Daily Readings by Wild at Heart

The religious technocrats of Jesus' day confronted him with what they believed were the standards of a life pleasing to God. The external life, they argued, the life of ought and duty and service, was what mattered. "You're dead wrong," Jesus said. "In fact, you're just plain dead [whitewashed tombs]. What God cares about is the inner life, the life of the heart" (Matt. 23:25-28). Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the life of the heart is clearly God's central concern. When the people of Israel fell into a totally external life of ritual and observance, God lamented, "These people ... honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Isa. 29:13).Our heart is the key to the Christian life.The apostle Paul informs us that hardness of heart is behind all the addictions and evils of the human race (Rom. 1:21-25). Oswald Chambers writes, "It is by the heart that God is perceived [known] and not by reason ... so that is what faith is: God perceived by the heart." This is why God tells us in Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." He knows that to lose heart is to lose everything. Sadly, most of us watch the oil level in our car more carefully than we watch over the life of our heart.In one of the greatest invitations ever offered to man, Christ stood up amid the crowds in Jerusalem and said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him" (John 7:37-38). If we aren't aware of our soul's deep thirst, his offer means nothing. But, if we will recall, it was from the longing of our hearts that most of us first responded to Jesus. Somehow, years later, we assume he no longer calls to us through the thirst of our heart.Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

Let's come back for a moment to original glory, the glory of God given to us when we were created in his image. So much light could be shed on our lives if we would explore what we were meant to be before things started going wrong. What was it that we were created to do? What was our original job description?God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule." (Gen. 1:26-28)And let them rule. Like a foreman runs a ranch or like a skipper runs his ship. Better still, like a king rules a kingdom, God appoints us as the governors of his domain. We were created to be the kings and queens of the earth (small k, small q). Hebrew scholar Robert Alter has looked long and hard at this passage, mining it for its riches. He says the idea of rule means "a fierce exercise of mastery." It is active, engaged, passionate. It is fierce. Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today

When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised. Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.” (Luke 11:37–39)Jesus has just entered this man’s home, having accepted an invitation to dinner. Every guest who has ever passed through those doors has washed their hands before being seated, slavishly observing a custom unbroken for centuries. It is a test of orthodoxy and solidarity. Jesus knows this, knows they are watching his every move. He walks right past the line at the washbasin and makes himself comfortable at the table. The Pharisee apparently is speechless. Jesus reads the look on his face and offers an explanation: “Oh — the washing bit,” he says as he takes a piece of flatbread, breaks a bite off, and chews it. “It completely clouds the issue. Outwardly you look sensational. But inwardly, your heart is full of extortion and evil.”The things Jesus says. Apparently, he’s not concerned about being invited back. Jesus’ three years of public ministry are one long intervention. That’s why he acts the way he does.Remember, Jesus is not strolling through the Israeli countryside offering poetry readings. He is on a mission to rescue a people who are so utterly deceived most of them don’t even want to be rescued. His honesty and severity are measured out precisely, according to the amount of delusion and self-deception encasing his listener. When a soul is encrusted with pride, bigotry, self-righteousness, and intellectual elitism— as was his dinner host — then that shell does need to be struck hard at times in order to cause a crack that might allow in some light. Jesus strikes with the precision of Michelangelo.Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

It was to the most religious people of his time that Jesus spoke his strongest warnings about a loss of heart.It is tragic for any person to lose touch with the life of their heart but especially so for those of us who once heard the call in our heart and recognized it as the voice of Jesus of Nazareth. We may remember him inviting us to a life of beauty, intimacy, and adventure that we thought was lost. For others of us, when he called, it felt for the first time in our lives as if our heart had finally found a home. We responded in faith, in hope, and in love and began the journey we call the Christian life. Each day seemed a new adventure as we rediscovered the world with God by our side.But for many of us, the waves of first love ebbed away in the whirlwind of Christian service and activity, and we began to lose the Romance. Our faith began to feel more like a series of problems that needed to be solved or principles that had to be mastered before we could finally enter into the abundant life promised us by Christ. We moved our spiritual life into the outer world of activity, and internally we drifted. We sensed that something was wrong, and we perhaps tried to fix it — by tinkering with our outer life. We tried the latest spiritual fad, or a new church, or simply redoubled our commitment to make faith work. Still, we found ourselves weary, jaded, or simply bored. Others of us immersed ourselves in busyness without really asking where all the activity was headed. At one point in my own spiritual pilgrimage, I stopped to ask myself this question: "What is it that I am supposed to be doing to live the spiritual life in any way that is both truthful and passionately alive?" Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

It is simply diabolical, despicable, downright evil that the heart should be so misunderstood, maligned, feared, and dismissed. But there is our clue again. The war we are in would explain so great a loss. This is the last thing the Enemy wants you to know. His plan from the beginning was to assault the heart, just as the Wicked Witch did to the Tin Woodman. Make them so busy, they ignore the heart. Wound them so deeply, they don't want a heart. Twist their theology, so they despise the heart. Take away their courage. Destroy their creativity. Make intimacy with God impossible for them.Of course your heart would be the object of a great and fierce battle. It is your most precious possession. Without your heart you cannot have God. Without your heart you cannot have love. Without your heart you cannot have faith. Without your heart you cannot find the work you were meant to do. In other words, without your heart you cannot have life. The question is, did Jesus keep his promise? What has he done for our hearts?The answer will astound you. Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today

Back to the drama in the Garden of Eden.Remember now, God gave us this story of the first marriage to help us get our bearings. It provides some very essential categories for navigating our marriages — like how gender is so fundamental to our identity, and how we were made for Paradise. How mankind fell and what that Fall did to our lives as men and women. And it also makes something else absolutely and utterly clear — we have an enemy. Now there’s a thought.I mean, we all feel from time to time that we have an enemy, but who would we say that is? Our spouse — right? Sometimes you just walk into the room and see them and they feel like the enemy. “One day out of three,” a friend cynically said to me.But they’re not the enemy. There is another.We confessed earlier in the book our naïve view of the story when we got married. We thought the plot was, “Love God. Love each other. And everything will work out!” Our naïveté nearly cost us our marriage. We learned the hard way (do any of us ever really learn any other way?) that there is a whole lot more going on here. We had to face our brokenness. That was a shock. We had to confront our style of relating. That was humbling. We needed to learn that this is a far more dangerous story than we thought, that there is so much at stake. And maybe the biggest eye-opener of all — we learned we had an enemy.Want more? Order your copy of Love & War today

The madness about grief is you think you’ll feel better in a few days. Certainly in a few weeks. The average bereavement leave in corporate America is four days for a spouse or child and three days for a parent. Three days. That’s complete insanity. It communicates an illusion that’s totally detached from reality. At three days you haven’t even begun to breathe. At four days you are still in total concussive shock. So I suggest three months of margin and soul care to someone in grief, because it shatters that illusion and suggests an open space of time where real grieving and healing can begin. Begin. Because who knows how long it really will take.This cannibalistic world isn’t going to say this to you, sure isn’t going to act like it, so allow me to say it: Your losses matter.O what kindness we begin to practice when we act like our losses matter.This is why part of my soul-care regimen now includes a baseball bat and plastic trash bin. Our neighborhood requires the bins provided by the trash company; they are large, awkward, and nearly indestructible. Which make them perfect for hammering on with a baseball bat. Loss, disappointment, grief, and injustice provoke anger, and you’ve got to have somewhere to take it. (As a therapist, I’ve found suppressed anger morphs into fear, which is no better.) I like to go out and give my bin a good thrashing when I’m in touch with the hurt and anger, the thievery and loss. (I do recommend closing the garage door if you can; you might alarm the neighbors.) We must do something with our rage. And let me add — of course you’re angry. Your rage is not a sign that something’s wrong with you; there’s something wrong with the world. In some ways, everything is wrong with the world. We’re often embarrassed by our anger, but it’s simply proof that our hearts are aching for things to be right. Want more? Order your copy of Get Your Life Back Today

When my boys were teenagers, we badgered them into cleaning the windows one day. Come dinnertime, our family seated round the table, the brothers began — as all brothers do — to give each other grief about the day’s work. Sam and Luke had each taken halves of a divided window in the dining room; Sam was now bragging about how much cleaner his side was, appealing to the evidence like a trial attorney. We turned our attention toward the window in question — at that exact moment a robin smacked into Luke’s pane, fell to the ground stunned, shook itself, and flew away. We looked at one another, mouths open, eyebrows raised, and burst into laughter.Nature had voted. God had voted.His timing could not have been richer. “Whose window is clean? Who slacked on the job?” Thwack. Brilliant. You couldn’t have asked for a more choice reply. The whole episode was hysterical. Now, if you have any belief in the sovereignty of God, you discover that these moments are orchestrated. Not a sparrow hits a window without your Father knowing it, or something like that.Haven’t you seen something in nature that made you laugh? Perhaps you did not make the connection — that you were meant to laugh. That it was God who made you laugh. That he laughed with you. Now you know something very important about Jesus. Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

Theodore Roosevelt is thought to have said, “Comparison is the thief of joy,” and boy, was he right. We tend to compare our worst to another person’s best, and we come out poorly. We compare another person’s smile with our inward sadness, and we hide in shame. We compare our body to another person’s fitter one, and our joy shrinks. We compare what we imagine another person’s life to be like with our known reality, and we grieve. We compare ourselves with others, and our hope melts, our sense of value dissipating like the mist. Comparison is a problem.It is easy to believe that someone else’s life is better than our own and that if we only had “fill in the blank” we would be happy. Judging another’s green field of a life from the view of our dusty brown patch is tempting, but comparison is a faulty lens. Letting our imaginations run away with us through unhealthy and untrustworthy comparisons steals our joy rather than increasing it.We may choose to “jump the fence” of our lives through myriad means, but ultimately we will return and find our hurting and unsatisfied places are still waiting for us to tend them. But here’s the good news: oftentimes that longing deep inside our hearts for something better is an invitation from God to bring further healing in those hurting and unsatisfied places. It is our lives’ own grass that God wants us to be able to enjoy as green, and to get there we must spend some time taking care of it. Until we do, our hearts will continue to clamor for soothing. We need to learn — I need to learn — that the clamoring isn’t the problem. It is, in fact, the calling card of grace. Want more? Order your copy of Defiant Joy today

The Arrows strike at the most vital places in our hearts, the things we care most about. The deepest questions we ever ask are directly related to our hearts' greatest needs and the answers life gives us shape our images of ourselves, of life, and of God. Who am I? The Romance whispers that we are someone special, that our heart is good because it is made for someone good; the Arrows tell us we are a dime a dozen, worthless, even dark and twisted, dirty. Where is life to be found? The Romance tells us life will flourish when we give it away in love and heroic sacrifice. The Arrows tell us that we must arrange for what little life there may be, manipulating our world and all the while watching our backs. "God is good," the Romance tells us. "You can release the wellbeing of your heart to him." The Arrows strike back, "Don't ever let life out of your control," and they seem to impale with such authority, unlike the gentle urges of the Romance, that in the end we are driven to find some way to contain them. The only way seems to be to kill our longing for the Romance, much in the same way we harden our heart to someone who hurts us. If I don't want so much, we believe, I won't be so vulnerable. Instead of dealing with the Arrows, we silence the longing. That seems to be our only hope. And so we lose heart.Which is the truer message? If we try to hang on to the Romance, what are we to do with our wounds and the awful tragedies of life? How can we keep our heart alive in the face of such deadly Arrows? How many losses can a heart take? If we deny the wounds or try to minimize them, we deny a part of our heart and end up living a shallow optimism that frequently becomes a demand that the world be better than it is. On the other hand, if we embrace the Arrows as the final word on life, we despair, which is another way to lose heart. To lose hope has the same effect on our heart as it would be to stop breathing. Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

Why does every story have a villain?It's hard to think of a tale without one. As children, we learned to fear the Big Bad Wolf and the Troll under the bridge. As we grew older, we discovered more serious villains in the Star Wars series — Darth Vader and Darth Maul and Darth Sidious. The Wicked Witch of the West hunted Dorothy. Wallace fought against Longshanks, and Maximus went hand to hand against Commodus. The trinity in The Last of the Mohicans had to eventually face Magua, the black-hearted Huron who betrayed them all.In The Fellowship of the Ring, we come to dread the Dark Lord Sauron, the Orcs that do his bidding, and the Black Riders who hunt poor Frodo and the ring that will give the evil one power to enslave the world.Every story has a villain because yours does.Though most of you do not live like it.Most people do not live as though the Story has a Villain, and that makes life very confusing. How have we missed this? All the stories we've been telling about the presence of an evil power in the world, all the dark characters that have sent chills down our spines and given us restless nights — they are spoken to us as warnings.There is evil cast around us.War. Famine. Betrayal. Murder. Surely we know there is an evil force in this world. Want more? Order your copy of Epic today

We must forgive those who hurt us. The reason is simple: Bitterness and unforgiveness set their hooks deep in our hearts; they are chains that hold us captive to the wounds and the messages of those wounds. Until you forgive, you remain their prisoner. Paul warns us that unforgiveness and bitterness can wreck our lives and the lives of others (Eph. 4:31; Heb. 12:15). We have to let it all go. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Col. 3:13) Now — listen carefully. Forgiveness is a choice. It is not a feeling — don’t try and feel forgiving. It is an act of the will. “Don’t wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving,” wrote Neil Anderson. “You will never get there. Feelings take time to heal after the choice to forgive is made.” We allow God to bring the hurt up from our past, for “if your forgiveness doesn’t visit the emotional core of your life, it will be incomplete,” said Anderson. We acknowledge that it hurt, that it mattered, and we choose to extend forgiveness to our fathers, our mothers, those who hurt us. This is not saying, “It didn’t really matter”; it is not saying, “I probably deserved part of it anyway.” Forgiveness says, “It was wrong. Very wrong. It mattered, hurt me deeply. And I release you. I give you to God. I will not be your captive here any longer.” It might help to remember that those who hurt you were also deeply wounded themselves. They were broken hearts, broken when they were young, and they fell captive to the Enemy. They were in fact pawns in his hands. This doesn’t absolve them of the choices they made, the things they did. It just helps us to let them go — to realize that they were shattered souls themselves, used by our true Enemy. Want more? Order your copy of Captivating today

Endurance is what you need now. ... Then you will receive all that he has promised.“For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.” But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved. (Hebrews 10:36–39) You are one of the faithful ones, dear reader. We are taking hold as best we can of the strength that prevails, the glory of God in us, so that we might have all we need to navigate these days victoriously. That strength, that beautiful, overcoming strength comes from the source of life himself, from Jesus Christ who dwells within us. It makes sense, then, that we would practice turning our attention to Jesus within us, learning to draw from his strength in the depths of our being.It’s important we remember that the strength that prevails is a strength given to us by God. This is not something we conjure up. It’s not gritting our teeth and doubling down. You’ll hear athletes talk of digging deep when some great contest is upon them. Soldiers use the same phrase, and it’s good in the way it describes tapping into our deepest resources. But the similarity ends there, for the strength we are after is a supernatural strength that rises up from the God who not only created us but dwells within us.“God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26). How wonderful, how life-changing it is to experience God as the strength of your heart!We are talking about the beauty, strength, and glory of the oceans, forests, waterfalls, thunderstorms — all the wild power of creation. This is the power of God made available to us. Imagine if that beauty, strength, and glory not only dwelt within you but could be tapped into whenever you needed? Let your imagination go there for a moment.The God of the open ocean dwells inside of me. His power is mine to draw upon.This is Christianity as it could be: For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. (Ephesians 3:14–16)In order to tap into that wild strength, we tap into God.Like a tree sends its roots down deep into the subterranean world, we must learn to tap into the presence of God where he resides within us, deep in our inmost being. Want more? Order your copy of Resilient today

"In this world you will have trouble." No kidding. Jesus, the master of understatement, captures in one sentence the story of our lives. He adds, "But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Why aren't we more encouraged? (Sometimes we'll try to feel encouraged when we hear a "religious" passage like this, but it never really lasts.) The reason is that we are still committed to arranging for life now. Be honest. Isn't there a disappointment when you realize that I'm not going to offer you the seven secrets of a really great life today? If I wanted to make millions, that's the book I would write. The only thing is, I would have to lie. It can't be done. Not yet. And that yet makes all the difference in the world, because desire cannot live without hope. But hope in what? For what?Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:13, emphasis added)I read passages like this, and I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. Fully? We don't even set our hope partially on the life to come. Not really, not in the desires of our hearts. Heaven may be coming. Great. But it's a long way off and who really knows, so I'm getting what I can now. For most Christians, heaven is a backup plan. Our primary work is finding a life we can at least get a little pleasure from here. Heaven is an investment we've made, like Treasury bonds or a retirement account, which we're hoping will take care of us in the future sometime, but which we do not give much thought to at present. Want more? Order your copy of The Journey of Desire today

The next chapter of our story is precisely that — the chapter that follows all the chapters before and fits them perfectly. God is still telling a story; the next chapter is not disconnected from the rest. (I know it feels totally disconnected, but it is not.) If we will look at our future in light of the story God has been telling, it will banish the fog like a strong summer sun. In the next chapter, our powerful and creative Father re-creates us and the earth. He then tells us to do exactly what he told Adam and Eve to do: reign. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10). Do you follow the story? Do you see the exciting connection? Glorious men and women are once again given a glorious world in order to do the very things it is in our nature to do. Only this time around with far greater powers, magnificent even. We have within us a latent potency, talents and gifts unrealized, soon to be made new; the renewed earth will be even more responsive to our leadership than the first time around. So Dallas Willard invites us to use our God-given imagination: We should think of our destiny as being absorbed in a tremendously creative team effort, with unimaginably splendid leadership, on an inconceivably vast plane of activity, with ever more comprehensive cycles of productivity and enjoyment. This is the “eye hath not seen, neither ear heard” that lies before us in the prophetic vision (Isa. 64:4). What will you do in the coming kingdom? The simple, stunning answer is, you will do everything you were born to do. Want more? Order your copy of All Things New today

You will not think clearly about your life until you think mythically. Until you see with the eyes of your heart.About halfway through their journey — following a great deal of hardship and facing a good deal more — Frodo's devoted friend and servant, Sam Gamgee, wonders out loud: "I wonder what sort of tale we've fallen into?" Sam is at that moment thinking mythically. He is wondering in the right way. His question assumes that there is a story; there is something larger going on. He also assumes that they have somehow tumbled into it; been swept up into it. This is exactly what we've lost. Things happen to you. The car breaks down, you have a fight with your spouse, or you suddenly figure out how to fix a problem at work. What is really happening? David Whyte says that we live our lives under a pale sky, "the lost sense that we play out our lives as part of a greater story."What sort of tale have I fallen into? is a question that would help us all a great deal if we wondered it for ourselves. After my friend Julie saw The Fellowship of the Ring, she turned to the girl with her and whispered, "We've just gotten a clearer view of reality than we usually see." Yes— that's the kind of "seeing" we need; that is our reality. What grabbed me was the theatrical trailer for the film. In a brilliantly crafted three-minute summary, the preview captures the essential mythic elements of the story. As scene after scene races before the eyes of the viewer, and a narrator describes the tale, these lines cross the screen:Fate has chosen him.A Fellowship will protect him.Evil will hunt him.Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today

Jesus points to a field of wheat. Imagine trying to count the number of kernels in one acre. Immeasurable abundance. Turning our gaze to those luxuriant fields, he says, “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over” (John 12:24, The Message). The point he is making is that he has come to share his life with us. But again, as soon as I say that, the old religious associations rush in to fog the reality. Imagine walking through a rain forest. Diving over a coral reef. Simply look through a microscope at a drop of pond water. Creation is pulsing with life. It is the life of Jesus, given generously for the life of all things. He is called “the author of life,” who personally “sustains all things” (Acts 3:15; Heb. 1:3 NRSV).This is the life he offers us; this is the extravagance with which he offers it. Jesus doesn’t only give his life for mankind, he also gives his life to mankind. It is showered upon us daily like manna. Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

The book "Killing Lions" is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face. [Sam] What we want right off the bat is a map of some kind, a plan, a clear path to begin walking down. Something that makes it clear what is important for us to do, and how to start doing it right now. [John] Right, and God doesn’t give one. Nobody gets the master plan, not even a five-year overview — have you ever wondered why? The reason is simple and massively disruptive: God wants us to seek him, draw near to him, learn to walk with him, and frankly we won’t do it if we have a plan to follow instead. Want more? Order your copy of Killing Lions today

The book “Killing Lions” is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face. [John] I believe you young men are the warrior generation this world needs. I believe you will see very trying times, perhaps even the end of the age. The timing of Halo, the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, the resurgence of superheroes in film, and all the games and movies like these is curious indeed. Their epic, urgent, heroic battle cry was spoken at this moment in history — your moment. Perhaps it was orchestrated by an unseen hand. You have the strength and the courage to handle what is before you. You do. But you must not try to play Switzerland in this savage war; there is no neutral ground. The only safe move is to boldly take sides with the kingdom of God, take your position in the line. Make the decision to be fully in — to become the warrior, live in the larger story — and everything else will fall into place. “All things shall be added unto you.” Really. As I think back on my years as a young man, the words I longed to hear were the very words I still eagerly listen for today:You’re going to be okay. You’re going to find your way. You are not alone. [Sam] That’s really, really good. It’s exactly what I need to hear. Maybe I’ll tape those words to my bathroom mirror, because they are true, they are our birthright as sons of the Living One. “I’m going to be okay. I’m going to find my way. I am not alone.’’ Want more? Order your copy of Killing Lions today

Personally, I find one of the most startling things Jesus says tucked away at the end of the fourteenth chapter of John. He is preparing his closest friends (and soon-to-be-successors) for his departure. They still don’t believe or don’t want to believe he’s leaving. Here is what Jesus says to them (and to us):"Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27)Wait — do not let your heart be troubled? I thought to myself, We have a choice? We let our hearts be troubled? I’ve always assumed it was the other way around — that trouble strikes in some form or other, and our hearts simply respond by being troubled. I’ll bet this is how you look at it, too. Trouble descends upon you: your house is robbed, your daughter gets pregnant, you lose your job. In that moment are you thinking, "This doesn’t have to take me out. I’m not going to let my heart be troubled. No way". We think “troubled heart” is unavoidable, appropriate even. But Jesus is talking about his coming torture, his death, and, following that, his departure from them. On a scale of personal crises, this is a ten. Yet he says, don’t let your hearts be troubled.Friends, this is important.You have a say in what your heart gives way to. Want more? Order your copy of Free to Live today

After his resurrection, Jesus sends us all out to do what he did: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (John 20:21 NRSV). And he gives us his authority to do it: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go" (Matt. 28:18-19). Why else would he have given us his authority if we weren't supposed to use it?The attitude of so many Christians today is anything but fierce. We're passive, acquiescent. We're acting as if the battle is over, as if the wolf and the lamb are now fast friends. Good grief — we're beating swords into plowshares as the armies of the Evil One descend upon us. We've bought the lie of the Religious Spirit, which says, "You don't need to fight the Enemy. Let Jesus do that." It's nonsense. It's unbiblical. It's like a private in Vietnam saying, "My commander will do all the fighting for me; I don't even need to fire my weapon." We are commanded to "resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). We are told, "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him" (1 Peter 5:8-9); "Fight the good fight" (1 Tim. 1:18); "Rescue those being led away to death" (Prov. 24:11).Seriously, just this morning a man said to me, "We don't need to fight the Enemy. Jesus has won." Yes, Jesus has won the victory over Satan and his kingdom. However, the battle is not over. Look at 1 Corinthians 15:24-25: "Then the end will come, when he [Jesus] hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet." After he has destroyed the rest of the Enemy's works. Until then, he must reign by bringing his enemies under his feet. Jesus is still at war, and he calls us to join him. Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today

Consider the natural human longing to be loved and admired, how deep it runs in you. It is practically an aching abyss. Remember how rare it is for love and admiration to come to any soul in this jealous world. Now, add to this poverty the insight that very gifted people actually have a greater need for affirmation than most (it’s true). You begin to feel how intoxicating it is to have thousands of people holding their breath for the next word you have to speak.Now, mix into this high-altitude experience two other seductions. Given the horrible things that do go on in the name of Jesus Christ, it is deeply seducing among Christian leaders to come across way too humble and hip and genuine for that. While at the same time it is rather nice to have your audience think you are so very cool for having introduced them to such a cool Jesus. Heroin and pornography are child’s play compared to this stuff.Jesus cuts to the heart in one sentence:He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. (John 7:18)Ouch. Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

The book “Killing Lions” is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face. [John] A man faces many forks in the road as he journeys through his life — each choice determining what kind of life he is going to live. Will he sell out for money? Will he pursue the girl — and having won her, will he continue to fight for their relationship? Will he risk for his dreams or succumb to fear and resignation? Will he let his health go? Will he fight for friendships? But this one — Will he face evil? Will he become the warrior? — this one will have dramatic repercussions for the rest of his life, because everything else he wants in life he will have to fight for. This is the fork in the road that divides the men from the boys, whatever their age might be. In fact, I have hope that your generation will be the one to finally deal with this on a global scale. Yours is the generation raised on Halo and Call of Duty — all those video games that so clearly portray a world at war, great evil powers that must be fought. While a number of church leaders with tight underwear wrote essays denouncing those games, I found myself wondering — perhaps this was God’s way of preparing you to understand and accept the reality all around you. But let me ask: How would you live differently if life was as epic, mythic, and urgent as Halo? Want more? Order your copy of Killing Lions today

Francis of Assisi was called “the second Christ” because his life was so totally given over to expressing the life of Jesus. What can we learn from this man devoted like no other? “As Saint Francis did not love humanity but men, so he did not love Christianity but Christ,” wrote Chesterton. Wow. Just let that sink in. Francis didn’t fall in love with church; he fell in love with Jesus. “His religion was not a thing like a theory but a thing like a love-affair.Who even remembers him for that? If people know him now it’s only as the statue in the garden of the friar with the birds and bunnies. He’s been made a cartoon by the religious fog, just as it happened to Jesus. Which brings us back to something essential for loving Jesus, for making your faith more like a love affair — you are going to have to break with the religious. If you want Jesus, you’re going to have to end the relationship with the religious glaze. Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

The book "Killing Lions" is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face. [Sam] I feel like I blunder into success as much as I blunder into downfalls. That Susie really values connection. That I think the world of her, and she receives love in a completely different way than me, through words both written and spoken. And that she has a really hard time believing what I think of her. [John] Exactly. As you get to know a woman, you want to know her story, the things that have shaped her, because you want to know who she really is. Where did she experience shame, and for what? Where did she experience being prized—and for what? Because everything you say and do is being filtered through her way of seeing the world. Want more? Order your copy of Killing Lions today

This is a love story, dear friends. God is love, the apostle John tells us, and then he says it again so that we don’t forget, “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God” (1 John 4:16). Love is the single most defining quality of his character and his life. God is a passionate, and jealous, lover. (Is there really any other kind?) Out of his love he creates us for love. “We love, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). The Scriptures tell us we are made in God’s image. You’ll notice that we human beings are, above all else, deeply and profoundly relational. Because he is. God is Trinity, a fellowship of love. Love and intimacy are the core of his being, and so he gives to each of us a heart like his. When God does this, he reveals our deepest purpose — to love and to be loved. Want more? Order your copy of Love & War today

For above all else, the Christian life is a love affair of the heart. It cannot be lived primarily as a set of principles or ethics. It cannot be managed with steps and programs. It cannot be lived exclusively as a moral code leading to righteousness. In response to a religious expert who asked him what he must do to obtain real life, Jesus asked a question in return:"What is written in the Law? ... How do you read it?" He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'""You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." (Luke 10:26-28, emphasis added)The truth of the gospel is intended to free us to love God and others with our whole heart. When we ignore this heart aspect of our faith and try to live out our religion solely as correct doctrine or ethics, our passion is crippled, or perverted, and the divorce of our soul from the heart purposes of God toward us is deepened. Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

What is it that God wants from you? He wants the same thing that you want. He wants to be loved. He wants to be known as only lovers can know each other. He wants intimacy with you. Yes, yes, he wants your obedience, but only when it flows out of a heart filled with love for him. “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me” (John 14:21). Following hard after Jesus is the heart’s natural response when it has been captured and has fallen deeply in love with him. Reading George MacDonald several years ago, I came across an astounding thought. You’ve probably heard that there is in every human heart a place that God alone can fill. (Lord knows we’ve tried to fill it with everything else, to our utter dismay.) But what the old poet was saying was that there is also in God’s heart a place that you alone can fill. “It follows that there is also a chamber in God himself, into which none can enter but the one, the individual.” You. You are meant to fill a place in the heart of God no one and nothing else can fill. Whoa. He longs for you. You are the one that overwhelms his heart with just “one glance of your eyes” (Song 4:9b). You are the one he sings over with delight and longs to dance with across mountaintops and ballroom floors (Zeph. 3:17). You are the one who takes his breath away by your beautiful heart that, against all odds, hopes in him. Let that be true for a moment. Let it be true of you. God wants to live this life together with you, to share in your days and decisions, your desires and disappointments. He wants intimacy with you in the midst of the madness and mundane, the meetings and memos, the laundry and lists, the carpools and conversations and projects and pain. He wants to pour his love into your heart, and he longs to have you pour yours into his. He wants your deep heart, that center place within that is the truest you. He is not interested in intimacy with the woman you think you are supposed to be. He wants intimacy with the real you.Want more? Order your copy of Captivating today

You must understand an important distinction — there is Christianity, and then there is church culture. They are not the same. Often they are far from the same. The personality conveyed through much of Christian culture is not the personality of Jesus but of the people in charge of that particular franchise. Tragically, the world looks at funny hats or big hair, gold thrones and purple curtains, stained glass or fog machines and assumes this is what Jesus must be like.When you are confronted with something from Christian culture, ask yourself, Is this true of the God of the wind and the desert, the God of sunshine and the open sea? This will dispel truckloads of religious nonsense. Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

We feel that God is not only unconcerned with our plight, but that he is actually working against us. And sometimes, we are right… Indeed, in the seventeenth chapter of Acts, Paul gives the Athenians the stunning news that every single thing in the lives of both nations and individuals is orchestrated with this sole objective that they might seek God (vv. 26-28). This revelation requires some reflection. We are used to thinking of the great movements of history, even the movements in our immediate relationships, as being impersonal, if not arbitrary. But with God, who notes the fall of every sparrow, the events of our lives are thoughtfully and thoroughly orchestrated to bring about our redemption. The days of our lives were ordered and numbered before there was one of them, says the psalmist (139:16). And yet, the ways of his redemption often leave us trembling and fearful."Do you really care for me, God?" Can we trust this stranger who leaps out upon us? Could it be that his glory and our well-being really are part of the same script?If only we understood his heart more clearly... Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

Wisdom is crucial. But wisdom is not enough. Wisdom is essential...and insufficient.Saul of Tarsus was headed to Damascus, "breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples," with official documents granting him permission to arrest all Christians in the city and have them sent to prison (Acts 9:1-2). Now, you and I know that Jesus changed Saul's agenda rather radically before he ever reached the city — the blinding light, the voice from heaven, the total realignment of his worldview. But the believers in Damascus don't know all this. As they wait in fear for Saul's arrival, God speaks to one of them, a man named Ananias, and tells him to go to the house where Saul is staying, lay hands on him, and pray for him. Understandably, Ananias suggests this is not such a good idea. "Lord ... I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name" (9:13-14). It's okay, God says, he's my man now. Against wisdom Ananias goes, and the greatest of all the apostles is launched.The Bible is full of such counterintuitive direction from God. Would you counsel a father to sacrifice his only child, the only hope for the promised nation? Certainly, it wasn't wisdom that compelled a fugitive to walk back into the country where he was wanted for murder, a land where all his kin were held as slaves, march into Pharaoh's palace and demand their release. Was it reasonable to take a fortified city by marching around it blowing trumpets? What's the sense of slashing the ranks of your army from 32,000 to 300, just before battle? It was dangerous advice, indeed, to send the young maiden before her king unbidden, and even worse to send a boy against a trained mercenary. And frankly, it looked like perfect madness for Jesus to give himself up to the authorities, let himself get killed. Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today

Scripture names hope as one of the Three Great Forces of human existence: Three things will last forever — faith, hope, and love. (1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT) By saying they last forever, God names these three as immortal powers. A life without faith has no meaning; a life without love isn’t worth living; a life without hope is a dark cavern from which you cannot escape. These things aren’t simply “virtues.” Faith, hope, and love are mighty forces meant to carry your life forward, upward; they are your wings and the strength to use them. I believe hope plays the critical role. You’ll find it pretty hard to love when you’ve lost hope; hopelessness collapses into who cares? And what does it matter that we have faith if we have no hope? Faith is just a rigid doctrine with nothing to look forward to. Hope is the wind in your sails, the spring in your step. Hope is so essential to your being Scripture calls it “an anchor for the soul” (Hebrews 6:19). In an untethered world, we need a hope that can anchor us. But to really grasp hope’s beauty and power, you only need to think of what it is like to lose all hope whatsoever. I shudder; my moments of hopelessness are the darkest memories of my life. When we lose hope we wander too close to the shadowlands of hell, whose occupants “abandon all hope,” according to Dante. Hope is the sunlight of the soul; without it, our inner world walks about in shadows. But like a sunrise in the heart, hope sheds light over our view of everything else, casting all things in a new light. It wasn’t merely sunlight bathing the mountain this morning — it was hope. Faith is something that looks backward — we remember the ways God has come through for his people, and for us, and our belief is strengthened that he will come through again. Love is exercised in the present moment; we love in the “now.” Hope is unique; hope looks forward, anticipating the good that is coming. Hope reaches into the future to take hold of something we do not yet have, may not yet even see. Strong hope seizes the future that is not yet; it is the confident expectation of goodness coming to us. It might be helpful to pause and ask yourself, How is my hope these days? Where is my hope these days?Want more? Order your copy of All Things New today

Through his cross he paid for our sin, cleansed us, bought us out of the dungeons of the evil one and brought us back to his Abba. Jesus established a whole new way of relating to God. He often reclined at meals with people; he stopped along the road to chat; he touched them, embraced them. He called them by name, and they him. Jesus is always closing the distance. The encounters in the Gospels are intimate. My goodness, the whole incarnation is intimate. Immanuel, God with us. Why do we feel we must help Jesus set that mistake right by pushing him off a bit with reverent language and lofty tones? I understand that much of it is done with good intention, by men and women who want to honor Christ. Just like Peter. But the irony is, this isn’t how God chose to relate to us. Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

We grow during meaningful conversations with kindred spirits. But that's often hard to find in the midst of our non-stop days filled with never-ending to-do lists. Today, we want to lift up several powerful podcast conversations as a way to encourage care for your soul in this season. Simply click on any of the titles below to begin listening:Simple Soul Practices — Part 1, Part 2 Enforcing the Kingdom of God — Part 1, Part 2Why Summer Wasn't EnoughLong-Term Recovery PlanGuarding Against DesolationOur Eden HeartsYou can automatically receive our new podcast each week with the Wild at Heart app. It's free and features the Daily Reading, Prayers, and more. Click here for the Wild at Heart app. Want More? Click here to sign up for the Wild at Heart Weekly Podcast

I don't fully understand the modern church's amnesia-plus-aversion regarding one of the most central qualities of God understood for centuries before us:The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name. (Ex. 15:3 NIV)The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. (Isa. 42:13 NIV)But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. (Jer. 20:11 NIV) [The NASB translates mighty warrior "dread champion." Goliath was a dread champion; the mighty men of David were dread champions. King James has it as "a mighty terrible one."]Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. (Ps. 24:7-8 NIV)Our God is a warrior, mighty and terrible in battle, and he leads armies. It is this God that man is made in the image of. I spoke of this in Wild at Heart, but some things bear repeating, because a man will be in a much better place to enter the stage of the Warrior if he knows this is thoroughly grounded in Scripture, supported by Scripture, compelled by Scripture. Want more? Order your copy of Fathered by God today

Imagine the stories that we'll hear. And all the questions that shall finally have answers. "What were you thinking when you drove the old Ford out on the ice?" "Did you hear that Betty and Dan got back together? But of course you did — you were probably involved in that, weren't you?" "How come you never told us about your time in the war?" "Did you ever know how much I loved you?" And the answers won't be one-word answers, but story after story, a feast of wonder and laughter and glad tears.The setting for this will be a great party, the wedding feast of the Lamb. Now, you've got to get images of Baptist receptions entirely out of your mind — folks milling around in the church gym, holding Styrofoam cups of punch, wondering what to do with themselves. You've got to picture an Italian wedding or, better, a Jewish wedding. They roll up the rugs and push back the furniture. There is dancing: "Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well" (Jer. 31:13). There is feasting: "On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples" (Isa. 25:6). (Can you imagine what kind of cook God must be?) And there is drinking — the feast God says he is preparing includes "a banquet of aged wine — the best of meats and the finest of wines." In fact, at his Last Supper our Bridegroom said he will not drink of "the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes" (Luke 22:18). Then he'll pop a cork.And the people came together and the people came to dance and they danced like a wave upon the sea. (Yeats) Want more? Order your copy of The Journey of Desire today

Life on the road takes us into our heart, for only when we are present in the deep sentences can God speak to them. That's why the Story is a journey; it has to be lived, it cannot simply be talked about. When we face trials, our most common reaction is to ask God, "Why won't you relieve us?" And when he doesn't, we resignedly ask, "What do you want me to do?" Now we have a new question: "Where is the Romance headed?"There is another great "revealing" in our life on the road. We run our race, we travel our journey, in the words of Hebrews, before "a great cloud of witnesses" (12:1). When we face a decision to fall back or press on, the whole universe holds its breath—angels, demons, our friends and foes, and the Trinity itself—watching with bated breath to see what we will do. We are still in the drama of Act III and the heart of God is still on trial. The question that lingers from the fall of Satan and the fall of man remains: Will anyone trust the great heart of the Father, or will we shrink back in faithless fear?As we grow into the love of God and the freedom of our own hearts, we grow in our ability to cast our vote on behalf of God. Our acts of love and sacrifice, the little decisions to leave our false loves behind, and the great struggles of our heart reveal to the world our true identity: We really are the sons and daughters of God. Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

The things that have happened to us often suggest that the real script of the play we're all living in is "God is indifferent" rather than "God is love." Deep down in our hearts, in the place where the story is formed, this experience of God as indifferent drives us to write our own scripts. Job apparently lived with this anxiety about God even before his tribulations descended upon him, as evidenced by his exclamation from the ashes of his home and his life: "What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me" (Job 3:25, emphasis added).Job was a God-fearing man and yet something in him suspected that faith in God did not necessarily translate into peace and safety. Of course, Job had no inkling of the discussion going on in heaven between God and Satan. It was a debate over whether the foundation of God's kingdom was based on genuine love or power. And astonishingly, God was placing the perception of his own integrity as well as the reputation of his whole kingdom on the genuineness of Job's heart. (See Job 1:6-12; 2:1-10.)Indeed, when we consider how central a part Job was given in the drama God was directing, we are confronted with the reality that we, too, could be in the same position. It seems that the part God has written for us is much too big and certainly too dangerous. Paul confirms this thought in Ephesians when he tells us, "The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence" (1:22-23 The Message). Every human being is of great significance to God, but those whom God has drawn to believe in him are center stage in a drama of cosmic proportions. Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today

Creation sometimes screams a confusing message — fear, pain, grief. Fire burns, rivers flood, winds go hurricane, the earth shudders so hard it levels cities. But you must remember — this was not so in Eden. Mankind fell, surrendering this earth to the evil one. St Paul says that creation groans for the day of its restoration (see Rom. 8:18–22), making it clear that everything is not as it was meant to be. People come to terrible conclusions when they assume this world is exactly as God intended. (An assumption that has wrought havoc in the sciences.) The earth is broken.Which only makes the beauty that does flow so generously that much more astounding. And reassuring. Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline. (Hebrews 6:18–19 The Message)The hope and promise of the restoration of all things has been planted in your heart — whether you are aware of it or not. It is the only hope strong enough, brilliant enough, glorious enough to overcome the heartache of this world.One morning you will wake, and sunlight will be coming in through the curtains. You will hear the sound of birds singing in the garden; delicious scents of summer will waft in on the breeze. As you open your eyes you realize your body feels young and whole. No tormenting thoughts will rush in to assault you; you realize that your soul feels young and whole too. As you sit up to look around the bedroom filled with light, you hear the sounds of laughter and running water outside and you will know — it is going to be a wonderful day.Only this hope can serve as the anchor for your soul. The renewal of all things, including you, is the only hope strong enough, brilliant enough, glorious enough to overcome the heartache of this world.So chase it now with all of your being.———————————Take the time to pause here, and dream. When you imagine the first few moments when your life is restored, what are the first three things you will want to do? Who will you want to see? Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT)The thing you are made for is the renewal of all things. God has given you a heart for his kingdom—not the wispy vagaries of a cloudy heaven, but the sharp reality of the world made new. This is one of the most important things you can know about yourself. Did you know this about yourself? When was the last time you told yourself, as you looked in the mirror in the morning, Good morning; you have a heart for the kingdom? This explains so much; it will be such an enormous help to you. It explains your anger and all of your addictions. It explains your cry for justice, and it also explains the growing hopelessness, resignation, cynicism, and defeat.If you will listen with kindness and compassion to your own soul, you will hear the echoes of a hope so precious you can barely put words to it, a wild hope you can hardly bear to embrace. God put it there. He also breathed the corresponding promise into the earth; it is the whisper that keeps coming to you in moments of golden goodness. But of course, the secret to your unhappiness and the answer to the agony of the earth are one and the same — you are longing for the kingdom of God. You are aching for God’s promise of the restoration of all things.———————————Jesus — restore my hope this year. Renew my hope that you are going to renew all things, including my life.Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. (Psalm 139:5)At the Fall, why did God curse Adam and Eve with an emptiness that nothing would be able to fill? Wasn’t life going to be hard enough out there in the world, banished from the Garden? It seems unkind. Cruel, even.He did it to save them. For as we all know, the heart shifted at the Fall. Something sent its roots down deep into their souls — that mistrust of God’s heart and resolution to find life on their own terms. So God thwarted them. In love, he blocked their attempts until, wounded and aching, they turned to him for their rescue.Jesus has to thwart you too. Your controlling and your hiding; the ways you seek to fill the ache within you. Otherwise, you would never fully turn to him for your rescue. Oh, you might turn to him for a ticket to heaven when you die. But inside, your heart remains broken far from the One who can help you.And so you will see the gentle, firm hand of God in your life hemming you in. Wherever it is you have sought life apart from him, he disrupts your plans, your “way of life” that is not life at all.———————————How has God been “hemming you in,” disrupting the plans you have to make life work?Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

Long before [God] laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. (Ephesians 1:4 The Message) We exercise because we want to grow stronger; we take vitamins in the hope of being healthy; we attend language classes expecting to learn a new language. We travel for adventure; we work in the hope of prospering; we love partly in the hope of being loved. So why Christianity? What is the effect Christianity is intended to have upon a person who becomes a Christian, seeks to live as a Christian?The way you answer that question is mighty important. Your beliefs about this will shape your convictions about nearly everything else. It will shape your understanding of the purpose of the gospel; it will shape your understanding of what you believe God is up to in a person’s life. What is Christianity supposed to do to a person?God wants to make people whole and holy, by his love. To make you whole and holy by his love. Whole, and holy—this is what you ache for. ———————————Jesus — do I really believe this? What do I think you are actually up to in my life? Show me, Lord. Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

Is anything too hard for the Lord? (Genesis 18:14)January 1. A brand-new year. It’s the time of year we start thinking about making changes. This year, rather than writing a quick list of resolutions that we’ll likely forget before February, maybe we should take a different approach. This is a good time for each of us to ask ourselves, What do I want to be different this year?Sit with that for ten minutes. Let your heart surface and then ... take it to Jesus in prayer. Lord, come into this. Show me the way. I will often ask God for his “theme” over my new year: Jesus, what is the theme of this year?I do this every January, and it has proven a mighty rescue many times over. Usually, Jesus says one simple thing. One year I heard, “Love.” All through the year, I found myself needing to return to the simple truth of love. Another year it was, “Restoration,” and that was the year I took a short sabbatical and sought needed restoration.———————————Ask Jesus, What is the theme of this year, Lord? And when he speaks, write it down! Post it somewhere you will see it often. In very big letters. Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

He who testifies to all these things says it again: “I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon!” Yes! Come, Master Jesus! (Revelation 22:20 The Message)There’s nothing like stepping out your door into the beckoning world. This is why people vacation in beautiful places. It’s also the secret to the stories you love — that magical moment when the hero or heroine steps into a “brave new world.”Dear friend, you’re preparing your heart to receive the hope that alone can be the anchor of your soul. One day soon you will step into a renewed earth, sparkling like an orchard of cherry trees after a rain shower. Joy will be yours. How do you open your heart to this after so much pain and disappointment? You have lost many things as you’ve passed through the battlefields of this war-torn world; your humanity has been stripped of such essential goodness. One of your greatest losses is the gift of wonder, the doorway into the kingdom heart. But you have special places and favorite stories that will awaken it.Sometimes even a single phrase like “they strode away into the night” can awaken a sense of longing that almost pierces. There are parts of you, no matter how deeply buried, that still remember you were made for this. You have been looking for the kingdom all your life. It is the most beautiful, hopeful, glorious promise ever made. And it is real. And it is yours.———————————Just stay with that for more than a second: It is real. And it is yours. Repeat that to yourself. The restoration of all things is real. And it is mine. Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

Out of that terrible travail of soul, he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many “righteous ones,” as he himself carries the burden of their sins. (Isaiah 53:11–12 The Message)If you woke each morning and your heart leapt with hope, knowing that the renewal of all things was just around the corner — might even come today — you would be one happy person. If you knew in every fiber of your being that nothing is lost, that everything will be restored to you and then some, you would be armored against discouragement and despair. If your heart’s imagination were filled with rich expectations of all the goodness coming to you, your confidence would be contagious; you would be unstoppable, revolutionary.Dear friend — don’t you let anyone or anything cheat you of this hope. You have barely begun to take hold of it. Do not let anything diminish the beauty, power, and significance of this hope above all hopes. Jesus lived the way he did in this world, for this world, because his hope was set beyond this world; that is the secret of his life.You need to take this hope so seriously you sell everything to buy this field. You must make this utterly real and tangible, so that your soul becomes truly anchored by it.———————————It’s true—you must make this utterly real and tangible. Begin to journal about your plans to enjoy your unending life. Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

“After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. ... His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’ ” (Matthew 25:19–21 The Message)You are created to accomplish a work worthy of God; it is one of your deepest yearnings. And you will, in the kingdom; not just once, but many, many times over. Are you employed in the actual restoration itself? I don’t know for certain. “They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated” (Isaiah 61:4) certainly hints at it. And you know your God is a God of process — look at how long your sanctification is taking.You might think I am merely daydreaming about what we actually do in the kingdom. But remember — God creates you to be a creator like he is. You are promised you will reign; you will be given estates; you will have a vital role in the kingdom.He says to you, “Be my partner”—that’s the perfect way to put it. The idea behind the parable of the three servants in Matthew is promotion. And notice that the servants are promoted in the very things they are good at! God puts his renewed sons and daughters — creators like he is — in a re-created world and tells them to do exactly what he told Adam and Eve to do in the beginning.———————————As the old year fades, and the new year approaches, what are you hoping to do with your life? You should let yourself dream ... and then let those dreams carry right on into your wonderful, unending life! Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

“Come!” say the Spirit and the Bride. Whoever hears, echo, “Come!” Is anyone thirsty? Come! All who will, come and drink, drink freely of the Water of Life! (Revelation 22:17 The Message)Two ideas are absolutely basic to a Christian understanding of this world: first, you are created for happiness and second, that you’ll not truly be happy until Jesus brings into fullness the kingdom of God. So what’s with the awkwardness of Christians talking about his return, and, more fascinating (and troubling), how come no one really prays for it?I want to venture an observation: if you’re not personally longing for and praying for the return of Jesus, you’re still committed to making life work here and now. Your prayers reveal what you are after. If you’re not praying for the return of Jesus, you’re not banking on it or looking forward to it much. But ... you’re created for happiness, and you’re not going to truly find it until the kingdom is yours.In the book of Revelation we see the church longing for and praying for the return of Jesus: “Please come! Come now! We want you to come!” This isn’t a fear of dying. This is hopeful, eager expectation of every dream you ever had coming true. This is the expectation of life coming to you in all its fullness. Not to mention your Jesus coming to you. And never ever losing it again.———————————Dear friend, pray for it daily! It will do you good to begin to pray for Jesus to return! Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

What is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Indeed, you are our glory and joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:19–20)Where is this supposed coming? The current expression of that is often: “But every age has thought Jesus was about to show up. It might take another thousand years.” It sounds so reasonable. Yes, every age has thought that Christ would return any moment, and they were right to do so because “any moment” could have been their moment. They were right to have expected his return because they were commanded to by Christ himself. They were wise to do so because it’s the antidote to so many harmful things; when it’s embraced that the master is still far off, the heart turns toward indulgences of this world, trying to slake kingdom thirst with everything within reach.Friend, turn your soul toward meditating on Christ’s return. As we draw closer to the Day itself, the church begins to turn its focus from “heaven” to the coming kingdom, the restoration of all things. (The church at the end of Revelation is crying out for his return!) I guarantee you one thin — we are closer now than ever before. There is every reason to expect to hear that trumpet blast any day. If what this world is going through does not count as birth pangs, I honestly don’t know what will.———————————Are you looking for signs of Christ’s return? We are supposed to be; in fact, we are commanded to! Begin to turn your heart toward the return of Jesus right now—what if it happened today?! Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

Then I looked, and, oh!—a door open into Heaven. The trumpet-voice, the first voice in my vision, called out, “Ascend and enter. I’ll show you what happens next.” (Revelation 4:1 The Message)The dreams I have about the kingdom only started this year. Then one day it struck me: Maybe I don’t get pictures from God because I don’t ask for them. So I began asking.And God began answering. Not only in dreams, but in all sorts of ways (he is eager to fill your heart with hope!). The sunrise out my window has become a regular reminder for me; I’ve come to look for his promise there every morning. I cut pictures out of magazines for a scrapbook of images of the new earth, images that have a special magic for me of the Great Renewal.Dear friend, you will be greatly helped by filling the treasury of your imagination with images of the coming Renewal; without them, it will be nigh impossible to make this the anchor of your soul. If you would take hold of this hope with both hands and never let go, you need to know what it is you are taking hold of. If you can’t imagine it, you can’t hope for it. The foggy and vague do not inspire, ever.Ask God to show you his promises, and then hold tightly to them.———————————Take some time to look at photos that speak the promise of the Restoration to you. Create a journal with these and revisit the hope it offers regularly. It will feed your heart with goodness and the joy it needs. Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today