Yes, that headline presents a bold challenge. But I know it is worth taking on because EVERY December God helps me reflect on the past year and look ahead to the next. And the results from exercising this spiritual discipline over the past 10 years have been, well, TRANSFORMATIVE. Adjusted attitudes. Restored relationships. Clarified ministry direction. But we must COMMIT to the process and do the...

By now you have finished up the last of the leftovers from Thanksgiving and said goodbye to family and friends that joined you to celebrate America’s fall tradition. But BEFORE turkey day skips too far out of your viewfinder, consider what part of it you should take into the next 361 days before throwing another turkey in the oven. And for everyone else reading this from another country around the...

It’s THANKSGIVING and that means Christians everywhere will be expressing their gratitude to God and thanking him for his blessings. That’s great! But God wants us to think of Thanksgiving as more than an OBLIGATION to fulfill. You know: “God is so good to me I must show my gratitude.”    Make no mistake–all of that is EXACTLY right! But God does not want us to stop there by thinking...

Living with gratitude is NOT easy. Not even on Thanksgiving Day! Yep…being thankful is difficult, especially when the plot of our life’s movie dives into the dark. With over 1.5 million followers in this ministry’s global online tribe, I KNOW there is much pain and heartache this Thanksgiving in every corner of planet earth. But we are still called by God to be thankful.    “Rejoice...

Try to picture being arrogant and thankful at the same time. It’s IMPOSSIBLE. No wonder God commands us to be thankful (Colossians 3:16–17). And since it’s Thanksgiving week, there is no better time to acknowledge that command.    Let’s start with this powerful truth:    THANKFULNESS pairs humility and joy to knock out selfishness.    But getting that done is anything...

This just in from our global tribe of 1.5 Million online followers: I have doubt about everything in my life. My job and relationships and family and my money. All of it. And when I pray, I do NOT expect God to answer me. I doubt anything “really good” will ever come into my life. How do I break that thinking?    This is a great question that applies to any Christian who prays with at least...

Thinking of ANSWERED PRAYERS from a Biblical perspective hits play on a stream of images rolling through our mind’s projector. We see stories of Diseases Destroyed. Sight Restored. Food Produced. Seas Parted. Attackers Defeated. Death Reversed.    We see GOD at work in those bring-in-the-band answers to prayer. Start-the-parade answers to prayer. Shoot-off-the-fireworks answers to prayer.    All...

If someone tested my HUMILITY early in my faith walk, they would have scored it “FAILED.” I wanted to be a humble person, but the only guide I had was to be “nice.” My grade today would be “work-in-progress.” How did God turn my life around when it comes to humility? PRAYER.    PRAYER helps us grow in humility before God and keeps us away from the HUMILITY KILLER—thinking we can be humble...

Early in my faith walk I wanted to be AMAZED by God. But I had no idea how that happened. I mistakenly thought it would be automatic and that being “a good Christian” would somehow unlock God’s amazing power.    I missed the missing ingredients to being AMAZED BY GOD: Connecting with him through his Word and PRAYING to the Lord of Heaven and earth.    Here’s a fresh example: Just...

Another great question from our global online tribe dropped into my email last night. A young woman asked me this: Mark, how can I PRAY IN FAITH when I am unsure if God is listening or ignoring my request?    The first part of my response to her was that “faith in prayer” has nothing to do with OUR feelings over whether the request is or is not in God’s will or whether he is listening or...