Jesus – Jerry Lout ⚬ Writer ⚬ Speaker ⚬ Mobilizer

February 12, 2026February 11, 2026

Talking With Whom?

In the mid-1970s a gifted couple were putting together a series of Bible studies to help equip church leaders across Africa. Fred and Grace Holland* found themselves mulling over the program’s course on Prayer. “What name can work that best identifies the heart of this practice?”, the couple wondered.

The textbook, Talking with God – a modest-sized publication bearing an attractive green-tint cover design – still enjoys wide usage across the continent.

If prevailing prayer reflects the life rhythms of a maturing Christian, anyone who engages the discipline finds themselves in admirable company. From Abraham to Daniel and from Hannah, the mother of Samuel, to Hannah the widow in the temple where little Jesus was dedicated.

This practice (talking with God) has, through history, helped form his people into a different kind of humanity. Christ’s apprentices have grown to exhibit his core nature.

“Talking with” God implies something beyond a mere one-way conversation. In listening attentively to God’s voice – spoken through the revealed word (holy scripture) and through impressions and promptings brought forward from his own indwelling presence – the believer grows receptive to Christ’s particular “way of being”. Like a caterpillar-turned-butterfly, change is underway from the inside out.

As one’s own heart then finds voice (silently or verbally) – offering up thanksgivings, petitions, groanings – or bursts of joyful praise. A longed-for resemblance to God’s son takes form. Apprentices of Jesus, habituating themselves in their talking-with-God discipline, take on over time, just a little bit more of the likeness of their Lord. His graces: Goodness. Patience. Meekness. Lovingkindness. . .

As the writer of Celebration of Discipline put it, “The primary purpose of prayer is to bring us into such a life of communion with the Father that, by the power of the Spirit, we are increasingly conformed to the image of the Son.”*

January 29, 2026January 28, 2026

Fuel For The Road

The self-confessed Bible History and Language Nerd Tim Mackie sees Jesus of Nazareth as “utterly amazing and worth following with everything that you have.”* Mackie is one of millions of believers who have found Jesus to be the “supreme treasure”, the “priceless pearl” referenced in Christ’s own parables. For such disciples, there is nothing that brings more satisfaction and joy than living out their Christ-centric lives in the power of grace.

Grace-fueled.

It is said that grace is God acting in our life, to do what we cannot do on our own. Consider a mighty rocket, launching astronauts up and away from planet earth – out and beyond her powerful pull of gravity. Now think of the amount of rocket fuel needed to bring about such a feat.

Christians are persons who depend upon the “fuel” of grace – not just to gain forgiveness of their wrongs – which is amazing. The disciple of Jesus routinely “burns” more grace than a lunar-bound rocket burns fuel at lift-off.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age”**

Still, while grace is essential in walking out the Christian faith, the believer’s participation is vital.

Learning to ride a horse well (in that confident, pleasurable style witnessed in a good Western movie) calls for observing and engaging some practical things. The result then (resting easily in the saddle, rolling with the horses cadence when she’s walking, trotting, galloping, or turning) comes easily. Surprisingly so. All that is typically needed is (a) desire to master the art of horseback riding, (b) paying attention to detail and (b) engaging in repeated practice.

Two of my granddaughters grew up overseas. In a matter of weeks after Claire and Grace started showing up at South Africa’s Ladybrand Village for riding lessons, they had taken on the look of seasoned cowgirls. How? They aspired. They paid attention. They trained.

A growing number of Christ-followers, regardless their “place” in the journey, have sensed a stir. A robust appetite after him has taken hold, and they are pivoting toward the preferred way, the more satisfying way. Some of these precious souls are (for the present) occupying spaces outside formalized church structures. Whatever the case, increasing numbers of hungry believers are shifting toward a vibrant with-God life of flourishing in Christ. In some cases, whole communities of the faithful have chosen to re-center afresh upon God. Moved, empowered by his extravagant grace.

January 8, 2026

Best Ever

With the sure knowledge that the loving Trinitarian Presence is alongside us, we discover that partnering with God himself is life-giving. And indispensable, in the day-by-day process of spiritual transformation.

Scripture (as usual) helps us reset our internal compass – the Spirit aiding us with course-corrections at every needed juncture. “And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image”*

Now comes the other non-negotiable amidst our yearnings to see his ongoing favor bringing growth to our lives. We ask afresh, what again is the goal?

As members of the ragtag company of individuals that Jesus calls his disciples, we are not left to flounder. No one needs to feel they are “adrift at sea”. A disciple (apprentice to Christ) is anyone earnestly pursuing life with God in the ever-unfolding enterprise of growing to resemble Jesus more and more.

That essential (non-negotiable) element that is linked to our partnering with God is our engagement in practicing, or training.

If you are anything like me, a lot of yardage stretches out ahead between me and the finish line. On some days the goal post (representing a consistent resemblance to Christ) appears like a faint mirage far downfield. Welcome to the apprenticing life!

A wonderful and gratifying discovery in any persons’ forward movement – regardless of the amount of yardage gained – in Christian apprenticeship is this. We travel in the company of other pilgrims, guided along by the best-ever mentor.

Our Lord is patient and encouraging beyond words, our brilliant and gracious guide. He, Jesus, shows himself to be the best friend and companion one could hope for on any pilgrimage. Ever.

December 18, 2025December 17, 2025

Learning Curve Cont’d

Those who knew him (directly or indirectly) would attest that Professor Willard modeled well what it can mean to progress over time into a kind of person who would naturally and routinely exhibit much of the nature of the Lord Jesus. Willard, ever a trainee himself and no stranger to challenges of his own along the way, subscribed, with a robust and warm-hearted tenacity, to a foundational conviction. A truth grounded in Scripture and advanced among apprentices to Jesus across the centuries:

“A disciple is a person who has decided that the most important thing in their life is to learn how to do what Jesus said to do.”

This kind of conviction calls for embarking on a rigorous, adventurous (and as it commonly turns out, utterly satisfying) journey into training.

Among the more weighty (and worthy) thoughts for any image-bearer to ponder may be the following – also penned by the esteemed USC professor.

“The most important thing in your life is not what you do; it’s who you become. That’s what you will take into eternity.”*

November 20, 2025November 20, 2025

Fun Petitioning

Milestones. When they come around, a great many are met with celebrations. My birthday some weeks back was no exception. An unexpected bonus got slipped in. The entry here, published in the TIMES paper where I’m privileged to offer up weekly articles, gives rise to much gratitude.

* * *

This coming Monday, September 29, 2025, is to mark for me another completed circuit around the sun! This time, a noteworthy milestone – since my birth year is 1945. And, it happens that, to my great pleasure, I will be in Okmulgee, the city of my childhood. How cool will it be – strolling her streets on my eightieth, accompanying an assembly of fellow Jesus-followers. Praying with them over this very special community. (If you’re so inclined, come join the fun!)

But wait. Prayer? Fun?

Just to be clear, interceding (verbally appealing to the Lord in the heartfelt care of others) is not to be summed up solely by the word fun. However. If praying, when examined across the pages of the Bible and through the centuries of its practice demonstrates anything, it is this.

Christ means for joy to mark the lives of his apprentices.

“Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father. . .'”; “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.*

When petitioning God about things on our hearts we may indeed groan at times. Over the state of our world, over our homelife, over the lives of others in their crushing needs. This is part of authentic praying and is often modeled for us in Scripture. The Spirit of our Lord calls us to it. Bob Pearce, founder of World Vision Intl., captures the sentiment as well as anyone, “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God”.

Still, where praying can, and often does, include the groan of lament (passionate expression of grief or sorrow), such heaviness of expression does not fully reflect the disposition of prayer. Not at all.

Scripture is generously peppered with the sounds of God’s children, his apprenticing followers, freely voicing their joyous, celebratory (fun-filled) declarations to him. We are urged to jump into the fray. “Rejoice in the Lord always”, Paul exhorts, then adds, as if to ensure that we catch the Father’s happy longing, “. . again I will say, ‘rejoice!”**

A helpful posture of heart is called for at our meetings-up with Christ. Whether in praying or in serving, whether through lament or celebration, the believer is not called upon to “make something happen”.

Teeth-gritting, fist-clinching attempts at praying are foreign to the way of journeying with the Lord Jesus – Inventor of the easy yoke.

November 6, 2025November 5, 2025

For Good Measure

Apprenticing through Practice.

“Measure twice, cut once.”

Carpenter-trainees know the phrase well. When setting out to cut a piece of lumber, the worker employs his time wisely, even when extra seconds of time are called for. By taking care to measure and mark the piece – not once but twice – the craftsman guards against mistakes (some can be costly!) and avoids senseless waste.

The “measure-twice” phrase loops in the head repeatedly during an apprentice’s early tutoring under the guidance of their craftsman-teacher. The mantra, being revisited again and again over time – in both mind and bodily action – transforms an important quality inside the carpenter-wannabe. They are never the same, and happy for the change.

The carpenter apprentice might at first regard the “measure-twice” action as a pointless waste of time. But not for long.

Any successful tradesman in any field has applied himself to (firstly) pay attention to instruction and (secondly) to practice – practice – practice.

We don’t have to look far within Scripture to spot a seasoned follower aligning himself to the way of Jesus Christ.

What does Paul coach the believer in, once they are challenged to reframe their thought life toward things of “excellence”? As a spiritual journeyman, so to speak, Paul invites the following:

“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

October 16, 2025October 15, 2025

The Chase

“Practice makes perfect”, so goes the saying.

Aiming for Christlikeness, in the sense of fully mirroring Jesus’ faultless nature, is likely a reach too far. Still. Every believer can go, and is welcomed to go, a meaningful distance in narrowing that gap.

The late Brennan Manning stated with refreshing candor: “When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. . .”

A Franciscan priest, and author of *The Ragamuffin Gospel, Manning noted that God’s gift of grace brings to us: “Power to believe where others deny, to hope where others despair, to love where others hurt. This and so much more is sheer gift”.

The priest further lays his heart bare in characteristic self-disclosure, “My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.”

In A.W. Tozer’s list of qualities he found reliably present in the nature of God, noted that one of them is God’s Immutability. God’s nature is reliable. He doesn’t change. God loves, and he loves without deviation. His love is immutable, always in “on” mode. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases” (Lamentations 3:22)

So, we ask the question. Do I wish to grow to be more like Jesus. . . that is, to love as he loved and called us to love? Or, short of this, could I bring myself to sincerely whisper, “I want to want to love in this way”?

Either position can be a perfect place to begin and to proceed forward from.

September 18, 2025

Best Thing Ever

The artificial intelligence gurus are the first to confess in these early stages that A.I. is not always the ideal source of garnering accurate information. That said, in curiosity we floated a phrase to the Web, wondering if A.I. had it in her to crank out an “intelligent” response. The phrase submitted is:

Life in Jesus, the great treasure.

A.I. shot back:

“The idea is that a life centered on Jesus brings a deeper sense of joy, purpose, and fulfillment than any temporary earthly pleasure.” (how does one high-five a mechanism that mimics the human brain!?)

In one publication John Piper asks, “What is Christ to us if he is not our all-satisfying treasure?” His article continues,

“The primary point (in Jesus’ parable) is that Christ, in his kingly greatness, is supremely valuable. The secondary point is that the way to have Christ as our treasure is to experience such a joy in his value that he is more to be desired than all our other possessions put together. Receiving Jesus as our treasure really does imply joyfully treasuring him.”

The statement rings true. Yet, as we know, coming to joyfully treasure another person does not usually happen overnight. Typically, we grow to value the special person more and more as we give time getting to know them. We learn who they are, their character, their personality and values.

Ann and I will, by year’s end celebrate the 58^th time circling the sun together as husband and wife. While it was certainly love that found us pledging our vows before the minister those years ago, we have, along the way grown deeper in our relationship. We treasure more fully this marital union, and this spouse (continuing to stand alongside) “for better or for worse”.

In a similar but even richer way, the disciple of Jesus comes to know their Lord more intimately over time. The apprentice comes to joyfully value and treasure the person of Jesus.

The follower of Christ happily echoes a line made famous by gospel singer James Cleveland,

“Jesus is the best thing that ever happened to me”.

August 28, 2025August 27, 2025

Dying To Live

Give me liberty or give me death!

Patrick Henry’s declaration – heralded in his impassioned speech of March 23^rd, 1775 – fanned sufficient flame among a gathering of oppressed colonists to help launch a war for independence. Since the days of Henry’s speech, cries for the preservation of America’s freedoms have repeatedly rung out strong. From sea to shining sea.

Long centuries before Patrick Henry of the Virginia House, and long before the Continent of North America became a “thing”, the voice of an advocate for another kind of freedom was catching the attention of many.

The villages and towns where Jesus preached in the small patch of territory of the Middle East were held in the grip of Rome’s mighty empire. While the rabi’s message of emancipation did not specifically place Ceasar in its crosshairs (as Patrick Henry’s message did for Britain’s King George III) Jesus did – like Henry – employ straightforward language to do with sacrificial dying.

Jesus indeed did go to the grave (before rising from it). Yet the triumph that he secured by the freedom-revolution he led – and still leads – keeps the act of dying as a centerpiece within the communities of all who would know him as their liberating king.

The route taken by the follower of Jesus, bringing them to ever-unfolding life in his kingdom, is ever the path of dying.

Scripture’s words can sometimes rattle a soul. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

The persecutor-turned-apostle reminded his Corinthian friends, “I die daily”, attesting that a practicing disciple is one who lets go of his own identity, and grows increasingly in union with Jesus. Paul brings home the paradox – dying leads to living – as he graphically personalizes the revolutionary truth,

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”

August 7, 2025August 6, 2025

Leaning In

Thelma had lugged her suitcase onto a cross-country bus. Clyde had leapt aboard the moving box car of a west-bound train. Their vision for a new life together was matched by Intention. Without purposeful action any vision – noble as it may be – will plateau, then die.

Mom and dad’s dream of a more hopeful future was matched by their “on-purpose” action. The only remaining element had been the means. Enter Greyhound Lines and the Santa Fe railways. Any vision that is brought to a place of fruition calls for actionable intention and for “vehicles” (useful, practical means) to see the vision through.

My wife’s high school clarinet served as her means, on which she practiced long hours (intention) to achieve her aspiration. Her vision of performing as a top-level musician in Billings, Montana’s West High band.

The V.I.M. (Vision – Intention – Means) principle holds just as true for the disciple of Jesus Christ in their spiritual-life formation. A disciple, in other words, is a Jesus-follower who has set out on a lifelong journey, daily incorporating all three of those needed elements.

Practice Makes Complete

Most of us are acquainted with the well-worn “practice makes perfect” adage. While walking with God for sure calls us to an ongoing progress in our growing-up-lives in the faith, we are urged to aim for something different than perfection. At least in the way we often think of that word.

When the New Testament writer states, “whoever says he abides in him (Jesus) ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”*, he is not suggesting that a Christ-follower lives a life of flawless perfection. That measure of excellence would be – as the saying goes – “above our pay grade.”

What the disciple is called to leaves the devotee amazed. Inside the heart of the Christ-follower a vision is birthed. But the “visionary” is not left to muddle through on his own steam. A living, all-present person, with shoulder-aplenty to lean into, has come alongside. **The Holy Spirit of God inspires and enables as the apprentice proceeds forward, haltingly at times for sure, still employing the indispensable components – intention and means. Being called to,

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. . “***