Deeper Walk: Recent Episodes
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Deeper Walk is the devotional series from RELEVANT. For more Deeper Walk content, including our daily email, visit RELEVANTmagazine.com.
When digging into God’s Word, we must delve deep—deeper than words. We need to ask God to grant us spiritual eyes when reading the Scriptures, so that we can look deeper. The words in the Bible are good, but they are just words until we look deeper into them, through them.
What were the ideas and motives behind the actions of previous saints? When we earnestly ask that question, we are genuinely honoring tradition. We are seeking to preserve more than the mere wineskin—we are seeking to preserve the wine.
The next time you feel rushed or overwhelmed, remind yourself of God's words which tell us to rest in Him. Turn off the TV, the radio, or whatever distraction is before you just now, and spend some real time in silence, waiting on the Lord.
In the book of James we find where our dependence, our source of strength, should come from. We need to be completely, solely dependent upon Him. He is our strength, our fuel.
Our kites need a string and that string is Christ. No matter how distorted our view might be, it is this string which keeps our “opening into Truth” in creative tension so we might fly where friendly breezes blow, have some semblance of up and down, and that we might cover ground not easily traversed in iron-clad arrogance.
This is the beauty of Jesus. He stands in front of each of us with life…life in all its fullness.
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3)
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col. 3:17)
If we want to be agents of change and love, we must become what Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman calls "a ruthless idealist." You see the world that you want to live in and you live it out.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Leave it to a funeral to make me once again understand the beauty of salvation. Though we will not always be here on this planet, we will always live. There will be life after this short trip, and because of what Christ did with His time on earth, we are able to spend a beautiful eternity in His presence.
I don’t think God only wants hotshot journalists or big-time music artists or powerful business executives “on his side.” God wants people who are willing to be daring enough to be all that He asks of them no matter where they live or what they’re getting paid to do.
Maybe a role of the Church will increasingly be to help us slow down and emphasize being present in person to person interactions. To create sacred spaces where we can unplug, listen, be still and pray.
Dear Lord, please comfort my in my sadness. Remind me that You have conquered all things on this earth. Thank You for defeating sadness and giving me hope and joy.
As Christians, it is beneficial for us to be reminded of where those feelings and longings for a place to be known and loved really come from. These difficult emotions were placed there by God, prompting us to realize that He is home and, it is in fact we who are in a far country, not vice versa.
If you’re attending a church where the Word of God is being accurately proclaimed, where the Bible is being taught, where the fellowship of the believers is present, where the Body of Christ is being the Church and still, somehow, you’re not being fed … could it be you just haven’t learned to use your own fork?
I used to get overwhelmed by the needs of other people. God has taught me that He is in control. He’s the ultimate list-maker; He has a plan and purpose for every person, and it’s all included in His perfect list.
The people we worship with are also a part of our story, a greater story that is timeless and runs deeper than we can know; a story that truly defines us not just for who we are or who we have been, but for who we are becoming.
Rather than presenting humanity merely as a maintainer of God's finished creation, Genesis sketches a picture of God placing Adam and Eve in the middle of His primitive garden with the task of working it, loving it, carrying creation forward.
Deep inside every breathing, eating and sleeping human being is more than a simple want for something more, but a need for the answers to the deepest and most pressing questions addressing the meaning of our existence.
Churches are meant to be our homes, where we encounter our family. You are more than a regular. You are involved.
Certainly, God has given us His world to enjoy for our pleasure. But we are caretakers, not owners. Our first question is not: what do I want from this world? but rather, what does God want to do in His world?
I wonder what my life would be like if I exercised less control and gave it over to God. I feel like some vital parts of my life have vanished and the junk is starting to pile up. I feel like I could use a good flood.
If your brain is rummaging through too many things to find the important God stuff, then it’s time to clean house.
Seeking God's face sounds like an absurd quest. Who could ever be so honored to look into His face? But that's exactly what He wants us to do.
Prayers that arise from a contrived faith settle for a contrived god, a god who can’t handle the truth. Laments refuse to settle. They seek God and nothing less.
When you’ve completely blown it, messed it up worse than ever and even when you’ve denied Jesus and His influence in your life … you need to know that Jesus says, “I still love you and need you.” When you experience that look instead of a look of condemnation, be ready to shed a few tears of sadness and joy.
To be someone else's best means that everything you do is for the relationship. To strive to be someone else's best means that you care so much about them that you are always there to support them, to encourage them, to understand them and to experience life with them.
Jesus seeks our response to who He is. In letting go of the idol of image, we can, free of self-consciousness and self-absorption, say as Peter did: "You are the Christ" (Mark 8).
God’s design for our lives is that prayer, reading, worship and meditation be used as life expressions to grow in love and intimacy with the Father. Isn’t that why we’re all here anyway, to be closer to Him?
We all need to find that path; to choose mercy over deserved punishment. After all, when Jesus gave us the gift of salvation, we didn’t deserve it either.
Life isn’t about money, comfort, school or pleasing people. Life is about Jesus. Soon, you and I, like a mist in the wind, will vanish. Why would you want to give your whole life to anything or anyone else besides Jesus?
Perhaps having “faith like a child” really means we are intended to ask questions and dig deeper while simultaneously delighting in the processes we have only begun to understand. Maybe curiosity and delight in beauty are pleasing to God.
In the end, this is what we are supposed to do: Like Paul, we are to take every thought captive. Legalism is based on pride and personal conviction. Lordship, on the other hand, is based on love and obedience founded on Biblical conviction.
From a spiritual perspective, churches are held together with the Spirit of God. But that togetherness does not come automatically. According to the apostle Paul, we are called to be one body, but that calling implies a certain amount of human responsibility.
Though I’ll continue to fight against my own personal imperfection, I’m going to really pour my energy into fighting for everything that is holy, good or has soul. I want to be defined by the things I believe in rather than the things I am against.
If the world and everything in it is God’s, and if God is still interested in the ongoing creative work of upholding and directing all that is, then perhaps we can learn to laugh like He does.
One of the root problems with this “finding the next big thing” phenomena is that we are confusing want and need. Just because we want something doesn’t mean we need it. And just because we want it, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to get it.
How will you respond when Jesus asks, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” At the crossroads, be sure to take the narrow path; it’s not popular, and it’s not easy, but it is the road that leads to true and eternal life.
If you know God’s given you a dream and you know that He’s calling you to pursue it now, don’t be afraid to take that step of faith.
God is in our lives. Recognizing God is risky business because when we do, God will call us to act on behalf of what is right.
When we try to serve ourselves and gain strictly for personal advancement, we find ourselves lacking everything. But when we give up ourselves and serve others, we find we possess everything.
We get so blinded and caught up in the Great Commission, we easily forget that the way to the fulfillment of that commission is love.
There are times where we feel held back from our full potential. We don’t think we are talented enough, intelligent enough or attractive enough. We need silence and space from the world to find ourselves again.
God basks in the adoration of His people, but too often we think that requires fancy words or vertical music or small groups instead of daily generous actions offered to Him in a spirit of humility.
The remedy for the Church’s sickness may not require abandoning my Christian endeavors, but it absolutely will require embracing the Savior with a more radical zeal than mere rule keeping.
Spiritual formation takes place within relationships more often than in a classroom or an auditorium. That’s why parents are supposed to pass on the faith to their children. That’s why Jesus called apprentices to follow Him for three years. That’s why Paul asked Timothy to go on a missionary trip with him.
I think sometimes the cross is such an abstract thing for us that we never get the impact of what transpired and the power it gives us for our day-to-day lives. Think of what Christ did on the cross when He took upon Himself every sin we’ve committed and every sin committed against us.
We have to be able to endure those moments of feeling garbage-worthy, knowing our Creator uses every layer of paint to make the end result all the more beautiful. It just takes time.
The role models we need are people whose lives we can enter, whose houses we can sit in. We need their wholeness—their mornings, their afternoons, their evenings.
Can you imagine what your day would be like if you actually started every conversation with “What would you have me to do for you?” and then proceeded to serve each person you met in whatever way they had a need?
God’s message is not to spiritual seekers, wrestling with their faith. His message is not to Christ-followers, weary or struggling with sin, but still struggling. His message is for those of us who trifle with God, attempt to manipulate Him with our games, who think we have Him figured out and caged up, those of us who have grown quite comfortable dismissing Him.
Jesus did not come to bring peace; He came to bring the truth of God, and through that comes peace.
When God calls on us to believe in Him, He is asking us to do more than just mentally assent to certain doctrines and decrees. He is commanding us to be so convinced of who He is that we allow the truths of His words to transform our life and mind.
Look up, and remember that there is much more than this. Refresh your perspective. Our Creator is big, and our existence is greater than we know.
God doesn’t stop loving us when we stray from consistent, meaningful fellowship with Him, or when we don’t live up to our calling, as Paul wrote about in Ephesians 4. Instead, God waits patiently.
The simple little things that are so subtle but so beautifully wonderful are drowned out by the complex comings and goings of our modern lives. That’s why God gives us rainy mornings, times when we can sit and be amazed by the little things that happen all around us.
It is important that we see prayer as a two-way conversation, both speaking and listening to God, and to get to know His voice and be open and honest as with a friend.
We listen for the voice of God, and we know He speaks in ways different from the constant noisy assault of pushy salesmen, mindless chatter and marketing schmuck. His voice is different.
It’s time we stop seeking the hand of God and start seeking His face. The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.
Joy demands a bit of effort. It asks that I be satisfied with God‘s sovereign working in my life. It doesn’t offer the same short term emotional pay off that happiness does, but ultimately a change is near the foundational level.
Today, God seeks those within whom He can plant the seeds of His calling, and then He waits to see how each person will respond.
In response to His holiness, we as His chosen ones could live lives that resemble this righteous character. Likewise, because of the fact that He also is the savior of sinners, we respond to God’s revelation in humble living, constantly confessing our sins and living in a state of repentance toward the living Yahweh.
Instead of noticing God’s provision for us, we focus on the problem and our need to escape. God has not forgotten us, and He’ll even grow strawberries in life’s rockiest patches to prove it.
We cherish the absence of pain and do much to guard it. However, God seeks to birth in us something far more valuable than the absence of pain: the fruit of pain’s deep soul-plowing.
In the desert, we face our weakness, but there we find his strength. We must learn to look to God as he calls out our name.
God often allows difficulties into our lives right before moving or ushering us into a new level in our relationship with Him.
Recall the last time you waited. What happened? The answer came. The letter arrived. Another position opened up. Another person came along. And, oh yeah, don’t forget, life went on.
Maybe your mountain is an addiction. Maybe it's finally receiving complete acceptance or stepping out and doing what you know God's whisper has been speaking all along. Whatever the obstacle is, move it with the power He has given you, waiting, hoping, trusting.
God’s good expectations call you in poetry, saying, “Follow; it’s okay sometimes not to know where you’re going. We’ll go together.
As exiles on this earth, we wander and wonder, receiving every breath as a gift from our father in heaven. He is leading us through the land of letting go so that we might rest in the land of warm embrace.
Life is meant to be enjoyed. Our emotions are meant to be explored. We are designed to live with reckless wonder. Our emotions and feelings are a vital part of who we are.
Hope is not mental acrobatics or positive thinking. It is what happens inside you when God's Spirit comes and carries you past death and into life.
Heaven teaches us how to live in our world. If we lose our vision of heaven, we lose our vision for today.
Whether we are rallying for justice to be accomplished through peace or through warfare, we want to fix what is not right and bring ultimate justice to that which is unjust.
Our God is pervasive, powerful and unrestrained in His blessings. There is no end to where you can see him if you open your eyes and your heart, if you surrender and are receptive.
Marriage, as well as other forms of intimate earthly love, is just a poor reflection of the love and the full knowing – we look forward to.
No matter how long you've been a Christian, it's always helpful to take a few moments to reflect on just how radically upside down the life Jesus calls us to is.
No Concept of Holiness - As humans, we have to relearn respect when it comes to releasing control to God.
The anecdote to the sick heart of disappointed hopes is to give way too desire, to make room for it ...to hope for it. To hope for God. It’s dangerous. This disappointment will mount, and it will be costly. But it is the only way to life, to truly live.
As Christians, we trust in a God we can’t yet see in a reality still to come. Heaven will be a remarkable existence, filled with the extravagance beyond our imagination.
As we embrace, by faith, the reality of God that stands in front of us, we are in that moment living for another world, a truer world.
His kingdom, and His reality is still available for all of those who would hear His voice and answer. Even now.
God has ample room to show us who He is. A shattered faith is a small price to pay for a deeper knowledge of our God.
We construct our behemoth church campuses, insist on the latest SUV and consider it a major inconvenience that the local super Walmart isn't open 24 hours. And millions are starving. And HIV ravages entire nations. And children are born into the world where "The American Dream" is their highest goal. Malachi must be heard again.
As Christians, we have the tendency to try to save ourselves when life starts to feel out of control. But God is the only one with the power to do that.
Peter is the perfect example of the shaky faith of humanity. Will we step out of the boat?
As Christians, God expects us to love people and do the right thing. In order to find the strength to do that, we must seek Him first.
God doesn’t leave us alone in our mess even when He doesn’t provide all of the answers. He struggles with us and walks with us in our issues.
Things can look fine on the outside, but it doesn’t mean they are healthy on the inside. Things aren’t always what they appear to be.
There is a difference between actual fear and fearing God. We want to be in a place where we can fear, yet not be afraid.
Peter fell into the comparison trap as we all do. We have to be brave enough to follow Jesus and not compare our journey to others.
We all want to be sheltered from having to say goodbye, to face our own morality. But we have to count our days and make the most of what God gives us and move forward in the purposes He has called us to.
Trying to build ourselves up will never be enough. We have to focus on developing a relationship with God and He will help us with the rest.
When you are driving a car, you don’t focus on where you don’t want to go, you zero in on where you want to go. Why not do the same in our spiritual lives?
Truth has been cheapened in our society and, as Christians, we have a responsibility to tell the truth and follow Jesus as the truth.
Life isn’t just about solutions and answers, it’s about experiencing and savoring God’s presence.
God waits for us in the quiet and that really requires courage nowadays, to actually get into the quiet place to listen for God's direction.
We should do our best as Christians to see the hurt, pain and longings of other people and not necessarily try to fix them but show the love of Jesus to them.
God calls us to submission and He never desires for us to half-obey. You can only rebel or be obedient.
God loves you, and more than your spiritual activity, He’s looking for obedience. He wants to give you more, and trust you with greater things. He wants to funnel more of His blessing, strength and light through you.
We are all on a search for contentment, trying to fill a certain void in our lives. But that search ends with Jesus because He is truly all we need.
God wants us draw near to Him every single day. He wants us to find comfort in His embrace.
To listen for the voice of wisdom, we must put ourselves in a place to hear Him. To do this, we must turn away from the competing voices. We must be silent before Him and wait. It is no accident that Jesus instructs us to go to our closets to speak to the Father.
God gives us all the tools we need but they are imperfect when they are in our control. We need God to remind us that our tools are limited and we need Him if we are going to get through hard situations. We can't fix things in our own power.
Jesus desires for us to live in such a way that looks backwards to others. Will we be right or righteous?
God made each of us with unique characteristics, abilities, dreams and aspirations. Are you following those dreams and using those abilities, or have you been squeezed into a glass mold that society has hoisted on you?
God is attuned to our journey, and He has it under control. God will do everything necessary to see that we land where He has designed.
The process for making disciples is found on both sides of Jesus' instruction, often called the Great Commission. These verses create a disciple-making sandwich, surrounding us with the necessary components to fulfill this calling. Jesus provided us with the authority to embark on the journey.
Staying comfortable and not taking risks actually is more of a danger than anything else. God actually wants us to take risks.
Holding God's hand through life will alter our perspective and influence our responses. It will challenge us not to settle for second-best. It will remind us that those who continue to abide in the vine will eventually produce fruit. It will awaken us to the reality that this life, as challenging as it may be a times, is still a wonderful and precious gift.
What does Jesus desire from our lives when he asks us to become like little children? Jesus was merely revealing to us the truth about ourselves. He understood that we have grown up too fast. We have sacrificed a child like faith for maturity. Jesus desires for children of the King to cry out to Him.
Sound. Do you hear it? Do you hear the conversation of geese overhead, the distant bark of a dog at dusk, or the buzzing of a bee as it dances beside a flower one windy day? Does God hear these things too? I wonder if it is our lack of praise that causes them to reach His ears.
Because of our fallen nature, there is war and evil in the world, but there is good news. We are still considered beautiful by God because we are reflections of who He is.
Jesus came to live among us, imagining and inspiring His followers to imagine. But, missing from our modern church life is a wild imagining. I pray that we would let our imaginations go mad, smash lines to pieces and shimmy and shake this world on its head, so we might bring the proactive, agitating, yet gloriously beautiful wildness of God to the streets.
God still speaks to those who venture into nature and at times, the wilderness. Make room to hear from Him.
At one time or another, we were all like that man described in Acts 3 - crippled and begging. Whether spiritually dead or perhaps just decidedly complacent, we are all looking for something and someone to make us what we are stuck right in front of - beautiful.
Our moods and tendencies are not insurmountable. Jesus is able to transform them at the deepest levels of our desires if that is actually what we want. And if it is, then we can force ourselves into disciplines and habits even when we don’t feel like it, and they will become our delight so long as our aim is nothing less than that Christ be formed in us.
A dandelion is basically a weed, an unwanted growth that sprouts up among perfectly good green grass. What is the point for us weeds? The point is that when God looks down on us, He doesn't see the weeds we are — He sees flowers.
God wants us to find our home in Him, but He ultimately gives us the choice whether or not to come. He never forces us into relationship with him, but extends a beautiful invitation.
The Gospel is for prodigals and sinners. God shows us grace even when it feels like he's crushing us.
Being faithful in the little things can be an opportunity of transformation. Loving the people around you, being gracious to people and forgiving each other.
Most of the time, our expectations turn into monsters and overtake our perspectives. Instead of letting our expectations control us, we have to rest in knowing God is working out a plan for our lives.
It's not always quality over quantity. Imagine how much richer our individual relationships with God would be if we spent more time with Him.
These days, everyone wants to portray self-confidence and receive self-glorification. But, as Christians, we are called to give Glory to God, not ourselves.