prayer

The Peace of God [Audio]

2019-12-27T16:31:02+00:00By Joel|discipleship, Kingdom of God, memories, prayer, Spiritual Formation, theology, Worldview|

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." John 14:27 "The peace of God is not about the mere absence of conflict, but rather about His abiding presence throughout whatever comes our way." December 8, 2019; Invitation to Peace Peace. It's a topic that I keep coming back to. It's like north on my heart's compass. I may get off-track. I do get off-track, but 'peace' - it keeps leading me back. I never understood why until my feet wore to callouses and, well, my heart did too I guess. I've walked [...]

Prayer Drawing

2019-05-17T00:37:17+00:00By Joel|prayer, Prayers and Blessings, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation|

Recently, I've been doing a meaningful practice with my family that I've been calling "Prayer Drawing." It originally came from a conversation that I had with Steve Macchia (the author of Crafting a Rule of Life) at a conference. The first time we tried it we did it to the song "Good Shepherd" by Fernando Ortega, and our girls loved it. Lately, we've had the opportunity to experiment with this on a regular basis. In a sense, what we do is kind of Lectio Divina-esque. Lectio Divina (from the Latin: divine reading) is a prayer practice where you are reading Scripture for the purpose of transformation (as opposed to information), and from the place of prayer you are [...]

Waiting (Live)

2018-01-24T22:31:40+00:00By Joel|DGRA, In The Margin, Memoirs, Music, Perseverance, prayer, Story|

It's one of the most meaningful things to me to be able to recollect and perform songs that I've performed for years, and this one is one of my favorites. It's rare to have recording of the song's intro also, so it was fun to catch it on tape, as well as having my wife take the lead with me. I hope you enjoy this little snapshot of my life and music. Waiting By Joel Bidderman Verse: This road is dusty And it’s getting to my eyes So that I can’t see where I’m going Or even the time But I’ll trust in You Though it feels hurtin’ to me And though I can’t see Verse [...]

The renewal of listening

2020-04-20T00:51:39+00:00By Joel|Create, Morning and Night, Music, Nomad Chronicles, prayer|

There are moments where everything changes, because you can hear so clearly. I remember in my exuberant teen piety, I would pray time and time again, "Lord, I give you everything I am. I am fully Yours." I would burn my 'secular' music in bonfires, and anything else that I felt separated me from God. I went on a mission trip to South America where I came face to face with real poverty, and it turned my world upside-down. I returned to the states with a flipped worldview: I couldn't go back to the way things were. A couple of months later I was helping to lead a youth lock-in at my church, and with little [...]