TBF prayer

 Jesus hasn’t revealed a God we can perfectly understand, but he has revealed a God we can perfectly trust. Trust is the certainty that the listening God hears and cares.

Jesus hasn’t revealed a God we can perfectly understand, but he has revealed a God we can perfectly trust. Trust is the certainty that the listening God hears and cares.

If you’re years into an active life of mature prayer and beginning to wonder what’s left to discover, remember that you’ll spend eternity in the presence of God and never reach the end of him. You’ll never lose a sense of wonder at his goodness, never grow bored in his presence, and never have him all figured out. There is discovery ad infinitum in this divine relationship.”

“The most important discovery you will ever make is the Father’s love, and it’s just that—a discovery. It cannot be taught. It has to be discovered, and everything else flows from that discovery.”

“Pray as you can, and somewhere along the way, you will make the most important discovery of your life—the love the Father has for you. That discovery is God’s end of the deal. Your part is just to show up honestly. Show up, and keep showing up. That’s the one nonnegotiable when it comes to prayer.”

“That’s it! You talk to God like a friend. You vent. You ask. You laugh. You listen. You unload. You just talk. You don’t try to sound more holy or pure or spiritual than you are. Prayer isn’t a noble monologue; it’s a free-flowing conversation, and the only way to get prayer wrong is to try to get it right.”

“When it comes to prayer, God isn’t grading essays; he’s talking to children.”

“The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men and women. He does not anoint plans, but men, men of prayer, okay? And so I think the idea here is if we’re going to start, if we want to see a disciple making movement, if we want to see God move in our churches, we have got to live this out, man, and it’s got to start with the man or the woman in the mirror, because God is not looking for a new method."

May we be men of prayer. 

Tyler Staton, Praying Like Monks

Tyler Staton, Praying Like Monks

John 15-2

 Issues that create anxiety and tension are guaranteed. How do you typically handle a storm of those issues?  My response has often been the playing the victim card or the blame game. I’m learning to have a different reaction, training myself to think of myself, but our Triune God. He is with you and me. I need to stop acting and thinking that He isn’t. He is the vine, and I’m connected to Him. Pruning, loss and injury are each painful, but I’m still connected. I need to stop acting like I’m disconnected. 

“Where are you?” God asks, a kind move toward you amidst your self-protective, porcupine-like posture. God doesn’t want you to be alone in your suffering. Don’t let the serpent’s lies lull you into believing that someone has it worse, or that God has more important things to tend to than to meet you tenderly in your pain. Don’t let the serpent convince you to go it on your own, into a land where wandering and withering are inevitable. With a kind “Where are you?” God is addressing you. ” - Chuck DeGroat, Healing What’s Within

Your Cross Necklace is Narcissism

 Your “Sacred Wounds” Are Actually:

• Self-worship dressed in Christianese

• Pride doing prophetic dance

• Ego giving altar calls

• Narcissism speaking in tongues

• Selfishness with a prayer journal

• Attention-seeking with anointing oil

Every:

• Worship service becomes your TED talk

• Bible study morphs into your memoir

• Prayer meeting turns into your podcast

• Ministry becomes your memoir tour

• Testimony time becomes your therapy session

• Altar call becomes your autobiography

You’ve turned the gospel of Christ crucified into “The Real Housewives of Gethsemane.”

BRUTAL REALITY CHECK ON YOUR “HOLY HEALING”:

1. You quote more Instagram therapists than Isaiah

2. Share more emotional triggers than Truth

3. Post more pain portraits than praise

4. Give more “authentic shares” than actual Scripture

5. Focus more on self-care than Savior

6. Spend more time on your story than His glory

7. Build more safe spaces than sacred places

THE BIBLICAL CONTRAST THAT CONDEMNS YOU:

• Job didn’t start a “Processing Pain” podcast after losing everything.

• Moses didn’t launch a “Desert Healing Journey” course after exile.

• David didn’t create “Post-Battle Trauma” content after warfare.

• Paul didn’t write “Prison Healing Guides” in chains.

• Jesus didn’t host “Cross Survivor” workshops.

They were building the Kingdom while you’re building your personal brand of brokenness.

Your “Processing” Is Just Pride Gone Pentecostal:

• Marketing weakness as wisdom

• Selling suffering as sacred

• Packaging self-pity as prophecy

• Branding brokenness as blessing

• Merchandising misery as ministry

REAL Biblical Healing Looks Like:

• Less trauma-dumping, more Truth-seeking

• Less validation-hunting, more virtue-building

• Less story-centered, more Savior-centered

• Less wound-worshipping, more Word-walking

• Less self-focusing, more Spirit-following

The Modern Church Has Lost Its Spine:

• Replaced repentance with reframing

• Traded holiness for hashtags

• Substituted sanctification for self-care

• Exchanged the Cross for comfort

• Swapped conviction for validation

• Traded regeneration for rehabilitation

It’s Time To:

• Crucify your trauma idol

• Demolish your self-worship temple

• Stop merchandising your mess

• Start magnifying the Master

• Quit performing pain

• Start proclaiming power

Your Pain Isn’t Your Platform:

• It’s not your pulpit

• It’s not your podcast topic

• It’s not your brand

• It’s not your book deal

• It’s not your ministry credential

• It’s not your claim to fame

Real Warriors in Christ:

• Turn scars into weapons

• Transform trauma into triumph

• Build cathedrals from ruins

• Fight from their failures

• Convert wounds to wisdom

• Make battlegrounds into holy ground

HARD TRUTH:

Stop making your story the gospel.

Your testimony isn’t the Bible 2.0.

Your trauma isn’t the third Testament.

Your feelings aren’t the Holy Spirit’s update.

Your pain isn’t holy.

Your processing isn’t worship.

Your trauma isn’t your throne.

Your story isn’t Scripture.

Now Get Off Your Self-Made Altar, Tear Down Your Trauma Temple, and Get Back to the Real Cross.

The Truth Hurts.

But self-worship damns.

And Jesus didn’t die for your personal brand.

He died to kill it.

Does this offend you?

Good.

-building manhood

John 15-1

 Imagine the emotional weight of John 15. Jesus said a lot about leaving the disciples in John 14. He was going to prepare a place for them, but He wanted them to be ready for what was about to happen. But Jesus was indicating much more than emotions, or easing the grief of His leaving. Jesus’ words were all about the power of His kingdom - acknowledging that we must be connected to the Vine.  Have I truly understood the working of the kingdom?  What does it mean to bear fruit?  Does every connected person know when they are bearing fruit?   I think I’ve been hiding under my own rock of comfort and protection, selfishly thinking I’ve got it all figured out.  

“Being emotionally well isn’t about earning something from God. Your emotional well-being won’t affect how God shows up for you, but it might affect how you show up for God. When we are emotionally healthy, we position ourselves to be more powerful spiritually. That is why, for me, being a therapist is a divine calling. Your heart is a sacred seedbed. Emotional healing is sacred work.” - Anita Phillips, The Garden Within

“Blessed are the poor in Spirit, those who have allowed themselves to be stripped of the old spirit, the spirit of acquisitiveness and security, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven, because they no longer seek to possess but to be possessed, to lose themselves and all that is “theirs” in the ecstasy of simple receiving and simple giving again, or, more accurately, without even any giving or receiving, in the simple being which is the authentic image in us, that divine ecstasy of being which is the living God.” - Chuck DeGroat, Wholeheartedness

John 21

 John’s eye witness account includes the stories of Jesus’ compassion and acceptance of Thomas and Peter. Thomas had doubted. His grumbling and discouragement must have been well known. Peter had really messed up, yet Jesus warmly and firmly welcomed him. Imagine what it would have been like for Peter to look into the eyes of Jesus at the campfire as breakfast was cooking. Peter’s guilt and shame, his self condemnation were huge. But Jesus knew Peter’s heart and what he would become. A great lesson for me is that Jesus wants to become someone new. 

“Our season of life — whatever it is — is no barrier to having Christ formed in us. Not in the least. Whatever our season of life, it offers its own opportunities and challenges for spiritual growth. Instead of wishing we were in another season, we ought to find out what this one offers. Life counts — all of it. Every moment is potentially an opportunity to be guided by God into his way of living. Every moment is a chance to learn from Jesus how to live in the kingdom of God.” - John Ortberg Jr., The Life You've Always Wanted

“After breakfast, the Lord Jesus turns His attention to Simon Peter. He calls this faltering, failing, fumbling disciple to service. Three times our Lord interrogates him—one time for each of Peter’s denials. Three questions, three affirmations, three exhortations. Jesus was teaching him the secret of service—it’s loving Him more than anything else! Unless He’s Lord of all, He’s not Lord at all.” - J Vernon McGee

Retirement home Syndrome

 I stood in a retirement home yesterday.

Not for ministry.

For motivation.

Nothing sobers a man like

watching souls fade into eternity

while their children scroll Instagram.

“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”

— Psalm 90:10

Let’s talk about why your Christian walk is pathetic:

1. HOLY OBSESSION VS HOLY MEDIOCRITY

Modern Christians want:

https://open.substack.com/pub/wilderreport/p/why-your-christian-life-is-weak-like?r=43vew&utm_medium=ios

Divine Intervention - Better Man

 Let me tell you about divine intervention before your “affirming” church waters it down.

I was eight.

Heathrow Airport.

Military passport “issue” kept us grounded. Mom was furious. Brother was whining. And I was just a kid, watching our flight leave without us.

That plane? Pan Am 103.

Hours later, it was scattered across Lockerbie in pieces.

God’s timing? Perfect.

Your therapist’s explanation? “Lucky coincidence.”

Here’s the gut punch:

While we sat in that hotel, watching the news of 270 dead, Mom didn’t need:

• Your feel-good therapy

• Your self-care mantras

• Your “universe is listening” garbage

She needed GOD’S TRUTH.

TRAUMA & TRUTH

You want to talk trauma?

• Watching your scheduled flight explode

• Processing survivor’s guilt

• Facing death’s reality at age 8

But here’s what your modern church won’t tell you:

Trauma doesn’t need validation. It needs JESUS.

Modern Therapy vs. Biblical Counsel

• Your Therapist Says: “Find your truth.”

• God Says: “I AM the Truth.”

• Your Counselor Says: “Trust yourself.”

• God Says: “Trust in ME.”

This Making You Uncomfortable? Good.

THE WAKE-UP CALL

While your church is busy:

• Hiring “life coaches”

• Promoting “healing circles”

• Pushing pop psychology

We were:

• Face-down before God

• Surrendered to Truth

• Actually getting healed

SURPRISE: Real healing hurts.

SHOCKER: Your comfort isn’t God’s priority.

TRUTH BOMB: He cares more about your holiness than your happiness.

TRAUMA & TRUTH

You want to talk trauma?

• Watching your scheduled flight explode

• Processing survivor’s guilt

• Facing death’s reality at age 8

But here’s what your modern church won’t tell you:

Trauma doesn’t need validation. It needs JESUS.

Modern Therapy vs. Biblical Counsel

• Your Therapist Says: “Find your truth.”

• God Says: “I AM the Truth.”

• Your Counselor Says: “Trust yourself.”

• God Says: “Trust in ME.”

This Making You Uncomfortable? Good.

THE WAKE-UP CALL

While your church is busy:

• Hiring “life coaches”

• Promoting “healing circles”

• Pushing pop psychology

We were:

• Face-down before God

• Surrendered to Truth

• Actually getting healed

SURPRISE: Real healing hurts.

SHOCKER: Your comfort isn’t God’s priority.

TRUTH BOMB: He cares more about your holiness than your happiness.

THE DIVINE SETUP

That missed flight?

• Wasn’t random.

• Wasn’t luck.

• Wasn’t “the universe.”

It was GOD saying:

• “I’m not done with you yet.”

• “Your life has purpose.”

• “Time to wake up.”

While Your Church Offers:

• Essential oil prayer circles

• Trauma-informed yoga

• Spirit animal meditation

God Offers:

• Divine purpose

• Unshakeable truth

• Eternal perspective

THE BOTTOM LINE

• Your Therapist: $200/hour to validate your feelings

• Biblical Counsel: FREE truth that transforms your soul

Your Choice:

• Keep paying to hear what you want

• Or kneel down to hear what you need

Because that day at Heathrow?

God wasn’t concerned with our comfort.

He was orchestrating our destiny.

And He’s doing the same with you.

(Whether your therapist agrees or not.)

That flight missed us.

Don’t let Truth miss you.

“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.”

—1 Corinthians 14:33

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