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  James 4:1-3 Click here to listen to today's devotional Your prayer life is an expression of what’s in your heart. That’s something I see in the book of James. Prayer is not supposed to be performative spiritual language for God or your trying to impress heaven with carefully-stitched sentences. Prayer is the honest breathing of a soul that knows it belongs to God. You don’t have to hide what is inside you when you pray. If your heart is tired, say so. If your anger is righteous but restless, bring it. If your joy feels weak, like it might break if someone looks at it too long, offer it anyway. God is not surprised by who you are or what you're facing. We often treat prayer like it is primarily about getting something from God. But prayer is more about becoming someone with God. When you speak to God, you are training your heart to want what God wants, to see what God sees, and to love what God loves. That is holy work. Slow work, but holy just the same. Prayer is a form of sa...

  Psalm 95:1-5 Click here to listen to today's devotional This week, I was asked to lead worship for a small group. Now, I've already told them what I usually say first. I don't sing well. Singing is not something I should be leading other human voices in. Of course, I do sing. I just sing the way a grateful heart sometimes does when it forgets who's listening and remembers who is worthy. While I played my guitar for the group, I couldn't help but sing as I led the song  Great Are You, Lord.  I told the group that we were about to sing one of my favorite lines. I'll make a loud and joyful noise for this one: All the earth will shout your praise Our hearts will cry These bones will say Great are You, Lord That's an image from the prophet Ezekiel. He saw a valley of dry bones with no life or breath. Then, today, I read from Psalm 95. The psalm is a familiar invitation to worship the God who formed the earth and holds the depths of the world in holy hands. Toge...

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  This week, I had a chance to meet with several colleagues and friends. Our meeting was a part of the ongoing ordination process for several of the participants. I am one of the mentors of the group. My role is to encourage and guide my candidate through the final phase of their ordination. Let me tell you, I am greatly encouraged! I get a chance to hear these pastors share a word from the Lord, how they are finding their place as pastors in the church, and how they are reflecting on what it means to be a witness to Jesus. They are faithful, discerning, thoughtful, and serious about their calling. Some are young. Others aren’t as young as they used to be. One candidate is actually from a church I once served and was in elementary school the last time I saw him. Yesterday’s conversation centered on conflict. Of course, conflict is natural, normal, and I believe necessary. What I’ll tell you is conflict in ministry is heavy. Not that it’s any worse or demanding than what you might f...

  Galatians 5:22-26 Click here to listen Do you love music? I do, and maybe that's why I love the image in Galatians 5. In that chapter, some versions translate what Paul writes in verse 25 as, “Let us keep in step with the Spirit.” In step. You can be in step when you're walking in rhythm, not rushing ahead or dragging behind. But what about a dance? There's some keeping in step required to avoid tripping over a dance partner. Of course, when it comes to the Spirit, we're not just keeping musical time. We’re aligning our hearts with the Spirit and with the rest of the church. Paul wrote Galatians because believers were forgetting their freedom. Some were insisting that faith required extra rules and old boundaries. Paul’s message was clear: in Christ, you are already free. Not free to do whatever you want, but free to live with God’s purpose. And free to love. So how do we know if we’re keeping in step? Paul gives us a measuring stick: Fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is...

  Galatians 6:1-3 Click here to listen In Galatians 6:2, the Apostle Paul writes, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” A burden is something heavy. It is a load to carry. In the Galatians 6 sense, it is something too heavy to carry alone. It may be grief, anxiety, doubt, temptation, illness, financial strain, or some other quiet pain no one else sees. We often try to manage those things ourselves. They're our burdens, after all. Sometimes we even let others struggle alone. But the church is meant to be different. We are not called merely to be “nice.” We are called to love as Christ has loved us. And that love has its own weight to it. It draws near to what is messy. It will sit in silence when there are no right words to say. It listens without judgment. It brings a meal, offers a ride, holds hope for someone who has lost theirs. Think of the friends in the book of Job. They did their best heavy-burden lifting when they simply sat with ...