Introduction The topic of spiritual formation finds its biblical basis in the knowledge of God. Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3, ESV). … Continue reading →

Impotence: The Crisis of Fathering in Australia Today Preamble Several years ago I intentionally left theological lecturing to focus on more effective ways of making disciples. Unexpectedly this has lead to spending a lot of time with individuals (nearly always … Continue reading →

Lord’s Prayer (LP) 4. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil[1] Introduction Two weeks ago a mentally disturbed father murdered his 11 year old son, this week a 15year old bashed his infant child senseless. … Continue reading →

Family Forever 2. Unbelievable Personal Matters Lately my heart has been filled with tension, restlessness and annoyance at the half truths spoken by spouses in struggling marriages, believers wilfully disobeying God and deception in the Church.  Observing internal inconsistencies in … Continue reading →

On the weekend 11-12 Jan 2014 it was 43 and 41 degrees respectively.  Many plants in the garden did not fare well.  When I went out to water them to see if they could be revived, I noticed something interesting.  … Continue reading →

Family Forever 1. Personal Matters Apart from the impact of my own family of origin my greatest griefs in life have been experienced in the Church. So when the Spirit started to challenge me recently to turn away from “them … Continue reading →

Satisfaction Personal Matters When the Rolling Stones released the hit “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” it struck a powerful chord with the sexually driven generation of the 60’s, and nothing much has changed since. Some years after rocking to these … Continue reading →

Lord’s Prayer 1. Our Father Preamble The strength of my personal convictions about the importance of prayer come from God’s dealings in my own life. About 30 years ago I was in the middle of a period of intense and … Continue reading →

Wound Personal Matters In my last article, Ignorant, I shared about my overwhelming experiences of spiritual dullness. Several people responded to this teaching saying they felt much the same about their own lives. Closely related to this is a persistent … Continue reading →

Ignorant Personal Matters I have just returned from a time interstate which I hoped would include a time of retreat from people; almost the exact opposite happened. I turned out spending quite some hours answering a host of questions from … Continue reading →

“Is that all there is?” Personal Matters Through mentoring folk from every continent, getting alongside pastors, businessmen, lawyers, artists and local church people etc. 2013 has turned out to be a very exhausting year. Much of this has to do … Continue reading →

The Mystery of God Introduction For some years I have observed that emotional darkness descends upon me when I am simultaneously dealing with multiple marriage crises, this may involve the courts, domestic violence, emotional estrangement and so on. Allied with … Continue reading →

Wise Men Follow the Star Personal Matters In praying about writing something Christmassy I have decided to focus in on one of the more neglected and misunderstood aspects of the infancy narratives. Living in Western Australia whilst power and population … Continue reading →

Mirror Personal Matters It’s not very often that we get to see ourselves as others see us, but God has a way of cornering us when we least expect it. I was looking at myself in a large mirror the … Continue reading →

This is not so much a theological discussion as a confession that my view of God has been somewhat distorted.  Having spent some time thinking about what it means to be “in the Father”, and hence about intimacy with God, … Continue reading →

“There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree” (1 John 5:7-8).  A couple of weeks ago I dreamed about this verse.  I therefore believe that it is significant.  As a result … Continue reading →

Attractive Personal Matters I have been quite drained lately but have learned that beneath painful symptoms the Lord is always addressing a deeper life issue. I began to realise I had given up hope of influencing the broader state of … Continue reading →

Jesus promised that those who believe in him will do the works he did and even greater works than those (John 14:12).  Pentecostals seem fond of this verse, because it seems to suggest that Christians should be going about doing … Continue reading →

Envisioning the Impossible Personal Matters I am not used to living with perplexity. Last week however I hear something which caused me great perplexity and motivated me to seek the Lord for a serious answer. At Perth Prayer we heard … Continue reading →

What does the Messianic movement mean to Jesus? Introduction “What does the Messianic movement mean to Jesus?” is a question of both immense importance and terrible neglect.[1] Since the deepest revelation of what matters to Christ is the gospel, then … Continue reading →

Introduction I have been meditating on the behaviour of schoolies over this week.  Several have been arrested by police over drugs, a parent was caught taking alcohol to her daughter for schoolies celebrations, and schoolies in Bali have embarrassed other … Continue reading →

The Hope Filling Father Introduction Our society is running out of hope because it has abandoned the story of Jesus. The CEO of World Vision Tim Costello speaks like a worried man when he says, ‘we’ve stripped our kids of … Continue reading →

The Happy Father Personal Matters Whilst my serious manner has led some people to think that I am not a relational person, Jesus is increasingly making this opinion untrue. Recently he has been communicating an indispensible element of relating. In … Continue reading →

John 4:34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and … Continue reading →

Marriage Equality and the Fear of Satan Language Twisters Satan is a specialist in corrupting the language of intimacy. I remember when “free sex” was substituted for “promiscuity”, and we all know what “gay” means. The title of this article … Continue reading →

Broken Light I believe the Lord himself is planning a major disruption to “everyday Church life”. If however we lack discernment we may reject the Spirit’s moving, or be led astray by other powers. This teaching starts with personal matters … Continue reading →

In part 1 and part 2 I examined several passages in the Gospel of John, the epistles of John and the Revelation of John about being ‘in the Father’.  There are three more passages which are important to examine about … Continue reading →

I was made curious about the expression ‘in the Father’ by an article by John and therefore I wrote something about John 14, where the most concentrated discussion about being ‘in the Father’ is.  But there are other passages where … Continue reading →

The Fighting Father Personal Matters In a week when I grew increasingly conscious of my lack of energy to deeply intercede for my natural and spiritual children two people told me I was “looking angry”, a little later I sensed … Continue reading →

The Holy Spirit as the Power of Spiritual Formation Introduction Western Christianity is in the midst of a spiritual crisis with issues of sexual immorality, ignorance of scripture and prayerlessness abounding[1].  To seek power from the Spirit as a solution … Continue reading →