Daily Readings by Wild at Heart

I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. (Ezekiel 28:16)So evil entered the Story.I am staggered by the level of naïveté that most people live with regarding evil. They don't take it seriously. They don't live as though the Story has a Villain. Not the devil prancing about in red tights, carrying a pitchfork, but the incarnation of the very worst of every enemy you've met in every other story. Dear God — the Holocaust, child prostitution, terrorist bombings, genocidal governments. What is it going to take for us to take evil seriously?Life is very confusing if you do not take into account that there is a Villain. That you, my friend, have an Enemy.One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe — a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death, disease, and sin ... Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong. Christianity agrees ... this is a universe at war. (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)Satan mounted his rebellion through the power of an idea: God is holding out on us. After their insurrection was squelched, and they were hurled from the high walls of heaven, that question lingers like smoke from a forest fire: Is God truly good? Is he holding out on us? Want more? Order your copy of Epic today

Jesus’ freedom is a difficult thing to teach on for many reasons; let me name two. First, there are certain types who will hear this and find it an excuse to live as they please. Many characters in our irreverent age “don’t care what others think.” Their freedom is abrasive and unholy. The freedom Jesus models is not a crass “giving the finger to the world.” Or the church, for that matter.Others will dismiss the freedom Jesus offers out of fear — either the fear of what people might think (which, ironically, is sin), or the fear of “falling into immorality.” So let me be very clear — the scandalous freedom Jesus models for us is based in an understanding of a holiness much deeper than anything the religious ever concocted. Remember, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20). The only possible way that can happen is through an internal revolution, a changed heart. When we have a heart like Jesus’. Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

By “mystery” we don’t mean “forever beyond your knowing,” but “something to be explored.”“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,” says the book of Proverbs, “to search out a matter is the glory of kings” (25:2). God yearns to be known. But he wants to be sought after by those who would know him. He says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13). There is dignity here; God does not throw himself at any passerby. He is no harlot. If you would know him you must love him; you must seek him with your whole heart. Is not the Trinity a great mystery? Not something to be solved, but known with ever-deepening pleasure and awe, something to be enjoyed.Want more? Order your copy of Captivating today

The new covenant has two parts to it: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:26). God removed your old heart when he circumcised your heart; he gives you a new heart when he joins you to the life of Christ. That's why Paul can say "count yourselves dead to sin" and "alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:11).The story of the Incarnation is the story of a descent and resurrection ... one has the picture of a diver, stripping off garment after garment, making himself naked, then flashing for a moment in the air, and then down through the green, and warm, and sunlit water into the pitch black, cold, freezing water, down into the mud and slime, then up again, his lungs almost bursting, back again to the green and warm and sunlit water, and then at last out into the sunshine, holding in his hand the dripping thing he went down to get. This thing is human nature. (C. S. Lewis, "The Grand Miracle")The Resurrection affirms the promise Christ made. For it was life he offered to give us: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). We are saved by his life when we find that we are able to live the way we've always known we should live. We are free to be what he meant when he made us. You have a new life-the life of Christ. And you have a new heart. Do you know what this means? Your heart is good. Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today

The book “Killing Lions” is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face. [John] Sam, What have you been learning as you pursue your dreams, especially as it relates to writing this book? Has it gone easily? What have you had to do to get breakthrough? [Sam] You know, sometimes it really should be quite obvious, but it isn’t always. Often I sit down to write and this little voice says, You suck. You are a terrible writer. You can’t do this. Just go get a beer already. I mean, it’s a little voice for crying out loud ... you’d think that would be obvious! Once I’ve pushed through those and am able to open up a document, I’ll try and spend a couple of hours at the computer. A professor I knew once said, “The greatest tool a writer can have is glue to keep him in his chair.” Maybe instead of glue it has been praying, every time, no matter what. If I don’t pray, no writing happens. Seriously. So I’ve learned to first consecrate the book, my office, the day, my gifts, pretty much anything that pops into my mind and feels important and relevant. Then I ask God to guide me and to write through me, to give me the words, and then I write. Sometimes I think God speaks and sometimes I think he doesn’t. But to be honest, without the framework of warfare, prayer seems weird, like tai chi or a beauty pageant contestant wishing for world peace. But I do know this: if I didn’t pray, this book wouldn’t have happened. Want more? Order your copy of Killing Lions today

The human heart has an infinite capacity for happiness and an unending need for love, because it is created for an infinite God who is unending love. The desperate turn is when we bring the aching abyss of our hearts to one another with the hope, the plea, “Make me happy. Fill this ache.” And often out of love we do try to make one another happy, and then we wonder why it never lasts. It can’t be done. You will kill yourself trying. We are broken people, with a famished craving in our hearts. We are fallen, all of us. It happened so long ago, back in the Garden of Eden, so early in our story that most of us don’t even realize it happened. But the effects of the Fall are something we live with every day, and it’d be best for both of you if you understood what it’s done to the soul of a man and a woman. Want more? Order your copy of Love & War today

Maybe it would be better to turn our search to the headwaters, to that mighty root from which these branches grow. Who is this One we allegedly come from, whose image every man bears? What is he like? In a man's search for his strength, telling him that he's made in the image of God may not sound like a whole lot of encouragement at first. To most men, God is either distant or he is weak — the very thing they'd report of their earthly fathers. Be honest now — what is your image of Jesus as a man? "Isn't he sort of meek and mild?" a friend remarked. "I mean, the pictures I have of him show a gentle guy with children all around. Kind of like Mother Teresa." Yes, those are the pictures I've seen myself in many churches. In fact, those are the only pictures I've seen of Jesus. As I've said before, they leave me with the impression that he was the world's nicest guy. Mister Rogers with a beard. Telling me to be like him feels like telling me to go limp and passive. Be nice. Be swell. Be like Mother Teresa.I'd much rather be told to be like William Wallace. Want more? Order your copy of Wild at Heart today

God promises every man futility and failure; he guarantees every woman relational heartache and loneliness. We spend most of our waking hours attempting to end-run the curse. We will fight this truth with all we've got. Sure, other people suffer defeat. Other people face loneliness. But not me. I can beat the odds. We see the neighbor's kids go off the deep end, and we make a mental note: They didn't pray for their kids every day. And we make praying for our kids every day part of our plan. It doesn't have to happen to us. We watch a colleague suffer a financial setback, and we make another note: He was always a little lax with his money. We set up a rigid budget and stick to it.Isn't there something defensive that rises up in you at the idea that you cannot make life work out? Isn't there something just a little bit stubborn, an inner voice that says, I can do it? Thus Pascal writes,All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end ... This is the motive of every action of every man. But example teaches us little. No resemblance is ever so perfect that there is not some slight difference, and hence we expect that our hope will not be deceived on this occasion as before. And thus, while the present never satisfies us, experience dupes us and from misfortune to misfortune leads us to death. (Pensées)It can't be done. No matter how hard we try, no matter how clever our plan, we cannot arrange for the life we desire. Set the book down for a moment and ask yourself this question: Will life ever be what I so deeply want it to be, in a way that cannot be lost? This is the second lesson we must learn, and in many ways the hardest to accept. We must have life; we cannot arrange for it. Want more? Order your copy of The Journey of Desire today

This motive — reverence for God — is a slippery one. This lets in a great deal of the clutter that gets between us and God, because it seems like the proper thing to do.“Papa, I come to you this morning” has a totally different feel than “Almighty God and Everlasting Father.” Even if you do not start out that way, addressing God with a coat-and-tie formality you would never have wanted between you and your dad will end up starching the relationship. “Papa” is what Jesus gave us. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ ... Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’” (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6).The point is not the words; the point is the fruit, their effect. Stained-glass language reflects a view of what Jesus is like; it shapes our perceptions of him and, therefore, our experience of him. Whatever the term may be, just ask yourself: Does this sound like his actual personality? Does this capture his playfulness, infuriating the Pharisees; his humanity, generosity, and scandalous freedom? Does this sound like the Jesus at Cana, at dinner with “sinners,” on the beach with the boys?These ways of speaking about Jesus perpetuate distorted views of his personality and keep Jesus at a distance, the polar opposite of the intimacy his entire life was committed to. It makes it hard to love him. This stuff actually gets in the way of loving Jesus. Listen — you can honor him, respect him, insist that others do, and never actually love Jesus. This is not what he wanted.False reverence is a choice veil of the religious fog. It will bring a shroud between your heart and his. Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

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 him and kissed him" (Luke 15:20 NIV). This is the kind of Father you have. This is how he feels about you. This is the purpose for which Christ came.But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir" (Gal. 4:4-7 NIV).As George MacDonald explains, "The word used by St. Paul does not imply that God adopts children that are not his own, but rather that a second time he fathers his own, that a second time they are born — this time from above. That he will make himself tenfold, yea, infinitely their father" (Unspoken Sermons).We begin to make the one most central, most essential shift in all the world, the shift Christianity is focused on, by at least beginning with the objective truth. How this plays out in our lives will come later. For now, there are things you must know. You are the child of a kind, strong, and engaged Father, a Father wise enough to guide you in the Way, generous enough to provide for your journey. His first act of provision happened before you were even born, when he rescued you through the life, death, and resurrection of our elder brother, Jesus of Nazareth. Then he called you to himself — perhaps is calling you even now — to come home to him through faith in Christ. When a man gives his life to Jesus Christ, when he turns as the prodigal son turned for home and is reconciled to the Father, many remarkable things take place. At the core of them is a coming into true sonship. Want more? Order your copy of Fathered by God today

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 Cross in his book Living Flame of Love, capture the heart-cry of every soul for intimacy with God. For this we were created and for this we were rescued from sin and death. In Ephesians, Paul lets us in on a little secret: We've been more than noticed. God has pursued us from farther than space and longer ago than time. God has had us in mind since before the Foundations of the World. He loved us before the beginning of time, has come for us, and now calls us to journey toward him, with him, for the consummation of our love.Who am I, really? The answer to that question is found in the answer to another: What is God's heart toward me, or, how do I affect him? If God is the Pursuer, the Ageless Romancer, the Lover, then there has to be a Beloved, one who is the Pursued. This is our role in the story.In the end, all we've ever really wanted is to be loved. "Love comes from God," writes St. John. We don't have to get God to love us by doing something right-even loving him. "This is love: not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." Someone has noticed; someone has taken the initiative. There is nothing we need to do to keep it up, because his love for us is not based on what we've done, but who we are: His Beloved. "I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me" (Song 7:10).Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

"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 certainly far from any glory.It's also unbiblical.The passage people think they are referring to is Romans 7:18, where Paul says, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing" (KJV). Notice the distinction he makes. He does not say, "There is nothing good in me. Period." What he says is that "in my flesh dwelleth no good thing." The flesh is the old nature, the old life, crucified with Christ. The flesh is the very thing God removed from our hearts when he circumcised them by his Spirit. In Galatians Paul goes on to explain, "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature [the flesh] with its passions and desires" (5:24). He does not say, "I am incapable of good." He says, "In my flesh dwelleth no good thing." In fact, just a few moments later, he discovers that "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2 NKJV).Yes, we still battle with sin. Yes, we still have to crucify our flesh on a daily basis. "For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the [sinful nature], you will live" (Rom. 8:13 NKJV). We have to choose to live from the new heart, and our old nature doesn't go down without a fight. I'll say more about that later. For now the question on the table is: Does the Bible teach that Christians are nothing but sinners-that there is nothing good in us? The answer is no! Christ lives in you. You have a new heart. Your heart is good. That sinful nature you battle is not who you are. Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today

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 the attendants about her spiritual beliefs. A follower of a New Age guru, she said with all earnestness, “I don’t believe in heaven. I believe life is a never-ending cycle of birth and death.” What a horror, I thought to myself. This Story had better have a happy ending. Paul felt the same. If this is as good as it gets, he said, you may as well stop at a bar on the way home and tie one on; go to Nordstrom’s and max out all your credit cards; bake a cake and eat the whole thing. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32).Our hearts cannot live without hope. Gabriel Marcel says that “hope is for the soul what breathing is for the living organism.” In the trinity of Christian graces — faith, hope, and love — love may be the greatest, but hope plays the deciding role. The apostle Paul tells us that faith and love depend on hope, our anticipation of what lies ahead: “Faith and love ... spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven” (Col. 1:5). Our courage for the journey so often falters because we’ve lost our hope of heaven — the consummation of our Love Story. The reason most men, to quote Thoreau, “live lives of quiet desperation” is that they live without hope. Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

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 to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. (Luke 24:36–43)This a very funny moment. The pair from the Emmaus road are in the middle of telling their incredible story when Jesus just appears in the room, as if to illustrate everything they’ve said. Yep, that was me. Yep, I did it just like that. Suddenly he’s just standing there and all he says is, “Peace be with you.” Here the most fantastic thing in the world is happening before their eyes, and all Jesus says is “Hi?!” His understatement is very, very funny. The disciples are stupefied, dumbfounded; they don’t believe that he is real. “Look at my hands and feet.” He is clearly showing them the holes the nails pierced. They still think he’s a ghost. Finally he asks, “Is there anything here to eat?” like a neighbor dropping by for some chips. He chews it carefully in front of them, swallows it, and waits a few seconds for everyone to digest the lesson. You have got to love this moment. And the point he’s making. Jesus raised is still Jesus, a man — flesh and bones and all. Be gone, religious fog.Jesus was more human than humanity. His was the most human face of all. This is going to open up wonders for you. Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

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 — though Jesus says he could call down more than sixty thousand angels to prevent it, he lets them kill him, and pardons them beforehand for doing it. Because of his extraordinary humility, no one seems to fully grasp just who this is. But nature knows, and cannot bear it — the earth convulses; the sun hides his face. It is only after the resurrection that the full reality begins to dawn on mankind. If it has even dawned on us yet.And then there comes the touching humility of keeping the scars of those wounds — forever. You’ll see them, soon, get to touch them for yourself, just like Thomas. Jesus wears them proudly now.I think three years of this kind of humble generosity and patience is pretty dang impressive. But Jesus has kept right on at it — for two thousand years. Teaching us, including us in the mission, sharing in the glory, being playful, being honest, helping us along. No wonder when he steps into the heavens to accept the throne the cry goes up, “Worthy! Worthy! Worthy! Make him king!”Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

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 some power or force is colluding with our deepest fears and keeping us all under a spell. Pascal understood:Nothing is so important to man as his own state, nothing is so formidable to him as eternity; and thus it is not natural that there should be men indifferent to the loss of their existence, and to the perils of everlasting suffering. They are quite different with regard to all other things. They are afraid of mere trifles; they foresee them; they feel them. And this same man who spends so many days and nights in rage and despair for the loss of office, or for some imaginary insult to his honour, is the very one who knows without anxiety and without emotion that he will lose all by death. It is a monstrous thing to see in the same heart and at the same time this sensibility to trifles and this strange insensibility to the greatest objects. It is an incomprehensible enchantment, and a supernatural slumber, which indicates as its cause an all-powerful force.Pascal is bewildered, dumbfounded. What is this dark enchantment that keeps the human race from facing the inevitable? You cannot protect your hope until you face the inevitable; maturity means living without denial. But we are mainlining denial; we are shooting it straight into our veins. We are grasping at every possible means to avoid the inevitable. We give our hopes to all sorts of kingdom counterfeits and substitutes; we give our hearts over to mere morsels. We mistake the promise of the kingdom for the reality and give our being over to its shadow.But when you raise the white flag, when you finally accept the truth that you will lose everything one way or another, utterly, irrevocably—then the Restoration is news beyond your wildest dreams.Want more? Order your copy of All Things New today

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 like in operation has left many dear folks a little confused. The simple thing I do (I’m trying to practice this every day) is to pray, Jesus, I surrender the Self Life to you. I’m not hating the Self; I’m not mocking it. I’m not berating the Self, not heaping accusation and contempt upon it. I am surrendering it, turning it over to Jesus, relinquishing its every right. Here are some practical ways:“Envy cannot bear to admire or respect. It cannot bear to be grateful,” wrote Sayers. So a wonderful way to thwart the Self is to admire and be grateful. Pray for people who are in a better situation than you are, who are more gifted than you are, or who currently have wonderful circumstances coming their way. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Pray for someone else’s promotion, someone else’s pregnancy, someone else’s healing. That crucifies envy.Make no room for offense. Given the social air we breathe, this is going to be enormously helpful. Whenever, wherever you see offense cropping up, crucify it — give it no hold. Now, I understand it may be utterly justified. People do offensive things; all those Eustaces out there are offensive. Cutting in on you at the market, taking your place in the theater, getting on social media and saying all kinds of terrible things. But the point is, you don’t want to get caught up in it. Offense has no good ending.Cultivate admiration. When you’re scrolling through social media (which I hope is less and less these days), and you come across someone’s wonderful life, cheer for them. Praise God for it. Make it personal: “Lord, she’s such a wonderful singer; I pray she gets chosen to lead worship next week instead of me.” “Jesus, he’s such a fabulous athlete; I pray he makes the team.” Goodbye, Self. You cannot have my soul.O the joy of it — the enormous relief. I would rather have so much more of God than coddle the little tyrant of Self. And as soon as I crucify the Self, God is right there, and now there’s so much more room in me for him to fill.By the way — this is why the Christian life only works through total abandonment. You have to be all in. If we hold anything back, retain some part of our lives for ourselves, large or small, the Self will rule there and continually set itself against God in us. A house divided cannot stand. Most disappointing Christian experiences can be explained by the honest admission that they weren’t abandoned to God. There’s no other way to follow Christ; with utter, brilliant clarity he said it this way: “Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it” (Luke 17:33). Want more? Order your copy of Get Your Life Back today

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 will forget; this isn’t the first book you’ve read in search of God. What do you remember from the others? If God has been so gracious as to touch you through our words, it will not have been the first time he has touched you. What have you done with all the other times? I have had enough encounters with God to provide a lifetime of conviction — why don’t I live more faithfully? Because I forget.I am humbled by the story of the golden calf. These people, the Jews God has just delivered from Egypt, have seen an eyeful. First came the plagues; then the Passover; then the escape from Pharaoh’s armies and last-minute rescue straight through the Red Sea. After that came the manna: breakfast in bed, so to speak, every morning for months. They drank water from a rock. They heard and saw the fireworks at Mt. Sinai and shook in their sandals at the presence of God. I think it’s safe to say that this band of ransomed slaves had reasons to believe. Then their leader, Moses, disappears for forty days into the “consuming fire” that enveloped the top of the mountain, which they could see with their own eyes. While he’s up there, they blow the whole thing off for a wild bacchanalian party in honor of an idol made from their earrings. My first reaction is arrogant: How could they possibly be so stupid? How could they forget everything they’ve received straight from the hand of God? My second is a bit more honest: That’s me; I could do that; I forget all the time. Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

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 find the villains who have done this, with all the speed we may. I will not leave one of them alive." "Sire, with a good will," said Jewel. But Roonwit said, "Sire, be wary in your just wrath. There are strange doings on foot. If there should be rebels in arms further up the valley, we three are too few to meet them. If it would please you to wait while..." "I will not wait the tenth part of a second," said the King. "But while Jewel and I go forward, do you gallop as hard as you may to Cair Paravel ... we must go on and take the adventure that comes to us." "It is the only thing left for us to do, Sire," said the Unicorn. He did not see at the moment how foolish it was for two of them to go on alone; nor did the King. They were too angry to think clearly. But much evil came of their rashness in the end. (C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle)King Tirian of Narnia has a good heart. But he also has an unwise heart — an untrained heart. I'd say that's true for most of us. Our heart has been made good by the work of Christ, but we haven't learned how to live from it. Young and naive it remains. It's as though we've been handed a golden harp or a shining sword. Even the most gifted musician still has to take lessons; even the bravest of warriors must be trained. We are unfamiliar, unpracticed with the ways of the heart. This is actually a very dangerous part of the journey. Launching out with an untrained heart can bring much hurt and ruin, and afterward we will be shamed back into the gospel of Sin Management, having concluded that our heart is bad. It isn't bad; it's just young and unwise. Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today

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 never get healed. He’s taken healing away from us almost entirely, so that we sit in pews as broken people feeling guilty because we can’t live the life we’re supposed to live. And he takes warfare and mocks it, stigmatizes it as well so that most of the church knows almost nothing about how to break strongholds, set captives free.Finally, the Religious Spirit makes it next to impossible for a person to break free by spreading the lie that there is no war. Be honest — how many Christians do you know who practice spiritual warfare as a normal, necessary, daily part of the Christian life? Some of my dearest friends pull back from this stream and sort of cast a concerned look over me when I suggest it’s going on. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war? You’ve got to be kidding me. We’re not advancing the kingdom, we’re holding car washes. We gave up the hymn not so much for reasons of musical fashion but because we felt ridiculous singing it, as you do when asked to sing “Happy Birthday” in a restaurant to a perfect stranger. We don’t sing it ’cause it ain’t true. We have acquiesced. We have surrendered without a fight. Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today

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 that? What are your current convictions about God wanting to give you himself?) The erosion of our soul by the world and the off-and-on experience most people have in the pursuit of God will, over time, sow seeds of doubt in our hearts that God really does want to give us himself. So let’s listen to his desires and promises on the matter:Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:9–13) And don’t think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away — a lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! (John 3:34 THE MESSAGE)As we are asking God for a greater measure of his presence in us, we choose to ask confidently, believing that he wants to. This will help quite a bit.Second, we chose to believe Christ is already within us, and we remind ourselves of this marvel. The springs of life well up from within. You’re not looking for God to fall on you from above; you look for the upwelling of God from inside your own being! The French writer Jeanne Guyon really helped me understand this paradigm shift:Your way to God begins on the day of your conversion, for conversion marks your soul’s initial return to God ... to find the God who has newly come to reside at the center of your being. Your spirit instructs your soul that, since God is more present deep within you ... He must be sought within. And He must be enjoyed there. ... Therefore, from the very beginning you find great joy in knowing that your Lord is within you and that you can find Him and enjoy Him in your inmost being. (Union with God by Jeanne Guyon) Want more? Order your copy of Get Your Life Back today

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 grows in its capacity to know pain. The two go hand in hand. What, then, shall we do with disappointment? We can be our own enemy, depending on how we handle the heartache that comes with desire. To want is to suffer; the word passion means to suffer. This is why many Christians are reluctant to listen to their hearts: They know that their dullness is keeping them from feeling the pain of life. Many of us have chosen simply not to want so much; it's safer that way. It's also godless. That's stoicism, not Christianity. Sanctification is an awakening, the rousing of our souls from the dead sleep of sin into the fullness of their capacity for life.Desire often feels like an enemy, because it wakes longings that cannot be fulfilled in the moment. In the words of T. S. Eliot,April is the cruelest month, breedingLilacs out of the dead land, mixingMemory and desire. (The Waste Land )Spring awakens a desire for the summer that is not yet. Awakened souls are often disappointed, but our disappointment can lead us onward, actually increasing our desire and lifting it toward its true passion. Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

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 age”; the mounting tensions in this country are symptoms of a much deeper reality. The more you understand the essence of human nature and human conflict, the more you understand what Jesus was pointing to.When sins rages, when cruelty, selfishness, and hatred rule the day, love is hard to cultivate—even in the best of us. Never before has love been more important to cling to, to pray, to invoke. You are going to need to be vigilant—no little grievances, no offense, no revenge. Jesus will keep bringing you back to love, to pray love, to enforce love. Forgiveness, mercy, overlooking offenses, breaking any agreement with violation, hatred, or violence.God is love, and as you call down love you call down the heart of God himself, and you call down the power of his kingdom.———————————Jesus, I love you. I turn my heart toward you and receive your love. I choose love and align myself with love and command the love of God to flow through my life. Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

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 makes for a long time of waiting. You see, the flowers are pretty much gone in September. The first of October, the aspens start turning gold and drop their leaves in a week or two. Come November, all is gray. Initially, I don't mind. The coming of winter has its joys, and there are Thanksgiving and Christmastime to look forward to.But after the new year, things begin to drag on. Through February and then March, the earth remains lifeless. The whole world lies shadowed in brown and gray tones, like an old photograph. Winter's novelty is long past, and by April we are longing for some sign of life—some color, some hope. It's too long.And then, just this afternoon, I rounded the corner into our neighborhood, and suddenly, the world was green again. What had been rock and twig and dead mulch was a rich oriental carpet of green. I was shocked, stunned. How did it happen? As if in disbelief, I got out of my car and began to walk through the woods, touching every leaf. The birds are back as well, waking us in the morning with their glad songs. It happened suddenly. In the twinkling of an eye.My surprise is telling. It seems natural to long for spring; it is another thing to be completely stunned by its return. I am truly and genuinely surprised, as if my reaction were, Really? What are you doing here? And then I realized, I thought I'd never see you again. I think in some deep place inside, I had accepted the fact that winter is what is really true ... And so I am shocked by the return of spring. And I wonder, Can the same thing happen for my soul? Want more? Order your copy of The Journey of Desire today

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 his own cattle ranch in eastern Oregon. And though I was raised in the suburbs, the redemption of my life and the real training grounds for my own masculine journey took place on that ranch, where I spent my boyhood summers. Oh, that every boy should be so lucky. To have your days filled with tractors and pickup trucks, horses and roping steers, fishing in the ponds. I was Huck Finn for three wonderful months every year. How I loved it when my grandfather—"Pop" is what I called him — would look at me, his thumbs tucked in his belt, smile, and say, "Saddle up."One afternoon Pop took me into town, to my favorite store. It was a combination feed and tack/hardware/ranch supply shop. It smelled of hay and linseed oil, of leather and gunpowder and kerosene — all the things that thrill a boy's heart. That summer Pop was having a problem with an overrun pigeon population on the ranch. He hated the dirty birds, feared they were carrying diseases to the cattle. "Flying rats" is what he called them. Pop walked straight over to the firearms counter, picked out a BB rifle and a quart-sized milk carton with about a million BBs in it, and handed them to me. The old shopkeeper looked a bit surprised as he stared down at me, squinting over his glasses. "Isn't he a bit young for that?" Pop put his hand on my shoulder and smiled. "This is my grandson, Hal. He's riding shotgun for me."I may have walked into that feed store a squirrelly little kid, but I walked out as Sheriff Wyatt Earp. I had an identity and a place in the story. I was invited to be dangerous. If a boy is to become a man, if a man is to know he is one, this is not an option. A man has to know where he comes from, and what he's made of. Want more? Order your copy of Wild at Heart today

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 believe, down deep in our hearts, so that it changes us forever, changes the way we approach each day.I believe this is the core issue of our shared dilemma. We just don't believe it. Our core assumptions about the world boil down to this: We are on our own to make life work. We are not watched over. We are not cared for. When we are hit with a problem, we have to figure it out ourselves, or just take the hit. If anything good is going to come our way, we're the ones who are going to have to arrange for it. Many of us have called upon God as Father, but, frankly, he doesn't seem to have heard. We're not sure why. Maybe we didn't do it right. Maybe he's about more important matters. Whatever the reason, our experience of this world has framed our approach to life. We believe we are fatherless.Whatever life has taught us, and though we may not have put it into these exact words, we feel that we are alone. Simply look at the way men live. If I were to give an honest assessment of my life for the past thirty years, I'd have to confess the bulk of it as Striving and Indulging. Pushing myself hard to excel, taking on the battles that come to me with determination but also with a fear-based drivenness, believing deep down inside that there is no one I can trust to come through for me. Striving. And then, arranging for little pleasures along the way to help ease the pain of the drivenness and loneliness. Dinners out, adventure gear. Indulging. A fatherless way to live. Want more? Order your copy of Fathered by God today

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 again. (1 Cor. 15:20 NLT)God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. (Rom. 8:29 The Message)So we, too, shall live and never die. Creation will be restored, and we will be restored. And we shall share it together. "Today," Jesus said to the thief on the cross, "you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). Imagine that. Imagine being reunited with the ones you love, and with all the great and noble hearts of this Story, in paradise.We will walk with God in the Garden in the cool of the day. We will see our Jesus face-to-face. We will hear him laugh. All that has ever stood between us will be swept away, and our hearts will be released to real loving. It begins with a great party, just as in Titanic, what the Scriptures call the "wedding feast of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:9 NLT). You'll raise a glass with Adam and Eve, with Paul and St. Patrick, with your grandmother and your grandson.Imagine the stories that you'll hear. And all the questions that shall finally have answers. And the answers won't be one-word answers, but story after story, a feast of wonder and laughter and glad tears. Want more? Order your copy of Epic today

“‘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 heartsand turn, and I would heal them.’” (Matthew 13:15)Heal them. Jesus yearned for his people to turn back to him so that he could heal them! The “otherwise” means that if they weren’t so hardheaded, they would turn to him and he would heal them. This truth is essential to your view of the gospel. It will shape your convictions about nearly everything else. God wants to restore us. Our part is to “turn,” to repent as best we can. But we also need his healing. As Ephesians 1:4 says, God chose us to make us whole and holy through his love. God will make known to us the path of life if we will follow him. And as we do, we will find along that path our need for wholeness and holiness. Want more? Order your copy of Walking With God today

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 question: What is your greatest fear, as a man? [Sam] That’s easy; I fear feeling like a fool. I fear and hate it above everything else. Hate might not even be a strong enough word; loathe may be better. I hate walking into the bank and having the teller raise an eyebrow in pity when he asks my monthly income. I hate going in to buy a suit and being chided and coddled by the staff who assume I know nothing. So what if I don’t know my measurements? I have cringed days after being caught in a bluff by someone who knows what they are talking about, and then calling me out in front of everyone. There are times when I feel Dean Koontz hit it on the head: “Humanity is a parade of fools, and I am at the front of it, twirling a baton.” More than anything else, I hate feeling like a fool around a woman. I think most guys do. The sensation afterward is something akin to a personal black hole opening up inside my chest, and I wish it would hurry up and swallow me whole. I once tried showing off on a diving board by doing a double front-flip but ended up hitting the water face-first and giving myself a bloody nose. Almost every guy I know tells stories of spectacular failed attempts at a date or an introduction or a kiss, and while the stories are told in a circle of laughter, every man’s eyes go a little dim as he relives the memory.Want more? Order your copy of Killing Lions today

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 within you. Just as you reach a place where you feel satisfied, it seems you need more. That’s because your soul is expanding, which is a very good thing.Some of the old habits, even the old comforts, just won’t work anymore; some of your old relationships won’t either, nor will certain religious associations. You no longer fit. We can think there’s something wrong with us, when what’s happening is that we are being healed towards heaven, towards Eden. As our soul is restored, it will fit less and less into the madness of this world and this hour, which, sadly, has infected Christianity quite deeply. No judgments, no need to make a scene. But you’re not a moral failure because you don’t fit; you’re being healed. Time to move on.The second caution comes to us through the Old Testament story of manna. The entire nation of Israel is ransomed from Egypt “with a strong hand and powerful arm, with overwhelming terror, and with miraculous signs and wonders” (Deuteronomy 26:8 NLT). Stepping through the sundered waters of the Red Sea, the people find themselves in a roundabout trek, zigzagging across the arid desert of the Sinai Peninsula (with no annual rainfall to speak of). Masses of people wandering barren wasteland are going to die for lack of food and water in a matter of weeks, maybe days. Forty years is out of the question. So God provides his people with the bread of angels every morning. They couldn’t store it, they couldn’t hoard it. They had to go out each morning and gather it. And it was always there, delivered silently, gently.Now, why did God give us this unforgettable parable?Because no matter how much of God we’ve finally been able to partake of, the surprising “ah ha” is that we need it again tomorrow. I always thought that for some reason, I could get to a place where I was tapped into God in such a way I didn’t run out. But we need to sleep again every night; we need to drink water every day; we need to breathe again every single moment. Our life is a beautifully dependent existence, like the tree and the forest. You’re not failing because you need God again tomorrow. You’re not a spiritual disaster because you need so much more of him. This is the nature of things. We simply come and ask. “Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). Want more? Order your copy of Get Your Life Back today

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 first step to becoming true is becoming aware of the false.Who am I in my false self?What version of myself do I present to the world as a mask to self-protect?What is my effect on people?What do people feel when they are around me?You’ll want to get to know the false self and get very familiar with him. We must become students of the person — the self — we have become. We must watch the false self at work and see how he expresses his self-protection by avoiding shame and acting out of fear through his predominant style of relating. We must become keen observers of his impact on others and how that relates to the story of their souls, so we might allow God to continually expose the parts of our heart and our soul that have yet to be integrated into wholeness. Only by coming to know the false self can you engage in the slow and steady process of putting him to death so that the true man might be resurrected in his place. It is only in consenting to the excavation of the masculine soul that we can become the kind of man and the kind of king within whom God can build a lasting kingdom.To put to death the false self and invite God to restore the true self is the gate along the narrow path that can lead us deeper to coming to know the man God made us to be. Let us venture around the next turn along the ancient path and wonder together about this hidden treasure that can be found only through participating in God’s excavation of our masculine soul. Want more? Order your copy of Becoming a King today

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 force of their lives. The goal is so remarkable and the journey so uncertain. Many climbers have been lost on the mountain. Those who reach the summit and return safely are among a rare and elite group of mountaineers in the world. Why do they do it? How do they do it?John Krakauer recounted the desperate tale of the ill-fated '96 expedition in his book Into Thin Air: "There were many, many fine reasons not to go, but attempting to climb Everest is an intrinsically irrational act—a triumph of desire over sensibility." It is a feat begun in desire that can be accomplished only through desire. Krakauer explained how one of his climbing partners attained the summit: "Yasuko had been propelled up the mountain by the unwavering intensity of her desire."Desire — it's the only way you will ever make it. Take marriage, for instance. Or singleness. Either makes for a far more difficult and arduous ascent than Everest, in large part because it does not seem so. The struggles are not heightened and focused into one month of do or die; rather, they stretch on across a lifetime. So it is with any act of faith or of hope — anything, in other words, that makes a life worth living. How can we possibly sustain such an intrinsically irrational act as love if we've killed our desire? Want more? Order your copy of The Journey of Desire today

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 desert, sniffing the wind in [your] craving— in [your] heat [how can I] restrain [you]? Any males that pursue [you] need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find [you]. Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. (Jer. 2:23-25)God is saying, "I love you, and yet you betray me at the drop of a hat. I feel so much pain. Can't you see we're made for each other? I want you to come back to me." And Israel's answer, like that of any addict or adulterer, is: "It's no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them" (Jer. 2:25).Perhaps we can empathize with the ache God experienced as Israel's "husband" (and ours when we are living indulgently). Having raised Israel from childhood to a woman of grace and beauty, he astonishingly cannot win her heart from her adulterous lovers. The living God of the universe cannot win the only one he loves, not due to any lack on his part, but because her heart is captured by her addictions, which is to say, her adulterous lovers. Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

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 to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and, in the age to come, eternal life" (Luke 18:29-30).Jesus doesn't locate his offer to us only in some distant future, after we've slogged our way through our days here on earth. He talks about a life available to us in this age. So does Paul: "[G]odliness has value for all things, holding promise both for the present life and the life to come" (1 Timothy 4:8). Our present life, and the next. When we hear the words "eternal life," most of us have tended to think, "a life that waits for me in eternity." But eternal means unending, not later. The scriptures use the term to mean you can never lose it. It's a life that can't be taken from you. The offer is life and that life starts now.And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives (Romans 6:4 NLT).The glory of God is man fully alive? Now? Hope unbidden rose at the thought that God's intentions towards me might be better than I thought. His happiness and my happiness are tied together? My coming fully alive is what he's committed to? That's the offer of Christianity?The offer is life. Make no mistake about that. Want more? Order your copy of Waking The Dead today

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 honest things to people.It is what enables him to be so scandalous.This is the secret of his ability to navigate praise and contempt.Neither success nor opposition have power over him. One day the crowds love him, the next they are shouting for his crucifixion. Jesus is the same man — the same personality — through the whole swirling tempest. Jesus is free from the fear of man. It is something more than integrity, though it certainly encompasses that. He is true to himself, true to his Father, true to what the moment most requires, true to love. In this forest of fig leaves, where you are never sure you are getting the true person, there is nothing false about Jesus.Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

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, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. (Jeremiah 17:14)But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. (Malachi 4:2)He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. (Luke 9:11) For some reason this has been lost in the recent offerings of the church. Perhaps it has been our pride, which has kept us from admitting that we are broken. Lord knows I've done that for years — probably am still doing it now. Perhaps it is our fear of getting our hopes up; it seems too good to be true. Perhaps it's been the church's almost total focus on sin and the cross. But the Scripture is abundant and clear: Christ came not only to pardon us, but to heal us. He wants the glory restored. So, put the book down for just a moment, and let this sink in: Jesus can, and wants, to heal your heart. What does that rouse in you?Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today

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 who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:28–29)There is no bait and switch here. The renewal of all things simply means that the earth you love—all your special places and treasured memories — are restored and renewed and given back to you. Forever. Nobody seems to have heard this or paid much attention to it, because, for one thing, nobody I know is fantasizing about it. When was the last time you eavesdropped on a conversation at Starbucks about the restoration of all things? And for another thing, everybody I talk to still has these anemic, wispy views of heaven, as a place up there somewhere, where we go to attend the eternal-worship-service-in-the-sky.Meanwhile we fantasize about that boat we’d love to get or the trip to Italy, the chocolate éclair or the girl in the cubicle next door. Of course we do — we are made for utter happiness.But the restoration of all things — now that would change everything. Want more? Order your copy of All Things New today

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. Somebody could write a fairy tale about that. It would be an allegory for how rarely we see ourselves, who we truly are, the good and the bad. But in unexpected moments we get a sideways glance, as when passing by a plate glass window downtown, and most of the time we don’t like much what we see.Notice how we are in elevators: No one makes eye contact. No one wants to acknowledge that we are seeing and being seen. In a moment of forced intimacy, almost claustrophobic intimacy, we pretend we aren’t even there. The reason? Most times we just don’t know what to do with what we see. About ourselves, I mean. It doesn’t take a Nobel Prize winner to see that something dreadful has happened to the human race. So we look at the ceiling or our shoes; we watch the numbers report the passing floors; we hide. This is how most of us approach our entire lives — we hide what we can, work on what we feel is redeemable, and despise the rest.There is a better way. Want more? Order your copy of Free to Live today

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. You don’t have to figure life out, you don’t have to figure each other out, you don’t have to figure parenting out, or money or family. You have a counselor, you have a guide, you have God. What a relief that we don’t have to figure it all out. We get to walk with God. That’s the beauty of Christian spirituality. This isn’t about mastering principles; it’s about an actual relationship with an actual person who happens to be the wisest, kindest, and okay, wildest person you will ever know. Want more? Order your copy of Love & War today

Right above my bed I think I shall hang a sign that says, GOD EXISTS. You see, I wake most mornings an unbeliever. It seems that during the night, I slip into forgetfulness, and by the time the new day comes, I am lost. The deep and precious truths that God has brought to me over the years and even just yesterday seem a thousand miles away. It doesn't happen every morning, but enough to make it an ongoing reality. And I know I am not alone in this. As George MacDonald confessed in Diary of an Old Soul:Sometimes I wake, and lo, I have forgot, And drifted out upon an ebbing sea! My soul that was at rest now resteth not, For I am with myself and not with thee; Truth seems a blind moon in a glaring morn, Where nothing is but sick-heart vanity.Forgetting is no small problem. Of all the enemies our hearts must face, this may be the worst because it is insidious. Forgetfulness does not come against us like an enemy in full battle formation, banners waving. Nor does it come temptingly, seductively, the lady in red. It works slowly, commonly, unnoticed. My wife had a beautiful climbing rose vine that began to fill an arbor in her garden. We enjoyed the red blossoms it produced every summer. But last year, something happened. The vine suddenly turned brown, dropped its flowers, and died within the course of a week. After all that loving care we couldn't figure out what went wrong. A call to the nursery revealed that a worm had gotten into the stalk of the vine and eaten away at the life from the inside. Such is the work of forgetfulness. It cuts us off from our life so slowly, we barely notice, until one day the blooms of our faith are suddenly gone. Want more? Order your copy of The Journey of Desire today

The single most significant decision that has changed my prayer life more than any other, the one step that has brought about greater results than all others combined is this (drum roll, please)...Asking Jesus what I should pray.So simple, and so revolutionizing! Utterly obvious once we consider it, but something we so rarely practice. That is probably one of the side effects of the “prayer is just asking God to do something” view; no doubt it is also more of the negative consequences of the orphan and slave mentality. But if prayer is in fact a partnership, then I want to be in alignment with God! For here is his promise to us: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us — whatever we ask — we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14–15). Want more? Order your copy of Moving Mountains today

Jesus’ manner can be appreciated only in light of a deeper river flowing in him, this fierce intentionality. Otherwise, you get those popular and ridiculous portraits of Jesus as the wandering storyteller, no more controversial or dangerous than a clerk in a health-food store.“The life of Jesus went as swift and straight as a thunderbolt,” wrote Chesterton in The Everlasting Man, “almost in the manner of a military march; certainly in the manner of the quest of a hero moving to his achievement or his doom.” And in the most beautiful turn of events, the hunted becomes the Hunter indeed, as Jesus crucified descends into hell personally, to demand the keys from Satan. What was that journey like? Far more than a twilight walk to a cottage. He faces a creature way more terrifying than anything you’ve met in your nightmares and makes him bend the knee. Then Jesus simply turns and walks back out again, leading a train of rescued captives with him. Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

Our hearts long to recover a sense of wonder; it is one of the reasons only the child-heart can receive the kingdom. Remember now — we shall be as children again:“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:14–15)The adult in us says, How touching, and dismisses it the next moment in order to go on with our very grown-up lives. But Jesus is being utterly serious, and thank God. For it is the child-heart still in us that loves Mos Eisley, Middle Earth, Narnia — these fairy-tale worlds that in hope-beyond-hope we long to be lost in ourselves. (Thus the allure of video games that let us do so, in an artificial way.) I believe it is right here that we can discern the longing for the kingdom most clearly — the child in us longing for wonder and a “new world”; the promise of the earth in its wildest and most radiant moments whispering back, It is coming; it’s just around the corner.This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us — an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens. (Romans 8:15–21 The Messsage)“What’s next, Papa?” indeed. Want more? Order your copy of All Things New today

I have in my files a copy of a letter written by Major Sullivan Ballou, a Union officer in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry Regiment. He writes to his wife on the eve of the Battle of Bull Run, a battle he senses will be his last. He speaks tenderly to her of his undying love, of "the memories of blissful moments I have spent with you." Ballou mourns the thought that he must give up "the hope of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood around us." Yet in spite of his love the battle calls and he cannot turn from it. "I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter ... how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution ... Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break" and yet a greater cause "comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistably on with all these chains to the battle field."A man must have a battle to fight, a great mission to his life that involves and yet transcends even home and family. He must have a cause to which he is devoted even unto death, for this is written into the fabric of his being. Listen carefully now: You do. That is why God created you — to be his intimate ally, to join him in the Great Battle. You have a specific place in the line, a mission God made you for. Want more? Order your copy of Wild at Heart today

So much of the journey forward involves a letting go of all that once brought us life. We turn away from the familiar abiding places of the heart, the false selves we have lived out, the strengths we have used to make a place for ourselves and all our false loves, and we venture forth in our hearts to trace the steps of the One who said, "Follow me." In a way, it means that we stop pretending: that life is better than it is, that we are happier than we are, that the false selves we present to the world are really us. We respond to the Haunting, the wooing, the longing for another life. Pilgrim begins his adventure toward redemption with a twofold turning: a turning away from attachment and a turning toward desire. He wanted life and so he stuck his fingers in his ears and ran like a madman ("a fool," to use Paul's term) in search of it. The freedom of heart needed to journey comes in the form of detachment. As Gerald May writes in Addiction and Grace:Detachment is the word used in spiritual traditions to describe freedom of desire. Not freedom from desire, but freedom of desire ... An authentic spiritual understanding of detachment devalues neither desire nor the objects of desire. Instead, it "aims at correcting one's own anxious grasping in order to free oneself for committed relationship to God." According to Meister Eckhart, detachment "enkindles the heart, awakens the spirit, stimulates our longings, and shows us where God is."With an awakened heart, we turn and face the road ahead, knowing that no one can take the trip for us, nor can anyone plan our way. Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

To make room for God to fill the vessel of our soul, we have to begin moving out some of the unnecessary clutter that continually accumulates there like the junk drawer in your kitchen. Everybody has a junk drawer, that black hole for car keys, pens, paper clips, gum, all the small flotsam and jetsam that accumulates over time. Our souls accumulate stuff, too, pulling it in like a magnet. And so Augustine said we must empty ourselves of all that fills us, so that we may be filled with what we are empty of. Over time I’ve found no better practice to help clear out my cluttered soul than the practice of benevolent detachment. The ability to let it go, walk away — not so much physically but emotionally, soulfully.Allow me to explain. We are aiming for release, turning into the hands of God whatever is burdening us and leaving it there. It’s so easy to get caught up in the drama in unhealthy ways, and then we are unable to see clearly, set boundaries, respond freely. When this happens in relationships, psychologists call it enmeshment.Mature adults have learned how to create healthy distance between themselves and the thing they have become entangled with. Thus the word “detachment.” It means getting untangled, stepping out of the quagmire; it means peeling apart the Velcro by which this person, relationship, crisis, or global issue has attached itself to you. Or you to it. Detachment means getting some healthy distance. Social media overloads our empathy. So I use the word “benevolent” in referring to this necessary kind of detachment because we’re not talking about cynicism or resignation. Benevolent means kindness. It means something done in love. Jesus invites us into a way of living where we are genuinely comfortable turning things over to him: Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. (Matthew 11:28–30 The Message)Now, pay attention here — Jesus said there is a way “to live freely and lightly.” Want more? Order your copy of Get Your Life Back today

When he left Rivendell, Frodo didn't head out with a thousand Elves. He had eight companions. Jesus didn't march around backed by legions of angels, either. He had twelve men—knuckleheads, every last one of them, but they were a band of brothers. This is the way of the kingdom of God. Though we are part of a great company, we are meant to live in little platoons. The little companies we form must be small enough for each of the members to know one another as friends and allies.Who will fight for your heart?How can we offer the stream of counseling to one another, unless we actually know one another, know each other's stories? The reason counseling became a hired relationship between two people was largely because we couldn't find it anywhere else; we haven't formed the sort of small fellowships that would allow the stream to flow quite naturally. Is it possible to offer rich and penetrating words to someone you barely know, in the lobby of your church, as you dash to pick up the kids?Where will you find the Four Streams?The Four Streams are something we learn, and grow into, and offer one another, within a small fellowship. We hear each other's stories. We discover each other's glories. We learn to walk with God together. We pray for each other's healing. We cover each other's back. This small core fellowship is the essential ingredient for the Christian life. Jesus modeled it for us for a reason. Sure, he spoke to the masses. But he lived in a little platoon, a small fellowship of friends and allies. His followers took his example and lived this way, too. "They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts" (2:46). "Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house" (1 Cor 16:19). "Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house" (Col 4:15). Want more? Order your copy of Waking The Dead today

The time has come for us to quit playing chess with God over our lives. We cannot win, but we can delay the victory, dragging on the pain of grasping and the poison of possessing. You see, there are two kinds of losses in life. The first is shared by all mankind — the losses that come to us. Call them what you will — accidents, fate, acts of God. The point is that we have no control over them. We do not determine when, where, what, or even how. There is no predicting these losses; they happen to us. We choose only how we respond. The second kind is known only to the pilgrim. They are losses that we choose. A chosen loss is different from repentance, when we give up something that was never ours to have. With a chosen loss, we place on the altar something very dear to us, something innocent, whose only danger is in its goodness, that we might come to love it too much. It is the act of consecration, where little by little or all at once, we give over our lives to the only One who can truly keep them.Spiritual surrender is not resignation. It is not choosing to care any longer. Nor is it Eastern mysticism, an attempt to get beyond the suffering of this life by going completely numb. As my dear friend Jan describes, "It is surrender with desire, or in desire." Desire is still present, felt, welcomed even. But the will to secure is made subject to the divine will in an act of abandoned trust. Think of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Want more? Order your copy of The Journey of Desire today

When God comes to call Jeremiah to be his prophet of hard sayings to Judah, Jeremiah protests, saying, "'Ah, Sovereign LORD ... I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.' But the LORD said to me, 'Do not say, "I am only a child." You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,' declares the LORD" (Jer. 1:6-8). God is saying that these things will be done through Jeremiah's dependence on his strength and provision, and that he will rescue him.Yet there is something about God's rescues that make them a little less timely than dialing 911. He leaves Abraham with his knife raised and ready to plunge into Isaac's heart, and Isaac waiting for the knife to descend; he leaves Joseph languishing for years in an Egyptian prison; he allows the Israelites to suffer four hundred years of bondage under the Egyptians and leaves those same Israelites backed against the Red Sea with Pharaoh's chariots thundering down on them. He abandons Jesus to the cross and does not rescue him at all. And then there are those of us who, along with the saints under heaven's very altar, are groaning under the weight of things gone wrong, waiting for that same Jesus to return and sweep us up with him in power and glory. "How long, O Lord?" we whisper in our weariness and pain.Indeed, God calls us to battles where the deck appears stacked in favor of those who are his enemies and ours, just to increase the drama of the play. And there is the clear picture, even from God himself, that he does so to enhance his own glory. Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

Today’s Daily Reading is an excerpt from Morgan Snyder's book “Becoming a King”The first doorway we must travel through on our path toward becoming a king is to choose sonship. It is a choice.Are we willing to become our Father’s sons again?Will you open your heart to unlearn the Father as you have learned him and instead learn him as he truly is? The Father is pursuing you. He is opening up his heart and his kingdom and his treasures to you. He is asking, Son, are you ready to become who you were born to be? We can finish this together.If we are ever to become the kind of men to whom God can entrust his kingdom, the journey must begin in the most unlikely of places. We must choose a spirit of sonship, taking the place set before us as the greatest gift of God’s heart, receiving the identity against which every war has been waged by our enemy, who knows who we are and fears who we could become.In many ways, to consent to being a son is the hardest and the easiest of the narrow gates through which we must enter. It is easy, because all it requires is a genuine turning of our souls to receive the lavish love of the Father. Yet it is the hardest, as it will require us to begin forsaking the many other places in which our wounded hearts have sought the independent and self-sufficient life for so many years.It will require relearning everything, throwing out our former map and receiving a new one that outlines a reality more dangerous and more joy-filled than we have ever dared to dream. Want more? Order your copy of Becoming a King today