Brooke OsbornAs humans living in a fallen world, we are all deeply flawed and inherently sinful. Because of our tendency to deviate from God’s original intention for us, all institutions, including the church, are far from perfect and prone to missteps. These...
JoAnna HoytFor many, college is an opportunity to learn how to be a responsible and independent adult, often while living away from family for the first time. During these years, students face more choices than they might have experienced before, and the...
Brian LeeWhether we want to admit it or not, abuse is very real and at work in our churches today. When abuse is tied to a spiritual leader, environment, belief, or practice, it is spiritual abuse. For survivors, the damage can be life-altering, and the work...
Blake AdamsFor Catholics, Orthodox, and many Protestants, Holy Week is the most sacred time of the year. Traditionally, it is more important than Christmas, as it focuses on the central event of the gospel: the death and resurrection of Jesus. In the way it...
Kyle HughesConversations about spiritual disciplines and Christian formation rightly center on the twin poles of prayer and the reading of Scripture. All too often, though, we think of these as two distinct practices. We tend to see Scripture as providing the...
Mark WardGod himself is love (1 John 4:8). Love for God is the greatest commandment. Love for others is the second (Matt 22:34–40). Love is the greatest Christian virtue. But what is love? That is a rather important question. Similar questions come to mind ...
Chandler WileyFasting was a popular religious practice in the time of Jesus. In fact, Mark 2 shows us that when Jesus and his disciples feasted instead of fasting, they drew some questioning looks. How could such a great religious teacher not take part in such a...
Casey BedellOver the past several decades, evangelicals have increasingly accepted written (i.e., scripted) prayers from liturgical traditions. This reception is partly due to the influence of the ecumenical movement of the twentieth century, partly due to...
Jessica ClarkA few years ago as I was exploring spiritual disciplines, I found myself surprised at how often fasting came up. Fasting wasn’t something I heard much talked about in the churches and communities I’d been a part of. But it kept coming up...
Drew KeaneSpontaneous, unplanned prayer is a good thing. The Bible contains many examples of such prayers (e.g., Neh 2:4). In fact, praying doesn’t even require the use of intelligible words (Rom 8:26; 1 Cor 14:2). Nonetheless, using a prayer book with...
W. David O. TaylorWhile writing my book of prayers, Prayers for the Pilgrimage (IVP, 2024), I had plenty of opportunity to read and familiarize myself with a range of books both on prayer and of prayers. In the list below, I offer you my top eleven books on and of...
Elyse FitzpatrickDid you attend church on Sunday? If so, you’re part of an increasingly rare minority. In fact, fewer people regularly attend church now than at any time in American history. Why is this? What follows is a testimony—a confession—of my five decades...
Wyatt GrahamWith the advent of the internet, we parents deal with a constant flow of parenting tips and tricks. Fresh data comes every week. Influencers tell us about new studies that should supposedly change how we parent. The ground beneath our feet feels...
Peter KrolIf you search your Bible for the phrase Bible study, you won't find it. A big part of the problem is that the word Bible never occurs in most English Bibles. Even if you search for just the word study, you won’t find quite what you’re looking for...
Mitch ChasePeople are afraid of demons. What are demons afraid of? Have you ever wondered? Maybe you would think it strange to imagine demons being afraid of anything. The accounts of demonic possession in the Gospels, and the attempts to represent such...
“Imagine” is my least favorite Lennon song. Sadly, Lennon isn’t a dreamer at all in this song, though he claims that he is. He’s living without real imagination or hope, foolishly thinking that the answer to death and war, greed and hunger, is to be...
John Mark ComerI recognize that a growing number of people have an emotional allergy to the word sin, but it is just the word we use to name the felt experience of the human condition that pretty much all luminary thinkers agree on. Whether ancient, modern...
Seana ScottSometimes we feel spiritually dry. When your own inner life feels more barren than bountiful, James 4:8 offers a two-step path toward spiritual renewal and refreshment: Confession Repentance. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your...
Robert ElmerHow many different ways can we apologize to God? Quite a few, actually. And in the ancient prayers of God’s people—in Scripture and outside it—their focus quite often turned to confession or its many related expressions: remorse, guilt...
Michael F. BirdAmong the divine attributes, none is so mysterious and sublime as that of divine holiness. In systematic theology, the divine attributes—aspects of God’s character and being—are normally divided into two categories: the incommunicable and the...
George HillmanGrowing up, my family had a weekend farm just north of the town where we lived. As a kid, it was a great place to explore nature and learn many life skills. It was on that farm, for example, where I learned how to drive a manual transmission even...
Matthew HarmonWhen it comes to understanding the person and work of the Holy Spirit, theologians often use the term mystery. Reflecting on John 3:3–8, Graham Cole writes: Jesus said that the Spirit’s action is like that of the wind. The movements of the wind have...
Mike Leake“Church.” To my pre-adolescent mind this word meant, “that place you go when you visit grandma’s house, where you sing boring songs and hear an old guy talk for hours.” To my adolescent mind this word meant, “that place you endure when...
Mary DeMuthWhen I first became a Christian as a teen, I didn’t know any of the lingo erupting around me. When I first heard the word backslider, I pictured a person on their backside careening down a Slip ‘N’ Slide. Since people mentioned...
Tobin PerryHave you ever wondered, “What does the Bible really say about not going to church?” You’re not alone, especially in recent years, as the COVID-19 pandemic affected the church-attending habits of Christians worldwide. A few years...
The pandemic lulled me into a new church rhythm. The kids slept in, and I slowly sipped coffee. They eventually woke up and we logged into YouTube from our smart TV to watch the livestream for the second service. Months later, when the church...
Esther SmithPrayers for physical wellness fill our prayer chains, but what about prayers for mental health? We all face struggles that threaten our mental well-being. Anxiety overwhelms us. Depression crushes us. Addiction entices us. We walk out of...
Keith N. Smith Jr.Are Christians in a war? If so, how do we fight in this war? These are important questions for every follower of Jesus to consider, because the Bible tells us that we are indeed engaged in a spiritual battle against the kingdom of darkness. This is...
Visit any church enough times and you’ll probably hear a sermon that spotlights Galatians 5:22–23—the “fruit of the Spirit” passage: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness … ” Sound familiar? It’s a perennial favorite of many preachers, as it dives...
Bryan BlazoskyWhile serving in a small church plant during my first year of college, I remember being given for the first time something called a spiritual gifts test. I don’t remember the specific questions on the test, but I do remember the result. For the...