Articles by Desiring God

David Mathis | Christ calls his preachers to “use Scripture.” It is the pastor’s tool belt, his staff, his weapon, his wand, his scalpel for the most delicate and exacting of surgeries.

Scott Hubbard | When it seems like night may never end, keep obeying your Lord in the darkness, and dare to believe that he will bring the dawn.

Marshall Segal | Unwanted waiting can be the best preparation for future ministry. Here are seven ambitions for aspiring men who feel stuck behind a closed door.

David Mathis | Our God is majestic, both in his greatness and might, and his grace and mercy. In silence we wonder, What is man that you would care for us? Who are we that your Son would die for us?

Greg Morse | When was the last time you got lost thinking about your bride? Have you let life rob you of the radiant, ever-changing beauty beside you?

Jon Bloom | Where can we find a man true to his word — not just for a moment or some big occasion, but over a lifetime?

Marshall Segal | When faced with big life decisions, we may find surprising wisdom from a simple question, drawn from Narnia: Where’s the lion now?

David Mathis | Satan knows the devastating power of our early morning devotions. He will do whatever he can to disrupt them. But we need not be ignorant of his schemes.

Scott Hubbard | The sluggard can find a home in any soul, however hardworking. Have you found weapons for putting your laziness to death?

Jon Bloom | The same Jesus who invited the weary and heavy laden also called his followers to hate their families. How do we understand the hardest words of Christ?

Marshall Segal | God wrote a book — the greatest book ever written. Because he decided to reveal himself in human words and phrases, we should want to read as well as humanly possible.

Greg Morse | Should Christians pray the imprecatory psalms? Did these curses die at the cross, or do they have a counterpart in the new-covenant religion?

David Mathis | The Christian work life is founded squarely on Christ’s finished work and aimed at his eternal glory.

Scott Hubbard | The next time “not feeling like it” tempts you to keep your Bible closed or pass a morning without prayer, remember all the good God can bring through routine.

Scott Hubbard | Maybe you used to write but fell out of the habit. Maybe you’ve never written much of anything outside of school. Either way, you might consider what a pen might do for your joy in God.

Greg Morse | Why do so many hit a wall in their early forties, wondering who they are and what they should be doing?

David Mathis | The call to “greet one another with a holy kiss” may strike us as odd and outdated. But what lessons might God have for us in this uncomfortable command?

Marshall Segal | Though Jesus was not a father or mother, he sympathizes with the lies parents face in the wilderness of the little years. And he can overcome them.

David Mathis | Biblical kissing may seem foreign and uncomfortable today. But press through the discomfort, and the kiss is a stunning window into the glory of Christ.

Scott Hubbard | More than once, the Bible encourages quietness in women. What kind of quietness pleases God, and what kind of loudness defies him?

Jon Bloom | Is there a godly habit you really want to start? Or an ungodly habit you really need to break? These four steps might help you press through.

Marshall Segal | Like blades of grass, we are here today, gone tomorrow — frail, fragile, finite. But those who fear and follow God know a steadfast love that will outlive the mountains.

Greg Morse | Many come to the end of life almost saved, almost rescued from God’s wrath, almost in possession of joy forevermore. But only almost.

Scott Hubbard | On occasion, God may call us to renounce sleep for the sake of something greater. But on most nights, he welcomes us to embrace the godliness of a good night’s sleep.

Jon Bloom | Sometimes fellow pastors have such strong, diverging convictions that they cannot continue together. What can we learn from the splitting of Paul and Barnabas?

David Mathis | God made us to fast, and to feast. But on most days, he made us to enjoy a modest portion of daily bread, received with thanksgiving and self-control.

Marshall Segal | Ask God for the kind of friends who love your soul more than your feelings, who will prize your eternal destiny even above the friendship itself.

Scott Hubbard | If we want to oppose the anti-child forces in this world, we will need more than a pro-life position, a high view of motherhood, and a robust Sunday school program.

David Mathis | It says something profound about our God that his people, in ancient Israel and the early church, are a kissing people.

Jon Bloom | The years of fatherhood are few and precious. The days may seem long, the sleep short, and the seasons tiring, but in the end, you’ll look back and wish to have much of it again.

Scott Hubbard | Live for yourself, and your life will mean little to those beyond you. But spend your life on others, and it will grow a harvest in due time.

Greg Morse | Sometimes we settle for weaker faith because we fear what greater faith might cost us in this life.

Marshall Segal | What might it look like to study and work, to date and marry and parent, to disagree and forgive, like you’ll live forever?

David Mathis | We might assume the God-centeredness of God would lead to the Christ-centeredness of Christ, but the Gospels present a more complex and wonderful picture.

Marshall Segal | Some men read the Bible assuming they’ve seen it all before. Others open the same book always expecting to find some new reason to treasure God.

Scott Hubbard | Many in the battle against lust try to shut off the imagination, but what if God means for you to win the battle through imagination?

Greg Morse | Some joy does not leave you satisfied, but still aching for a pleasure barely glimpsed, hardly heard. The longing is inconsolable, until it leads our hearts to Christ.

David Mathis | The world has its own visions of manly strength. In Scripture, what sets godly strength apart is its added ability to be gentle.

Marshall Segal | ‘The Hobbit’ resonates with us so deeply, all these years later, because the tension in Bilbo is a tension in all of us. We love comfort, but we were made for mountains.

Greg Morse | Jesus says, “Ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.” Did he really mean that? If so, what would that prayer sound like today?

Scott Hubbard | The born again are not perfect, but they are new — irrevocably, eternally, mightily new. And new people can’t keep peace with old sins.

David Mathis | The people of God perceive his majesty not only with the eye, but by the ear — in the greatness, power, and surprising glory of his roaring, thunderous words and his still, small voice.

Greg Morse | A professing Christian may live years in the church, even decades, yet in the end still hear those haunting words of Jesus: “I never knew you.”

John Piper | The New Testament opposes Christians looking to the state to teach, defend, or spread ideas or behaviors as explicitly Christian. The sword is not to be the agent of religion.

Jon Bloom | What qualities make someone the kind of person suffering people seek out and trust? He offers judicious counsel with discernible humility and kindness.

Marshall Segal | One day soon, God will make all we know unmistakably new. Have you learned to long, and pray, for the wonders of a better world to come?

Scott Hubbard | As men step into leadership, many expect the burdens of responsibility, decision-making, and initiative. Fewer are prepared for just how often they may fail.

Greg Morse | Faithfully following Jesus will put us at odds with those who ignore or refuse him. Does anyone in your life dislike how Christian you are?

David Mathis | You must be born again, says Jesus, to receive his saving grace, but how does ‘regeneration’ relate to predestination, justification, and the rest of salvation?

Joe Rigney | Do you want to catch a clear and beautiful vision of the Godward life? Take a text about the ugly futility of mutiny against God and turn it on its head.