Category Archives: Spiritual Growth

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How To Deal With Emotional Doubts

Our thought life is central to living a vibrant Christian life. In Romans 12:2, Paul says that the way we resist the pattern of this world is by renewing our minds. Now he could have said a lot of different things instead of mind—heart, emotions, worship—but he didn’t. The reason is that what we think about and what we believe are critical to how we live. Dallas Willard, a Christian philosopher who has done a lot of work in the area of spiritual formation, offers penetrating insight into the interplay of thoughts and emotions:

Our thoughts are one of the most basic sources of our life. They determine the orientation of everything we do and evoke the feelings that frame our world and motivate our actions. Interestingly, you can’t evoke thoughts by feeling a certain way, but you can evoke and to some degree control feelings by directing your thoughts. Our power over our thoughts is of great and indispensable assistance in directing and controlling our feelings, which themselves are not directly under the guidance of our will. We cannot just choose our feelings.

We don’t have direct control over how we feel. But we can indirectly affect our emotions by thinking in certain ways. If we want to get at the root of the emotional doubt, then we have to change our thinking and stop allowing ourselves to believe lies. We must tell ourselves the truth—God’s truth—until we accept it. Again, this is not a one-time remedy; it’s a habit we need to build into our life.

In light of this, I hope that you will no longer feel ashamed when you experience doubt, nor idly sit by and allow emotional doubt to paralyze you with fear. I will let the poignant words of Oswald Chambers conclude our discussion: “Unless we train our emotions they will lead us around by the nose, and we will be captives to every passing impulse or reaction. But once faith is trained to control the emotions and knows how to lean reso- lutely against weakness of character, another entry way of doubt is sealed shut forever . . . Much of our distress as Christians comes not because of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature.”

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Interview with Wife of Jailed American Pastor Saeed Abedini in Iran

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Praying and acting for our persecuted brothers and sisters is not optional. They need us. Please take some time to listen as my friend John Stonestreet interviews Naghmeh Abedini, wife of jailed American pastor Saeed Abedini, and Tiffany Barrans of the American Center for Law and Justice.

Be attentive to how the Lord might prompt you to respond to Pastor Saeed’s imprisonment (here are some ways you can help). Read more about this situation at Breakpoint This Week. Please take 2 minutes and watch this video of a recent letter that he wrote while in prison and consider sharing this story with others you know.

Learn more about the persecuted church here.

“Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” – Eph. 6:19-20

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The Unpredictable (and Uncomfortable!) Laboratory Of Change

I wish there was a way to grow spiritually without challenges and tests. But alas, there is not. Everyday circumstances are the unpredictable laboratory of change. James reminds us:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (1:2 – 4; cf. Romans 5:1 – 5).

Our tendency is to view circumstances as the enemy, when in fact they are opportunities to experience life with God, to cooperate with him in what he wants to do in these very moments. To be honest, I’ve got a long way to go. But I am increasingly recognizing how God is using everyday circumstances to form me into the image of his Son (cf. Rom. 8:29). How about you?

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No Time To Be Spiritual

Dr. Richard Swenson is a futurist who writes about the social and personal factors that afflict America. Dr. Swenson has diagnosed the problem of our day as “overload.” If you were to take an MRI of our lives, here is what you would see:

We have too many choices and decisions, too many activities and commitments, too much change creating too much stress. We have too much speed and hurry. We have too much technology, complexity, traffic, information, possessions, debt, expectations, advertisements, and media. We even have too much work.

And all God’s people said — “Amen!”

When we no longer have any margin in our lives, no space between our load and our limits, then we are in a constant state of overload. And that is not a healthy place to be. There is perhaps no greater barrier to spiritual transformation and cultural engagement today than the lack of time. If we are to be who God calls us to be, we must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives.

God’s word instructs us “to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12 ESV). Paul admonishes us to “look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15–16 ESV). We can have the best of intentions, but if there is no time to think, study, reflect, pray, cultivate relationships, or engage with others—then it simply won’t happen. It can’t.

John Ortberg writes, “For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.” Probably the most spiritual thing we can do is to start taking our time back by building some margin into our lives.

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Does Jesus Know What He Is Talking About?

This is the foundational question every would be disciple must ask. Was Jesus right? Did he know what he was talking about? Dallas Willard reframes the typical way we think about Jesus:

Jesus is Lord can mean little in practice for anyone who hesitates before saying Jesus is smart…he is not just nice, he is brilliant. He is the smartest man who ever lived.

Jesus needs to know about life…not just heaven someday. And He does…He has a PHD in all of life. The disciple of Jesus starts by saying Jesus is right, about everything. John Ortberg summarizes this well:

…if I want to fully experience the love of Jesus, I must receive one of his most important gifts he sends me—his teaching. I must invite Jesus to be the personal Teacher of my life. I must trust that he is right—about everything. And that therefore where I disagree with him I must either be wrong or not yet understand what it was he was saying. I must allow Jesus to teach me how to live.

That is a good posture to start and conclude each day.

With all of this in mind, we are now better positioned to thoughtfully consider Jesus’ invitation to be his disciple:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matt. 11:28-30

Everyone learns from somebody. Why not sit at the feet of the one who possess all wisdom and knowledge? (cf. Col. 2:3) I have written more in depth on this question in my latest book.

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