God's Word Acts Like a Slow Drip, Not a Big Splash

In her book Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, Lois Tverberg retells the following story about a famous first century rabbi named Rabbi Akiva:

One day ...

Research on the Best Methods of Study

Scripture memorization can be a powerful practice that not only helps you to remember a truth but also to understand it better.

This idea draws support ...

The True Intention of Prayer

In The Higher Happiness, Ralph W. Sockman describes the true intention of prayer: "We use prayer as a boatman uses a boat hook: to pull the boat ...

A Writer's Reflections on Offering His First Prayer

A. J. Jacobs, a writer living in New York, decided to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one year. To prepare, he bought a stack of Bibles and ...

Prayer Works Even from "Far Away"

Peter Charpentier, a minister in Hammond, Louisiana, shares a story of how God used his youngest son to teach him a valuable lesson about prayer and the ...

John Ortberg on the Importance of Spiritual Weaning

Stillness is always a prerequisite for receptivity. Telephones and television sets cannot receive messages when they are too filled with static and noise. ...

Missing the Sustenance of God Because of Self-centeredness

Pastor David Shelley shares a personal story that illustrates well the fact that though we were created to hear the words of God and to respond to them, ...

The Story Behind an Odd Contract Demand from Rock Band Van Halen

Many of us have heard about some of the outlandish demands made by music celebrities in their contracts with concert promoters. One of the most notorious ...

Fractured French and a Lesson About Prayer

Timothy Jones writes in “The Art of Prayer:”

We don't like to stand speechless or stammering before God, but that doesn't mean God ...

Eugene Peterson on Prayer as Answering Speech

Prayer is answering speech. The first word is God's word. Prayer is a human word and is never the initiating and shaping word simply because we are ...