Here are some of the blog posts that spoke to me this week:

I Joined a Violent Chicago Gang. Then a Church Moved onto the Block, HT to Challies. “I questioned how I had gotten to this point. How had I thrown my life away for people who had no regard for me? My situation was hopeless. I knew there was nothing I could do to change it. But all of a sudden, it occurred to me that God could change my situation. For years, I’d had conversations with church people about a God who could raise the dead to life. I thought of all the times a certain youth pastor had shared the gospel with me. And so, closing my eyes to my reflection, I prayed.”

Pleading My Righteousness? HT to Challies. When David prays for God to act according to David’s righteousness, what does he mean? And how does that gel with the Bible’s teaching that we’re not righteous in ourselves, only in Christ? I don’t think I have ever seen this dealt with, though it’s something I have wondered about. I think this article gives a good explanation.

How to Pray When You Feel Like You Pray the Same Thing Every Day, HT to Challies. “If you don’t want to pray the same things all the time, praying Scripture might be helpful. When we pray Scripture, whether it’s a psalm or any other passage, we have fresh ideas to fuel our prayers each day. And it helps us ask for things according to God’s will (1 John 5:14–15) because we’re praying God’s word back to him.” Courtney then gives a few examples of what that

Five Ways God’s People Minister Grace to Each Other, HT to Challies. “God has provided our counselees with Christian brothers and sisters—fellow church members—as vital means of God’s grace to help them know Jesus initially and grow in Jesus continually.”

The Ministry of Saying Less, HT to Challies. Though this is written primarily about preaching, I think it holds true for blogging, writing, teaching, even commenting during Sunday School or Bible Study. “In preaching, teaching, counselling, and leadership, there is something to be said for saying less. I am not suggesting that we become aloof and mysterious. But there is a danger that we can say so much that people start to miss what they most need to hear.”

Why Don’t We Ask God for Big Things? “Scripture and experience make it clear that God is not a genie in a bottle who is obligated to give us whatever we ask for. He is an omniscient deity who has His own counsel, will, and plan. Yet in mysterious ways known fully only to Himself, God invites humans into those councils and listens to their requests.”

Don’t Let AI Steal Your Blessing, HT to Challies. “What we lose in the process is blessing from God. ‘But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing’ (James 1:25). Who is it that receives the blessing? The one who ‘looks’ and ‘acts’ gets the blessing. If I let AI do all the looking, then I’m missing a crucial piece of the blessing.”

Taking Time Off Takes Humility and Faith. “Maybe you wrestle to slow down, delegate, or admit you’re weary and empty. Perhaps, like me a few years ago, you’re currently in a season where the brokenness of the world—and of life right under your feet—has become a heavy weight on top of you. Circumstances God has allowed are confronting you with your weakness, limitations, and, let’s call it what it is: your humanity! He is inviting you to trust and love him by stepping aside for a time—perhaps even stepping out of current responsibilities—for the sake of rest, recalibration, and renewal.”

The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.–J. R. R. Tolkien