9 Ways to Guard Your Personal Relationship with God
Like all healthy and satisfying relationships, our relationship with God needs time and energy.
Articles by David Murray
42 results found
How to Pray When You’re Feeling Depressed
During seasons of depression or anxiety, most of us find it hard to concentrate, we feel God is far away, and we despair of God hearing us or helping us.
An Open Letter to the Depressed Christian at Christmas
In the midst of a tough season, learn ways to carefully navigate the holidays while also contributing to your long-term healing.
How to Help Your Kids Get Excited about Reading the Bible
We should and can encourage our children to see Bible reading as a delight rather than a drudge. And the most powerful way of doing that is by conveying our own delight in God’s Word.
6 Tips for Reading the Bible with Your Kids
Here are six practical suggestions for digging into God's Word with your kids.
5 Questions about Mental Illness
Mental illness is an old problem; as old as the fall. Although God made everything very good, when sin entered, humanity—together with the rest of the creation—came under the divine curse.
Help! I’m Feeling Anxious about . . . Everything
Let’s be honest, we’re all worried, aren’t we? The good news is that God knew this day was coming and has provided counsel for us to stop worry at its source.
4 Cultural Factors That Contribute to Our Epidemic of Burnout
Diligence and discernment are necessary to combat these 4 cultural factors that contribute to burnout.
Help! I’m Struggling to Strike a Work/Life Balance
Work is not primarily a place to please our boss, help our customers, make money, or build a career. Work/life balance begins with a biblical view of work.
3 Practical Ways to Battle Depression
There are some basic steps we shouldn’t miss before we try and treat anxiety and depression with medication and counseling.
Help! My Kids Seem Uninterested in Family Worship
Do your kids try to avoid family worship? Do they find excuses not to be there? Do they obviously dread it and groan when you reach for the Bible?
What Is Burnout and Why Is It So Dangerous?
Burnout is physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual exhaustion and breakdown. It is usually caused by living at too fast a pace, for too long, doing too much.
Understanding Teen Anxiety and Depression
One of the best things we can do for our teens is to explain to them that many teens suffer in the same way.
How Husbands Can Protect Their Wives from Burnout
Sometimes, the men are having their day off, but the wives are still doing what they do every other day of the week.
3 Things Overwhelmed Students Need
“Teens” and “rest” don’t usually go together, do they? The teen years are busy years, restless years, hectic years.
8 Bible Reading Habits to Establish as a Young Person
How can we establish healthy Bible-reading habits so that we are connected to God, have a God-centered worldview, grow in confident faith, and enjoy spiritual peace and confidence?
How to Help Your Kids Establish Bible Reading Habits
Ask yourself, What do I want most for my kids? If we're Christian parents, we want our kids to know Jesus, we want them to be saved. Sometimes just writing that down really helps to reorder our lives.
What Is Anxiety vs. Depression?
It's important to realize that anxiety and depression are different while being careful to realize that they do sometimes overlap.
Men, Are You Showing Signs of Burnout?
Recent statistics have shown that 77% of Americans have symptoms—physical symptoms—associated with stress. Then there are emotional symptoms . . .
There are three important factors that will help pastors combat burnout: hardness, honesty, and humility.
4 Pieces of Advice for Stressed Out Christians
Take the necessary steps to communicate about and treat your burnout. These 4 steps will help you begin to heal.
9 Principles for Navigating Anxiety and Depression
What are the general principles to bear in mind as you begin to work with your teen through anxiety and depression?
Practical Ways to Sustain Family Worship
3 Simple Helps I've noticed when I talk about family worship that people say, I've tried it. It doesn't work. Or, I've tried, but I can't keep it going. They are discouraged from even trying …
A Plea for Holistic Christianity
The best way to prevent burnout is to strive for holistic Christianity: spiritual, mental, relational, and physical health.
Does Reflecting on Our Past Hurt Show a Lack of Trust in God?
Trying to write our future story can change our present story. But what about our past story? Can we get any help in the present from reading what’s already been written in our past chapters?
11 Practical Ways to Reduce Digital Consumption
If we can get digital technology under control, we will do so much better—physically, intellectually, relationally, vocationally, educationally, financially, emotionally, and spiritually.
4 Things to Remember When Meeting with Jesus
Pray, have a plan, be patient, and be positive. You will meet him in his word.
Is Your Check Engine Light On?
Are you experiencing any warning signs of burnout? This articles tells you what signs to look for.
Why You Should Go to Bed Early Tonight
Sleep is a gift from God. It’s one of his most wonderful gifts to us—when we receive it as he intended us to receive it.
2 Categories of Questions to Ask When Reading the Bible
The worst thing you can do when you read the Bible is to read it passively or thoughtlessly.
Help! I’m Supposed to Be the Perfect Child, Student, and Christian
We live in a culture of impossible expectations. Teens are under incredible pressure to succeed on a number of fronts. All these impossible expectations lead to an inevitable sense of failure and shame.
How Stress Undermines Our Relationships
Burnout takes a toll on men's personal relationships and support system, leaving them vulnerable to sin.
Why Is Teen Anxiety on the Rise?
What factors contribute to the rise of anxiety in teenagers today?
Depression Isn’t a Modern Problem
Depression has been around since the fall, and the Bible gives examples of even the greatest people who suffered from depression.
How to Stay in Ministry Over the Long Haul
It's important for those in ministry to establish checks and balances in their lives to prevent burnout.
3 Simple Ways to Get Started with Family Worship
Build your hopes and your faith on the truth that God can take his word, with prayer and worship, and bless it to your children’s salvation.
An Implicit Biblical Command for Families
Don’t let perfection become the enemy of progress. Keep a regular time of family worship and encourage your kids to explore the Bible together with you.
Should We Seek to Burn Out for Jesus?
It is wise to pace yourself, even in ministry. Establish healthy limits for yourself and trust God to make your work fruitful.
Help! My Teen Is Struggling with Anxiety
Go to God and ask him to lead you into more understanding of the various factors involved in your child’s suffering: physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, and social.
We’re All Writing the Stories of Our Lives, but We’re All Failed Authors
We’re all writing the stories of our lives, and we’ve all failed to write and publish the book we wanted. Some of us failed at the beginning, some of us fear failed endings, all of us have failed chapters.
Common Barriers to Family Worship
There are barriers to creating a regular habit of family worship, but God has provided many helps to get over them.
A Parent’s Role in Teen Anxiety
If your teen experiences anxiety or depression, it’s very common for you to feel that you’ve failed or you’ve done something wrong. So what do we do with these feelings and thoughts?