Who are you trying to please? I think we all agree that we need to please God first, that pleasing Him is in our best interest, that anything we do that pleases God makes us better as well. Well, there’s a prayer for that. You’ve read it many times, probably quoted it in unison as a part of worship. But it’s not just a Sunday morning prayer. This prayer does serious work in your heart. Read it again with me: May the words of my mouth And the meditation of my heart Be plea

Immediately [Zechariah's] mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. Luke 1:64, NIV First words. We collect them from babies like pure gold. We coax, bribe, celebrate and reward them for the simplest syllables they utter. Other broken silences are different. The first words after a ruptured relationship could go either way. The first words of a surgeon’s report could still a storm or start one. What your first words are after a long ti

Why is it that when it is time to be silent, I would rather speak; and when it is time to speak, I would rather be silent? I fear it is the difference between using my words my way or God’s. Words boil inside me sometimes with a fury that has nothing to do with the ability I must develop in order to write. These are the times when need, not skill, pushes them up through my unexamined heart and out my mouth. They congeal into something I thought I needed to say, but as soon