I love to challenge myself in just about everything, but especially in my faith walk by asking the HARD questions. And that is exactly what my wife Cindy and I did this past weekend on a trip to the hills just outside of Yosemite National Park to celebrate our birthdays. (It makes it easy when our birthdays are three hours apart in the same year). Anyway…after a long walk in a silent forest, I relaxed...

Let’s face it, we do not like to ask for HELP. Not for directions on the road. Not for advice on what we wear. Not for input on what we should or should not eat. My challenge to you today is the next step in our end-of-year Faith Inventory process and is expressed as a question: “Are you asking God for HELP?”    Please set aside your quick, reflexive YES and be OPEN to the possibility that...

I LOVE DECEMBER! It has my birthday and my wife’s birthday—born 3 hours apart in the same year, btw. It has our wedding anniversary. And, of course, most important of all, it has CHRISTMAS. But there’s another high point in my December—a life-transforming year-end review of where I am in my walk with God and where he wants me to go. I introduced that process to you in the past couple of days and my...

Yesterday I shared how in early December of each year I take inventory of my life and then build a “CHANGE RAMP” leading into the new year. Today we are going to focus on COMMITTING to this process and that comes with this CAUTION:    You may be thinking, to one degree or another, “I’ve heard this before and I am already ready for the new year.”    That’s OK because that’s normal....

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...