"Helping the Next Generation Think Christianly About All of life"
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Latest think Christianly Podcast - Cultivating a Prayerful Life
Have you ever struggled with prayer? Me too! This is the first of a two part podcast where we are going to explore how to break the unhealthy prayer cycle that governs many of our lives so that we can experience God more deeply through prayer.
How Do I Grow in My Relationship With God? Is Holiness Really Possible?
Can we become more like Jesus? Really? Yes. There is a word for this that the Bible uses often--Holy. Here is a link to the sermon I preached at our church on sunday exploring the often confusing and (guilt producing) idea of becoming more holy--how does it work? what is my part? God's part?
“the indirect means that allow us to cooperate in reshaping the personality—the feelings, ideas, mental processes and images, and the deep readiness of soul and body—so that our whole being is poised to go with the movements of the regenerate heart that is in us by the impact of the Gospel Word under the direction and energizing of the Holy Spirit.”—Dallas Willard
“…if I want to fully experience the love of Jesus, I must receive one of his most important gifts he sends me—his teaching. I must invite Jesus to be the personal Teacher of my life. I must trust that he is right—about everything. And that therefore where I disagree with him I must either be wrong or not yet understand what it was he was saying. I must allow Jesus to teach me how to live.”—John Ortberg
Psalm 25:4-5
"Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you."
We live in a world that gives us more and more...faster and faster and calls it progress. But is this good for us? Do you ever feel like someone else is setting the agenda of your life? Thankfully the Bible gives us some wisdom on how to make the most of the days we are given.
Here is a talk that I gave called "I want my time back" in which I explore this topic biblically and try to apply it to our lives. As we begin the new year, we all need to consider an important question.
Is there enough time in my life right now for me to do what I say matters most on a daily basis?
Here is an excellent and (short!) book that can make a BIG difference - A Minute of Margin: Restoring Balance to Busy Lives180 Daily Reflections by Richard Swenson
Product Description
Where’s the balance? Too many of us are losing the "war of the planner." We want to get everything done, but for some reason, it never happens. And the machines that were supposed to make lives easier only leave our lives more stressful.
Something has to give, and often it does––to disastrous consequences.
Expanding on principles from Dr. Richard Swenson’s best-selling books Margin and The Overload Syndrome, this book consists of 180 daily readings to help restore balance to hectic, modern lives. Each reading serves as a practical assignment––a helpful "prescription"––to eliminate unneeded frustrations, reflect on what’s really important, and start winning the war with our time.
14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."--2 Timothy 3:14-17
"Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations."--Psalm 100:4-5
I came across this challenging article and wanted to pass it along. Why spend time following Jesus if Christianity is all about someday and not today? Dallas Willard offers some helpful thoughts...
"If we are Christians simply by believing that Jesus died for our sins, then that is all it takes to have sins forgiven and go to heaven when we die. Why, then, do some people keep insisting that something more than this is desirable? Lordship, discipleship, spiritual formation, and the like?
What more could one want than to be sure of their eternal destiny and enjoy life among others who profess the same faith as they do. Of course everyone wants to be a good person. But that does not require that you actually do what Jesus himself said and did. Haven't you heard? "Christians aren't perfect. Just forgiven."
Now those who honestly find themselves concerned about such matters might..." (More)
Quite a thought...but that is the goal of the Christian life (i.e., becoming more like Jesus cf. Rom.8:29). Dallas Willard offers us some sage advice, “We cannot behave ‘on the spot’ as Jesus did and taught if in the rest of our time we live as everybody else does.” But that leads us to the needed, but uncomfortable question of how am I living?
How to Have Quiet Time and Prayer with God featuring John & Nancy Ortberg
What do you do with distractions that come to your mind during prayer? What does it mean to be fully present with God? John and Nancy Ortberg speak honestly about their own struggles and in this area of the spiritual life.
Jonathan Morrow is the founder of Think Christianly (www.thinkChristianly.org). He is the author of Welcome to College: A Christ-follower's Guide for the Journey, Think Christianly: Looking at the Intersection of Faith and Culture, and Is God Just a Human Invention? And Seventeen Other Questions Raised by the New Atheists (with Sean McDowell), and contributed the chapter "Introducing Spiritual Formation" to Foundations of Spiritual Formation: A Community Approach to Becoming Like Christ. Jonathan also contributed several articles to the Apologetics Study Bible for Students. He graduated with an M.Div. and an M.A. in philosophy of religion and ethics from Talbot School of Theology and is currently the equipping pastor at Fellowship Bible Church. His books have been featured on shows like Family Life Today, Stand to Reason, Breakpoint, Frank Pastore, The Janet Mefferd Show, and Apologetics 315. **This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not necessarily those of my employer.**
