Five Tools for Spiritual Growth

The five tools aren't the journey. The five tools are things that will help us COMPLETE the journey. Staying focused on the destination will ensure we use the tools to their fullest potential.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

Using the five tools in theory isn't always the same as using the five tools in practice. Life can throw a lot of curveballs. Learning to adapt to those surprises and changes is an important part of putting the tools to use.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

It does us little good to just pick one tool for spiritual growth and ignore the other four. Here are some suggestions on how to combine the tools together.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

Conversation doesn't come naturally to everyone, but that doesn't mean it's not important. This episode details some steps you can take to improve your conversations with others.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 it.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 Growth e-book. 

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-book. 

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 Growth e-book. 

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 our own fasts. Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book: 

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 lives.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 Growth e-book. 

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 of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 episode shares practical tips for making that happen.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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? Which one is best? Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 involved in translating the Bible.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 useful (and what might not) and avoid misusing them.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 your study.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 biblical authors used to record the inspired Word of God.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 better interpret those writings.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book.

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 testaments, the books of the Bible and its chapters and verses.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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. 

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 Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book.

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 Growth e-book. 

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 how it teaches us to acknowledge God's role in our lives. Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book. 

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 tools in depth, offering insights into how they work and how to get the most out of each one.Read along with your own free copy of the Five Tools for Spiritual Growth e-book.