Here's a question from a pastor.

Pastor John, how did you maintain your personal awe of God throughout your three decades of

ministry?

Have you ever burned out?

Have you ever gone through dry seasons and if so, how did you get out of it?

I have gone through very dark and cold seasons and I want to make sure that when I say that

people realize we're not talking about a simple two-phase Christianity like there's really

red-hot, devoted, vital Christianity and then there's cold, dead, dark Christianity.

The fact is there are infinite gradations in between those two extremes and so I would

say I'm in and out of those daily.

It's not like, oh, back in 78 there was a season.

It's like I get up needing to become alive and my strategy has been the same pretty much

all the way along in trying to fight this fight for joy and that is to pray earnestly

while I look at the Bible.

So those two things, my face is set towards God's Word because the season for Samuel 3.21

he revealed himself to Samuel through the Word of the Lord and I want to say Jesus, I need

Jesus, I don't need merely propositions.

I need an encounter with the living Christ and I believe it comes through the Word and yet

I'm staring at the Word and it's not happening, right?

So I'm staring at the Word, I don't say okay the Word doesn't work, I'll go somewhere

else.

I keep staring at the Word and praying my favorite acrostic, I-O-U-S, incline my heart to

...