Christian Meditation for A Bigger Lif...
Christian Meditation can help refocus your mind and recalibrate your body to get the stress, anxiety and anger out of your heart and out of your body. Spend about 23 minutes to "be still" with God as each episode uses a different biblical image to experience God's presence and promises in a way that brings relaxation and renewal. Look for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.
376
The Power of Music - Interview with Scott Johns...
When we actually pay attention to what the Bible says about singing and music, we discover that music is a powerful force in God’s universe. When we worship through song, something happens in us that doesn’t happen through mere words spoken or heard. I...
49 min
377
Our Conflicted Reaction That God is Holy | Psal...
When you worship God as holy, it brings a kind of fear that also brings a kind of joy. There’s a reason why Jesus told us in the Lord’s Prayer that the first thing you’re to pray for is that you would see and experience God’s name as holy (“Hallowed be...
38 min
378
Light and Life and Joy from Right Worship | Psa...
The battle line in our lives is always at our worship. As human beings created for living in God’s glory and love, we are always worshiping. Worship is when we ascribe the highest worth and worth-it-ness to someone or something in our hearts and minds....
31 min
379
A Meditation on Jesus as the I AM | John 6:20
We learn from the order of The Lord’s Prayer that Jesus saw prayer as worship. And one significant key to learning to worship in Spirit and truth (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%204%3A23-24&version=NIV (John 4:23-24)) without ima...
26 min
380
When Jesus says, I AM | John 6:60-69
What does it mean when Jesus says, I AM? Like in John 6:20, he stands on the waves in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and says, “I AM, don’t be afraid.” In the Bible, the seas represented the unknown, chaos, evil. And Jesus stands on top of all that a...
20 min
381
When Following Jesus Is Hard | John 6:60-69
How long will you stick with following Jesus? What would it take for you to walk away from him? When we read of the miracles of Jesus, the idea of following Jesus is attractive. Jesus is being a healing and blessing God. But then there are other times ...
25 min
382
Imagining Jesus as Your Bread of Life | John 6
Often the reason we desire other things more than God is a lack of using our imagination in worship. With any desire we have that we pursue, we use our imagination. That’s what makes us want it. We imagine a possible experience that makes us desire it ...
25 min
383
Trusting the One Story of the Bible | Isaiah 1...
It’s a conspiracy that increases my faith in the gospel. I’m amazed at how often we see the Bible’s one story threaded all throughout Scripture, but written centuries apart. This one story of the Bible, written over a period of 1,500 years by more than...
24 min
384
Why Worship Is So Worth It | Psalm 96
Don’t let yourself get hijacked away from the incredible bigger and better story this world is in and you could be in. Your trust and faithfulness will be so worth it! But we must worship the I AM to keep our affections focused on the right story. Lear...
19 min
385
Do You Find It Hard to Worship? | Psalm 95
Do you find it hard or even awkward to worship God? The truth is it’s easier than you think. You just have to choose to do it. Worship is a choice. In fact, it must always be a choice. God never coerces our worship. Jesus said in https://www.biblegatew...
23 min
386
What About the God of Vengeance? | Psalm 94
Worshiping God means worshiping him for who he really is. Our lives become more anchored horizontally when we anchor them vertically to the true God. Worshiping God in Spirit and truth, as Jesus puts it in https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=J...
21 min
387
When the Glass Is Half-Empty | Psalm 90
We all get into a funk. We’re disappointed. Frustrated. Experiencing the pains of life’s fragile realities. Some of us bend that direction more than others, but we all bend under that weight at times. And in those times it’s all too easy to start sinki...
27 min
388
What’s Your Image of Prayer? | Mark 1:35-37 and...
Question: When you think of the word prayer, what image comes to your mind? When you think to yourself, “Should I pray right now?” or “I’m going to pray,” what do you imagine doing? What do you imagine when you imagine praying? Too often my image is ne...
25 min
389
Should You Really Pray for That? | Luke 22:39-44
How do you know when it’s OK to pray for something? What kind of prayers are out of bounds? Do you sometimes not pray for something because you figure you should err on the side of not offending God with your request? I think that’s a mistake. Here’s w...
29 min
390
Seeing the Bigger Bigger Story in Psalm 89 | Ps...
Psalm 89 shows us that the drama of our lives takes place in the bigger story of God’s redemption and restoration of this world through the perfect Son of David, Jesus the Christ. But that story is even bigger yet, because there’s an even bigger drama ...
27 min
391
Seeing Jesus in Psalm 89 | Psalm 89
Centuries before Jesus was born, the Psalm of the Old Testament told of him. Jesus told his disciples that everything would be fulfilled that was written about him in the Psalms (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2024%3A44&version=N...
19 min
392
Will You Praise God Forever? | Psalm 89
The word “forever” has always intrigued me. Most of the time it’s used in songs or poetry it’s a lie. The Beatles’ Strawberry Fields Forever? Or “Love you forever and forever”? But when the Psalms in the Bible use that word it’s actually a promise that...
21 min
393
Killing Little Jesus | Hebrews 1:1-3
What comes to your mind when you think of Jesus? What image? What imagination? How do you feel toward that Jesus? How much do you want that Jesus to be Lord/King of your life? See, I don’t think the problem for most of us is that our sin is too big for...
26 min
394
Redeeming Your Desire for Greatness and Glory |...
Do you sometimes think that your desire for greatness and glory is pride? Do you sometimes feel guilty for that as if somehow that's an inordinate desire that you need to confess as pride? The desire for greatness and glory is actually not the same as ...
21 min
395
How to Pray Using a Psalm | Psalm 80
Let’s say you want to have a conversation with God using a Psalm. You open to Psalm 80. You start reading and quickly realize it doesn’t really resonate with you. Honestly, you don’t think you understand much of what you’re reading. So what can you do?...
19 min
396
When Life Has Taken a Bad Turn | Psalm 77
Maybe you’re in one of those times. Your life has taken a turn for the worst. Perhaps just temporarily. Perhaps permanently. Maybe you’re grieving the loss of something or someone. Or you’re doubting your future. Is there anything left to look forward ...
19 min
397
Waking Up From a Spell | 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
I’ve become a believer in spells. Supernatural illusions or delusions put upon a person’s mind so that they can’t see reality, or they see non-reality as reality. And that’s what the New Testament is talking about in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6. Like the Psalm...
18 min
398
When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed by Troubles | P...
Written a thousand years before Jesus was born, Psalm 69 is one of those psalms of David that seems to be a favorite of the New Testament authors. It also seems to have been a favorite of Jesus because he quotes from it in John 15:25. It's quoted by th...
25 min
399
Imagining God As Your Living Water | Jeremiah 2...
What we are learning to do in this podcast is to live more vertically and not just horizontally. To lift up our eyes throughout our day, in the moments of anxiety, worry, fear, tension, conflict, temptation, unforgiveness. And in the good moments as we...
21 min
400
Bringing God’s Power Into Your Life | Psalm 68
The Psalms come back to repeated themes for emphasis. We forget what matters most because we get hijacked by the smaller horizontal stories that bombard us everyday. But when we lift up our eyes vertically through praise to God and his bigger story for...
28 min