Category: Key Growth Posts

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The Trap Of Seeking The Presence Of God

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The greatest blessing in the New Creation will be to see God and be close to Him. Nothing will be better than being in His presence. We long for this and endure sacrifices now so we can present ourselves as pure when Jesus returns and we see God. So, shouldn’t we also be seeking the presence of God (the felt presence of God) in this mortal life? Shouldn’t we desire as much of God as He is willing to give now? Shouldn’t we always be seeking the presence of God? Of course we should. But there is a question as to priority. How high should we prioritize seeking the presence of God? First, we need to ask what we mean when we say the “presence of God.” If someone asks us what this means, we might say we just want whatever He wills. But the reality is that we want Continue Reading →

spiritual pride

Exposing Spiritual Pride

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Have you noticed that as you grow you run into new kinds of sins that are more subtle and hidden? As we mature we don’t wrestle as much with obvious sins like lying and ungodly speech. This can trick us into thinking that we have conquered the major sins in our lives. Yet growth brings with it a whole new set of vices. The 16th-century Christian teacher John of the Cross called these spiritual vices. They are spiritual versions of the seven deadly sins. These vices block our spiritual growth and oneness with God. Thus, they are spiritual enemy number one! The first spiritual vice John describes is spiritual pride. We develop spiritual pride in our spiritual accomplishments and spiritual growth. This can especially apply to our spiritual disciplines. We find ourselves being critical of others for not having enough devotion. We may also dislike praising others for their maturity because Continue Reading →

cross suffering

Courage To Embrace The Unpleasant Truths Of God

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A few years ago I was reading a book by a famous spiritual formation author. In it he talks about “finding the Christ dwelling within us.” Since this was ambiguous, I searched to find out if the author believed in the necessity of repentance and the new birth. Instead, I found statements like “Your belovedness precedes your birth…You are fully loved because you belong to God for all eternity. That’s the truth of your identity. That’s who you are. And you can reclaim it at any moment.” I was concerned that he did not accept the unpleasant truths of God. So I searched the book (with the Kindle search function) for the words “sin” or “repentance,” and they were not found. I could not find a mention of the final judgment of God on human lives. Obviously, these ideas could be expressed in different words, but I did not find Continue Reading →

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The Four Biggest Pitfalls Of Leadership (And Followship)

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Many years ago I was attending a really good church where the Holy Spirit was present and the people were genuinely seeking God. I was especially thankful because my previous church had just collapsed due to some unresolved issues between the pastor and the elders. Everything was going well at this new church, then one day I received a stunning message. The senior pastor had just left his wife and run off with the attractive worship leader, who left her husband to run off with the pastor.  The two of them had been spending a considerable amount of time together in ministry, and staff members expressed concern, but the pastor did not respond. This illustrates one of the big pitfalls of leadership. Over the years I have observed first-hand pastors and other leaders who fall into moral failure or severely restrict their effectiveness because of four different issues. Maybe there Continue Reading →

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What Does a Maturing Disciple of Jesus Look Like?

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We agree that the mission of the church, and the mission of God in our lives, is to make (beautiful) disciples of Jesus. We also agree that discipling is a maturation process; believers are supposed to “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).[2] Another way of saying this is that we are partnering with God to help people follow Jesus and join his mission. All our doctrines, practices, and congregational lives are anchored in these ideas. Renew.org recently published my article on this topic. You can read the full article here. Below is part of the article. But in order to pursue this discipling process, do we not need to know what a maturing disciple of Jesus looks like? How do we know if we are traveling on the road of maturity unless we know what the road looks like? In other words, Continue Reading →