Daily Readings by Wild at Heart

The book "Killing Lions" is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face.A man whose identity flows out of deep validation doesn’t wilt under criticism. He enjoys applause when it comes but frankly isn’t desperate for it. He can walk away from work at five o’clock; he doesn’t measure his success by how much money he makes. We grow into this man, to be sure; I’m not setting a new standard of perfection. But what I am describing is not out of reach, not for any man. We must ask God what he thinks of us. That famished craving for love and validation must be spoken to in a defining way—like he did for you. This is one of the places where Christianity really shines. God steps into the picture to help set us on a firmer foundation than the scripts we’ve bought into. He tells us to put off the “old man” and put on the new. He calls us his sons. He assures us we are deeply loved and chosen. Let those facts sink into your heart, and it will set you free. Really—spend a single day holding on to, “I am a son of the living God. I am chosen. I am deeply loved.” You will feel things shifting deep inside. Want more? Order your copy of Killing Lions today.

There’s a passage in the book of Hebrews we don’t like very much.“Although he was a son”—it is speaking about Jesus Christ–“he learned obedience from what he suffered” (5:8).Dang. If Jesus needed to learn through suffering, well, it just doesn’t leave any room for complaining, does it? How are we going to skip this class if he had to take it? Suffering will be a part of our education as God’s children.This is NOT to say that every bad thing that comes your way is God’s discipline. It does not mean that marital crisis is some sort of retribution for past sins. That is bad theology and it has hurt a lot of people. A friend was suffering from a terrible flu; she said, “I sure hope I learn what God has for me in this, so I can get over it.” I didn’t want to be unkind, so I kept my mouth shut. But inside I thought, You think God made you sick!? There are others things at work in this world. Germs, for instance.We live in a broken world; disease, accident, injury are just part of life east of Eden. This world has foul spirits in it, too; they cause a lot of havoc. The sin of man is also enough to sink any ship. Stir all these together and you got plenty of reason for suffering. So don’t go thinking that every bad things happening is God punishing you.As Dallas Willard reminds us, “What we learn about God from Jesus should prove to us that suffering and ‘bad things’ happening to us are not the Father’s preferred way of dealing with us—sometimes necessary, perhaps, but never what he would, on the whole, prefer.” Not his preferred means—keep that in mind.Want more? Order your copy of Love & War today.

One of the deepest ways a woman bears the image of God is in her mystery. 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. This is crucial to any woman's soul, not to mention her sexuality. "You cannot simply have me. You must seek me, pursue me. I won't let you in unless I know you love me."Is not the Trinity a great mystery? Not something to be solved, but to be known with ever-deepening pleasure and awe, something to be enjoyed. Just like God, a woman is not a problem to be solved, but a vast wonder to be enjoyed. This is so true of her sexuality. Few women can or even want to "just do it." Foreplay is crucial to her heart, the whispering and loving and exploring of each other that culminates in intercourse. That is a picture of what it means to love her soul. She yearns to be known, and that takes time and intimacy. It requires an unveiling. As she is sought after, she reveals more of her beauty. As she unveils her beauty, she draws us to know her more deeply.Whatever else it means to be feminine, it is depth and mystery and complexity, with beauty as the very essence. Every woman has a beauty to unveil.Every woman. Want more? Order your copy of Captivating today

The book "Killing Lions" is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face.Almost all initiation rituals handed down for centuries involved physical trials for young men. After finishing their training in a secret valley, the young warriors of Kauai had to swim home—miles in the open ocean. Sioux braves spent nights out on a mountain alone. For centuries the Maasai killed lions. Our elders knew that men learn by doing. It is one thing to be told you possess a genuine strength but another thing altogether to discover for yourself that you do. This is why hard work is so important for young men. If your friend could see his work in “hell” not as failure, not as a prison sentence, but as his lion to slay, he could come at it with a whole new perspective. Even if he only sticks it out another six months, he can walk away with blood on his hands and the sense of “I did that. I won. I can handle it.” Our starting place is to ask God what he thinks of us, to allow our Father to speak to us as sons. Then from there we begin to get active in the process of seeking and receiving identity and validation. God always treats a man like a man; he honors our involvement, invites our participation. Get active in the process: Where do you feel weak? Where do you need some shoring up? “Killing lions” is all about finding validation through genuine victories fought out of our true heart, from which we emerge with a genuine strength and sense of self. When you know you have accomplished that, it settles some important questions deep inside and allows you to move into your world with courage. The most fearsome lions will be the ones that roar with the sound of our historic shame, trying to cower us back into the false self, back to the script we were handed not by God but by The World (and ultimately by the evil one). Want more? Order your copy of Killing Lions today.

Intimate and personal justice will be granted to us as well.You have suffered very specific wrongs over the course of your life; God is fully aware of every one of them. Jesus your King will make sure they are addressed with very specific reparations. Far be it from God to make light of it. “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). He is furious about what you have endured, and he will make it right.I know that so much has been stolen in my life. So many blessings, so many gifts, so much taken from my relationships, opportunities, personal restoration that was diminished or thwarted. You have too, dear ones—so much has been stolen from you. And it will be repaid a hundredfold. This recompense, this restitution must be part of telling every story rightly, or justice will not be fulfilled. And it will be fulfilled:“Then you will look and be radiant,your heart will throb and swell with joy;the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,to you the riches of the nations will come.” (Isaiah 60:5)Imagine—after your enemies are judged and banished, great treasure chests are then brought in and set before you. Huge oak chests; it requires two men or angels to bring each one in, and there are several. Jesus tells you to open them. You ask, “What are these, Lord?” and he replies, These are the gifts I meant for you in your former life but were stolen or prevented from making it to you. I return them now, with interest. Imagine all that fills those chests. You hear laughter coming from one, for so much of what has been lost are memories and joy. I am weeping as I write this.Then you turn to your right and ask, “And what are these chests, Lord?” These are the rewards for your life’s choices, your victories, your perseverance, and service. In addition to your estates, of course, he says with a smile.Those treasure chests are yours, friends; their contents will thrill your heart and redeem so much of what you have endured here. Justice shall be yours, justice personal and particular. Wrongs will be avenged, hurts shall be healed, and all that was stolen from you in this life recompensed far beyond your wildest hopes. You will open those chests, look, and be radiant. Your heart will throb and swell with joy.Want more? Order your copy of All Things New today.

The heart is central. That I would even need to remind you of this only shows how far we have fallen from the life we were meant to live—or how powerful the spell has been. The subject of the heart is addressed in the Bible more than any other topic—more than “works” or “serve,” more than “believe” or “obey,” more than money and even more than worship. Maybe God knows something we’ve forgotten. But of course—all those other things are matters of the heart. Consider but a few passages: Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5) [Jesus called this the greatest of all the commandments—and notice that the heart comes first.]Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:34)Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5) Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You. (Psalms 119:11 NASB)These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. (Matthew 15:8) For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today.

We've exchanged that great hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers" for a subtle but telling substitute, a song that is currently being taught to thousands of children in Sunday school each week, which goes something like this (sung in a very happy, upbeat tune):I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery, I may never fly over the enemy but I'm in the Lord's army, yes sir!There is no battle and there is no war and there is no Enemy and your life is not at stake and you are not desperately needed this very hour, but you're in the Lord's army. Yes, sir. Doing what? may I ask.The reason I bring this up is that if you want the real deal, if you want the life and freedom that Jesus offers, then you are going to have to break free of this religious fog in particular. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Gal. 5:1). So here's a bottom-line test to expose the Religious Spirit: If it doesn't bring freedom and it doesn't bring life, it's not Christianity. If it doesn't restore the image of God and rejoice in the heart, it's not Christianity.The ministry of Jesus is summarized by one of those who knew him best when Peter brings the gospel to the Gentiles: "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and...he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him" (Acts 10:38). The stream of Spiritual Warfare was essential to Jesus' life and ministry. It follows that it must be essential to ours if we would be his followers. Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today

The only fatal error is to pretend that we have found the life we prize. To mistake the water hole for the sea. To settle for the same old thing. Christopher Fry called such a life “the sleep of prisoners.” The most tragic day of all is to prefer slavery to freedom, to prefer death to life. We must not stay in this sleep. The time has come for us to wake, to arise from our slumber. As the Scriptures say, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead” (Eph. 5:14). And so George MacDonald prayed, When I can no more stir my soul to move,And life is but the ashes of a fire;When I can but remember that my heartOnce used to live and love, long and aspire—Oh, be thou then the first, the one thou art;Be thou the calling, before all answering love,And in me wake hope, fear, boundless desire.(George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul)Bringing our heart along in our life’s journey is the most important mission of our lives—and the hardest. It all turns on what we do with our desire. If you will look around, you will see that most people have abandoned the journey. They have lost heart. They are camped in places of resignation or indulgence, or trapped in prisons of despair. I understand; I have frequented all those places before and return to them even still. Life provides any number of reasons and occasions to abandon desire. Certainly, one of the primary reasons is that it creates for us our deepest dilemmas. To desire something and not to have it—is this not the source of nearly all our pain and sorrow? Want more? Order your copy of The Journey of Desire today.

I am letting you in on a wonderful secret.What happens when God comes and releases us from long-held fears or fears that have long held us? What happens when we surrender fear to God and invite his love to overwhelm it? What is on the other side of fear? Is it faith? Yes, but the form it takes is desire. What comes is a surfacing of desire. Or perhaps a resurfacing of desire.Desires surface that you didn’t even know you had. Freedom rises to embrace your life and live it. I mean really live it. To live unabashedly. Desires rise in your heart for yourself and for others. Desires awaken regarding what you want to offer, do, experience, become. No longer bound by fear, how high can we soar? How deep can we dive? How much delight can we experience? Yes, there will be sorrow too—it’s a part of the deal—but life gets the final word. Life. Life always gets the final word. Every single time. Forever. Want more? Order your copy of Becoming Myself today.

Late into the night, early in the morning, walking down the road, in the middle of his supper, at home, abroad, Jesus offers. His time, his words, his touch, flowing like the wine at Cana. To appreciate the reality of it all, remember, this is not Superman. Remember his loneliness, his weariness, his humanity. This is utterly remarkable—particularly in light of the fact that this is a man on a life-or-death mission. He is lavish with himself.And that's the key, right there—that giving of himself. That is what is so precious. Moses offered leadership, and tirelessly. Solomon handed out the rarest of wisdom free of charge. Pilate seemed willing to toss to the crowds anyone they wanted. But Jesus gives himself. This is, after all, what he came to give, and what we most desperately need.Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today.

“Nothing dangerous is happening here.” Incredible. What a self-indictment. Those men have already been taken out because they’ve swallowed the Enemy’s first line of attack: “I’m not here—this is all just you.” You can’t fight a battle you don’t think exists. This is right out of The Screwtape Letters, where Lewis has the old devil instruct his apprentice in this very matter:My dear Wormwood, I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your own existence. That question, at least for the present phase of the struggle, has been answered for us by the High Command. Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves.As for those who want to be dangerous (cutting-edge), take a close look at 1 Peter 5:8–9: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”What is the Holy Spirit, through Peter, assuming about your life? That you are under spiritual attack. This is not a passage about nonbelievers; he’s talking about “your brethren.” Peter takes it for granted that every believer is under some sort of unseen assault. And what does he insist you do? Resist the devil. Fight back, take a stand.Want more? Order your copy of Wild at Heart today.

We all—men and women—were created in the image of God. Fearfully and wonderfully made, fashioned as living icons of the bravest, wisest, most stunning Person who ever lived. Those who have ever seen him fell to their knees without even thinking about it, as you find yourself breathless before the Grand Canyon or the Alps or the sea at dawn. That glory was shared with us; we were, in Chesterton’s phrase, “statues of God walking about in a Garden,” endowed with a strength and beauty all our own. All that we ever wished we could be, we were—and more. We were fully alive.So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27) When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you have set in place — what are mortals that you should think of us, mere humans that you should care for us? For you made us only a little lower than God, and you crowned us with glory and honor. (Psalms 8:3–5 NLT) I daresay we’ve heard a bit about original sin, but not nearly enough about original glory, which comes before sin and is deeper to our nature. We were crowned with glory and honor. Why does a woman long to be beautiful? Why does a man hope to be found brave? Because we remember, if only faintly, that we were once more than we are now. The reason you doubt there could be a glory to your life is because that glory has been the object of a long and brutal war. Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today.

Will we do it perfectly? Of course not. Friends, let’s set perfection aside. We are on our way, we are being transformed, but the moment we insist on total perfection we set ourselves up for bitter disappointment. Sin shall not be our master, because we are under grace. Grace. So it might be more helpful for us to talk about what to do when we blow it.Repent quickly. The sooner the better. For one thing, you do not want to lose your intimacy with God. For another, you know the enemy is going jump all over you when you blow it, and you don’t want to get hammered by that for days, weeks, months, years. Also, you are after freedom; the longer you wait to repent, the deeper a hold the sin gets in you. Repent quickly; it looks something like this:First, run to God."Father, forgive me. I’m sorry. I ask your forgiveness for [fill in the blank – this envy, that comment, the lust, my cowardice]. O forgive me, father."Second, renounce it. If you intend to repeat it, your repentance is a fraud. By renouncing it you summon your soul to the posture that you do not intend to repeat it. Furthermore, when you sin, you give way to forces that you do not want running pell-mell around your soul. Sin is what gives the evil one a place in our life: “Do not sin, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:26-27). You do not want him taking advantage of your fall. Renounce it quickly."And Father, I renounce this. I renounce [the envy, comment, lust, cowardice]. I renounce choosing this; I renounce giving it a place in my heart and soul. I renounce every claim I’ve given to the enemy through my sin. I reject this, in Jesus’ name. I banish this from me. I am dead to sin, and alive to God."If you don’t really renounce it, you’re not really breaking with it; which means, you’re allowing for the possibility that you’ll repeat it again. And what kind of repentance is that? If you ignore the enemy’s role in this (many Christians just want to ask forgiveness but not resist the devil) then you are being naive; you are giving him the opportunity to hang around and use this against you – either through further accusation, or, by urging you to do it again. Did Satan take advantage of Adam and Eve’s sin? You bet he did. Don’t let him take advantage of yours. Third, cleansing and renewal. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) and “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)."Father, cleanse me with the blood of Jesus; wash me right here, from all of this. I plead the blood of Christ over this sin. Wash me clean; renew me. O father, sanctify me through and through right here, in this. I ask you for your holiness here, in this."It took me longer to explain it and longer for your to read it than it actually takes in practice. Really – you can jump straight to this in your car, in the elevator, as soon as you step out of the meeting (or why wait; do this silently in your heart in the meeting). If you will practice this – instead of, say, just going to self-loathing for several hours, or giving way to resignation – you are going to love the freedom it brings. Absolutely love it. Friends, holiness is ours, if we will ask for it, seek it, pursue it. “For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again” (Proverbs 24:16).Want more? Order your copy of Free to Live today.

I remember a conversation I had as a therapist with a young mother. She came to see me not because of some crisis, but in tears nevertheless over the passage of her children’s childhood right before her eyes. “These are such precious, precious days,” she wept, “and they are passing so quickly I can’t hang onto them. I can hardly bear it; I’m grieving during days that ought to be joyful.” Few of us remember the taste of our first ice cream (what flavor was it?), the first book we read ourselves, our first kiss. We can barely recall that vacation we planned for so many years; it was over in mere weeks.I name this loss because it is loss—tragic, sweeping, and expansive. Your entire life, every dear moment, is currently being swept downstream from you even as you read this sentence. It does such harm to the soul and our life with God. All good things come to an end. I hate that phrase, hate it like the sound of sirens, the sound of dirt falling on a casket.Lest we despair, God has given us “a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT) and to be quite specific, it includes the restoration of every precious day of our lives. Heaven is not a memory wipe. It is the time and capacity to truly relish the story of our lives, to see the hand of God in it all (how many times angels rescued you), to be vindicated, and even rewarded. “‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25:37–40). Notice that this promise cannot be fulfilled unless our stories are known, down to the smallest details.Your story matters. Your story will not be lost. But I wrote more fully about that in a book entitled All Things New, so I will only mention it here. All good things do not come to an end.Not even close.In the meantime, God in his mercy has given us a grace for this recurrent, incessant, unavoidable, daily experience of loss, and that gift is memory. Through which—if we make use of it—we can go back and drink more deeply, savor, take in the full gift of wonderful moments great and small (for the full gift can never be taken in during the moment).Want more? Order your copy of Get Your Life Back today.

There are few things more crucial to us than our own lives.And there are few things we are less clear about.This journey we are taking is hardly down the yellow brick road. Then again, that's not a bad analogy at all. We may set out in the light, with hope and joy, but eventually, our path always seems to lead us through dark woods, shrouded with a low-lying mist. Where is this abundant life that Christ supposedly promised? Where is God when we need him most? What is to become of us?The cumulative effect of days upon years that we do not really understand is a subtle erosion. We come to doubt our place, we come to question God's intentions toward us, and we lose track of the most important things in life.We're not fully convinced that God's offer to us is life. We have forgotten that the heart is central. And we had no idea that we were born into a world at war. Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today

Christians have been told over and over that God is almighty. And indeed he is—the God of four hundred billion billion suns. We have been told he is also sovereign. And indeed he is. Perhaps out of respect, we have adopted the notion that if he is going to act, he is going to act quickly. Bam. Zap. (If we are honest, I think we adopted that perspective because it also relieves us of strenuous prayer.) But is this what we see in so many of these biblical accounts?Clearly, God does not just zap Peter out of prison. The church has to pray “strenuously” for him; the event goes on into the night. He does not zap the promised rain either—Elijah had to climb to the top of the mountain, and there he prayed eight rounds of intervening prayer. God did send the angel to Daniel the first day he prayed—but it took three weeks for him to break through. God didn’t just zap Joseph, Mary, and the child Jesus down into safety in Egypt—an angel had to come to them as well; they had to flee in the night.Are you getting the picture? Prayer is not just asking God to do something and waiting for him to zap it.Intervening prayer often takes time.And it takes repetition, repeatedly intervening and invoking. (Eight rounds for Elijah).Want more? Order your copy of Moving Mountains today.

Let’s come back to something very basic to our pursuit of God and the transformation he is always after in our lives—everything we do has a reason behind it, a motive.Within the Christian community we tend to focus on behavior, and that is right and that is wrong. Of course what we do matters. It matters how you treat people. It matters whether you lie or steal or commit adultery. Our actions have enormous consequences to them. However, according to Jesus, holiness is a matter of the heart. This is the gist of his famous Sermon on the Mount. Jesus asks, “Why do you pray—to be seen as holy? Why do you give—to be seen as generous? Why do you fast—to impress others?”“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do. ...“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. ...“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:1–2, 5, 16–18)Jesus is moving the whole question of genuine goodness from the external to the internal. He is taking us back to motive. If we will follow him in this, it will open up fields of goodness for us.Want more? Order your copy of Walking with God today.

There is a civil war waged between the new heart and the old nature. Romans 7–8 describes it quite well. Part of me doesn’t want to love my neighbor—not when his son just backed his car into my Jeep and smashed it up. I want to take the little brat to court. Part of me knows that prayer is essential; another part of me would rather turn on the TV and check out. And that whole bit about long-suffering—no way. Part of me wants to just get drunk. And that is the part I must crucify daily, give no ground to, make no alliance with. It’s not the true me (Romans 7:22). It’s my battle with the flesh. We all know that battle well. But that is not what I’m wanting to explore here.No, there’s something else we are describing when we say, “Well, part of me wants to and part of me doesn’t.” It’s more than a figure of speech. We might not know it, but something really significant is being revealed in those remarks. There are these places that we cannot seem to get beyond. Everything is going along just fine, and then—boom. Something suddenly brings you to tears or makes you furious, depressed, or anxious, and you cannot say why.  I’ll tell you why.We are not wholehearted.Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today.

When you think of what Desolation looks like, picture a barren desert. Desolation wants to make everything a wasteland. So what is the opposite of a wasteland? Eden! The paradise of God, our first home, with all its lush, glorious beauty overflowing here, there, everywhere! If you follow the flow of Scripture and human history, you can see that our enemy wants to make everything a wasteland, and God wants to make everything a restored Eden. When it comes to the resilience we need against Desolation, part of our Father’s provision is his Eden Glory—the glory of God in you and around you, giving you supernatural resilience and guarding you like a shield. What do I mean by Eden Glory? In the book of Romans, Paul is trying to help us under- stand the availability of the power of God for us, in us. He turned to the resurrection and said, “Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4). It was by the glory of God that Jesus was raised from the dead. The glory of God—the regenerative, resurrecting Eden Glory of God. Isaiah reminds us that “the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). Think of the sun, how absolutely wonderful the sun is! Its radiance, beauty, and cheerfulness, and how much life it gives! It is pulsating with the glory-power of God. Think of the oceans and the forests of the world, how vast they are, how filled with life. The whole world is filled with the glory of God. It is the life-giving, life-sustaining, generative power of God. So, for our purposes here, when you think of the glory of God, think of the sun, the ocean, water turned into wine, Christ raised from the dead. Think of Eden. Now for something truly breathtaking: you are meant to be filled with the glory of God. Think back to the tabernacle and temple—in the Old Testament, the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, then the temple. The manifest presence of God came and dwelt there, filled with radiance, beauty, and regenerative power. And where is the temple now? You are the temple. The New Testament makes that clear. This is why Paul wrote, But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18 NASB) The transformation of your character and the regeneration of your humanity is taking place in you because of the glory of God in you! (How else could it take place?) The New International Version adds, “with ever-increasing glory.” Oh friends, please listen closely: We need the Eden Glory of God—the regenerative, life-giving, life-sustaining glory of God—in great measure right now. We need a greater measure of the manifest presence of Jesus in us. And we are meant to be filled with it. The glory of God is meant to fill our hearts and souls. We can ask for this supernatural grace, so by all means let’s do! Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I receive your Glory into my being. I receive the Glory that fills the oceans, the Glory that sustains the sun. I receive the Glory that raised Christ from the dead! I pray that your Eden Glory would fill my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I am your temple, Lord; come and fill your temple with your Glory! I also pray that your Eden Glory would shield me against all forms of Desolation coming over my life. I renounce every agreement I might have made with Desolation, every agreement large and small. I choose you, God. I renounce the Falling Away, and I choose you. Regardless of how I feel, I choose you, Lord. You are my God and Savior. I pray that your Eden Glory would fill my life—restoring me, renewing me, granting me supernatural endurance and resilience. I also invoke your Eden Glory over my life as a shield, over my household and domain. I invoke your glory, love, and kingdom as my constant strength and shield. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, ruler of heaven and earth. Thank you, Lord! This prayer has become so important to me I find myself invoking the phrase “Your glory, your love, your kingdom” all throughout my day.Want more? Order your copy of Resilient today.

For some reason we keep forgetting that Jesus, in the Gospels, is operating in enemy territory. We project into the Gospel stories a pastoral backdrop, the quaint charm of a Middle Eastern travel brochure—picturesque villages, bustling markets, smiling children—and Jesus wandering through it all like a son come home from college. We forget the context of his life and mission. His story begins with genocide—the massacre of the innocents, Herod's attempt to murder Jesus by ordering the systematic execution of all young boys around Bethlehem. I've never seen this included in any crèche scene, ever. Who could bear it? You must picture ethnic cleansing as the twentieth century saw in Bosnia, Rwanda, Burma. Atrocity, the ground soaked with the blood of children who five minutes earlier were laughing and playing.God the Father, knowing this is about to strike, sends an angel to warn Joseph:An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. (Matthew 2:13–15)The little family flees the country under cover of darkness, like fugitives. The Father's strategy is intriguing—surely God could have simply taken Herod out. Or sent angels to surround the holy family. Why must they run for their lives? It ought to make you think twice about how God goes about his plans in this world.Surely you see that Jesus was a hunted man?We cannot understand his actions, nor taste the richness of his personality until we set them within context—the man is operating deep behind enemy lines. This colors his extraordinary movements across the pages of the Gospels and helps to strip away that benevolent religious fog that continues to creep into our reading. It also gives depth and poignancy to moments of self-disclosure such as, "The Son of Man has no place to lay his head." (Matthew 8:20). Because he was hunted.Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today.

We take folks through a discipleship program whereby they master any number of Christian precepts and miss the most important thing of all, the very thing for which we were created: intimacy with God. There are, after all, those troubling words Jesus spoke to those who were doing all the “right” things: “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you’” (Matthew 7:23). Knowing God. That’s the point.You might recall the old proverb: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The same holds true here. Teach a man a rule and you help him solve a problem; teach a man to walk with God and you help him solve the rest of his life. Truth be told, you couldn’t master enough principles to see yourself safely through this Story. There are too many surprises, ambiguities, exceptions to the rule. Things are hard at work—is it time to make a move? What has God called you to do with your life? Things are hard at home—is this just a phase your son is going through, or should you be more concerned? You can’t seem to shake this depression—is it medical or something darker? What does the future hold for you—and how should you respond?Only by walking with God can we hope to find the path that leads to life. That is what it means to be a disciple. After all—aren’t we “followers of Christ”? Then by all means, let’s actually follow him. Not ideas about him. Not just his principles. Him.Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today.

Life has a way of wearing on a person. Under the weight of losses, pressures, failures, and endless demands, something in our souls begins to wither. Passions dry up. The zeal of a beginning turns into a despairing end. A stone falls heavily down, crushing our will, and in those very places where Jesus once gave birth to vibrant hope, we yield to the grave. Our hearts retreat with a “no more” as death gets ahold of us. But the cemetery is not where we are meant to live. I had the privilege of visiting Israel a few years ago. It was an incredible experience to go to places I had read of and wondered at for so long. One day, I was awed to be standing outside of Lazarus’s tomb. While there, the pastor leading our little group asked us to inquire of God if there were places within us that we had closed in a grave. I knew the answer for me was yes. I was tired. I was hurting. Betrayal from a friend had left me wanting to shrink back from all people. My passion for life had dimmed. My zeal to tell others of the wonders of Jesus had faded. I realized a part of my heart had become buried. And then I felt His call. Jesus’ call to us is the same as His call to Lazarus as He stood before his grave in John 11: “Come out!” he commanded. “Come alive!” We are not meant to live in a tomb. Our callings are needed in the world; they are not to be buried under the burden of others’ demands or judgments. Pain comes, but it does not get to seal our graves. So I ask you, where is death for you? What song has died on your lips at the critics’ continual shaming of your voice? Jesus commands you loudly and firmly to “come out.” And He says it with tears. He is fierce in His instruction and in His intercession for you. He has life for you. Life. Ask Jesus where the tomb holds you and then answer His call. Want more? Order your copy of Defiant Joy today.

Dear friends, I hope you see clearly that more of God is our greatest need, our greatest joy, our only rescue. This isn’t optional. He’s the source of the strength and resiliency we need for this hour, the Life that allows us to enjoy everything else in life.So the very simple question is this: What will you do, on a daily and weekly basis, to find God and receive more of him?There are many traditional practices: prayer, fasting, the sacraments. But there are good books on those things.  There are also monastic practices like simple work. The summer I lost my dear friend, I built a log rail fence. Long hours of simple, manual labor was exactly what my soul needed. God knew that, brought it to me just in time. He will bring the things you need across your path in the time you need them too. Your soul will let you know when it’s not doing well, when it needs attention, and often what it needs. So let me leave you for now with a piece of advice and a blessing. The advice comes from St. Paul, who lovingly and tenderly offered this to his dear sons and daughters in the faith:Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:9 NLT)I love the kindness of this encouragement. Keep putting into practice. It’s not about perfection; it’s not about being amazing. God is nowhere in the pressure to be amazing. He’s waiting in the simple dailies. Just keep putting into practice the things that heal your soul and bring you more of Jesus. Then the God of peace will be with you. You’ll no longer be sipping God from teaspoons; you’ll learn to drink deeply from the tangible, nourishing, life-giving presence of the eternal God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the fountain of living waters. Which is my blessing:May the Son of God, who is already formed in you, grow in you, so that for you he will become immeasurable, and that in you he will become laughter, exultation, the fullness of joy which no one can take from you. —Isaac of StellaWant more? Order your copy of Get Your Life Back today.

Simone Weil was absolutely right—beauty and affliction are the only two things that can pierce our hearts. Because this is so true, we must have a measure of beauty in our lives proportionate to our affliction. No, more. Much more. Is this not God’s prescription for us? Just take a look around. The sights and sounds, the aromas and sensations—the world is overflowing with beauty. God seems to be rather enamored with it. Gloriously wasteful. Apparently, he feels that there ought to be plenty of it in our lives. I am at a loss to say what I want to say regarding beauty. Somehow, that is as it ought to be. Our experience of beauty transcends our ability to speak about it, for its magic lies beyond the power of words.I want to speak of beauty’s healing power, of how it comforts and soothes, yet also how it stirs us, how it moves and inspires. All that sounds ridiculous. You know your own experiences of beauty. Let me call upon them then. Think of your favorite music, or tapestry, or landscape. “We have had a couple of inspiring sunsets this week.” A dear friend sent this in an e-mail: “It was as if the seams of our atmosphere split for a bit of heaven to plunge into the sea. I stood and applauded ... simultaneously I wanted to kneel and weep.” Yes—that’s it. All I want to do is validate those irreplaceable moments, lift any obstacle you may have to filling your life with greater and greater amounts of beauty.We need not fear indulging here. The experience of beauty is unique to all the other pleasures in this: there is no possessive quality to it. Just because you love the landscape doesn’t mean you have to acquire the real estate. Simply to behold the flower is enough; there is nothing in me that wants to consume it. Beauty is the closest thing we have to fullness without possessing on this side of eternity. It heralds the Great Restoration. Perhaps that is why it is so healing—beauty is pure gift. It helps us in our letting go. Want more? Order your copy of The Journey of Desire today.

God says our latter glory will exceed our former. To our great loss, in our society we no longer value the wisdom and expertise that comes through living well through many years. Silver hair and wrinkles are earned.I have learned that being beautiful, feeling lovely, and enjoying who we uniquely are has absolutely nothing to do with our weight, our age, or the shape of our bodies. Take that in a moment and try it on for size. Let the possibility of that being true settle into your spirit for a moment before you quickly dismiss the idea. Beauty is not about the hair, the clothes, the marital status, the bank account, or the number on the scale. Being beautiful is a quality of spirit recognized primarily in a woman whose soul is at rest because she believes her God when he calls her lovely. She is no longer striving to reach the world’s unattainable standards of beauty and acceptance but instead is receiving the inheritance that is hers as an image bearer of the living God. She is embracing who God has made her to be.Want more? Order your copy of Becoming Myself today.

Either we wake to tackle our “to do” list, get things done, guided by our morals and whatever clarity we may at the moment have (both rather lacking to the need, I might add); or we wake in the midst of a dangerous Story, as God’s intimate ally, following him into the unknown.If you’re not pursuing a dangerous quest with your life, well, then, you don’t need a Guide. If you haven’t found yourself in the midst of a ferocious war, then you won’t need a seasoned Captain. If you’ve settled in your mind to live as though this is a fairly neutral world and you are simply trying to live your life as best you can, then you can probably get by with the Christianity of tips and techniques. Maybe. I’ll give you about a fifty-fifty chance. But if you intend to live in the Story that God is telling, and if you want the life he offers, then you are going to need more than a handful of principles, however noble they may be. There are too many twists and turns in the road ahead, too many ambushes waiting only God knows where, too much at stake. You cannot possibly prepare yourself for every situation. Narrow is the way, said Jesus. How shall we be sure to find it? We need God intimately, and we need him desperately.“You have made known to me the path of life,” David said (Psalms 16:11). Yes—that’s it. In all the ins and outs of this thing we call living, there is one narrow path to life, and we need help finding it.Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Deadtoday.

“‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death ‘or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:4–5)No more tears. No more pain. No more death. No longer any reason to mourn. At the renewal of all things, our hearts are going to be free from grief. The joy of this will far surpass our physical relief. Think of it—if God would offer today to remove from you just one of your greatest sources of internal pain, what would you ask him to remove?And once it were gone, what would your joy be like?Oh my goodness—I would be a happy maniac, dancing in my underwear like David before the ark, running about the neighborhood like Scrooge on Christmas morning, leaping housetop to housetop like the fiddler on the roof. And if all your brokenness were finally and completely healed, and all your sin removed from you as far as the east is from the west—what will you no longer face? What will you finally be? How about your loved ones—what will they no longer wrestle with? What do they finally get to be?We shall, finally and fully, be wholehearted—a wish so deep in my soul I can hardly speak it.Want more? Order your copy of All Things New today.

At some point we all face the same decision—what will we do with the Arrows we’ve known? Maybe a better way to say it is, what have they tempted us to do? However they come to us, whether through a loss we experience as abandonment or some deep violation we feel as abuse, their message is always the same: Kill your heart. Divorce it, neglect it, run from it, or indulge it with some anesthetic (our various addictions). Think of how you’ve handled the affliction that has pierced your own heart. How did the Arrows come to you? Where did they land? Are they still there? What have you done as a result? To say we all face a decision when we’re pierced by an Arrow is misleading. It makes the process sound so rational, as though we have the option of coolly assessing the situation and choosing a logical response. Life isn’t like that—the heart cannot be managed in a detached sort of way (certainly not when we are young, when some of the most defining Arrows strike). It feels more like an ambush, and our response is at a gut level. We may never put words to it. Our deepest convictions are formed without conscious effort, but the effect is a shift deep in our soul. Commitments form never to be in that position again, never to know that sort of pain again. The result is an approach to life that we often call our personality. If you’ll listen carefully to your life, you may begin to see how it has been shaped by the unique Arrows you’ve known and the particular convictions you’ve embraced as a result. The Arrows also taint and partially direct even our spiritual life. Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today.

Let me take you back now to the last cup of tea, Luke’s parting, and the ending of our family’s childhood era. It was the Saturday of his high school graduation. We had been through two others before and knew the ritual well. I believe in rituals; they are the last signposts left in a culture of impermanence. But as we sat in the bleachers, unable to stop the unfolding ceremony, watching Luke slowly approach the stage in cap and gown, I was on the brink of sobbing shamelessly. How is this not just loss? my heart cried to God. Tell me—how is everything not just loss? At that moment everything felt like loss. Jesus replied immediately, Oh, John—nothing is lost. Some of you may have experienced in a sermon or during personal Bible study, perhaps in a time of prayer or in a counselor’s office, the ability of Jesus to communicate an entire concept in a single moment. You have a revelation. The Creator of our mind and soul can give to us a sweeping understanding as if by transfusion. If I put into words the revelation given in that moment in the forty-second row at an ordinary high school commencement, Jesus showed me something like this: When the kingdom comes, my dear, heartbroken friend, nothing that was precious to you in this life will be lost. No memory, no event, none of your story or theirs, nothing is lost. How could it be lost? It is all held safe in the heart of the infinite God, who encompasses all things. Held safe outside of time in the treasuries of the kingdom, which transcends yet honors all time. This will all be given back to you at the Restoration, just as surely as your sons will come back to you. Nothing is lost. The effect was nearly instantaneous. I went from a desolate parent saying good-bye—not just to our last child but to an entire era—to a beloved son who had just been given a sneak preview into the Christmas morning that will come upon all the earth. I underwent a complete emotional transformation. All time had stopped in the moment before that moment; now I was completely fine. My body relaxed back into the chair like a man who had just set forth on a Caribbean cruise. I wanted to shout out, “You can carry on—I’m good now." Nothing is lost. If you will just let go of your anger and cynicism for a moment, just allow it to be true for a moment, well then—your heart is going to take a pretty deep breath. Want more? Order your copy of All Things New today

We live now in a culture of expertise, so completely second nature to us that we don’t give it a second thought. Cutting-edge advances in science and technology—ever sharpening, ever thrusting forward—are now available to anyone with an Internet connection. If our doctor gives us grave news, we naturally get a second and third opinion from specialists. Businesses regularly hire consultants—experts—to help them get the edge over their competitors, and churches have jumped on the bandwagon as well. It’s become one of our shared assumptions, this reach to “find the expert,” and I wonder if it’s part of the reason we do not under- stand or recognize a true sage. In business circles experts are sometimes even called sages.They are worlds apart.A sage differs from an expert the way a lover differs from an engineer. To begin with, expertise quite often has nothing to do with walking with God, may in fact lead us farther from him. For the expertise of the specialist gives us the settled assurance that he has matters under control, and that we will also, as soon as we put our trust in him. That is why we love him. “The reason your church is not growing is because you’re not marketing yourselves properly to your intended customers.” On a human level, that might be true, might produce some results. But wouldn’t it be better to inquire of God why the church is not growing? The psychology of expertise comes indistinguishably close to the psychology of the Tower of Babel. “We have matters under our control now. Expertise has given us power over our destinies.” And we know how God feels about that.Now of course, there is nothing wrong with expertise—per se. I’d be the first one to find the best heart surgeon in the country should my son need heart surgery. And yet, why is it that we seem to have so few sages in our midst, that most of us have witnessed the sage only in stories like those I’ve recounted? Is it that they don’t exist, or might it be that our near-worship of expertise has pushed the sage to the sidelines? And what are we to make of the passage that tells us, “Everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23 NIV)? Whatever, whenever, wherever we place our hopes and confidence in something other than God, that is sin. Given mankind’s inexplicable reluctance to rely on God, and nearly limitless ability to rely on anything else, can you see how the culture of expertise actually plays right into our godlessness, despite all our protestations to the contrary?The sage, on the other hand, communes with God—an existence entirely different from and utterly superior to the life of the expert. Whatever counsel he offers, he draws you to God, not to self-reliance. Oh, yes, the sage has wisdom, gleaned from years of experience, and that wisdom is one of his great offerings. But he has learned not to lean upon his wisdom, knowing that often God is asking things of us that seem counterintuitive, and thus his wisdom (and expertise) are fully submitted to his God. Humility might be one of the great dividing lines between the expert and the sage, for the sage doesn’t think he is one. “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Prov. 26:12 NIV). Thus we might not know we have a sage at the table, for he will remain silent while the “experts” prattle on and on.The experts impress. The sage draws us to God. He offers a gift of presence, the richness of a soul that has lived long with God. Want more? Order your copy of Fathered by God today.

Our local zoo had for years one of the biggest African lions I’ve ever seen. A huge male, nearly five hundred pounds, with a wonderful mane and absolutely enormous paws. Panthera leo. The King of the Beasts. Sure, he was caged, but I’m telling you the bars offered small comfort when you stood within six feet of something that in any other situation saw you as an easy lunch. Honestly, I felt I ought to shepherd my boys past him at a safe distance, as if he could pounce on us if he really wanted to. Yet he was my favorite, and whenever the others would wander on to the monkey house or the tigers, I’d double back just for a few more minutes in the presence of someone so powerful and noble and deadly. Perhaps it was fear mingled with admiration; perhaps it was simply that my heart broke for the big old cat. This wonderful, terrible creature should have been out roaming the savanna, ruling his pride, striking fear into the heart of every wildebeest, bringing down zebras and gazelles whenever the urge seized him. Instead, he spent every hour of every day and every night of every year alone, in a cage smaller than your bedroom, his food served to him through a little metal door. Sometimes late at night, after the city had gone to sleep, I would hear his roar come down from the hills. It sounded not so much fierce, but rather mournful. During all of my visits, he never looked me in the eye. I desperately wanted him to, wanted for his sake the chance to stare me down, would have loved it if he took a swipe at me. But he just lay there, weary with that deep weariness that comes from boredom, taking shallow breaths, rolling now and then from side to side. For after years of living in a cage, a lion no longer even believes it is a lion ... and a man no longer believes he is a man. Want more? Order your copy of Wild at Heart today.

The book "Killing Lions" is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face.[Sam] Are there some things we should do that might not come easy to build a relationship with God, or can we find him in whatever we prefer to do on our own and he will “meet us there”? [John]  Again, because we live in such a subjective climate, where “spirituality” can mean anything, let’s be clear on what it is we want to cultivate. The Christian faith is at its center an invitation to intimacy with God. He is an actual person, with a personality and a heart just like you, and just as in any other relationship it is the connection of these two hearts that matters above all else. This is where we separate from religion, and this is what will rescue us from slipping back into it. Friendship with God is the heartbeat of it all; nothing else can substitute (though many things will try). So, the question is, how do you cultivate friendship and intimacy with God? (Isn’t that more refreshing than, “How do I get more serious about my religion?”) Simply ask yourself, “What would I do to cultivate a deeper intimacy with Susie, or with any of my friends?” Time together, talking about life, processing both your inner and outer experiences—it seems painfully obvious but it honestly is that simple.Want more? Order your copy of Killing Lions today.

Whatever else we might believe about intimacy with God at this point, the truth is that God knows us very intimately. He knows what time you went to bed last night. He knows what you dreamed about. He knows what you had for breakfast this morning. He knows where you left your car keys, what you think about your aunt, and why you’re going to dodge your boss at 2:30 today. The Scriptures make that very clear. You are known. Intimately.But does God seek intimacy with us?Well, start at the beginning. The first man and woman, Adam and Eve, knew God and talked with him. And even after their fall, God goes looking for them. “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:8–9). What a beautiful story. It tells us that even in our sin God still wants us and comes looking for us. The rest of the Bible continues the story of God seeking us out, calling us back to himself.The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you. (2 Chronicles 15:2)I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. (Jeremiah 24:7)This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Return to me,” declares the LORD Almighty, “and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty. (Zechariah 1:3)Come near to God and he will come near to you. (James 4:8)Let us draw near to God. (Hebrews 10:22)Intimacy with God is the purpose of our lives. It’s why God created us. Not simply to believe in him, though that is a good beginning. Not only to obey him, though that is a higher life still. God created us for intimate fellowship with himself, and in doing so he established the goal of our existence—to know him, love him, and live our lives in an intimate relationship with him. Jesus says that eternal life is to know God (John 17:3). Not just “know about” like you know about the ozone layer or Ulysses S Grant. He means know as two people know each other, know as Jesus knows the Father—intimately.Want more? Order your copy of Walking with God today.

We've all heard the story and missed the miracle—God begins his greatest work by including us. Even though we bungled it so badly the first time, back in Eden. Once again he shares in the excitement. Come with me, you have a part in this—the re-creation of the world.Everyone who hears about Jesus hears about "the Twelve" and can probably name Peter, Matthew, James and John, certainly Judas. Jesus and "his disciples" go hand in hand. Right here from the start, he acts like it's not all about him. He shares the stage, shares the spotlight. He shares his glory: "I have given them the glory that you gave me" (John 17:22). He even shares his suffering. The crown of thorns, the cross—is this not the noblest part of his whole life, the very thing we most worship him for? Even in this he offers to us, "the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings" (Philippians 3:10). It is an honor I cannot begin to fathom.Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today.

Any movement toward freedom and life, any movement toward God or others, will be opposed.Marriage, friendship, beauty, rest—the thief wants it all. So, it becomes the devil’s business to keep the Christian’s spirit imprisoned. He knows that the believing and justified Christian has been raised up out of the grave of his sins and trespasses. From that point on, Satan works that much harder to keep us bound and gagged, actually imprisoned in our own grave clothes. He knows that if we continue in this kind of bondage... we are not much better off than when we were spiritually dead. (A.W. Tozer)Sadly, many of these accusations will actually be spoken by Christians. Having dismissed a warfare worldview, they do not know who is stirring them to say certain things. “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel” (1 Chronicles 21:1). The Enemy used David, who apparently wasn’t watching for it, to do his evil. He tried to use Peter too. “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things ... Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’ Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan!’” (Matthew 16:21–23). Heads up—these words will come from anywhere. Be careful what or who you are agreeing with.When we make those agreements with the demonic forces suggesting things to us, we come under their influence. It becomes a kind of permission we give the Enemy, sort of like a contract. Some foul spirit whispers, I’m such a stupid idiot, and they agree with it; then they spend months and years trying to sort through feelings of insignificance. They’d end their agony if they’d treat it for the warfare it is, break the agreement they’ve made, and send the Enemy packing. Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today.

The sense of being part of some bigger story, a purposeful adventure that is the Christian life, begins to drain away again after those first-love years in spite of everything we can do to stop it. Instead of a love affair with God, your life begins to feel more like a series of repetitive behaviors, like reading the same chapter of a book or writing the same novel over and over. The orthodoxy we try to live out, defined as “Believe and Behave Accordingly,” is not a sufficient story line to satisfy whatever turmoil and longing our heart is trying to tell us about. Somehow our head and heart are on separate journeys and neither feels like life.Eventually this division of head and heart culminates in one of two directions. We can either deaden our heart or divide our life into two parts, where our outer story becomes the theater of the should and our inner story the theater of needs, the place where we quench the thirst of our heart with whatever water is available. I chose the second route, living what I thought of as my religious life with increasing dryness and cynicism while I found “water” where I could: in sexual fantasies, alcohol, the next dinner out, late-night violence videos, gaining more knowledge through religious seminars—whatever would slake the thirsty restlessness inside. Whichever path we choose—heart deadness or heart and head separation—the wounds, the Arrows win, and we lose heart.This is the story of all our lives, in one way or another. The haunting of the Romance and the Message of the Arrows are so radically different and they seem so mutually exclusive they split our hearts in two. In every way that the Romance is full of beauty and wonder, the Arrows are equally powerful in their ugliness and devastation. Want more? Order your copy of The Sacred Romance today.

Look, let’s go ahead and name the elephant in the room—some prayers work, and some prayers don’t. Why does that surprise and irritate us? Some diets work, but most don’t; no one is really surprised by that. We simply keep looking for the one that will work for us. Some investments produce, others don’t; you look for the program that works for you. Some schools are effective, others fail badly; hopefully you can find the situation that is right for your child. There is a way things work. Can you name anything in life where this isn’t so?And so it is with prayer. We just want it to be simple and easy; we want it to go like this:God is loving and powerful. We need his help. So we ask for help, as best we know how. The rest is up to him. After all—he’s God. He can do anything.The uncomfortable truth is this: that is a very naïve view of prayer, on a level with believing that all a marriage needs is love, or that we should base our foreign policy on belief in our fellow man.That simple view of prayer has crushed many a dear soul, because it ignores crucial facts. There is a way things work.Want more? Order your copy of Moving Mountains today.

Mothers teach, counsel, and guide. “Do not forsake your mother’s teaching” (Proverbs 1:8). Mothers comfort. “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you” (Isaiah 66:13). Mothers are a source of wisdom. The famous Proverb 31 was written by King Lemuel as “an inspired utterance his mother taught him” (Proverbs 31:1 TNIV). There is a reason Proverbs personifies wisdom as a woman. Lady Wisdom walks in grace and wisdom purchased over decades of choices to cultivate her heart by faith. Wisdom is earned. And a mother passes her wisdom, her way, her core beliefs onto her children. “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5).Too often we have diminished our mothers, both who they are and what they’ve done. We want to respect the weighty role they have played in our lives. Want more? Order your copy of Becoming Myself today.

As large as the role is that our mothers play, the word mother is more powerful when used as a verb than as a noun. All women are not mothers, but all women are called to mother. To mother is to nurture, to train, to educate, to rear. As daughters of Eve, all women are uniquely gifted to help others in their lives become more of who they truly are—to encourage, nurture, and mother them toward their true selves. In doing this, women partner with Christ in the vital mission of bringing forth life.“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6 NKJV). This verse is not a promise about faith. It is not speaking of training a child to follow Christ or promising that if you do, the grown child will continue to follow him. Sorry. The proverb is about raising a child to know who he is and to guide him in becoming ever more himself. In the way he should go. Not in the way you would like him to go in order to validate you as a mother and a woman. It speaks of teaching a child to live from his heart, attuned to it, awake to it, aware of it, and when that child is grown he will continue to live a life from the heart. It is about seeing who a person really is and calling him out to be that person.The impact on a life that has been seen and called out is dramatic and eternal. The nurturing of life is a high and holy calling. And as a woman, it is yours. Yes, it takes many shapes and has a myriad of faces. Yes, men are called to this as well. But uniquely and deeply, this calling makes up part of the very fiber of a woman’s soul—the calling to mother.Want more? Order your copy of Captivating today.

We lose the Story every day. It is continually being stolen from us by the Evil One—the ultimate desconstructionist. He twists and spins and pulls apart the truth until the fragments we have left are unrecognizable. Or we lose it ourselves in the marketplace of Vanity Fair. Bombarded by thousands of messages each day, every one of them marked urgent, we leave behind the truly important things, the only refuge for our hearts. We must be more intentional about holding on to the truth. The spiritual pilgrims who aligned themselves with St. Benedict took this task seriously—far more seriously than we do, I’m afraid. A typical day in the lives of Benedictine monks began in the middle of the night, when they arose for the Night Office. No less than twelve psalms would be said, together with three Scripture readings, several hymns, and prayers. Sunrise brought the Morning Office, followed by six other breaks during the labors of the day for remembering: Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline in the evening. Seven times a day set aside for prayer and the recitation of psalms. Together with their night vigil, more than twenty-nine psalms would be said, not to mention numerous lessons, verses, prayers, and hymns. Now, I’m not suggesting that we all adopt the Rule of Benedict. But think about this: these men left the distractions of the world to focus entirely on God. They lived in an environment designed to keep them standing before God, and what did they discover? That they needed reminders every hour of the day and night! Do we, who live in the hostile chaos of the world, think we can do with an occasional visit? Want more? Order your copy of The Journey of Desire today.

And now? Now we are living somewhere toward the end of Act Three. We have a future, but this tale is not over yet — not by a long shot. We now live between the battle for Helm’s Deep and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Between the beaches of Normandy and the end of the war. Between the fall of the Republic and the fall of the Empire. Between Paradise lost and Paradise regained. We live in a far more dramatic, far more dangerous Story than we ever imagined. The reason we love The Chronicles of Narnia or Star Wars or The Matrix or The Lord of the Rings is because they are telling us something about our lives that we never, ever get on the evening news. Or from most pulpits. They are reminding us of the Epic we are created for.This is the sort of tale you’ve fallen into. How would you live differently if you believed it to be true? The final test of any belief or faith that claims to provide an answer to our lives is this: Does the one explain the other? Does the story bring into perspective the pages you were already holding, the days of your life? Does it take everything into account? Does it explain the longing in your heart for a life you haven’t yet found? Does it explain the evil cast around us? Most of all, does it give you back your heart, lead you to the Source of life? Something has been calling to you all the days of your life. You’ve heard it on the wind and in the music you love, in laughter and in tears, and most especially in the stories that have ever captured your heart. There is a secret written on your heart. A valiant Hero-Lover and his Beloved. An Evil One and a great battle to fight. A Journey and a Quest, more dangerous and more thrilling than you could imagine. A little Fellowship to see you through.This is the gospel of Christianity. Want more? Order your copy of Epic today.

Somewhere along the way we all lose heart in marriage. We all do. It happens to the best of us. As Dan Fogelberg sang, Joy at the start Fear in the journey,Joy in the coming home A part of the heart gets lost in the learning, Somewhere along the road.(Dan Fogelberg, Along the Road)We might find a way to manage our disappointment and we might do our best to fight off resignation, but it works its way in. We let go of what we wanted, what we dreamed of, what we were created for. We begin to settle.Because marriage is hard, sometimes painfully hard, your first Great Battle is not to lose heart. That begins with recovering desire—the desire for the love that is written on your heart. Let desire return. Let it remind you of all that you wanted, all that you were created for.And then consider this—what if God could bring you your heart’s desire? It’s not too late. It isn’t too hard. You are not too far along nor are you and your spouse too set in your ways. God is the God of all hope. He is, after all, the God of the Resurrection. Nothing is impossible for him. So give your heart’s desire some room to breathe.Want more? Order your copy of Love & War today.

As Jesus steps out from behind those thirty years of almost total obscurity into the task set before him, both men and demons begin to feel his fierce intention:He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority. In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, "Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!" "Be quiet!"; Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!" (Luke 4:31–36)You cannot appreciate the difficulty of this till you've tried it yourself. Most of us wouldn't walk into a dark alley if we could avoid it. Jesus walks right up to people foaming at the mouth in full-blown demonic possession and confronts the ancient spirits directly. Very intentional. Quite fierce.Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today.

I can be a very driven man; I set very high standards; I push myself hard. There are certain “rewards” that come along with this way of living: I get a lot done; I can be successful. But that drivenness that the world so often rewards is really quite godless. The motive is horrible. It is born from two sources: it comes out of an early childhood wound of abandonment, and it came out of a very early resolution that said, Fine. I’ll go it alone. It’s a combination of woundedness and sin. It looks fine on the outside, but inside, this cup needs a good bit of scrubbing.A guy I worked with always loved to pronounce his words very carefully, sometimes using a British pronunciation (though he was from Los Angeles). It had nothing to do with diction; he desperately wanted to be seen as intelligent. Another colleague would always ask, “How are you?” But the truth is he did it so that you would ask him how he was; he wanted to be asked. A third guy in the office was constantly dropping the ball on his projects; he would say, “I’m just not an organized person.” How convenient—it required everyone else to cover for him. How lovely! You get to live irresponsibly and make others carry the load. Friends, there is always a motive to the way we’re living.Want more? Order your copy of Free to Live today.

A judge in his sixties, a real southern gentleman with a pinstriped suit and an elegant manner of speech, pulled me aside during a conference. Quietly, almost apologetically, he spoke of his love for sailing, for the open sea, and how he and a buddy eventually built their own boat. Then came a twinkle in his eye. “We were sailing off the coast of Bermuda a few years ago, when we were hit by a northeaster (a raging storm). Really, it came up out of nowhere. Twenty-foot swells in a thirty-foot homemade boat. I thought we were all going to die.” A pause for dramatic effect, and then he confessed, “It was the best time of my life.” Compare your experience watching the latest James Bond or Indiana Jones thriller with, say, going to Bible study. The guaranteed success of each new release makes it clear—adventure is written into the heart of a man. And it’s not just about having “fun.” Adventure requires something of us, puts us to the test. Though we may fear the test, at the same time we yearn to be tested, to discover that we have what it takes. That’s why we set off down the Snake River against all sound judgment, why a buddy and I pressed on through grizzly country to find good fishing, why I went off to Washington, D.C., as a young man to see if I could make it in those shark-infested waters. If a man has lost this desire, says he doesn’t want it, that’s only because he doesn’t know he has what it takes, believes that he will fail the test. And so he decides it’s better not to try. Most men hate the unknown and, like Cain, want to settle down and build their own city, get on top of their life.But you can’t escape it—there is something wild in the heart of every man. Want more? Order your copy of Wild at Heart today.

Reserves are replenished when there’s more coming in than there is going out.That’s how it works. That’s why people come back from their vacations feeling better, and why folks who have taken real time off, like a sabbatical, come back almost different human beings. Your reserve tanks don’t just magically fill up, no more than your car’s gas tank does. They definitely don’t replenish when you’re burning everything just to maintain what you call your “normal life.” That’s why you make a plan for recovery and resilience.You’ll want to arrange for periods where more is coming in than is going out.Whatever your operating capacity is—whether that’s currently 40 percent, 60 percent, or 95 percent of what used to be your full capacity—your current operating capacity is what you need to pay attention to. You need to throttle back to allow your reserves to fill back up.I hear the objections at once: But you don’t know my life! You don’t know what my boss is asking of me! What my kids need right now! I completely understand. We are all hard-pressed, some of us more than others. But there’s a way to account for even this.We burn through so much of our emotional, mental, and spiritual energy simply through worry, anger, being generally unsettled, and by taking in too much of the over-whelming news of the world. Picture a gambler standing before a slot machine and repeatedly, almost mindlessly, dropping in silver dollar after silver dollar. Soon she has nothing left in her purse and nothing to show for it. The sociodrama of the world is the slot machine; the silver dollars represent our personal resources. We spend it all like the gambler until we choose to walk away.Friends, you can turn and walk away. Without needing one more day of vacation or some ideal work schedule, you can walk away from a whole lot of what is currently draining you.I beg of you—practice benevolent detachment.We do need to provide for periods in the rhythm of our week, month, and year where we are intentionally operating below our capacity to replenish reserves. It doesn’t have to be limited to your vacation time. It’s something you can build into the rhythm of your life. Which evenings each week are blocked out in your calendar? You should block several out: no activity, no nothin’. Turn your phone off, and let your soul simply rest.God commands Sabbath once a week however you observe it, and I think now you can see the brilliance of his command. We need margin to replenish, margin that is so protected it is sacred margin—untouchable, nonnegotiable.The simplest (and by far the most reliable) route I have ever found for getting breathing room in my life is to begin asking Jesus about the plans I make for my life.Honestly, I’m always startled at how much feels to me to be utterly necessary, unavoidable—but when I asked Christ about it, he rescued me from the pressure. I didn’t need to make that call that evening. I didn’t need to do that project that weekend. I didn’t need to get involved in someone else’s drama even though I felt I should.Jesus has consistently opened up margin in my life that I didn’t think was possible. And in that margin I have been able to recover and replenish my reserves.Want more? Order your copy of Resilient today.

Playful, cunning, generous, fierce — not one moment of it is contrived. Jesus never plays to the audience, never kowtows to the opposition, never takes his cues from the circus around him. He is simply being himself.The diversity of Jesus’ actions, timing, manner, words, dare we say moods; his sudden changes of direction, then his stillness — it’s hard to keep up with. It certainly is colorful, but almost dizzying, like a Byzantine mosaic, alive and shifting like the northern lights. Dazzling, but nearly to the point of leaving us confused. As soon as we’ve grabbed on to one dimension of Jesus — his generosity, his compassion, his honesty — he seems to turn it on its head, or us on ours.Perhaps the Gospel stories seem dizzying only because we’ve never seen anyone act like this before. Maybe what we are witnessing is actually one single quality, not many. Maybe Jesus is simply being true. Want more? Order your copy of Beautiful Outlaw today

I think it was Archibald Hart who pointed out that because we are so accustomed to moving pedal to the metal in our own world, the thing we overlook in the Gospels are all of the in-between times when Christ and his followers were walking from one town to another. When the record states, “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee,” (John 1:43) we project our own pace upon it, not realizing it took the boys three days by foot to get there. Three days just strolling along, talking, or sharing the silent beauty; the pauses for lunch or a drink from a well; the campfires in the evening. Even as I write this, it sounds luxurious. Christ does not move immediately from one dramatic story to another; there was down time, transition time between those demands. Time to process what had happened (these are the moments you see the disciples asking questions; “what did you mean by ... ?”). Time to catch their breath before the next encounter. That was the pace Jesus felt was reasonable for people engaged in important things and wanting a life with God. Time we would categorize almost as vacation time, for those are the only periods we allow ourselves a stroll, a lingering lunch, a campfire conversation. We highly progressive moderns try to keep up without any of those intervals and transitions.The things that we require of ourselves—we go from a tender conversation with our eight-year-old anxious about going to school to an angry phone call with our insurance company as we drive to work, followed by a quick chat with our sister needing a decision about our aging parents’ “memory care unit.” Then it’s straight into a series of business meetings (during which we multitask by trying to bang out some email), firing an employee, interviewing another, making dinner reservations for our spouse’s birthday, fitting in a conversation with our boss because we can’t say no, and showing up late and haggard for the dinner.And we wonder why we have a hard time finding God, receiving more of him, feeling like we’re overflowing with life. We are forcing our souls through multiple gear-changes each day, each hour, and after years of this we wonder why we aren’t even sure what to say when a friend genuinely inquires, “How are you?” We don’t really know; we aren’t sure what we feel anymore. We live at one speed: go. All the subtleties of human experience have been forced into one state of being. Mercy. No soul was meant to live like this.What sort of madness have we come to accept as normal when a One Minute Pause feels like a luxury?!Want more? Order your copy of Get Your Life Back today.

How to pray for guidance. First off, do whatever you can to reduce the pressure. Pressure is a killer; it nearly always gets in the way of hearing from God. As best you can, lay down the pressure as you seek guidance. Drama never helps; stress never helps. Give the search some breathing room. Take a deep breath yourself.Second, be open to whatever it may be that God has to say to you. If you are, in truth, only open to hearing one answer from God—yes, you should buy that house—then it’s not likely you will hear anything at all. More sadly, if you do hear a “yes,” you won’t be able to trust it. Surrender is the key. Yield your desires and plans and hunches to the living God, so that you might receive from him something far better: his counsel. Consecrate the matter; consecrate the process of decision making too!Third, do not fill in the blanks! Do not spend half your energy trying to figure it out while you are giving the other half to seek- ing God. You do not want to “walk in the light of your own fires!” Far better to live with the uncertainty for a while than to be your own counselor.  Finally, when it comes to major decisions, give it some time. Don’t try and get this done in five minutes.  If you feel you are receiving counsel, guidance, direction from the Holy Spirit, then ask him to confirm it. Confirmation is important when it comes to big decisions and it gives you a settled assurance that you are in fact following God’s will.Want more? Order your copy of Moving Mountains today.

I love watching a herd of horses grazing in an open pasture, or running free across the wide, sage-covered plateaus in Montana. I love hiking in the high country when the wildflowers are blooming—the purple lupine and the Indian paintbrush when it’s turning magenta. I love thunder clouds, massive ones. My family loves to sit outside on summer nights and watch the lightning, hear the thunder as a storm rolls in across Colorado. I love water, too—the ocean, streams, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, rain. I love jumping off high rocks into lakes with my boys. I love old barns, windmills, the West. I love vineyards. I love it when Stasi is loving something, love watching her delight. I love my boys. I love God.Everything you love is what makes a life worth living. Take a moment, set down the book, and make a list of all the things you love. Don’t edit yourself; don’t worry about prioritizing or anything of that sort. Simply think of all the things you love. Whether it’s the people in your life or the things that bring you joy or the places that are dear to you or your God, you could not love them if you did not have a heart. Loving requires a heart alive and awake and free. A life filled with loving is a life most like the one that God lives, which is life as it was meant to be (Ephesians 5:1–2). Of all the things that are required of us in this life, which is the most important? What is the real point of our existence? Jesus was confronted with the question point-blank one day, and he boiled it all down to two things: loving God and loving others. Do this, he said, and you will find the purpose of your life. Everything else will fall into place. Somewhere down inside we know it’s true; we know love is the point. We know if we could truly love, and be loved, and never lose love, we would finally be happy. And is it even possible to love without your heart? Want more? Order your copy of Waking the Dead today.