People have always compared themselves to others, but today’s internet-addicted society has taken the practice to a staggeringly dangerous level. Believers are in a vulnerable position like everyone else, of course. We can easily be tripped up and fall into the comparison trap by thinking “I am already wise” and superior to others.    God says STOP!    “Don’t be impressed...

I Did NOT Know Prudence and Wisdom are Brothers    I was reminded this morning by Proverbs 27:12 that I had missed this powerful truth for many years early in my faith walk. Prudence and wisdom are brothers!    “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.” Proverbs 27:12    Prudence is the power of discernment, cautious discretion,...

Our thirst for happiness is INSATIABLE in this world, and if we do not have the wisdom to seek it in God, then we will find it in the world (Proverbs 15:21). Our thirst for happiness is INSATIABLE in this world, and if we do not have the wisdom to seek it in God, then we will find it in the world (Proverbs 15:21).    The ways people seek happiness apart from God are too many to count, but...

It was early in my faith walk and even though it is painful in retrospect, God has used it for good in a mighty way. It was refreshed in my mind this morning when I was reading Proverbs. “Pretty words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a common clay pot.” Proverbs 26:23    Two incredible powerful messages emerge from this verse—1) Burning Lips; and 2) Wicked Heart:    Burning...

The book of Proverbs is LOADED with instruction on UNDERSTANDING (Proverbs 2:11; 3:13; 14:33; 16:16). That got me wondering…if getting understanding is so important, why can’t we lean on it?    Because life’s pain and anxiety come when we lean on our OWN understanding and think we are smarter than God.    It is INSANE to trust our woefully inadequate understanding when God’s unlimited...

God used my quiet time this morning to remind me about “fighting the good fight” and to encourage others to focus today on the same thing because we all have a fight to fight. The first thing we must remember is that the fights we wage in life are not against a weak foe. Far from it. We are fighting the enemy and he does not want to be our friend. He wants us dead.    Whatever fight you...

   Early in my faith walk I learned through much pain that being “ready for God” does not come from trying hard to be spiritual. It does not come from acting the way Christians are supposed to act. And it does not come from being a “good person.” Being ready for God comes out of a “right relationship” with him to see where we are and where he wants us to go. It is being ready every day,...

Believers through time have experienced the shame of being ruled by our spirit and held captive in the grip of passionate anger. Instead of thinking before speaking, we speak without thinking and the carnage comes fast. Winning that battle has always been hard. It takes more courage and wisdom to resist an angry response than it does to take a city.    Anger almost always stems from our...

That was the late, great Tom Petty’s timeless and probing line from his 1981 mega-hit “The Waiting.” He was right then and it’s still true today–waiting is the hardest part because we’re living in the age of NOW. Impatience is our weakness that needs everything to go according to our plan.    Patience demands incredible INNER STRENGTH that can only come from God. It’s the strength...

I came away from reading Proverbs 12 this morning with a palpable fixation on wanting to live a RIGHTEOUS life that becomes a witness by giving people around me a glimpse of Christ at work. At first I was deflated—more like flattened, I would say–by that seemingly unreachable state. But then God calmed me down and I started to think it through.    My starting point was that God’s...