I want to be like Jesus. I want to be like Him in my thinking. I want to be like Him in my behavior. One of the key ways for me to become like Christ is by knowing God's Word and applying it in my life. God's Word is a gift to us. It contains…

I spend quite a bit of time each day in the practice of contemplation. I define contemplation simply as "holy thinking." In contemplation, I deliberately reflect on God and on my life. God often speaks to me (not audibly, of course) through my times of contemplation. He may give me an encouragement that I need to hear. He may…

On most days of the week I try to read a lot of Scripture. In fact, I usually read up to 9 passages of Scripture on most days—3 passages assigned by Common Prayer (www.commonprayer.net) and 6 chapters assigned by myself (4 from the Old Testament and 2 from the New).

Like many people, waking up early is a challenge for me. I'd love to wake up earlier in the morning so that I can spend more time with the Lord in prayer and meditation. But wanting to do something and actually doing it are two different things. As Jesus said…

The Bible is more accessible to people today than at any point in history. Back in the day, people didn't own personal copies of the Bible. The Scriptures were usually held in specific places of worship and were only handled by religious leaders. Jesus, Himself, didn't carry around a Bible with Him. There weren't any personal copies…

We know memorizing Bible verses is good for us. If you went to Sunday School, your teacher likely encouraged you to memorize verses. But this can be a daunting spiritual activity to do on a regular basis. Some of us might even admit that we haven't memorized Bible verses since…

There's an elderly woman who lives relatively close to where I do. Because of her age and health condition, she remains completely bed-ridden pretty much all day. Once a week, I visit her and…

I have a pretty bad memory. At least, that's what my wife says. Maybe she's right. But for several months now, I've been memorizing multiple Scripture verses each week. So far, I've managed to memorize over 170 verses of the Bible.

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…

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…