spiritual growth

Have you ever gone from feeling on top of the world with God, like he’s walking right beside you, answering your prayers, telling you he loves you with every sunset – and then it’s like he vanishes? I call this the "spiritual desert." As painful and confusing as being in a spiritual desert is, it is also a necessary season for everyone’s walk with God. To help anyone currently in a spiritual desert, I have compiled a survival guide of sorts to help get you to the other side. And I promise you, there is another side!

Pain is never the point of God’s plans, any more than it is the purpose of physical exercise. Never pushing ourselves to the point that it hurts means never improving our health. In and of itself, pain is not good, but it is meaningful. Pain indicates that something is wrong and needs to be addressed. Without pain, we’d never know. In the same way, breaking bad habits of the past requires pushing beyond our comfort levels, through the pain, and onward on the path to full restoration.

1 Peter 4:12 tells us we should expect to have troubles in our lives. Colossians 2:7 says that the best answer is to grow our roots deeper into God. We do not know why there is suffering in the world, but we do know that the God of restoration gives us opportunities to redeem our challenging experiences.

As soon as T.D. Jakes extends his first “Hello,” you better get ready because you're in for a rare opportunity to hear a message from the man Time Magazine dubbed "America's Pastor."

Sometimes, striving after peace and unity can become an idol and can actually lead to stifled spiritual growth in a congregation.

Like any healthy relationship, a good marriage requires work. No matter how compatible a couple may be or how in love they feel, there will be times when unforeseen challenges arise, and it’s then that the true foundation of a marriage is revealed.

“In the psalms, relationship with God happens out loud. More than 95 percent of the psalms express or invite audible words.”

Once we begin to counter what culture says about body image and immerse our minds in healthy, biblical ways of viewing our bodies, we will likely experience not only greater contentment with the bodies God has given us, but greater spiritual growth.

There are so many things that can affect how much we enjoy church, and they are almost all preferences.

Not attending church can become a bad habit for Christians, and one that may not seem like a big deal.