SPIRITUAL LONELINESS—feeling separated or distant from God–is not just the absence of joy; it’s the pain of separation from the Lord and others. On the coin’s positive flip side is how SPIRITUAL LONELINESS can push us toward a deeper and more authentic relationship with God where we can fight off feeling lonely and experience relational balance with him and others. But we must first CLOSE THE...

Early in my faith walk I did everything I could to IGNORE and cover up my weaknesses through faces and facades. Money and materialism. Power and pride. But when my spiritual maturity deepened and I drew ever closer to Christ walking with Jesus every day, something odd and wonderful happened. I became INSPIRED by my WEAKNESSES.    How could that be?    “That is why, for Christ’s...

I saw many interesting things yesterday on my drive from Yosemite National Park to Southern California. All I had to do was pay attention and look out the window. And that got me thinking about Christians driving through life missing signs that are “hidden in plain sight.” It’s what I call the PRAISE FROM PEOPLE lifestyle. Christians everywhere on planet earth “playing the part” of a believer following...

We need to count our blessings every day, right? OF COURSE! But if we’re not vigilant and paying very close attention, human nature will steer our focus away from BLESSINGS and move it toward WOUNDS. And if we’re SPIRITUALLY LONELY—separated or distant from God—counting our blessings will seem IMPOSSIBLE.    Once that happens, wounds and worries have a way of hijacking our thoughts and prevent...

I’ve been driven by AMBITION my entire life. It started in elementary school trying to dominate recess. Expanded while performing on the football field in high school and college. And exploded in the marketplace as an ambitious corporate CEO trying to get a piece of everything the world offered. My chase for worldly AMBITION ended unceremoniously after realizing I had never included the strong desire...

What was the first LIE you believed in your life? Everything can be perfect. It’s possible to live a problem-free life without pain. Relationships will never have strife. This list is long, so I’ll stop here and insert what I feel is the most destructive LIE we believe when we experience the reality of a broken world:    I am alone.    This is the LIE we believe when ALL those...

Many Christians who say they are NOT lonely are actually waging a daily battle with LONELINESS.    Yesterday we addressed the epidemic of LONELINESS that is snaking around the world. We reviewed how this ministry’s January 2022 survey revealed that Christians in over 100 countries are living with LONELINESS.    But we also learned this TROUBLING FOOTNOTE to that tragic story:    Believers...

Millions of Christians around the world broke their slumber this morning feeling LONELY. Some are so LONELY that they hurt deeply. Others are so LONELY that they want to give up…on everything.    That’s the tragic picture painted by results from this ministry’s January 2022 survey that took the spiritual pulse of believers in over 100 countries. It’s a picture that breaks my heart and one...

Plenty of comments have come in from our global online tribe during this month’s focus on SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE and it was extremely difficult to choose just one to close out January. But the comment/question that stood out above the others focused on the REASON we need to develop SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE—to trust God for everything and subordinate ourselves in the process. Here it is:    “Pastor...

BELIEVER BOLDNESS bounced quickly to my mind this morning when I considered what messages need to be delivered on SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE before the calendar tosses January back and brings February forward. That thought came to me after realizing how many Christians seem to have locked away their BELIEVER BOLDNESS.    I want to address this reality here by using my FIRST-HAND experience to...