Category: Interior Life

humility

Humble Leadership – Part 2

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Last week we looked at three foundational attitudes for humble leadership: thinking of oneself as a student, a servant, and a messenger. Together these attitudes form humility in us. Today we build on humility with more ideas that deepen humility and equip us for mature leadership, whether we lead as a parent, a spouse, an employee, or in ministry. Truly Love People. This means our heart is committed to the well-being of the people we serve, with at least some measure of affection. If we don’t truly love the people, then we need to find a way to change our hearts or reconsider our calling. Be Weak and Strong. We are a flower in the field but also an anchor in the storm. This sounds like a paradox but it actually makes a lot of sense. Jesus made himself vulnerable for the sake of the people he served, but he was, and is, Continue Reading →

humility

Humble Leadership – Part 1

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You just finished leading a great meeting. Everyone was happy and happy with you. Several smiled and thanked you personally. At home you are feeling thankful for being able to lead. Then, as you relax, your mind starts wandering and thinking about what a great person you are. You are a fantastic leader, so much better than most…whoa! What happened here? You were just thinking about being thankful then you started getting delusions of grandeur. How quickly spiritual pride rears its head and sabotages humble leadership. Scripture teaches that you have an old self, or “flesh” that you have to fight. It has desires that assault us, which we resist by centering on Christ, “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh” (Rom. 13:14, NIV). This explains why these temptations and impulses rise up within us. In Continue Reading →

expectations unwanted thoughts

How To Deal With Unwanted Thoughts – Part 2

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This is the second of two blog posts on unwanted thoughts. The first post looked at the stages a thought goes through, and when we need to stop it. This post looks at specific strategies for dealing with unwanted thoughts. In general, we can examine the thought, reject it, then let it float by. We can turn our mind to something else, and let the thought die of neglect. We may have to repeat this process hundreds of times for ingrained unwanted thoughts. Hope In God – Weekly Words Of EncouragementJanuary 20, 2026The Value Of Holy Viewing – Weekly Words Of EncouragementJanuary 12, 2026Courage To Embrace The Unpleasant Truths Of GodJanuary 9, 2026

expectations unwanted thoughts

How To Deal With Unwanted Thoughts – Part 1

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You are innocently working on one of your daily tasks and all of a sudden an evil thought comes into your head. It plays for a few seconds, but you don’t embrace it. You mentally fight and reject it. Then you feel a little dazed and confused by its impact. Finally, the thought fades away. Now you are wondering how to deal with unwanted thoughts. Then you start wondering where it came from. Is this from you? Is it some buried corruption you are not aware of? Or is it from Satan? Is it a combination of the two? Is it from neither one, just a quirk of the human mind? Was it triggered by something around you by the power of suggestion? Is it just free association? You can’t really figure it out. Regardless of how they come, it is frustrating and sometimes discouraging when unwanted thoughts come in. Continue Reading →

dark night

A Dark Night Of The Soul Is Normal

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Most Christians go through one or more periods in their life when God seems absent. We use different terms for this such as dryness, dark night, desolation, desert time, or wilderness time. John of the Cross (1542-1591) coined the term dark night of the soul to refer to these times in his book Dark Night of the Soul. Even great Christians in history we admire go through such times. For example, Martin Luther, C.S. Lewis, Mother Teresa, and Oswald Chambers. Bruce Demarest mentions the last three in his book Seasons of the Soul, which I highly recommend, beginning on p. 84. He also discusses desolation in general which is very helpful. (There is a link to this book on Amazon on our Resources page.)  Walking through these times is very difficult and it is important to understand some basic principles so that it isn’t more difficult than it should be. More importantly, there are Continue Reading →