Helping you grow in God's all-sufficient grace and truth
“Your testimonies also are my delight; they are my counselors.” – Psalm 119:24
It’s amazing how much time and energy is spent thinking and talking about environmental issues today. Sadly, most of it is done without any reference to God, who controls every aspect of it. Whether rain or snow, cold or heat,
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*Since last fall, I’ve been enjoying the daily devotional composed of selections from the teaching and writing ministry of David Powlison. Here is a today’s reading. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents,
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Over a decade ago, I picked up a copy of Matthew Henry’s book, A Way to Pray, which has been helping me to learn the discipline of praying biblical language back to God. A Way to Pray is not the
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Often Christians try to avoid conflict-but many of the Bible’s interpersonal exhortations make conflict a necessity. What are the biblical principles of conflict resolution? What do we need before, during, and after conflict? In this conference, we will also share
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Anxiety is common to all people, but it’s an occupational hazard for those of us in vocational ministry. In a previous blog post, I addressed some ways we may define anxiety using biblical terms. In this article, I aim to help
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Questions abound about the helpfulness of medication for mood-related disorders. Therefore, I was encouraged by this episode of the Messy Podcast in which Scott Mehl interviews Dr. Charles Hodges, MD, the editor of the newly revised The Christian Counselor’s Medical
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Yesterday, P&R Publishing announced the first release in a new series of 31-day devotionals for teens: Anxiety: Finding the Better Story. In the 31-Day Devotionals for Teenagers series, adults who care about young people look at what the Bible has
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Recently, a pastor of counseling asked me for book recommendations to strengthen the souls of the counselors in his church. Here are some writings that have ministered to me and spurred on my personal growth. Print this entry
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Up until the twentieth century, traditional cultures (and this is still true of most cultures in the world) always believed that too high a view of yourself was the root cause of all the evil in the world. What is
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One of the most common questions I receive from blog readers has to do with counseling/discipleship “homework” or what some of us prefer to call growth assignments or growth projects. Since many of the people we minister to are suffering
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There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Rom. 8:1-2 Every Christian wrestles against
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These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31 You may personally know the pain of watching a child
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Over twenty years ago, When People Are Big and God Is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Co-Dependency, and the Fear of Man made an enormous impact on my thinking. Most recently, our church staff is being blessed and challenged by it
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Scripture alone provides power and authority for counseling and soul care since it is the Word of the living God who created and redeems us. There is nothing we may experience which God does not directly or indirectly address in
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Ministry can be exhausting. We can’t check off “meet spiritual needs of the church” from our to-do list! Instead, the church’s needs pull us in many directions simultaneously, and the ongoing pressure can leave us feeling depleted, running on fumes.
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Three men hung on crosses. Their flesh pierced by nails. Two of them were guilty, one of them was not. One of the guilty ones hurled verbal abuse at the innocent one—mocking His claims to deity—visibly hardened, blinded to his
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Next month, I will have the privilege to teach at the Biblical Soul Care Conference hosted by Faith Christian Church in Kendallville, Indiana. Here is the church’s advertisement: Have you ever wondered how to navigate the struggles, suffering, or conflicts you
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These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask
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By God’s grace, I’m a husband, dad, grandpa, and pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Mayfield Hts, OH. I love Christ because He first loved me.
