Prefer to listen? Hear today’s episode of Still, Here audio reflections podcast.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:7

For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

Reflection

Fear is not always the enemy. Sometimes fear is the body trying to protect us. It notices a possible threat and sends an alarm. Something may be wrong. Something may be changing. Something may be at risk. Something may need our attention.

That is why simply resisting fear can sometimes make fear grow stronger. If I treat fear only as a problem to push away, I may never understand the message it is trying to bring. The body keeps sounding the alarm because it does not feel heard.

Fear may be warning us about money pressure. It may be reacting to uncertainty at work. It may be responding to family strain, health concerns, social instability, the speed of technology, or the feeling that we are losing our place in the world. Fear often points toward something that feels tangible to the body, even when the mind has not yet sorted it out.

But fear was never meant to lead the soul.

Paul tells Timothy that God has not given us a spirit of fear. He does not say we will never feel afraid. He says fear is not the Spirit God gives as our source of life, perception, and action. God gives power, love, and self-control. Or, as many of us have learned to say it, a sound mind.

That means fear can be listened to without being enthroned. We can ask fear what it is trying to protect. We can notice the alarm. We can bring the fear into prayer. But we do not have to let fear decide what is true, what is possible, who we are, or what obedience requires.

This is a crucial formation practice for the future. There will be plenty of alarms. Some will be valid. Some will be amplified by systems that profit from our panic. Some will be old wounds reacting to new circumstances. A maturing soul does not pretend there is no danger. A maturing soul learns who gets to lead.

Fear may say, protect yourself at all costs. The Spirit may say, receive power.

Fear may say, close your heart. The Spirit may say, love is still possible here.

Fear may say, react now. The Spirit may say, become calm enough to think clearly.

Fear does not have to be hated. It does have to be submitted. It does not get the first chair. It does not get the final word. It does not get to form the future of your soul.

God has given you more than alarm. God has given power, love, and a sound mind.

Formation Practice

When fear rises, do not immediately argue with it. Pause long enough to understand it.

Ask: What is fear trying to protect? What danger does my body believe is near? What part of this fear is connected to something real, and what part may be magnified by pressure?

Then ask: What would power, love, and a sound mind look like in my next response?

Let the Spirit lead the response fear wanted to control.

Prayer of Formation

Spirit of God,

Meet me where fear rises. Help me listen without surrendering. Help me understand the alarm without making fear my guide. Form in me power that is not harsh, love that is not naive, and a sound mind that can choose wisely under pressure. Let fear become a signal, not a ruler.

– Amen

Carry Prayer

Breathe in: When fear sounds the alarm…
Breathe out: … lead me with love and a sound mind

Formed Future Statement

I can listen to fear’s warning without letting fear lead my life.

Which line from today’s devotion are you carrying with you? You are welcome to share it in the comments.

This episode is part of Have This Mind – a 31-day devotional series on developing the mind of Christ

Go Deeper (If You’d Like)

You can:

• Read the full written devotion at PowerLoveandMiracles.com
• Subscribe for free to receive reflections by email
• Explore related teachings on The Bible Unplugged podcast

Everything is available at:
PowerLoveandMiracles.com

Sustain the Work

If these reflections strengthen your faith, you can help sustain this work through a voluntary contribution. Every gift supports future writing, audio, and teaching.

Sustain the Work

News wants it. Politics wants it. Advertising wants it. Social media wants it. Algorithms want it. Fear wants it.

Technology can occupy as much of it as we are willing to give.

The problem is bigger than simply having too much information.

What repeatedly receives our attention eventually begins participating in our formation.

In the last episode of The Bible Unplugged, we asked: What is forming me?

This week we take the next step: What am I allowing access to my inner life?

The Problem Is Not Just Bad Information

We often hear the phrase “guard your heart” used as a warning about avoiding harmful influences.

There is truth in that.

But Proverbs gives us a much deeper picture.

Proverbs 4:23 says:

“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.”

In biblical thought, the heart involves much more than emotion.

It is the center of thought, intention, desire, judgment, and will.

The writer of Proverbs is telling us to pay attention to what is happening within us because our outward lives eventually grow from what is happening inside.

That matters enormously in an age of constant input.

We can spend much of the day allowing people and systems we have never met to decide what we are going to think about next.

A headline gets our attention.

A video follows it.

Then another. Then a comment. Then an argument. Then a notification.

None of those moments may seem especially important. But taken together, they create an environment inside us.

Overwhelmed by the Pace of Information

The problem is not only the amount of information available.

It is the pace.

We rarely finish processing one thing before the next thing arrives.

That can leave us continually activated.

We see a crisis and begin worrying about it.

Before we have processed that concern, another issue appears.

Then another.

Eventually, we may feel anxious without even knowing exactly what we are anxious about.

The nervous system is still responding to a stream of unfinished concerns.

The inner life becomes crowded.

And that is where another teaching of Jesus becomes important.

When the Heart Becomes Crowded

In Mark 4, Jesus tells the parable of the soils.

Some seed falls among thorns.

The seed grows, but so do the thorns.

Jesus explains that the worries of the age, the deceitfulness of riches, and desires for other things enter in and choke the word.

Notice what happens.

The seed is still there.

The problem is competition for space.

That gives us a different way of thinking about spiritual distraction.

The things crowding our inner lives are not always evil.

Work matters. Money matters. Family matters. Knowing what is happening in the world matters.

Technology can be useful. Entertainment can be enjoyable. But good or ordinary things can still become spiritually disruptive when they consume more internal space than they deserve.

Sometimes the problem is not that something terrible entered our heart.

Sometimes too much entered.

Bible by Design: Heart, Mouth, Eyes, Feet

The surrounding verses in Proverbs 4 give us an interesting picture of how formation moves through a person.

The writer speaks about the: heart then the mouth then the eyes then the feet.

That progression matters.

What lives in the heart eventually affects what comes out of the mouth.

What is happening within us affects what our eyes look toward.

And what captures our attention begins influencing the direction our feet take.

Inner formation eventually becomes outward life.

We could put it simply:

Heart → Mouth → Eyes → Feet

What settles within us eventually becomes speech, perception, direction, and action.

That is one reason guarding the inner life matters so much.

We are not merely protecting our feelings.

We are paying attention to the source from which our lives are being lived.

Guarding Is Not Hiding

There is an important distinction here.

Guarding your inner life does not mean hiding from the world.

It does not mean refusing to hear ideas that challenge you.

It does not mean building a Christian bubble where nothing uncomfortable can reach you.

In fact, hiding can produce fragility.

A guarded heart does something different.

A guarded heart actively determines what gets to govern it.

A hidden heart tries to avoid everything threatening.

Those are not the same thing.

The spiritually mature person should be able to encounter a difficult idea without immediately becoming destabilized by it.

We can hear troubling news without allowing the news to determine the emotional character of our entire day.

We can encounter disagreement without surrendering our peace.

We can learn about economic uncertainty without allowing fear to become the organizing principle of our lives.

We can use technology without giving technology authority over how we think.

That is not withdrawal.

That is discernment.

The Outrage Machine

One of the easiest ways to lose control of the inner gate is outrage.

Anger itself is not always wrong.

Jesus became angry.

The prophets became angry.

There are things in the world that should disturb us.

But there is a difference between becoming angry about injustice and living in an environment of continual outrage.

Outrage can make us feel powerful because the emotion is intense.

But intensity is not the same thing as agency.

If someone else can determine my inner state simply by saying or posting the right thing, I may feel powerful while actually being controlled from outside myself.

And modern information systems are very good at discovering what will keep us emotionally engaged.

Often, what keeps us angry keeps us watching.

What keeps us frightened keeps us clicking.

What keeps us offended keeps us returning.

The result is a strange cycle:

We consume the thing that upsets us.

It upsets us.

Then we consume more of it.

Eventually, outrage stops being a response and becomes an atmosphere.

Discernment becomes harder in that atmosphere.

We react more quickly.

Listen less carefully.

Assume motives.

And sometimes become so overwhelmed that all the emotional activation leads to inaction.

A mature inner life leaves room for anger without giving anger control.

Learning to Be Selective

I have had to learn this myself.

I still follow the news.

I want to know what is happening.

But I have learned that I need to be selective about what I consume.

The issue is not whether I know what is going on.

The question is whether the information is helping me understand reality or merely keeping me emotionally activated.

The same is true with social media.

Sometimes I want to watch movie clips, pop culture material, or something funny.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that.

But an endless stream can consume attention almost without our noticing.

Even artificial intelligence fits here.

I use AI regularly and find it enormously useful.

But any useful tool can begin changing the way we think if we stop paying attention to how we are using it.

The issue is rarely:

Is this thing evil?

A better question may be:

What is this doing inside me?

Discernment at the Gate

We cannot control every voice that reaches us.

That is probably impossible.

But we can become much more intentional about which voices are allowed to remain.

This does not require fear.

It requires awareness.

We can notice when a source continually produces anxiety.

We can recognize when a social media account leaves us angry every time we encounter it.

We can notice when our consumption of information begins interfering with prayer, rest, relationships, or our ability to think clearly.

Then we can make choices.

That is spiritual agency.

The goal is not to close the gate.

The goal is to become a better gatekeeper.

Formation Practice: Why Am I Letting This In?

This week, experiment with discernment at the gate.

Before automatically opening an article, clicking another video, or continuing down an information stream, pause for a moment.

Ask:

Why am I letting this in?

Am I trying to understand something?

Am I curious?

Am I afraid?

Am I bored?

Am I looking for reassurance?

Am I hoping to become angry?

Then, after you have consumed it, ask:

What did this produce in me?

Fear?

Anger?

Compassion?

Greater understanding?

Confusion?

Wisdom?

Peace?

And finally:

Does this deserve continued access to my inner life?

We cannot stop the world from competing for our attention.

But we do not have to surrender our inner lives to whoever competes most aggressively.

You cannot control every voice that reaches you. You can decide which voices are allowed to live inside you.

Scripture

Proverbs 4:20–27
Mark 4:18–19

Coming Next

In TBU 107 — More Knowledge Is Not Enough, we take another step.

Suppose we become more intentional about what we allow into our inner lives.

We still face another problem:

What do we do with what we know?

We live in an age of almost unlimited access to information, but information alone does not create wisdom.

The future will require more than people who know a great deal.

It will require people who can discern what matters, recognize what God is doing, and know how to respond faithfully.

The Formed Future is about becoming people who can live within a rapidly changing world without allowing that world to decide who we become.

Prefer to listen? Hear today’s episode of Still, Here audio reflections podcast.

Scripture: Mark 4:18-20

Others are those who are sown among the thorns. These are those who have heard the word, and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit: some thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times.

Reflection

Some pressure arrives loudly. A bill comes due. A family need becomes urgent. A job feels less secure than it used to. A headline shakes us. A message lands hard. A new technology appears and quietly asks whether we can keep up.

Other pressure grows slowly. We check the news a little more often. We carry one more concern. We compare ourselves to someone else. We scroll when we are tired. We begin to believe we are behind. We start every day with a mind already crowded before we have listened for God.

Jesus describes seed sown among thorns. The word is heard, but the cares of this age, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke it. That image is not meant to shame us. It is meant to help us see. The issue is not that the word is weak. The issue is that the soil has become crowded.

That is often what happens under pressure. We do not wake up one day and decide to ignore God. We simply become crowded. Fear takes up space. Money takes up space. Family strain takes up space. News takes up space. Social media takes up space. The need to keep up takes up space. The fear of becoming irrelevant takes up space.

Then we wonder why our souls feel thin. We wonder why prayer feels difficult. We wonder why Scripture does not seem to reach the places it once reached. We wonder why hope feels small. The thorns have been growing. They may even be understandable thorns. But understandable pressure can still choke the life God is growing in us.

The grace in this passage is that Jesus names the condition. He does not leave us confused about what is happening. He shows us that the soul can become crowded, and once we can see that, we can begin to make room again.

This matters for The Formed Future because the future will bring plenty of thorns. Some will be real concerns. Some will be exaggerated fears. Some will be manufactured urgency. Some will be opportunities that still demand discernment. The question is not whether pressure will come. The question is whether the pressure will be allowed to choke the word forming us.

The first practice is noticing. Not fixing everything. Not clearing the whole field in one morning. Just noticing what has grown thick around the life of God within you.

Pressure does not have to become formation. The Spirit can show us the thorns. Grace can make room. The word can keep growing.

Formation Practice

Take a quiet inventory of what is crowding your inner life.

Name three thorns without judging yourself for them. They may be fear, money pressure, family needs, headlines, social media, work uncertainty, the need to keep up, or the fear of not mattering.

Then ask: What is this pressure doing inside me? Is it tightening me, rushing me, numbing me, distracting me, or pulling me away from prayer?

Choose one small way to make room. Turn off one stream of noise. Sit with Scripture for five minutes. Take one slow walk. Pray one honest sentence. Let the clearing begin gently.

Prayer of Formation

Lord Jesus,

Show me what is crowding my soul. I do not want the cares of this age to choke the life You are growing in me. Help me notice the thorns without shame and make room for Your word again. Teach me to become calm and coherent enough to see what pressure is doing inside me. Let Your life keep growing in good soil.

– Amen

Carry Prayer

Breathe in: When my soul feels crowded…
Breathe out: … make room for Your word in me

Formed Future Statement

I can notice what is crowding my soul without surrendering my life to it.

Which line from today’s devotion are you carrying with you? You are welcome to share it in the comments.

This episode is part of Have This Mind – a 31-day devotional series on developing the mind of Christ

Go Deeper (If You’d Like)

You can:

• Read the full written devotion at PowerLoveandMiracles.com
• Subscribe for free to receive reflections by email
• Explore related teachings on The Bible Unplugged podcast

Everything is available at:
PowerLoveandMiracles.com

Sustain the Work

If these reflections strengthen your faith, you can help sustain this work through a voluntary contribution. Every gift supports future writing, audio, and teaching.

Sustain the Work

Sunset is coming back.

Thirteen years ago, I started writing about a fictional little Texas town called Sunset. At the time, I thought I was telling the story of Jake Jennings and Jennifer Lawson: a widowed hospice chaplain trying to build a quieter life, and a nurse whose life was already full of children, patients, history, and more complications than either of them needed.

I did not know I was building a place I would eventually want to return to.

For years, I resisted going back. There were some health challenges in my family that made the whole process too emotional and draining. The original Sunset books belonged to an earlier season of my writing. I have changed. My voice has changed. My understanding of grief, hospice, love, faith, trauma, and the way people actually carry one another through hard seasons has deepened. And, honestly, I’m a much better writer than the guy who wrote a Christian romance book having never read a romance novel before.

Then Heaven’s First Breath happened.

What started as a “case study” for another book took on a life of its own. What came out of it is a compelling story in its own right.

Writing Frank and Marlene Abbott’s story brought me back into Sunset from a different direction. The town was still there. So were Jake, Jennifer, Sarah, Roger, Ellen, and the people who had once felt finished to me.

They were not finished.

And neither were the books.

So I have gone back to the beginning.

Sunset’s Dawn is being rebuilt. While it received a lot of positive comments, it was not well written. What I’m working on now isn’t simply a cleaned up or rewrapped book. It’s rewritten with the voice, emotional restraint, pastoral depth, and understanding of human relationships I have gained in the thirteen years since the original appeared.

Sarah’s Prayer is being rebuilt too. Sunset’s Hope is next. And Heaven’s First Breath will open another doorway into this world through the Abbott family and Sunset Hospice.

I discovered that returning to an old story is not the same as going backward.

Sometimes you return because you finally became the writer the story was waiting for.

That is what this season feels like to me.

This fall, readers will be able to return to Sunset.

And if you have never been there before, I cannot wait to introduce you.

Prefer to listen? Hear today’s episode of Still, Here audio reflections podcast.

Scripture: Ephesians 5:15–17

Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Reflection

Paul does not tell us to run frantically. He does not tell us to freeze. He tells us to walk carefully.

That is a different kind of strength. Careful walking is not fearful walking. It is not timid. It is not passive. It is a way of moving through complicated days with attention, wisdom, and trust.

When pressure rises, many of us swing between panic and passivity. Panic says, I have to do everything right now. I have to keep up. I have to solve what has not even happened yet. Passivity says, It is too much. I cannot do anything. I will wait, numb out, or let the circumstances decide for me.

But there is another way. The Christ-formed person learns to walk carefully.

To walk carefully is to pay attention to the ground beneath your feet. It is to notice the next faithful step. It is to understand that the time given to you is not an accident. Even difficult days can become places of wisdom. Even unstable times can become places where the will of the Lord is practiced.

Redeeming the time does not mean squeezing maximum productivity out of every moment. That would only baptize hurry. To redeem the time is to inhabit the time faithfully. It is to receive the day as a place where God can be known, obeyed, loved, and served.

This matters as we stand at the threshold. We do not know everything that is coming. We do not control every change in the economy, society, technology, work, or culture. But we are not helpless. Christ is forming us. The body strengthens us. The Spirit renews our minds. The new self can be practiced. Wisdom can be received.

So we walk.

Not carelessly. Not anxiously. Not as people who have surrendered the future to fear. We walk carefully, trusting that God gives enough light for faithful participation in the time we have been given.

Formation Practice

Choose one place where you feel tempted either to rush or to shut down.

Ask:

What would panic do here?
What would passivity do here?
What would careful walking look like?

Then take one small, faithful step. Send the message. Make the call. Pause before deciding. Ask for wisdom. Rest instead of forcing. Begin instead of avoiding. Let the step be careful, not anxious.

Prayer of Formation

Lord,

Teach me to walk carefully. Keep me from panic when the days feel urgent. Keep me from passivity when the days feel overwhelming. Give me wisdom for the time You have entrusted to me. Help me recognize the next faithful step and take it with courage, attention, and peace. Form me for faithful participation in the days ahead.

– Amen

Carry Prayer

Breathe in: I am not panicked, or passive…
Breathe out: … teach me to walk carefully.

Formed Future Statement

I can walk carefully into the days ahead because Christ is forming wisdom within me.

Continue the journey

If this devotion helped you pause, breathe, and receive your place in the love of Christ today, you are invited to continue walking through the full Love Beyond Measure 31-day series.

Subscribe free to receive each new devotion and its companion Still, Here audio reflection in your inbox. Together, we will move beyond collecting spiritual ideas and begin allowing the love of Christ to take form within us.

See the pattern. Hear the teaching. Live the prayer.

You can also explore the deeper Bible teaching through The Bible Unplugged at Power Love & Miracles.

If these devotions are helping you, a paid subscription helps sustain this work and allows the full journey to remain available to everyone.

Which line from today’s devotion are you carrying with you? You are welcome to share it in the comments.

This episode is part of Have This Mind – a 31-day devotional series on developing the mind of Christ

Go Deeper (If You’d Like)

You can:

• Read the full written devotion at PowerLoveandMiracles.com
• Subscribe for free to receive reflections by email
• Explore related teachings on The Bible Unplugged podcast

Everything is available at:
PowerLoveandMiracles.com

Sustain the Work

If these reflections strengthen your faith, you can help sustain this work through a voluntary contribution. Every gift supports future writing, audio, and teaching.

Sustain the Work

Prefer to listen? Hear today’s episode of Still, Here audio reflections podcast.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:22–24

that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit; and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Reflection

There is a difference between hearing a new insight and becoming a new kind of person.

Many believers know the feeling of being moved by a sermon, a devotion, a conversation, or a moment of prayer. An insight becomes clear. We see what needs to change. We feel the pull of a better way. But then life resumes. The old reflex returns. The same fear speaks. The same frustration rises. The same hurry takes over. The same pattern wins another day.

That does not mean the insight was false. It means formation requires practice.

Paul describes the Christian life with active language: put away, be renewed, put on. There is something to release. There is renewal to receive. There is something new to wear, inhabit, practice, and embody.

This is the difference between being prepared for the future and being formed for the future. Preparation can be like knowing the playbook. We need wisdom, information, and understanding. But formation is more like getting on the practice field. The playbook becomes embodied through repetition. The body learns. The instincts change. The response becomes more natural because it has been practiced under the guidance of a better way.

The future does not begin only when some major change arrives. It begins in practice today. It begins when we put off one fearful reaction and put on trust. It begins when we put off hurry and put on attention. It begins when we put off outrage and put on slow speech. It begins when we put off self-protection and put on love.

We do not practice because God will love us more if we improve. We practice because we are already being made new. Practice is how the life of Christ becomes more available in our ordinary responses.

A formed future is not built from intentions alone. It is built from small, repeated acts of faithful participation with the Spirit. Today is not too small. This moment is not wasted. The practice field is already open.

Formation Practice

Choose one old reflex you want to put off and one Christlike response you want to put on.

For example:

Put off hurry. Put on attention.
Put off defensiveness. Put on listening.
Put off fear. Put on trust.
Put off resentment. Put on mercy.

When the moment comes, do not aim for perfection. Aim for practice. One faithful repetition matters.

Prayer of Formation

Lord Jesus,

Form the new self in me. Help me not to stop at good intentions or meaningful insights. Teach me to practice the life You are giving me. Show me what needs to be put off today. Show me what needs to be put on. Renew the spirit of my mind until my ordinary responses begin to look more like You. Make today a practice field for grace.

– Amen

Carry This Prayer With You

Breathe in: I release the old reflex…
Breathe out: … I practice the life of Christ

Formed Future Statement

I do not become Christlike by intention alone. I practice the life Christ is forming in me.

Continue the journey

If this devotion helped you pause, breathe, and receive your place in the love of Christ today, you are invited to continue walking through the full Love Beyond Measure 31-day series.

Subscribe free to receive each new devotion and its companion Still, Here audio reflection in your inbox. Together, we will move beyond collecting spiritual ideas and begin allowing the love of Christ to take form within us.

See the pattern. Hear the teaching. Live the prayer.

You can also explore the deeper Bible teaching through The Bible Unplugged at Power Love & Miracles.

If these devotions are helping you, a paid subscription helps sustain this work and allows the full journey to remain available to everyone.

Which line from today’s devotion are you carrying with you? You are welcome to share it in the comments.

This episode is part of Have This Mind – a 31-day devotional series on developing the mind of Christ

Go Deeper (If You’d Like)

You can:

• Read the full written devotion at PowerLoveandMiracles.com
• Subscribe for free to receive reflections by email
• Explore related teachings on The Bible Unplugged podcast

Everything is available at:
PowerLoveandMiracles.com

Sustain the Work

If these reflections strengthen your faith, you can help sustain this work through a voluntary contribution. Every gift supports future writing, audio, and teaching.

Sustain the Work

Prefer to listen? Hear today’s episode of Still, Here audio reflections podcast.

Scripture: Romans 12:2

Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

The Pressure I Feel

The age around me keeps telling me what to fear, chase, admire, reject, and become.

The Grace I Receive

God renews my mind so I can notice what is shaping me and receive a truer way of seeing.

Reflection

Every age has a pressure. Some of it is obvious. Some of it becomes so normal we stop noticing it. We learn what to admire. We learn what to fear. We learn what counts as success. We learn what pace is expected. We learn which voices deserve our attention. We learn what kind of person seems valuable.

Paul says, Do not be conformed to this world. Do not be pressed into the pattern of the age. That warning is not only about obvious moral failure. It is also about the quiet ways the world teaches the soul to take its shape.

The age can shape us through hurry, comparison, and outrage. It can shape us through information overload. It can shape us through the fear that we will become irrelevant if we do not keep up.

It can even shape us through helpful tools. A tool that should refine our thinking can begin to drive our thinking if we stop practicing attention, prayer, discernment, imagination, and wisdom. That is not only a technology issue. It is a formation issue. The question is not simply, What can this tool do? The question is also, What is this doing to the way I think, choose, notice, and trust?

God does not answer this pressure by making us suspicious of everything. He answers by renewing the mind. Renewal is deeper than collecting better opinions. It is a re-forming of perception. We begin to see what is good. We begin to recognize what is pleasing to God. We begin to discern what is complete, whole, and aligned with His life.

The renewed mind does not merely ask, Is this new? Is this popular? Is this efficient? Is this frightening? Is this useful? It asks, Is this forming love? Is this forming wisdom? Is this helping me become more like Christ? Is this making me more attentive to God and more present to people?

The first act of freedom is often noticing what has been forming us. We do not have to condemn ourselves for being affected by the age. We live in it. We breathe its air. But we do not have to surrender the shape of our souls to it.

In Christ, a different formation is already at work.

Formation Practice

Choose one ordinary influence to notice: your phone, the news, social media, a work expectation, a conversation, a podcast, a tool, or a recurring fear.

Ask:

What is this teaching me to want?

What is this teaching me to fear?

What is this teaching me to ignore?

What would the renewed mind of Christ help me see?

Write down one sentence of truth you want to practice believing today.

Prayer of Formation

Lord,

Renew my mind. Show me the pressures I have mistaken for normal life. Show me the assumptions I have absorbed without noticing. Give me the courage to see clearly and the humility to be transformed. Let my mind become attentive to what is good, well-pleasing, and complete in Your sight. Do not let the age decide the shape of my soul.

– Amen

Carry This Prayer With You

Breathe in: When the age presses in…
Breathe out: … renew my mind in Christ

Formed Future Statement

I will not let the pressure of the age determine the shape of my soul.

Continue the journey

If this devotion helped you pause, breathe, and receive your place in the love of Christ today, you are invited to continue walking through the full Love Beyond Measure 31-day series.

Subscribe free to receive each new devotion and its companion Still, Here audio reflection in your inbox. Together, we will move beyond collecting spiritual ideas and begin allowing the love of Christ to take form within us.

See the pattern. Hear the teaching. Live the prayer.

You can also explore the deeper Bible teaching through The Bible Unplugged at Power Love & Miracles.

If these devotions are helping you, a paid subscription helps sustain this work and allows the full journey to remain available to everyone.

Which line from today’s devotion are you carrying with you? You are welcome to share it in the comments.

This episode is part of Have This Mind – a 31-day devotional series on developing the mind of Christ

Go Deeper (If You’d Like)

You can:

• Read the full written devotion at PowerLoveandMiracles.com
• Subscribe for free to receive reflections by email
• Explore related teachings on The Bible Unplugged podcast

Everything is available at:
PowerLoveandMiracles.com

Sustain the Work

If these reflections strengthen your faith, you can help sustain this work through a voluntary contribution. Every gift supports future writing, audio, and teaching.

Sustain the Work

Prefer to listen? Hear today’s episode of Still, Here audio reflections podcast.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:15-16

but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ; from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.

Reflection

Instability can make us private. When pressure rises, many of us pull inward. We try to figure things out alone. We carry our worries alone. We measure our strength alone. We begin to think maturity means needing less from others.

But Paul does not describe maturity as isolated strength. He describes a body. Christ is the head, and the whole body grows as each part is fitted, knit together, and supplying what it has been given. The body builds itself up in love.

That matters for The Formed Future because the future does not need isolated survivors. It needs people who are being built up in love. The kind of steadiness we need is not formed by private spiritual heroism. It is formed as we remain connected to Christ and to the people through whom Christ strengthens us.

This is not always easy. Sometimes the body of Christ has disappointed us. There may have been times when church life has been more exhausting than strengthening. In the world we have learned to protect ourselves because we were not treated with care. Those wounds matter. Love does not ask us to deny harm or ignore wisdom.

Still, the answer to instability is not becoming a sealed-off self. Christ forms a people. He gives gifts through people. He speaks truth through people. He offers encouragement through people. He helps us see what we could not see alone.

A person who is built up in love does not have to pretend to be unshakable. They can say, I need prayer. I need wisdom. I need someone to help me see clearly. They can also say, I have something to give. I can encourage. I can listen. I can speak gently. I can help another person stand.

The future may make many people feel alone. But the future God is forming is not a collection of frightened individuals trying to keep themselves from falling apart. It is a body growing up into Christ. It is a people being strengthened by love until love becomes the place from which they live.

Formation Practice

Name one person who helps you become steadier in Christ. They may not solve your problems, but they help you remember what is true.

Then name one person you can help strengthen in love. This does not need to be dramatic. Send a simple encouragement, offer a prayer, listen without fixing, or speak one truthful and gentle word.

Let today remind you: formation is not solitary.

Prayer of Formation

Lord Jesus,

You are the head of the body. Keep me from trying to become strong alone. Heal the places where I have learned to hide. Help me receive the love, truth, wisdom, and encouragement You give through others. Help me offer what You have given me with humility and care. Build us up in love.

– Amen

Carry Prayer

Breathe in: I am not formed alone…
Breathe out: … I am built up in love

Formed Future Statement

I am not formed alone. I am strengthened as part of Christ’s body.

Continue the journey

If this devotion helped you pause, breathe, and receive your place in the love of Christ today, you are invited to continue walking through the full Love Beyond Measure 31-day series.

Subscribe free to receive each new devotion and its companion Still, Here audio reflection in your inbox. Together, we will move beyond collecting spiritual ideas and begin allowing the love of Christ to take form within us.

See the pattern. Hear the teaching. Live the prayer.

You can also explore the deeper Bible teaching through The Bible Unplugged at Power Love & Miracles.

If these devotions are helping you, a paid subscription helps sustain this work and allows the full journey to remain available to everyone.

Which line from today’s devotion are you carrying with you? You are welcome to share it in the comments.

This episode is part of Have This Mind – a 31-day devotional series on developing the mind of Christ

Go Deeper (If You’d Like)

You can:

• Read the full written devotion at PowerLoveandMiracles.com
• Subscribe for free to receive reflections by email
• Explore related teachings on The Bible Unplugged podcast

Everything is available at:
PowerLoveandMiracles.com

Sustain the Work

If these reflections strengthen your faith, you can help sustain this work through a voluntary contribution. Every gift supports future writing, audio, and teaching.

Sustain the Work

More than fifty years later, that future does not feel theoretical.

Work changes. Technology changes. Communication changes. The way we receive information changes. Even the meaning of expertise is changing. Often, the next disruption arrives before we have fully adjusted to the last one.

That creates a deeply human fear:

What if I can’t keep up?

What if the skills I spent years developing no longer matter?

What if I fall behind?

What if I become irrelevant?

In this first teaching episode of The Formed Future, I want to go beneath the predictions about what may happen next.

Because the future is not merely coming toward us.

It is already forming us.

The Question Is Not Only What Comes Next

Rapid change creates pressure to move faster.

Learn more. Read more. Master another tool. Follow another expert. Pick up another skill. Try to understand the next platform before everyone else does.

Learning is good. Curiosity is good.

Fear-driven learning is different.

When we become convinced that we must constantly keep up in order to remain valuable, there is no finish line. There will always be another development tomorrow.

And eventually that pressure begins shaping the inner person.

Fear about money shapes us.

Feeling behind shapes us.

Worry about artificial intelligence and changing jobs shapes us.

The effort to remain relevant shapes us.

So before we ask, What is going to happen next?, perhaps we need to ask:

What is all of this already forming in me?

No Longer Tossed Around

Paul gives us a powerful picture of maturity in Ephesians 4:13–15.

He describes immature people as being tossed back and forth and carried around by every wind. The alternative is not knowing enough to predict every wind.

The alternative is growing up.

Growing into Christ.

Paul’s answer to instability is maturity.

That distinction matters in an age when information is nearly unlimited.

We can know a great deal and still have poor judgment.

We can have access to more information than any generation before us and still be easily manipulated.

We can become highly capable without becoming spiritually mature.

Romans 12:2 describes another side of this same process:

“Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”

Conformity shapes us from the outside.

Transformation works from within.

The world around us will exert pressure. We cannot stop that. But we do not have to allow the world to do all the forming.

From Fragmentation to Coherence

One of the words I keep returning to in The Formed Future is coherence.

A coherent life is one in which the pieces increasingly fit together around Christ.

What I believe about God begins to fit with the way I make decisions.

My understanding of who I am begins to fit with the way I respond to fear.

My work, relationships, values, hopes, and choices increasingly grow from the same center.

Future shock tends toward fragmentation. Everything feels urgent. Our attention is pulled in several directions at once.

Formation in Christ moves us toward coherence.

I believe four qualities will become increasingly important as we move into the future:

Coherence

I know what holds my life together. I do not need to reinvent my identity every time the world changes around me.

Discernment

I learn the difference between what demands my attention and what actually deserves it.

This becomes especially important with artificial intelligence. AI can dramatically increase our capabilities. It can help us think, research, compare, create, and solve problems.

But capability is not judgment.

More answers do not automatically make us wiser.

We still have to think, question, evaluate, compare what we encounter with Scripture, experience, wisdom, community, and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Confidence

Our value cannot depend upon the current market value of our skills.

Jobs may change.

Roles may disappear.

Ways of contributing may change.

That can be painful, particularly for someone who has spent decades becoming very good at a particular kind of work.

But changing usefulness is not the same as changing worth.

Our value comes from somewhere deeper.

Steadiness

Steadiness does not mean never becoming worried, surprised, or confused.

It means those emotions do not automatically get to make our decisions.

We can feel pressure and still choose our response.

We can face change without allowing change to determine who we become.

I Felt This Pressure Too

I have had to confront this in my own work.

When I began seriously building Power Love and Miracles, writing books, producing podcasts, and developing my work as a subject matter expert, I was in a hurry.

More accurately, I was panicked.

I was looking ahead financially and believed this work might need to begin producing meaningful income quickly.

Suddenly, work I loved carried another burden:

It had to work. And it had to work fast enough.

That changes the questions you ask.

Instead of asking, What am I called to create?, you start wondering what will get attention fastest.

Instead of allowing skills and an audience to develop, you feel behind before you have really begun.

I had to realize that I was asking this work to carry more weight than it was supposed to carry.

I still want it to grow.

I want these books, podcasts, devotions, and teachings to reach people.

But I do not have to create from panic.

That is a very different posture.

Spiritual formation does not always remove the pressure surrounding us.

Sometimes it changes the person standing within the pressure.

Formation Practice: Notice Before You React

This week, don’t try to solve the future.

Notice what it is doing inside you.

When you feel pressure to keep up, ask:

Where am I feeling pressure to keep up?

What am I afraid will happen if I don’t?

What is that fear forming in me?

Then ask:

Is this making me more coherent, discerning, confident, and steady—or less?

We cannot discern a pressure we refuse to name.

The future will bring changes none of us can completely predict. Some will be difficult. Some will be wonderful. Many will probably be both.

But we are not helpless.

We do not have to become faster than the future. We need to become deeply enough formed in Christ to meet it.

The question is not only:

Can I keep up?

The better question is:

Who am I becoming while I try?

Scripture

Ephesians 4:11–16
Romans 12:2

Coming Next

In TBU 106 — Guarding the Inner Gate, we move from noticing what is forming us to asking another question:

What are we allowing access to our inner life in the first place?

Once we recognize the forces competing to shape us, we can begin exercising discernment about which voices are allowed to remain.

The Formed Future is about becoming the kind of people who can meet rapid change with maturity rather than fear—formed deeply enough in Christ to stand, discern, love, and participate faithfully in whatever comes next.

Prefer to listen? Hear today’s episode of Still, Here audio reflections podcast.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:14-16

that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ; from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.

Reflection

There are seasons when life feels less like walking and more like being carried. Not carried in the gentle way of grace, but carried by pressure. The news shocks. The economy shifts. Work changes. Technology advances. Family needs rise. One more thing appears before the last thing has been absorbed. Before long, the soul begins living in reaction mode.

Reaction mode does not always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks normal. You answer the next message. You solve the next problem. You make the next adjustment. You try to stay useful. You try to stay steady. But inside, life feels unanchored. You are not choosing from a deep center. You are being moved by whatever wave has arrived most recently.

Paul gives the church a different picture. He says we are not meant to remain children, tossed back and forth and carried around by every wind. He is not insulting the child. He is describing spiritual vulnerability. Children are easily moved by what is loud, immediate, impressive, frightening, or persuasive. They do not yet have the inner weight to stand when pressure rises.

Christ does not shame us for feeling the waves. He helps us grow. Maturity in Christ is not the ability to predict everything that will happen or to stay calm because we have mastered every variable. It is the slow formation of a center strong enough to remain responsive to God when the world around us keeps moving.

That kind of maturity matters for the future. The future will bring changes we cannot fully anticipate. Some will be exciting. Some will be costly. Some will affect the way we work, communicate, think, learn, and serve. But the first question is not, What will happen next? The deeper question is, Who am I becoming as it happens?

A tossed-around soul reacts to everything. A maturing soul learns to stand. Not rigidly. Not fearfully. Not with clenched control. A maturing soul stands in Christ, listens for truth, receives love, and learns to respond appropriately.

The formed future begins here. Not with knowing everything that is coming, but with trusting that Christ is forming steadiness within us for whatever comes.

Formation Practice

Notice one moment when you feel pulled into reaction. It may happen when you read a headline, answer a message, think about work, hear someone speak with certainty, or feel pressure to make a quick decision.

Pause and ask three questions:

What wave is moving around me right now?

What reaction is rising in me?

What would a Christ-formed response look like here?

Do not force an answer. Let the pause itself become the first practice of steadiness.

Prayer of Formation

Lord Jesus,

Grow me up in You. When the world feels unstable, form a steadiness within me that is not rooted in control. Show me when I am being carried by fear, urgency, or pressure. Teach me to stand in Your truth, receive Your love, and respond from the life You are forming in me. Help me to stand instead of being tossed around.

– Amen

Carry This Prayer With You

Breathe in: When the waves move around me…
Breathe out: … grow steadiness within me

Formed Future Statement

I am not helpless in the waves. Christ is growing steadiness within me.

Continue the journey

If this devotion helped you pause, breathe, and receive your place in the love of Christ today, you are invited to continue walking through the full Love Beyond Measure 31-day series.

Subscribe free to receive each new devotion and its companion Still, Here audio reflection in your inbox. Together, we will move beyond collecting spiritual ideas and begin allowing the love of Christ to take form within us.

See the pattern. Hear the teaching. Live the prayer.

You can also explore the deeper Bible teaching through The Bible Unplugged at Power Love & Miracles.

If these devotions are helping you, a paid subscription helps sustain this work and allows the full journey to remain available to everyone.

Which line from today’s devotion are you carrying with you? You are welcome to share it in the comments.

This episode is part of Have This Mind – a 31-day devotional series on developing the mind of Christ

Go Deeper (If You’d Like)

You can:

• Read the full written devotion at PowerLoveandMiracles.com
• Subscribe for free to receive reflections by email
• Explore related teachings on The Bible Unplugged podcast

Everything is available at:
PowerLoveandMiracles.com

Sustain the Work

If these reflections strengthen your faith, you can help sustain this work through a voluntary contribution. Every gift supports future writing, audio, and teaching.

Sustain the Work

Scripture: Galatians 4:19

My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you-

Reflection

We are being formed all the time.

We change and grow every day. The deeper questions are what we are changing into and who or what is informing that change.

Attention forms us.

Repeated thoughts form us. Relationships form us. Loss forms us. Success forms us. The voices we trust, the stories we absorb, the environments we inhabit, and the technologies we use all exert pressure on the person we are becoming.

Formation does not wait for us to become intentional about it.

When we are passive, we are at the mercy of whatever forces are strong enough to hold our attention.

Paul gives us another possibility. He speaks of Christ being formed in us.

That formation is already God’s work. The Spirit has been present through everything we have explored in Love Beyond Measure. God has been strengthening, renewing, revealing, joining, healing, and teaching us to live from love.

Intentional spiritual formation does not mean taking that work away from God and becoming responsible for constructing a better self.

It means becoming attentive to what God is developing and learning how to participate with Him.

We begin asking different questions.

What has my attention right now?
What kind of person is this habit making me?
What fear keeps shaping the way I see?
Where do I sense more life, truth, love, courage, and freedom?
What is the Spirit asking me to release?
What might God be making possible that I have been too afraid or distracted to see?

Those questions move us from passive formation toward intentional formation.

And that is where the future begins to change.

The future is not merely something waiting somewhere ahead of you. Part of it is already taking shape in the person you are becoming today.

You cannot control everything that will happen around you. You do have agency in what you give your attention to, what you practice, what voices you allow to define reality, and how available you remain to the Spirit.

God is not standing at a distance waiting to see whether you manage the future correctly.

He is working within you now. He will be present in possibilities you cannot yet see. He will continue turning the compass toward life in Him.

You do not have to be certain about the future to become confident about entering it.

You can become intentional about what is forming you.

In our next devotion we begin The Formed Future.

We will not begin by trying to predict what comes next.

We will begin with the person who will meet it.

A prayer of presence

Christ Jesus,

You are already forming me from within. I do not want to give my life passively to every voice, fear, habit, or pressure that competes for my attention. Make me aware of what is shaping me. Teach me to participate willingly with the work of Your Spirit. Form in me a life that can meet the future with love, courage, wisdom, and freedom.

– Amen

A practice of grace

Pay attention to what receives the most of your mental and emotional energy today. At the end of the day, ask, “What is this forming in me?” Do not judge yourself. Simply notice. Then offer that area to God and ask what intentional response might create more room for the Spirit.

Consider this...

If I am always being formed, what do I want to become more intentional about now?

Carry this prayer with you today

Breathe in: Christ is forming me...
Breathe out: ... I offer my future to God

Continue the journey

If this devotion helped you pause, breathe, and receive the mind of Christ today, you are invited to continue walking through the full At the Threshold 4-day series.

Read the next devotion, carry the breath prayer with you, and let this become more than a thought for the day. Let it become a quiet practice of renewal.

See the pattern. Hear the teaching. Live the prayer.

You can also listen to the companion reflections on Still, Here and follow the deeper Bible teaching through The Bible Unplugged at Power Love & Miracles.

Subscribe now

This episode is part of Have This Mind – a 31-day devotional series on developing the mind of Christ

Go Deeper (If You’d Like)

You can:

• Read the full written devotion at PowerLoveandMiracles.com
• Subscribe for free to receive reflections by email
• Explore related teachings on The Bible Unplugged podcast

Everything is available at:
PowerLoveandMiracles.com

Sustain the Work

If these reflections strengthen your faith, you can help sustain this work through a voluntary contribution. Every gift supports future writing, audio, and teaching.

Sustain the Work

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the way we work, learn, communicate, create, and make decisions. Medicine is changing. Education is changing. Careers are changing. The amount of information competing for our attention continues to grow.

Some of these changes will be remarkable. Some will be disruptive. Most will probably be a mixture of both.

But the most important question may not be, What is going to happen next?

It may be: Who will we become while it is happening?

In this special, unnumbered episode of The Bible Unplugged, Brent steps away from the normal teaching format to explain why the upcoming series, The Formed Future, has become so important to him—and why it represents an important direction for Power Love and Miracles.

For more than forty years, Brent’s pastoral ministry has placed him beside people whose expected futures suddenly disappeared. A diagnosis changes everything. A spouse dies. A career ends. A body stops cooperating. The map someone had been using no longer describes the territory in front of them.

Those experiences have shaped the way he looks at the extraordinary period of change we are entering now.

The central question is pastoral as much as technological:

How do human beings live faithfully when the world they knew begins changing underneath their feet?

Paul offers a powerful picture in Ephesians 4:14–15. Christian maturity means becoming people who are no longer “tossed back and forth” by every wind that blows around them.

Paul’s answer is not to stop the wind.

His answer is to grow.

To become mature.

To become rooted deeply enough in Christ that every new cultural, political, technological, or economic wind does not determine who we are.

That may become one of the most important spiritual tasks of the years ahead.

The church can spend enormous energy trying to predict the future while neglecting the formation of the people who will actually have to live in it. The Formed Future takes a different approach.

The goal is not to predict 2035.

The goal is to become the kind of person who can faithfully meet whatever 2035 brings.

That means learning to remain loving when others become hostile, discerning when others become confused, peaceful when fear becomes profitable, and fully human when efficiency threatens to become the highest value.

It also means recognizing that technology can amplify what is already inside us. Powerful tools shaped by wisdom and compassion can accomplish enormous good. The same tools shaped by greed, fear, domination, or contempt can magnify those qualities as well.

So one of the most important Christian questions about technology may not simply be: What can this do?

It may be: What kind of person should I become before I use this power?

That is why information alone is not enough.

We need formation.

And that increasingly describes the direction of Power Love and Miracles.

Steady explored how to develop an inner life that does not rise and fall with every circumstance.

Love Beyond Measure invited us to live from God’s love rather than endlessly trying to earn what God has already given.

Still, Here has become a daily practice of presence.

And now The Formed Future asks: What kind of person is God shaping me to become for the life ahead?

Over the coming episodes of The Bible Unplugged, Brent will explore that question through themes including attention, wisdom, power, love, human identity, vocation, and faithfulness in a future we cannot completely see.

The goal is not simply for Christians to survive rapid change.

It is for us to become role models for how human beings can live through it.

To stand without becoming rigid.

To adapt without losing ourselves.

To think without surrendering love.

To use power without worshiping it.

To face uncertainty without being ruled by fear.

And to walk into a future we cannot see with confidence that God is already there.

The world does not need Christians who know exactly what is going to happen. It needs Christians who know who they are when it does.

Scripture

Ephesians 4:14–15
Philippians 4:6–7

Coming Next

TBU 105 begins The Formed Future series with:

The Future Is Already Forming You

The future is not simply waiting somewhere ahead of us. The habits, technologies, voices, fears, hopes, and repeated choices of today are already shaping the people we are becoming.

I am not afraid of the future. I am deeply concerned about entering it unformed.

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