“The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Prov. 16:9). Think about it this way: if the mind of man doesn’t plan, what does the Lord have to direct? He includes us in His plan for our futures. I want to challenge you to take a more active role in your future. Don’t leave it …
Choosing Your Homeland
Jesus Establishes Two Kingdoms “… He was saying to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world’” (John 8:23). Jesus established that there are two intersecting worlds on this globe called earth; two worlds that share the same earth. Each one has its own distinct characteristics — distinct …
If God Asked Us a Question
If God were to ask you a question and the answer to that question would determine your destiny, what would it be? He asked that of Solomon. “… the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, ‘Ask what you wish Me to give to you’” (1 Kings 3:5). We need to think before we answer; …
Faith in the Making
Faith … it is a word that has been misunderstood, misused, diluted and generalized. Faith has become synonymous to a person’s religious preference. In coming to grips with what is most important, let’s let faith not only be defined, but let’s press on until we let faith define us. “As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, …
Relationships That Delight God
God delights to carry out His will through His children. God is looking for children who are in healthy relationship with Him through which He can carry out His will. God could do it all, but He wants to run it through us because He delights in carrying out His will through His children when they have a good relationship …
Impetuous Words
All of us have the same problem. Impetuous words — words that are reckless, words that we speak first and think about later, only to have regret and remorse. In order to train our tongues so that we refrain from evil, we have to do some preparation in advance and practice certain things until they become part of our default …
The Gift of Friendship
We live in a world that’s crowded and busy, but lonely. We’re desperate for friends and there’s no better example than Jesus Himself who said, “No longer do I call you slaves … but I have called you friends” (John 15:15). The more we become like Him, the more we become someone who others may call “friend,” because the best …
How to Grow in the Stretch
Sometimes, God wants to build our faith like building muscles so God will stretch our faith. Nobody likes to be stretched because there is a tug-of-war of what we should do and what we should not do. We do not like to be stretched because it forces us to make a decision. We have to understand that if God is …
Faith at Work
As we develop a faith for our everyday lives, we especially want to extend that to our workplace — where we spend so much time and have such consistent contact with others. We may not realize it, but our employers, co-workers and customers can either be influenced, impacted by, imposed upon or annoyed by our faith. We may be the …
Unspoken Words
The Bible says to guard two things. The first is, of course, your mouth. “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Ps. 141:3). He says to keep guard over your mouth, but the second thing is important, too. He says the second thing to guard or to keep a lid over …