Devotions from John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be Temptation is painful because when we give it to it, it hurts from the inside. Temptation tries to get our appetites and will to override our deepest values. Temptation promises us freedom, but it makes us a slave. There is always a hook. “Real…

Devotions from John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be Richard Forster says, “Countless people…have such a stained-glass image of prayer that they fail to recognize what they are experiencing as prayer and so condemn themselves for not praying.”  Our state of our prayer life is not determined by how long we pray or…

Devotions from John Ortberg’s book The Me I Want to Be We are always in the hand of our Father. Jesus knew that no earthly situation has the power to put you outside God’s care.   The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The Spirit is a non-anxious presence! God does not want…

Devotions from John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be If we want our minds to be full of life, we will have to pay attention to what it is focused on.  What feeds our mind so we can flourish?  One of the greatest gifts is His word!  Not that we read it to…

Devotions from John Ortberg’s book, The ME I Want to Be We can’t stop thinking wrong thoughts by trying harder to not think them but we can “Set our mind”.   We can choose what we pay attention to. At any moment we can turn our thoughts in one direction or another. It is similar to…

Devotions from John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be Our emotions generally flow out of our thoughts, and discouraged people tend to think discouraging thoughts.  Worried people tend to think anxious thoughts. The way we live will inevitable be a reflection of the way we think. True change always begins in our mind.…

Devotions from John Ortberg’s book, The Me I want to Be God created desire, and it is God’s delight to fulfill desire. It’s true that our desires need to be cleansed and purified, and we must say no to any desires that would keep us from living in the flow of the Spirit.  We must…

Devotions from John Ortberg’s book the Me I want to Be Today’s devotional is on letting our desires lead us to God. Spiritual growth doesn’t mean doing what I SHOULD do instead of what I WANT to do.  It means coming to WANT to do what I SHOULD do. Jesus tells lots of stories about…

Devotions based on John Ortberg’s book, The Me I want to Be We’ve all been told, Try a little harder!. But there are limits on what trying harder can accomplish.  The ones who got in trouble with Jesus were working hardest on their spiritual life but it got in the way of loving others. We…

Devotions based on John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be ”Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” Matt. 10:39. There is no way for us to come to God without surrender. Surrender is not the same as passivity or being a doormat.…