Every Wednesday night I get the special privilege of gathering together with a group of believers from the church and praying together.  We usually begin with a short devotional and then launch into a time of prayer for our church, our community, our nation, etc. 

Recently we read through Psalm 139 and were moved by the tenderness that David uses in referring to God’s continual presence even in the midst of suffering. 

David writes, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me!  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.  You search out my pat and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways…Where shall I go from your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?…If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night.’ even the darkness is not dark to you.”

One of the things that I love about the psalms is how realistic they are.  David spends much of the chapter using this kind of intimate language for the presence of God.  Having written all of this, you would think that David would be a man without a care and without anxiety and yet in verse 23 he writes, “Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and see my anxious thoughts.”  It’s comforting to me to know that even the author of Psalm 23 and Psalm 139 struggled with anxiety from time to time. 

The lesson that I take away from verse 23 is that the cure to anxiety is found in intimacy with the Lord.  That isn’t to say that we won’t ever experience anxiety or have cares in this world, but the secret to finding shalom (peace) is where we go in the midst of those cares.  So with that in mind, our small group took our prayers to the throne of grace and we found peace.

It is too easy for me to view my son’s form of idolatry [video games] as childish, but in essence, at root, there is no difference between our idolatries. His expression is consistent with a 12 year old, mine is consistent with a 56 year old, but in essence it’s no different. Therefore I must make sure my heart is softened by my own sinful tendencies. I don’t want the study to be punitive, I don’t want it to be (if possible) connected or related to discipline, because I think that can make it more difficult for a child to comprehend and to be convinced I have their best interest at heart. I want to supplement it with my own stories.

At 12 years old I would want to start leaving your son with questions to consider rather than pronouncements. But from 12 years old on up, it is far more complicated than when they are younger. For a toddler, discipline is pretty simple. You are not having to work through heart issues. It is a blatantly ethical world, at that age, nothing but right/wrong, yes/no. But as they get older you want to draw your child in and give him an opportunity to think about his own heart, think about it in relation to material, think about it in relation to Scripture, think about it with time for the Spirit to possibly convict. You are not bringing every conversation to a conclusion that he must agree with.

Helping our children identify idols is hard work. Your son may grow out of his love for video games, but he will not grow out of the idol factory in his heart. So as parents, we need the Lord’s help, and we can be confident that he will lead and guide us as we serve and lead our children with the gospel.

A few things are certain.  We live in a universe created by a Shepherd God.  The Lord is our Shepherd.  Our world is redeemed by a Shepherd Savior.  Our Elder Brother is a Shepherd.  The man whom humanity most needs is a shepherd.  Every messenger of Christ is sent to do a shepherd’s work.  We are to stand at last before a Shepherd Judge.  God is going to separate the good shepherds from the shepherds who are bad.  The questions which every pastor must meet and answer are three: “Did you feed my lambs?  Did you tend my sheep?  Did you feed my sheep?”

The rest of the book is filled with powerful and practical counsel for shepherding.  Some of this counsel comes in the form of warnings, some as encouragements but all are perfectly suited for the minister who desires to be a shepherd.  I’ll close with one of my favorites:

If a man is dependent on the applause of the crowd, he ought never to enter the ministry.  The finest things a minister does are done out of sight and never get reported.

K-LOVE – David Crowder "How He Loves" LIVE from K-LOVE Radio on Vimeo.

Guilt is a young mother’s habitual shadow. It has a nasty way of soaking through many of her efforts at nurturing, serving and loving others. “Am I doing enough for my children? For others? What do they think of me? What does God think of me?”

As a young mother everyone wants something from you—your family, your church, your boss, your neighbor. And most likely, you give way more than you ever thought you could. But along the way guilt nibbles at your soul, eating away your inner peace and joy. And it often lingers through the years, even after your children are grown and gone.

Dear young mother, don’t waste your guilt!

You can find the rest here.

1. Regularly evaluate your relationship with your spouse. Beware of poor communication, inadequate conflict resolution, poor sexual relationship, discontent, and other red flags. Keep your fingers on the pulse of your marriage!

2. Spend regular uninterrupted time together to communicate on all levels: spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, and physically. (Date your spouse. If it’s not happening, put it in your schedule!)

3. Share openly with each other—don’t harbor secrets or withhold personal struggles. (Every adultery begins with a secret.)

7. Be fiercely loyal to your spouse; speak highly of her/him and never downgrade her to anyone.

12. Anticipate, and then act to prevent, avoid and resist sexual temptation.

17. Take care of your physical health; be as attractive to your mate as you can.

18. Be modest with others in public, and sexy with your spouse in private—not the opposite!

20. Rehearse in advance the devastating consequences of immorality and a broken marriage. Count the cost of neglect and unfaithfulness!

You can read the rest of Randy’s blog post here.

You must understand that envy is an interpretation. Envy is not an emotional response to what is. It is a particular interpretation of what is. Envy is a way of looking at and assessing what is that results in particular emotions and actions. But this needs to be said even more strongly; envy is not only an interpretation of what is, it is a distorted interpretation of what is. Envy is looking at life through a rippled window that will always distort whatever you see. In that way envy is madness. In its own way, envy separates you from reality. Envy expands certain facts, it neglects certain facts, and it reshapes certain facts; all the while presenting itself as a valid, accurate and reliable view of life. It makes you like the crazy guy on the street. What makes him crazy is that he doesn’t know he is crazy. He looks, speaks and acts weirdly because what he thinks is real simply isn’t real. Such is the world of envy. Envy is rooted in a distorted interpretation of life that will make you mad. Let me explain.

1. The distorted interpretation of envy makes it all about you. Envy always puts you at the center of your universe…

2. The distorted interpretation of envy is always idolatrous. Envy always puts the creation in the place of the Creator…

3. The distorted interpretation of envy is self-righteous. What is the fundamental perspective of envy? Here it is; "I deserve better!…

4. The distorted interpretation of envy is always short-sighted. Envy simply forgets that this is not all there is…

5. The distorted interpretation of envy is the soil of other sins. Envy never stops with envy…

One of the clearest signs that a member of my congregation is being severely tempted by sin is that I don’t see them around the church anymore.  After all who wants to be in a place that talks about sin as if it’s a bad thing when you’re enjoying it so much.  You see sin is inherently anti-social, it naturally draws our attention in upon ourselves and drags us out of community with other believers.

So what’s the solution to the temptation to isolate ourselves and pursue our own desires? In a word “community.”  We desperately need to be engaged in an authentic community that simply will not let us go when we try to isolate ourselves and “break out against all sound judgment.”