Why You’ll Never Be Ready for All of Life’s Troubles
God may give me way more than I can handle—and I think that’s normal.
Articles by Philip Graham Ryken
37 results found
Why Pastors Should Be Good Readers
When pastors do the right kind of reading, it can heighten sensitivities to the literary forms of the Bible.
Why Ordinary People Matter to God
One of the things that I love about the stories in the Bible is how many ordinary people you meet.
Why It's Wrong to Take God's Name in Vain
One of the remarkable things about God is that no one ever named him.
Why Did God’s Beautiful Plan of Redemption Involve Something So Ugly?
When we consider carefully what Jesus was doing on that old, rugged cross, we can understand why it was so ugly. To atone for our transgressions, Jesus had to shoulder our guilty sins.
Why Beauty Is a Problem without God
I think in a way, for somebody who has not yet surrendered to Jesus Christ, beauty is a problem because beauty is so evident in this world, and it awakens a desire for eternal things.
Why All Christians Should Expect Trouble
The longer you live in this fallen world, the more kinds of trouble you face.
When Trouble Comes: Phil Ryken’s Personal Testimony
A year or two ago, Phil Ryken went through a season of deep spiritual discouragement; some would probably call it depression.
When Doubt Seeps In, Look to Thomas
Sometimes it is hard for us to believe in life after death. The true Bible story that shows this perhaps most clearly is the story of “Doubting Thomas,” as he is usually called.
What to Do When It Feels Like God Is against You
When you’re facing times of trouble and it feels like God is against you, there are two important things to do.
The Work of the Trinity in Salvation
Michael LeFebvre, Philip Graham Ryken
God plays the symphony of our salvation in three movements. Each of these movements is associated with and facilitated by a different Person of the Trinity.
The Song of Songs: Highly Practical, Deeply Spiritual
When people read and interpret the Song of Songs, there are a couple of mistakes that they often make.
The Secret to Resolving Conflict
The Song of Songs does give us some guides for navigating marital conflict.
There’s Always More for You in Scripture
The more delight we take in the Bible, the more we want to get into it, and the bigger difference it makes in our spiritual lives.
The Importance of Lament in the Midst of COVID-19
The more you know about lament, the more things really come alive to you in reading Jeremiah's lament. His lament is so relevant to the suffering that we’re going through right now.
One of the hardest people to love is a self-righteous sinner who thinks he has his spiritual act together.
Take Your Doubts about God to God
God always invites us to take our troubles straight to him. This is what godly people have done throughout history.
Resisting the Power of Idolatry
One of the things that has really helped me understand the power of idolatry in our own time and place is, strange to say, the plagues in the book of Exodus.
Practical Help for Times of Trouble
The things that have helped me in times of trouble are the ordinary things that God talks about in his Word.
The question for each of us is: What is the one thing that is keeping me from giving everything to the kingdom of God?
Learning to Endure Life's Troubles Like Jesus
Whatever trouble you are facing, there is somebody that you can relate to in the Bible.
Is Beauty an Attribute of God?
Beauty is clearly an attribute of God. That’s why the psalmist sometimes uses the term “beauty” to describe God.
Intimacy with Christ Is for Men and Women
The Song of Songs gives us permission to have a very intimate, affectionate relationship with Jesus.
How to Read (and Not Read) the Bible
We have to read the Bible as literature, but we also have to recognize that it is unlike any other book we know.
How to Pray in Times of Trouble
When we cannot articulate our prayer requests to God, the Holy Spirit understands our groanings and translates them into intelligible prayers that God the Father can understand and will answer.
How to Hope in God When Life Gets Hard
Simply knowing the end of the story gives us hope in our present circumstances.
How to Apply Literary Sensibility to Christian Doctrine
We need a sensitivity to the different genres of literature in order to make the move from the literature of the Bible to the doctrines of systematic theology.
How Does the Trinity Practically Apply to Your Life Today?
Michael LeFebvre, Philip Graham Ryken
The Trinity is undoubtedly one of the most mysterious Christian doctrines.
Do You Take Your Irritability Seriously?
We should take our irritability much more seriously, because it is the very opposite of love.
Doubt can be a stimulus to faith, or an ongoing annoyance in the Christian life, or a fatal blow to someone’s loose commitment to Jesus. It all depends on what we do with our doubts.