Helping you grow in God's all-sufficient grace and truth
“Your testimonies also are my delight; they are my counselors.” – Psalm 119:24
Stubbornness is one of the chief causes of immaturity. This manifestation of a prideful heart causes one to stiffen his or her neck, cover their ears when God graciously brings instruction or rebuke, and thereby refuse to listen to the
Continue reading
Many solid resources address the issue of habits of avoidance and spiritual enslavement. Here are just a few to consider for personal study, one-to-one discipleship counseling, and your small group. MINI-BOOKS Breaking the Addictive Cycle (David Powlison) Freedom from Addiction:
Continue readingHere are four resources for your one-another counseling ministry: Sexual Detox: A Guide for Guys Who are Sick of Porn – Here are a number of reviews of Cruciform’s contribution to the discussion. Lust Is a Female Problem Too – Too
Continue readingWhat causes our anger? asks Robert Jones in Uprooting Anger. “Our culture offers a myriad of theories,” he writes, including: Unconscious psychodynamic forces: “Some theorists think anger flows from deep, inner, unconscious psychodynamic forces. Murky motives lurk within and impulsively
Continue readingOver the years, as I have meditated on the implications of the numerous “one-another” commands in the New Testament, I have come to some sobering conclusions about our relationships. It is typical for us as believers to think that our
Continue reading“The Expulsive Power of a New Affection” is the classic sermon of Thomas Chalmers, a Scottish mathematician, political economist, and leader of the Free Church of Scotland. Many months ago, I printed off this sermon and it’s been in my
Continue reading
One of the most common, ongoing struggles we face in our sanctification as believers is the area of anger. And one of the most common ways we mismanage our anger is by failing to distinguish between righteous and sinful anger,
Continue readingLORD JESUS, Give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin; a dread of its approach; Help me chastely flee it, and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be thine alone. Give me a deeper trust, that I may
Continue readingOver the weekend, I did a little more reading in Extreme Righteousness: Seeing Ourselves in the Pharisees and appreciated Tom Hovestol’s summary of true piety in contrast with the false piety Jesus exposes in Matthew 6. “How can we acquire
Continue readingOn the evening before the Lord’s Day, prepare yourself through prayer. Though the sun will rise tomorrow in the same way it does on every other day of the week, let us remember that tomorrow is the Sabbath of the
Continue reading[Today’s post was originally written for the Biblical Counseling Coalition website.] According to Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Because healthy, balanced, and biblical growth as Christians takes place when we are an active part of
Continue readingPrayer is a difficult labor to begin with, but when spiritual warfare and the unexplainable trials of life drain you of all strength it can become almost impossible. So, how do you pray at those times? For me, personally, I
Continue readingSince the basis of our standing before God is Christ’s righteousness, not our own, we are fully accepted by God in Him. We are continually loved by Him. Romans 5:1 assures us, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith
Continue readingWhen we think of the many faces of our rebellion against God it is the obvious sins we recognize most easily. Outward, behavioral sins such as those of the body, speech, or addictions are readily acknowledged. However, it is the
Continue readingMusic is a gift from God. In fact, the Bible informs us that God is a musical God. Not only did He create music, but He sings too. The prophet Zephaniah told Israel that God would rejoice over them “with
Continue reading
For many years, the Lord has been patiently and gradually showing me signs of the self-righteousness that hides in the deep recesses of my depraved heart. He began many years ago, and continues today. Sometime in the past year, a
Continue reading“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’” There
Continue reading“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). Just as creation groans, waiting
Continue reading
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.
