Do you feel like your life is on hold? Are your unfulfilled dreams fading? You are not alone. God has not forgotten your dream. He is working behind-the-scenes in ways you do not see. God sees a beautiful diamond inside each of us, but it takes time for Him to cut out the impurities in our [...]
Failure is an event. Failure is not who you are. Thomas Edison said, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” A friend of mine played high school football. In one game, his team lost by one point. The fans blamed him for the loss and vandalized his home by scrawling [...]
Snoopy from Charlie Brown fame was sitting in his doghouse grumbling to himself on Thanksgiving Day. Everyone else in the house was eating mashed potatoes, turkey filling and other scrumptious food while he was stuck with his dog biscuits. Then he got a revelation that changed his attitude. He said, “Come to think of it, [...]
“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all,” said author Dale Carnegie. Remembering this helps me to not quit when the going gets tough. I have also learned some other pointers that have helped me to [...]
Twenty years ago I wanted to quit. I felt like a complete failure in life and in church leadership. I was the senior pastor of a mega-church that had started with only twenty-five people about twelve years earlier. Although I knew I had clearly heard from God to start the church and we experienced His [...]
Most of us hate to be criticized. I know I do. But receiving criticism is a part of life. I have discovered that I can choose from five different responses toward any criticism that I receive. 1 - Disregard the criticism, and never think of it again. Assume the person criticizing me has some personal issues [...]
One word from God will change your life forever! God desires to speak to us. The real issue is whether or not we have learned to hear Him when He speaks. The Bible is filled with stories of people just like you and me who heard God speak to them, and their lives were changed. [...]
There are ten subtle progressive steps the devil tries to lead us through to eventually destroy us. I call these the Ten "D's" of the Devil. And it all starts with experiencing disappointment. Have you ever wondered why Christians sometimes fall into deception and make shocking decisions? I am convinced that it’s directly related to [...]
Twenty years ago I served as senior pastor of a mega-church. I often felt insecure and struggled with knowing how to make decisions and lead effectively, especially when there were differing viewpoints. One day one of our team members said, “Go find a leader you trust and ask him to mentor you.” I took his [...]
Mark Rutland, former president of Oral Roberts University, recently wrote that at age 21 he was in an Amish kitchen in Bird-in-Hand, PA. This is about sixteen miles from our house. He said he saw a sign that he’ll never forget: “Too soon old, too late smart.” “When I saw it,” he said, “I thought [...]
