Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 11111. Christian journalling is the practice of writing down what God is teaching us, what we are praying, and how we are responding to His Word, and it raises a fair question. Is keeping a journal a genuinely biblical practice, or is it just a modern self-help habit dressed in Christian clothes? I want…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 04042. Paul tells us not to grieve the Spirit, and I have noticed over the years that most believers nod at that instruction without ever asking what it actually looks like on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon. The command sits in Ephesians 4:30, tucked into a passage about how we speak to one another and…
Reading Time: 9 minutesQuestion 00049. It is entirely possible to be doctrinally correct and spiritually dead at the very same time, and the Bible says so without flinching for a moment. A person can hold the right positions on the Trinity, the cross, and the resurrection, can argue them ably against all comers, and can still carry a…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 0034 When people ask me what resources will help their doctrinal growth, I always start in the same place, because the answer matters more than any book list. The single most important resource for doctrinal growth is the Bible itself, read carefully, prayerfully and often. Every other tool is a servant of that one,…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 0033 If you long for an appetite for doctrine that you do not yet feel, take heart, because that very longing is already a seed of the thing you want. Nobody is born hungry for theology. I was not. The desire to know God deeply is something the Spirit grows in a believer over…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 0032 I understand exactly why theology feels dry to so many Christians, because I have felt it myself and I have watched it in others for years. The word “theology” conjures up dusty books, abstract debates and lectures that seem to have nothing to do with the ache of an ordinary Tuesday. People associate…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 0031 Sound doctrine works in the soul rather like a spiritual immune system works in the body, and once you see the picture you cannot unsee it. Your body is surrounded every day by bacteria and viruses that could destroy it, and the only reason you are not constantly ill is that an unseen…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 0030 The difference between academic theology and practical doctrine is one of those distinctions that sounds dry until you realise how much harm comes from getting it wrong. I have met believers who treat theology as a cold intellectual hobby, and others who are suspicious of any teaching that asks them to think hard….
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 04029 The role of the Spirit in worship is something I wish more congregations understood, because so much confusion about worship comes from forgetting it. We argue endlessly about styles, instruments, song choices and volume, as though worship were a matter of getting the externals right. Jesus cut straight past all of that in…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 04028 The work of the Spirit in evangelism is the most overlooked factor in the whole business of telling people about Jesus. We fret about our nerves, our lack of training, our awkward attempts to steer a conversation toward the gospel, and all the while we forget that the decisive worker in any conversion…