It’s important to grasp what’s taking place in the world, so you know how to live and how to respond. Hatred has become the new “spirit of the ...
Daily Reading
March 20, 2024
Winter tarries long at six thousand feet. Here in the Rocky Mountains, spring comes late and fitfully. We had snow again last week—the second week in May. I've come to accept that spring here is really a wrestling match between winter and summer. It ...
Daily Reading
March 19, 2024
Remember that little guy I told you about, with the shiny boots and a pair of six-shooters? The best part of the story is that it wasn't all pretend. I had a place to live out those dreams. My grandfather, my father's father, was a cowboy. He worked ...
Daily Reading
March 18, 2024
You are the son of a kind, strong, and engaged Father, a Father wise enough to guide you in the Way, generous enough to provide for your journey, offering to walk with you every step. This is perhaps the hardest thing for us to believe — really belie...
Daily Reading
March 17, 2024
The resurrection of Jesus was the first of many, the forerunner of our own. He paved the way, as the saying goes. The fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life ag...
Daily Reading
March 16, 2024
“‘For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, ...
Daily Reading
March 15, 2024
The book “Killing Lions” is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face. [John] I’d love to share what thirty years of marriage (and twenty counseling young people) has taught me. But let me begin with a questio...
Daily Reading
March 14, 2024
Your heart is going to grow for the kingdom, more and more as you mature, which allows us to receive more and more of God and enjoy so much more of the life he’s giving. But this can be very disorienting if you don’t understand what’s taking place wi...
Daily Reading
March 13, 2024
Today’s Daily Reading is an excerpt from Morgan Snyder's book “Becoming a King” The context of the journey of deliverance from the false self and restoration of the true self is unique, but the process is universal. It begins with awareness. The firs...
Daily Reading
March 12, 2024
I am haunted by the stories of people who make the summit of Everest. Such incredible devotion is required, such total focus of body, soul, and spirit. Reaching the top of the world's tallest mountain becomes for those who try the central driving for...
Daily Reading
March 11, 2024
In our psychological age, we have come to call our affairs "addictions," but God calls them "adultery." Listen again to his words to the Israelites through Jeremiah: You are a swift she-camel running here and there, a wild donkey accustomed to the d...
Daily Reading
March 10, 2024
What did Jesus mean when he promised us life? I go back to the source and what I find is just astounding. I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13) I tell you the truth," Jesus said t...
Daily Reading
March 9, 2024
How much of what we do is motivated by fear of man? Think of it — to be entirely free of false guilt, free from pressure, from false allegiances. It would be absolutely extraordinary. This is what gives Jesus the ability to say such startlingly hones...
Daily Reading
March 8, 2024
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. (Psalm 23:1-3). He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3) Heal me, O Lord, a...
Daily Reading
March 7, 2024
When Jesus speaks of the Restoration, he does so in very tangible terms, pointing to the recovery of normal things like houses and lands: “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne ... everyone wh...
Daily Reading
March 6, 2024
One of the strangest quirks of life here on this planet is the fact that the one face we hardly ever see is the one closest to us: our own. As we move about in the world every day, our face is always right before us and always just beyond us. Somebod...
Daily Reading
March 5, 2024
Learn to hear the voice of God. Yep. It’s the simplest, most helpful, least practiced treasure and it will literally rescue you in countless ways. The secret of the Christian life — and Christian marriage — is that you don’t have to figure it out. Yo...