Lindsey at Beauty from the Heart has posted a wonderful reflection on the greatness of God and the finiteness of human achievement. To be faithful disciples, we must be faithfully focused on the God Who has loved us, saved us, and called us to glorify and exalt Him above all the things He has made. Check it out.

I don’t make it my practice to use sites that I link to as [Re]Con, but this post from Stephen Altrogge at The Blazing Center is well-worth your time to read. As disciples of Christ, we have an obligation to submit to our Master and humbly ask Him to teach us how we should find contentment in our circumstances.

For more great material on contentment, please check out this sermon entitled “The Quest for Contentment” preached by Dave Harvey at Providence Church in Pittsburgh.

Tony Woodlief published a phenomenal article in the Wall Street Journal entitled Ya Gotta Have (Real) Friends. It is well-worth your time to read it.

In the course of our discipleship, it’s important to remember that one of the greatest assets available to Christians as they pursue maturity in their faith is close friendships. They provide accountability, challenge, encouragement, knowledge of Scripture, prayer partners and so much more. So, pray to God and pursue a deep, lasting friendship with someone. We need it.

Our exploration of seeking discernment so far has had very little to do with what we are discerning and, yet, apart from them we will be unable to discern anything. Until we shut up and bow down, there will be no discernment. God  is not honored by vain words or complaint or anxiety. Neither does he acknowledge our pride and arrogance. So, to hear God speak means we ought to pursue silence and humility before the Lord.

The first thing to realize, though, is that God does speak today, presently and powerfully. Let us be cautious here. I am not claiming that you will hear an audible voice from God when you are seeking to discern His will. You might. I wouldn’t expect it, but God is completely free to do as He pleases. However, God communicates to us in a diverse selection of ways: circumstances, what other people say to us, the reading of the Word, prayer, impressions, prophecy, counsel, etc. It’s important to note, however, that as great as these are, ALL of them fall under the grace-driven authority of the Word of God.

The second thing to realize is that God speaks purposely. In Isaiah 55:11 (ESV), God tells us ” so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” The most immediate application of this text is to the Scripture, so we know that the Scripture is effective in what God has given it to say. It is not beyond reason, however, to say that this Scripture is true of God’s other means of communicating to us. God’s speaking is effective and has purpose for your life. So pay attention.

The third thing to realize is that God speaks personally. There are things that God is going to speak to you that are going to radically transform how you live. It may not be the same thing that He has communicated to others in your life. This is an important thing to get down in our lives because if we put burdens and yokes on men because of what God has put it in our hearts to do, we are burdening servants who are not ours. They are God’s servants and their Master will assign to them their tasks. Clearly, this does not apply strictly to Scripture. Scripture’s authority is universal and absolute and we have no exception for it in any respect.

So, God speaks. Hear. Receive. Submit.

I have had the blessing and privilege of my soul being cared for, challenged, and encouraged by the ministry of Mike Pierson. At Providence Church, I have grown tremendously due to his ministry and that of Pastor Jeremy Hetrick. Recently, C.J. Mahaney, leader of Sovereign Grace Ministries, interviewed Mike in his “ordinary pastors” series. Mike talks a lot about his practice of the spiritual disciplines and God’s goodness to him and I think it provides us a great deal of insight into how we can pursue discipleship with our Master. The series is called Meet Mike Pierson and it can be found in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.