
Articles by Desiring God
638 episodes — Page 12 of 13

As for Me and My House: The Delightful Duty of Family Religion
Greg Morse | God doesn’t want worship to be a tiny corner of family life. He wants worship to touch every room, closet, and hallway.

Talking Back to God: How His Promises Provoke Our Prayers
David Mathis | God means for prayer to be more dynamic and relational than an employee petitioning his boss for a raise, or a slave requesting some provision from his master.

The Safest Man for Women: A Guide Toward Sexual Purity
Marshall Segal | How Christian men treat sex, whether married or not, sheds light on Christ for all to see, or obscures and slanders him.

Will I Trust God? Simple Prayer in a Desperate Moment
Jon Bloom | The power of a man who believed, in the face of the humanly impossible, has had a ripple effect that will touch every soul in heaven. Will you, like him, trust God?

Pastors Are Only Matchmakers: The Humble Heart of Faithful Ministry
Scott Hubbard | In their heart of hearts, all Christians ask their pastors, “Would you show me Jesus?” And in their heart of hearts, all faithful pastors say, “Gladly.”

The Blissful and Trivial Life: How Entertainment Deprives a Soul
Marshall Segal | What, if any, of your entertainment might need to be curbed or redirected for the sake of your soul?

What Does a Faith Crisis Feel Like?
Jon Bloom | For some Christians, common doubts build up over time to produce a serious faith crisis. How can we care for those who feel lost in the storm?

The Contagion of Cowardice
Greg Morse | God requires a lot of men in the church. The enemies are real, and the risks are great. Will we trust God enough to lay aside our fears?

Am I Real? A Basic Guide to Christian Assurance
Scott Hubbard | How can you know your faith is real? The enemies of Christian assurance are great. But for all who are in Christ, the God of assurance is greater.

The Sin-Defying Power of Words
David Mathis | Temptation thrives, and grows, when unacknowledged and unaddressed. But with the help of the Spirit, and through the power of words, we can say “No!” and drive it away with God’s better promises.

Walk the War Before You: What It Means to Live by the Spirit
Joe Rigney | If the Spirit lives in you, you do not need to give in to sinful desires anymore. You will not be perfect, but you can be increasingly free.

What Does ‘Deconstruction’ Even Mean?
Jon Bloom | What some voices today mean by “deconstruction” is not what the word has meant — and it’s not what it means for all. So what does it mean?

Sons of Lionhearted Saints: Recovering Our Lost Lineage
Greg Morse | The pages of Scripture are filled with the stories of brothers and sisters meant to stir up your heart and keep you following Jesus.

Leave Your Imperfections with God: How Remaining Sin Inspires Holiness
Marshall Segal | The strength to endure imperfection comes from treasuring the one who died for our imperfection.

We Wish to See Jesus
David Mathis | “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” would be a happy refrain to echo at all key junctures of the everyday Christian life.

Lord, Deliver Me from Me: A Daily Prayer Against Unbelief
Joe Rigney | When doubts assail and fears prevail, run to your Father in prayer: “Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in you.”

The Light We Need to See: How Christ Dispels Spiritual Darkness
Jon Bloom | The Light of the World shows us the way we should go, reveals what’s true about our spiritual surroundings, and gives us spiritual life.

Let Tragedy Find Us Living
Greg Morse | The story of Job reminds us that our world can be undone in an afternoon. Have you prepared your soul for the worst that may come?

Patience Will Be Painful: How to Love the Hard-to-Love
Marshall Segal | Patience won’t look the same in every relationship, and it will be especially painful at times, but God still means for patience to color and enrich how we love.

Can I Be Holy Without Happiness?
David Mathis | True holiness in the world begins with true happiness in God. And anyone truly happy in him will, inevitably and increasingly, become like him.

In Love with the Life You Don’t Have
Greg Morse | Discontentment comes subtly, easily, naturally. Contentment comes slowly, deeply, supernaturally.

Holy Distractions: When God Interrupts Our Productivity
Jon Bloom | Distractions take us away from more important work. Interruptions can be fresh callings from God. How do we tell the difference?

‘Your Will Be Done’: The Glory of Christ’s Human Choices
David Mathis | As man, Jesus had a mind like us, emotions like us, and made decisions like us. Which makes his choice to embrace the divine will, and the cross, all the more glorious.

Life at the End of Roe: Recovering the Sanity and Wonder of Wanted Pregnancy
Marshall Segal | Wherever the Dobbs case leads, and however long Roe stands, our country desperately needs to recover the sanity and wonder of wanted pregnancy.

The Deepest Part of You: How Feelings Relate to Choices
Joe Rigney | How much do our feelings reveal who we are? What might we learn from a seeming disagreement between John Piper and C.S. Lewis.

The Other Side of the Race Debate: Four Ways to Disagree Christianly
Scott Hubbard | Improving our conversations will not heal all our divisions, but it may soften prejudices, nurture understanding, and lead us toward a less fragile unity.

Parable of an Unhealthy Soul: Why ‘Faith’ Dies Without Action
Jon Bloom | If the continual and costly effort of holiness feels like the enemy of our faith in Jesus, then it may not be Jesus we’re following.

Why I Read Aloud to My Children
David Mathis | If you’re looking for a way to gather the kids, turn off the screens, and enjoy God’s gifts together, consider developing the age-old practice of reading aloud.

The Difficult Habit of Quiet
Marshall Segal | As hard as quiet might be to come by in this age, it’s still a life-saving, soul-strengthening habit for the human soul.

Desperate for Distraction: Why We’re Bad at Being Alone
Greg Morse | For many, “quiet time” is anything but quiet. Distractions, diversions, and notifications fill the room. How can we learn to get alone with God in our brave, new world of distractions?

Trials Prove True Joy: What Jesus Says About Happiness
Joe Rigney | Joy is not always a sign of spiritual vitality and strength. Some joy wears away quickly and easily, while other joy endures, even through difficult days.

Who Really Has Your Ear? The Re-Forming Power of Words
David Mathis | Anytime we listen to others — on TV, on YouTube, on a podcast — we let their voices shape and direct us. Whose voices will shape and direct you this year?

A Father’s Good Pleasure
Jon Bloom | A father has the distinct and rare gift of giving good gifts to his children because God loves to give good gifts to his.

Endangered Attention: How to Guard a Precious Gift
Scott Hubbard | If you’ve not thought much about how you spend your attention, you’re likely spending it poorly. Here are four lessons for stewarding your attention in a new year.

Repentance for a New Year
Greg Morse | When you hear God’s summons to repent, do you hear an invitation to misery, or a doorway to joy?

A New Year Worthy of God
Marshall Segal | Before you start a reading plan, or choose a diet, or buy a journal, or step on a treadmill, find a why worth changing for.

The Most Wonderful Books on Earth: Gospel Reading for a New Year
Scott Hubbard | Whatever your goals are for Bible reading next year, resolve, God helping you, to catch as much of Jesus as you can.

More of Jesus: ‘Maximalist Christianity’ for a New Year
David Mathis | Christ can handle our down seasons, but he doesn’t call us to settle for scraping by year after year. He invites us to more.

Confessions of a Former People-Pleaser
Marshall Segal | Whoever we are, we live to please either people or God. And if we think it’s possible to serve both, we likely live to please the former, not the latter.

The Good War Against Moods: How Stubborn Faith Overcomes Feelings
Joe Rigney | Saving faith is a stubborn thing. It holds onto Christ even when our emotions and moods bid us to let go.

The Most Stubborn Day of the Year: Why the World Stops for Christmas
David Mathis | Two thousand years later, no single day marks as many calendars, determines as many schedules, pauses as many businesses, and draws together friends and families like Christmas.

He Is, He Was, He Will Be: Adoring the Alpha and Omega
Jon Bloom | Who is this baby born in Bethlehem? He is Alpha and Omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is the great I Am.

Christmas with an Empty Chair: When the Holiday Just Isn’t the Same
Greg Morse | We need not hide or suppress the pain of loss at Christmas. God means for the pain to deepen our joy and hope in him.

The Wedding at the End of Marriage
Marshall Segal | Marriage doesn’t exist just to remedy the loneliness of singleness; marriage exists to tell us that we need Jesus.

Our Tongues (and Fingers) of Fire: What Words Reveal About Us
Jon Bloom | Some wear their hearts on their sleeve — but we all wear our hearts in our words. If you want to know the condition of your own heart, listen carefully to what you say.

Worthless Conversation: How God Weighs Our Words
Greg Morse | Few thoughts should make us slower to speak than this one: on judgment day, every word we speak will stand before the throne of God.

A Son Worthy to Be King
Scott Hubbard | Many expected the coming Christ to be the Son of David. No one expected that he also would be David’s Lord.

The Perils of a Passive Man
Marshall Segal | Sin in men can open the door to passivity — and passivity opens the door to more sin.

Who Wrote Hebrews? Exploring a New Testament Mystery
David Mathis | Of the New Testament’s 27 books, we know who the author was for 26 of them. What can we say about the unnamed, unknown author of Hebrews?

More Shocking Than Christ: Why We Call Jesus Lord
Joe Rigney | When the New Testament writers call Jesus “Lord,” they often mean much more than “ruler” or “king.” They mean Yahweh himself.