Will longer prayers be heard by God more than shorter ones? Not necessarily. Longer prayers aren't necessarily better at getting God's attention than shorter prayers. Some people mistakenly think that longer prayers are better. This idea isn't found in the Bible. In fact, Jesus seemingly tried to dissuade us from

In this blog, I write a lot about taking care of the soul. I do this for good reason: our souls are the part of us that will be joining our God in heaven one day. Jesus declared, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Matt. 16:26 ESV). Cultivating the soul…

When I was young, my brother and I would sometimes have a friendly match of "speed reading" before bedtime. We would race to see which of us could read a passage of the Bible the fastest. Honestly, I don't ever recall any clear winners or losers in this game. But…

Being sick isn't fun. At least, that's what my wife likes to say. As I'm going through an illness right now, I must say that I have to agree with her. It's not fun being sick. A few days ago, we contracted COVID-19. It's our first time…

Several days ago, I was part of a group that was discussing the value of Scripture. One of the young adults shared their challenges of reading from the Old Testament in the Bible. In particular, this person was going through the book of Ezekiel. And they were reading through it one chapter each day. At this pace, it will…

Sometimes, I find it hard to pray. That's normal, right? Many people struggle to pray. In fact, I don't know a single person who has never struggled with prayer at some point in their life. But my struggle with prayer these days isn't about…

Time is tight. I know it and feel it almost every single day. I'm pursuing becoming a modern monastic. This means I embrace living in the modern world and I have modern responsibilities and a modern family to look after. At the same time, I pursue…

Several days ago, my two-year-old son turned into Ethan Hunt, the protagonist from the Mission Impossible movie series. He managed to scale his crib walls and jump right out. It was a hilarious event, which…

I want to grow my thankfulness to God. Gratefulness is a key attitude for any believer in Christ. But it can be hard to maintain a grateful posture considering that we live in tough times. With the rising costs of almost everything, uncertainty in our world due to…

I'm not a big fan of silence. This might sound a bit strange given that I'm attempting to become a modern monastic, which includes spiritual practices like silence and solitude. Don't "monks" go about their days with a lot of silence? They sure do. But it's not something…