In August I was enjoying a visit with John Piper (@johnpiper) at the Desiring God offices in Minnesota. It was a chance to get counsel from him about some things that the Lord had been teaching me and to update him on the drama of our then 9-month-long journey to purchase a new ministry campus for CBI Japan.

Before we prayed together he said to me something that I won't soon forget:   

God cares more about how you react if you lose the property than about the property itself.

We had suffered some ups and downs over the past year. The whole journey began with a vision that the Lord gave us about 5 years ago to be in the heart of the city of Nagoya. That vision flowed from a desire to …

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One of the last sweet gifts from our Father while we were on leave was his reminder not to make his Son more of a Mediator than he is. Jesus said:

In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you. (John 16:26–27)

“I do not say that I will ask the Father on your behalf.” In other words, I’m not going to insert myself between you and the Father, as though you can’t go to him directly. Why? “Because the Father himself loves you.”

This is astonishing. Jesus is warning us not to think of God Almighty as unwilling to receive us directly into his presence. By “directly” I mean what Jesus meant when he sa…

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This is our third question and answer post with Joel Beeke on the subject of prayer (read the first and second posts).

What are some significant things you have learned from Christians abroad about prayer?

I’ve learned from the Irish to adore God Himself in prayer; from the Welsh, not to give up on praying earnestly for revival; from the Koreans, to discipline yourself to devote time to corporate prayer; and from a South African friend, the importance of intercessory prayer and maintaining a prayer list for your own spiritual benefit. 

Joel is scheduled to deliver two messages on prayer at our Conference for Pastors later this month. Register now and join us!

See the conference sp…

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One kingdom-constant in this age is that those who are called to lead must at some point “entrust” what they’ve learned and built “to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). And that’s happening today at Desiring God.

On behalf of the DG board and staff, it is my great joy to announce that effective today Scott Anderson is the new Executive Director of Desiring God.

Scott is a DG veteran, having joined us in May 2001. He has served in a number of roles over the years, most recently as Director of Events & Partnerships. Some of you might recognize him as the emcee at our conferences and the host of our recent series of DG Live broadcasts.

It doesn’t take…

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2 Timothy 2:22-26—

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

God’s word warns us that some controversies are foolish and ignorant. They breed quarrels. We …

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I wrote this report for Bethlehem and have adapted it for this first day of 2011 on the DG Blog. It’s longer than a blog should be. My only excuse is that I did cut 263 pages.

For eight months of this year (May–December), I was on a leave of absence. That meant I was free from all my pastoral duties. It also meant that all my public ministry was shut down (with a few exceptions): no preaching, no writing for publication, no speaking (except for the Desiring God National Conference and two overseas engagements), no blogging, no tweeting. Therefore, this report will be on the blessings of this leave.

My heart overflows with thankfulness to God and to the elders and staff and people of Beth…

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