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Jon Bloom

Jon Bloom serves as teacher and cofounder of Desiring God. He is the author of four books, including Not by Sight and most recently True to His Word. He and his wife have five children and make their home in the Twin Cities.

Courage to Follow, Courage to Lead

Why 800 Pastors Are Coming to Bethlehem in February

On the night of December 15, a seminary in Indonesia was attacked by a mob of 2000 angry Muslims, forcing students and faculty to flee for their lives. One student was caught and surrounded. The mob demanded that he renounce…

Are You Willing to Stand in God's Place or Go at His Pace?

Battling the Unbelief of Impatience

November 2006 Are you waiting for something? I mean really waiting with deep longing in your soul for something beyond your control? You might be waiting to conceive a child, receive financial provision, see a loved one come to faith…

Learn to Fly By the Instruments

Your Perceptions May Be Unreliable in a Spiritual Storm

“Spatial disorientation” is something that happens to an aircraft pilot when his plane enters dark storm clouds and he can no longer see the horizon or the ground. Points of reference that guide his senses disappear and he can no…

You Are a Branch, Not a Vine

Defeating Pride by Cultivating Prayerful Dependence

Does Jesus’ metaphor here strike you as a bit odd? Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I…

Are You Willing to “Waste” Your Life?

Extravagant Love for Jesus Looks to Some Like a Waste

Judas simply could not understand Mary’s ridiculous decision. During dinner she had just taken a jar of expensive perfume and dumped it on Jesus’ feet! That perfume was worth almost a year’s wages. What a waste! Just think what could…

Confessions of a Man of Little Faith: With a Wealthy Father, Who Needs Big Barns?

Dear Friend, “O you of little faith!” (Luke 12:28). That’s me. In January I was reworking the family budget for the New Year. As I thought through what we might give for the spreading of Jesus’ kingdom, I was tempted…

Texts to Pray for Our Children

Recently a good friend shared with me these verses that he and his wife have prayed for their two daughters (now teens) since they were babies. I find them very helpful and have included them in my prayer folder for…

Enthralled!

The Secret to Doing What Matters Most

Martha, God bless her. Busy. Industrious. Practical. But preoccupied. And destined to be contrasted through the ages with her sister, Mary. Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into…

Learn from Darwin

We Become What We Behold

Charles Darwin loved his scientific studies. They were his “chief enjoyment and sole employment throughout life.” As a young man he made a half-hearted attempt to become a clergyman, but gave it up because beetles and plants and rock formations…

Jesus chooses and Uses Failures

"Forgiven," Not "Failure," Defines the Christian

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved. Jesus had just asked him for the third time if he loved him. Peter had already wholeheartedly answered yes twice. What else was he supposed to say? Had he…

Remember Why You Sold Everything

Keeping the Treasure in View during the Long Wait

One of Jesus’ most powerful parables is also one of his shortest: The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all…

A Tribute to DG's Forerunners

This week Olive Nelson passed away at age 94. Olive and her husband, Arnie, were members of Bethlehem for decades until 1994. From 1978 to 1994 (16 years), Arnie and Olive faithfully operated Bethlehem’s tape ministry as volunteers. They diligently…

You Never Know What God Is Growing

Sow Faithfully. The Harvest Will Be Larger than You Think

Olive Nelson passed away a few days ago at age 94. As I remembered her, my heart filled with gratitude. Olive and her husband, Arnie (who passed away a few years ago), were members of Bethlehem Baptist Church for decades…

What I Learned in a Spiritual Storm

“Spatial disorientation” is what an aircraft pilot experiences when he flies into weather conditions that prevent him from being able see the horizon or the ground. Points of reference that guide his senses disappear. His perceptions become unreliable. He no…

5 Helpful Prayers

Here are 5 “Ds” that I have made part of my daily prayers: Whatever it takes, Lord, give me Delight in you as the greatest treasure of my heart. Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires…

Trust Promises, Not Providences

This morning my assistant, Bryan DeWire, found out his father, who 24 hours ago seemed in fine health, didn’t make it through emergency heart surgery. This afternoon, my wife called me in tears to update me on a very difficult…

Hopeful Post-Christmas Melancholy

Each year Christmas night finds members of my family feeling some melancholy. After weeks of anticipation, the Christmas celebrations have flashed by us and are suddenly gone. And we’re left standing, watching the Christmas taillights and music fade into the…

When the Adulteress Went Home

Living Guilt-free with the Consequences of Past Sin

“Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on, sin no more.” These words were almost unbelievable. A half hour ago she had been dragged out of her illicit lover’s house and shoved through the streets. Just minutes before…

When Prosperity is a Bane and Adversity a Blessing

Lessons from the Young Man in Mark 10

“Teacher! Teacher, please wait!” Jesus and his disciples were just leaving town. They turned and saw a young man hurrying toward them. He was well-dressed, clearly from an upper class family. But his face was troubled and there was urgency…

A Quake that is Still Shaking the World

I love the book of Acts. That’s where my Bible reading plan has me right now. And my only regret is that it’s going by so fast, three chapters at a time. But one good thing about reading Acts quickly…

How Grace and Peace Is Multiplied to You

Every morning at 8:45 the Desiring God staff gathers for a 15-minute devotional. We read a small portion of Scripture, apply it to God’s call on us, and then pray for various outreach efforts, needs, and prayer requests. It’s our…

The Night the Angel Didn’t Come

Luke says it so quickly, so matter-of-factly: “[Herod] killed James the brother of John with the sword” (Acts 12:2). In the flow of the story this little phrase sets the stage for Peter’s dramatic prison rescue by the angel. So…

Doubt Your Perception of Suffering

There he sat, the scum of society, a sorry piece of work begging the condescending mercy of pious passersby going in and out of the temple. Enough mercy and he could eat The blind man in John 9 didn’t have…

Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment

The insults fell on her like blows. “Shame on you, Whore!” Imagine it. She was married, but not to the man whose arms she'd been in. Suddenly the door burst open. Angry men dragged her—and her secret sin—out into the…

What Jesus Meant When He Said, “You Must Eat My Flesh”

What Jesus Meant When He Said, “You Must Eat My Flesh”

Eating the flesh of Jesus is not about eating bread. It’s about believing in the victory over sin that he accomplished for us on the cross.

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