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We are about to embark on an adventure with the fundamental spiritual disciplines of solitude and silence. This may be the most challenging for us, but the potential rewards are enormous. I’m kicking off this emphasis with a look at how God used solitude and silence in the prophet Elijah’s life, as well as how other people in the Bible, including Jesus, practiced it. Practicing these disciplines before God could substantially improve our lives.

Nothing makes the devil happier than when the regulars in Christ’s kingdom service attack each other. If we’re going to get down-to-earth about the Christian life, we not only need to think about why we’re here but who we’re with – and how we’re treating each other.

What would you do if the government, desperate to raise funds, started taxing church-attenders? What if it cost your family, $500 a year to be Christian? Would you pay the price or hide your faith? There have been times when being a Christian cost a lot more than $500. Even today, it is very costly to be a Christian in some places. How can we respond when our commitment to the Lord Jesus gets costly?

I question the biblical basis for snake handling and the wisdom of those who practice it. And yet, there are times for handling snakes. The chemical properties in snake venom have been used medicinally to treat cancers, high blood pressure and other diseases. But if you need to handle snakes, you’d better know how to do it. The same is true of handling money: If you need to do it (and don’t we all?), you’d better know how to handle it in a way that protects us from getting poisoned.

What are we supposed to do with our desires? We’ve gotten ourselves in trouble in the past because of them. Would we be better off if we didn’t have desires? Should we repress them? Should we extinguish them? Or should we just give up and live with them, and tell ourselves, “We’re only human, after all”?

If you want to sound smart, use Latin in a conversation. You might try the phrase, sine qua non. “What? Pepperoni is the sine qua non of a good pizza!” Sine qua non, literally rendered, is: “without which, nothing.” It refers to something that is indispensable; an essential condition. Is there a sine qua non, an indispensable condition, for following Jesus? Yes, there is!

Jesus never hid the fact that his followers would have their share of trouble – and more. Nearly every New Testament writer warns us that we will suffer – it is inescapable. But getting down to earth about this is about more than knowing we will go through hard times. It’s about knowing how to go through hard times and painful trials successfully – and in a way that makes our heavenly Father glad.

On the surface, the story in Mark 11:12-25 is so bizarre the famous scholar T.W. Manson said: "It's a tale of miraculous power wasted in the service of ill-temper... and as it stands it is simply incredible"

But we're not going to stay on the surface. There's something important going on here, and we don't want to miss it. We also want to take to heart Jesus's important lesson on praying more effectively.