Many of the spiritual leaders in the New Testament worked in the marketplace or had their own business. Paul and Priscilla and Aquilla were tentmakers, Lydia manufactured purple dye, and other church leaders were in the fishing industry. Recently, I sat down with Deryl Hurst, Senior Pastor of DOVE Westgate Church, who has lived in [...]
When you read the book of Acts, everywhere Paul and the apostles went there was either a revival or a riot. There was no time in the early church for boring religious tradition. They knew that God had a new plan for them each day. They simply asked Him, listened, and obeyed. There was never [...]
Living life each day can make us dull. We need to be resharpened again and again to stay effective. Ecclesiastes 10:10 says, “Using a dull ax requires great strength, so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.” There are many ways to be resharpened and receive wisdom. But I have [...]
Grumblers have a hard time hearing God speak. The Bible says, “Do everything without complaining” (Phil. 2:14). It’s our natural tendency to complain; we all do it at one time or another. But it is unnatural or even supernatural to give thanks in the midst of life’s trials. Being thankful gets our eyes off of [...]
Almost every week I meet someone who is experiencing the pain of an unfulfilled dream. I’ve discovered that unfulfilled dreams become a part of the Lord’s strategy to get us to where we can know Him more intimately and become the most fruitful. Jesus said: “…unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and [...]
Good leaders learn to resource their weaknesses. In other words, we need to know how God has “wired us” so we do not try to become someone we are not. All of us need people on our team who are able to do many things much better than we do. In his book Me, Myself, [...]
Floyd McClung was a friend, a mentor, and a great blessing to my life. His love for Jesus and his passion to do his part in fulfilling the Great Commission was always evident when I was with him. When I was a young writer, he walked me through the process of working with publishers. I [...]
Because worship is a function of the heart, there really are no formulas for worship. Worship is a lifestyle of bringing pleasure to God through the way we live. Jesus said that all worship must take place “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Rick Warren wrote, “Every activity can be transformed into an act [...]
When our oldest daughter, Katrina, was about three years old, she could not hear properly in her right ear, so we took her to our family doctor. After giving her a thorough examination, he took a tube of water and shot it into her ear. Would you believe that a wad of paper came out?! [...]
St. Augustine of Hippo once said, “He who sings, prays twice.” When we sing and praise God from the heart, something happens. Our song and posture of praise help us see and understand God in a deeper way! We take our eyes off of our circumstances and put them on the Creator of all things. [...]