Author Archives: Intentional Faith

The Discipline of Prayer

Take a few moments to come to a place of quiet within yourself. Focus on your breathing. Gradually become aware of the presence of God, who gives you all you need. Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all yourContinue reading “The Discipline of Prayer”

Your Spiritual Discipline

It can be comforting to see that the earliest Christian communities struggled with divisions and conflicts. In spite of their experience of God’s grace and strength, and in spite of the spiritual gifts they had received, they fell into competing factions, with groups of people forming around different church leaders. But Paul was not willingContinue reading “Your Spiritual Discipline”

Don’t Flatten Your Neighbors

I remember as a fourth grader looking in my NIV Adventure Bible at a chart that listed all the kings of Israel and Judah. It included the dates of each king’s reign and a sentence on their accomplishments. On the right-hand side, each king was rated “good,” “bad,” “mostly good,” or “mostly bad.” Someone likeContinue reading “Don’t Flatten Your Neighbors”

One Man’s Take on What Is Happening to the Church

I have often wondered why church attendance in America is decreasing and why so many Americans seem not to feel any need of traditional Christianity. Throughout much of the twentieth century the majority of Americans were “God-fearing, Bible-believing, church-attending” Christians even if they didn’t live out true Christianity in their everyday lives. But a largeContinue reading “One Man’s Take on What Is Happening to the Church”

Your Discipline of Prayer

Before you begin, pause for a moment. Take several deep breaths and allow yourself to grow still. Be aware of God’s loving presence within you. 1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. From the very beginning of the Book of Genesis, we are called to be stewards ofContinue reading “Your Discipline of Prayer”

Your Spiritual Discipline

If we allow our view of love to be too strongly influenced by what we see on our television screens, we will probably come to the conclusion that love is nothing more than a rather untrustworthy feeling over which we have no control. We may long for the butterflies in our tummies, the breathless excitement,Continue reading “Your Spiritual Discipline”

The Crushing Freedom of Decision Making

Decision-Making Fatigue Sometimes things become so much a part of the fabric of our lives that we don’t even recognize them. Decisions are chief among them. They are so ubiquitous that we tend to drown out their prevalence and significance. In a self-initiated experiment, I decided to keep a running tally of the number ofContinue reading “The Crushing Freedom of Decision Making”

God Did Not Promise to Heal Your Depression, Just Be with You Through It

Depression is extremely common to struggle with at some point in your life, or even throughout your entire life. Many people believe depression is something you should just “snap out of” and become happy again. For those of us struggling with depression, these comments can be hurtful and cause us to become more isolated. IfContinue reading “God Did Not Promise to Heal Your Depression, Just Be with You Through It”

Not a Good Time to Be Jewish

(Not my usual curation but it is a voice in the wilderness in which we live. As long as we allow ourselves to be divided by our identity, the drumbeat sounded here will only grow louder. You read. You decide.) Last week, I met a rabbi in Los Angeles. We talked about surfing where toContinue reading “Not a Good Time to Be Jewish”