Grace has to be the loveliest word in the English language. It embodies almost every attractive quality we hope to find in others. Grace is a gift of the humble to the humiliated. Grace acknowledges...

Consistent, Timely encouragement has the staggering magnetic power to draw an immortal soul to the God of Hope. The one whose name is Wonderful Counselor.

In solitude, struggles occur that no one else knows about. Inner battles are fought here that seldom become fodder for sermons or illustrations for books. God, who probes our deepest thoughts during protracted segments of...

God never calls His people to accomplish anything without promising to supply their every need.

Let your passion become a passionate pursuit of Me. And as you follow, the sheep will follow.’ (John 21:20-22)

God never asked us to meet life’s pressures and demands on our own terms or by relying upon our own strength. Nor did He demands that we win His favor by assembling an impressive portfolio...

Jesus has prepared the way and has made following our destiny possible, whereas we are helpless by ourselves. We can find and fulfill our purpose by responding to the clear, simple call of Jesus Christ:...

When the Lord makes it clear you’re to follow Him in this new direction, focus fully on Him and refuse to be distracted by comparisons with others.

The devil, darkness, and death may swagger and boast, the pangs of life will sting for a while longer, but don’t worry; the forces of evil are breathing their last. Not to worry…He’s risen!

Believe me, once you have tasted worship—the kind of worship that captures your heart and rivets your full attention on the living Lord—nothing less satisfies. Nothing else even comes close. Once you have tasted true...

God has called His creation to find satisfaction in a personal relationship with Him, and stop trying to manage the world by conforming it to our expectations, and to allow Him to govern His creation....

Peter’s destiny lay along a different path from John’s. And your calling is unlike anyone else’s. But the call remains the same: “Follow Me!

God presents the Sabbath rest as a shelter we can enter. (Hebrews 4:1-11)

You and I can become so dedicated to the will of God, we can be so driven by a false sense of purpose, that we might inadvertently take matters into our own hands and leave...

Your call will become clear as as your mind is transformed by the reading of Scripture and the internal work of God’s Spirit. The Lord never hides His will from us. In time, as you...

While I wholeheartedly believe in choosing to approach every challenge with a great attitude, I don’t mean that we should abandon authenticity and live in fantasyland.

If you life is an example of glorifying God, others won’t see your good works and glorify YOU, because they’ll know what you are doing is for God’s glory.

To be “in Christ” is to place one’s trust in Him for salvation from sin. To be “in Christ” is to trust His goodness, not our own; to trust that His sacrificial death on the...

We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string...

Life…as God intended it enables us to live above the drag of fear, superstition, shame, pessimism, guilt, anxiety, worry, and all the negativity that keeps people from seizing each day as a gift from Him.

While God is not the author of evil and He never prompts or condones sin, nothing occurs without His sovereign oversight. Others may choose to do evil deeds and God’s people may suffer in the...

Fortunately, God made all varieties of people with a wide variety of interests and abilities. He has called people of every race and color who have been hurt by life in every manner imaginable. Even...

If you allow it, [suffering] can be the means by which God brings you His greatest blessings.

If your motive is in any way to promote greatness for yourself, you’re in the wrong calling.

When we panic, we instinctively turn to our own internal resources because we doubt Him.

[God] is able to take your life, with all of the heartache, all of the pain, all of the regret, all of the missed opportunities, and use you for His glory.

To require God to prove that He is able and willing to fulfill His promises would be proof positive that one does not trust Him.

When you suffer and lose, that does not mean you are being disobedient to God. In fact, it might mean you’re right in the center of His will. The path of obedience is often marked...

Fortunately Jesus didn’t leave [the disciples]-or any of us-without hope or direction. Where we fail, Jesus succeeded. The only One who as able to recognize and follow His purpose from the beginning was Jesus. He...

Joy is a deeply felt contentment that transcends difficult circumstances and derives maximum enjoyment from every good experience.

I cannot at the same time accept the glory and give God the glory… Glorifying God means being occupied with and committed to His ways rather than preoccupied with and determined my own way. It...

While God, for the most part, allows this cosmos [creation] to work according to the laws of nature, there is never a time when He is not actively involved in every detail of life.

After Peter came to recognize his own inadequacy, his utter inability to fulfill his destiny apart from obedience to his only true responsibility, he became a rock-solid leader. As his story unfolds in the book...

The crisis of physical hunger is essentially a crisis of faith. What or whom will you trust to meet your most basic needs? Will you trust the God who made human bodies, or will you...

Like sin itself, Satan appeals to the senses. He originated and perfected the art of disguising evil as good.

God gave laws to His people to bless them, not to burden them. Every rule either elevates the quality of human life or restores one’s relationship with God after a breach. He makes no extraneous...

Deep, contended joy comes from a place of complete security and confidence [in God] – even in the midst of trial.

…ask yourself, “Who’s getting the glory in this ministry?” You see, if we do ministry OUR way, it won’t be for His glory, because our ways are not His ways.

Jesus never commanded believers to produce fruit. Fruit is the *purpose* of the branch, but it is not the *responsibility* of the branch. The branch cannot produce anything on it’s own. However, if it remains...

…when you trust the Lord God to give you the next step, when you wait in humility upon Him, *He* will open the doors or close them, and you’ll get to rest and relax until...

Jesus didn’t come to earth to establish a new religion. He came to restore a broken relationship. He came to make the primary, primary again. The secondary activity of obedience to the law of God...

Attitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, money, circumstances, than failures and success, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance,...

It takes faith to find personal significance in your relationship with God rather than how much money you earn, how beautiful you look, how many toys you own, how many trophies you collect, or how...

Peter must have thought, “Who am I compared to Mr. Faithfulness (John)?” But Jesus clarified the issue. John was responsible for John. Peter was responsible for Peter. And each had only one command to heed:...

[Jesus] plan called for action, and how He expressed it predicted its success. He didn’t say “you *might* be my witnesses,” or “you *could* be my witnesses,” or even “you *should* be my witnesses.” He...

Boldness in the course of a noble fight is worth the risk…If you stand on truth, you’ll only regret your timidity later, but you’ll never regret being bold.

Isn’t God the one who urges us to “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord”? Why do we always think that means singing? Seems to me the most obvious joyful sound on earth is laughter…...

Anything under God’s control is never out of control.

The Promised Land was a tangible representation of God’s ultimate desire for His people, but they failed to comprehend His gift for at least three reasons: It was unconditionally promised, it was outrageously generous, and...

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances,...