All Episodes
Displaying episodes 1 - 30 of 34 in total
Five Tools Introduction
God gives us five tools to facilitate our spiritual growth as Christians: prayer, Bible study, meditation, fasting and fellowship. In this podcast, we’ll explore the t...
Chapter 1.1: The Model Prayer
What is the model prayer and why does it matter? In this episode, we’ll begin discussing the template Jesus provided to help us structure our own prayers, looking at h...
Chapter 1.2: The Model Prayer
After acknowledging God, the model prayer teaches us to shift our focus to God’s plan for all of us. Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual...
Chapter 1.3: The Model Prayer
The next section of the model prayer makes room for personal requests about God’s involvement in our individual lives. Read along with your own free copy of the Five T...
Chapter 1.4: The Model Prayer
Jesus didn’t end the model prayer with, “In Jesus’ name, amen”—so why do we? Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book.
Chapter 1.5: The Model Prayer
Now that we’ve taken a granular look at the elements of the model prayer, let’s recap the whole thing from a bird’s-eye view. Read along with your own free copy of the...
Chapter 2: Prayer FAQs
Most of us have a lot of questions about prayer. Here are answers to some of the most common questions. Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spirit...
Chapter 3: Noteworthy Prayers in the Bible
Sometimes the easiest way to improve our own prayer life is to look at the examples preserved for us in the Bible.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools ...
Chapter 4.1: Understanding the Bible’s Structure
Bible study is easier when we know why the Bible looks the way it does. In this episode, we’ll explore the reason for the various divisions of the Bible—the two testam...
Chapter 4.2: Understanding the Bible’s Structure
The books of the Bible aren’t in chronological order. In this episode, we’ll provide a framework for understanding the Bible’s story in the order it happened.Read alon...
Chapter 4.3: Understanding the Bible’s Structure
The 66 books of the Bible were written across different epochs of history and for a variety of purposes. Understanding the styles of writing in the Bible can help us b...
Chapter 4.4: Understanding the Bible’s Structure
If you’re a little rusty on the difference between metaphor and synecdoche, this episode will help you brush up on the expansive arsenal of literary devices the biblic...
Chapter 5.1: Bible Study Methods
The first part of Bible study is deciding what your focus will be. This episode discusses multiple “zoom levels” to help you decide where to begin.Read along with your...
Chapter 5.2: Bible Study Methods
Bible study can be as simple as opening your Bible and reading what God inspired to be written—but there are a handful of techniques you can use to get the most out of...
Chapter 5.3: Bible Study Methods
Combining focuses and techniques, this episode offers some examples of what studying the Bible looks like in action.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tool...
Chapter 5.4: Bible Study Methods
No matter the kind of study you’re doing, this episode discusses some general advice to keep in mind as you read the Bible.Read along with your own free copy of the Fi...
Chapter 6: Bible Study Tools
There is a mind-boggling quantity of resources out there designed to help you with your Bible study. Here’s how to make sense of those resources, decide what might be ...
Chapter 7.1: How to Choose a Translation
There are a dizzying number of Bible translations just in English. Why? What makes the translation process so complicated? This episode sheds light on the hurdles invo...
Chapter 7.2: How to Choose a Translation
Even when we’re armed with a better understanding of the translation process, choosing a Bible translation is still an intimidating process. What are your options? Whi...
Chapter 8: How to Meditate
Meditation was never meant to be a mystical, transcendental experience. It’s simply the act of thinking and reflecting on something—in this case, the Word of God. This...
Chapter 9: Topics to Meditate About
Sometimes the hardest part of meditation is deciding what to meditate ABOUT. This episode is full of suggestions to get you started.Read along with your own free copy ...
Chapter 10: The Goal of Meditation
It’s easier to keep our meditation on track when we remember what we’re trying to accomplish with it.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual...
Chapter 11: Understanding and Defining Fasting
Like meditation, fasting is a spiritual tool that many people will define differently. What is fasting according to the Bible?Read along with your own free copy of the...
Chapter 12: What Should We Fast About?
Fasting is a spiritual tool—and like all tools, it has a range of uses. Discovering how God’s people used it in the Bible can help us make better use of it in our own ...
Chapter 13: Noteworthy Fasts in the Bible
Like prayer, there are some powerful examples of fasting in the biblical account. Studying these can help us better understand how fasting works.Read along with your o...
Chapter 14: Lessons From Improper Fasts
It’s important to understand what fasting ISN’T supposed to do. By looking at fasts the Bible highlights as flawed or invalid, we can avoid making the same mistakes in...
Chapter 15: Fasting FAQs
Do you have questions about how fasting works? Here are answers to some of the most common ones.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Grow...
Chapter 16: How Fellowship Works
Fellowship is more than just talking with people. What is fellowship and how does it work?Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-b...
Chapter 17: Seven Keys to Godly Fellowship
This episode shares seven practical steps we can take to improve our fellowship with God’s people. Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual G...
Chapter 18: Relating to People Who Aren’t Like Us
Sometimes fellowship is hard. We don’t always understand where the other person is coming from. In this episode, we’ll talk about why that is and what we can do about ...