spiritual maturity

I spent many years living without the confidence needed to activate my faith, utilize my God-given gifts, and live out my purpose for Christ and his Kingdom.    It pains me now to reflect on those circumstances, but that is not the point God wants me to embrace. The point and key takeaway is how […]

Panic or pray?    That’s one of the most important questions for Christians when they face the trials of life.    The good news? God’s Word is full of seemingly unending promises on the subject of worry, fear, and discouragement.    Below are three steps you can take to reject panic when it strikes.   

It’s one of the most iconic taglines in corporate branding history. But it’s also a line all Christians can use to trigger Christ-like action for him and his Kingdom.    The process starts with this question: What have I done with my salvation?    Yes, we have come to faith in Christ, and we have

“You’re not good enough.”    “You’re not like the “good Christians.”    “You’re never going to find God’s peace. Ever.”    Those are just a few of the piercingly negative thoughts that created a deceptive narrative which would torment me earlier in my life. It felt like a tape was playing on an endless loop

Early in my walk with Christ I wanted to find an easy way to subordinate ME and my desire to play boss so I could promote God to be the CEO of my life. Something like, let’s say, simply drawing a line through the word SELF!    It didn’t take long to toss that nonsense

That image above represents the Jaguar sports car I coveted as a young and hard-charging, success-driven CEO earlier in my life while I was living out what I call Destination-Point Happiness (DPH)—a pervasive and deluded view of the future.    In my own life, DPH was a dangerous game that came from playing boss and

I spent 20+ years earlier in my life living with embers of fear, doubt, and worry ready to catch fire. And they did. The resulting conflagration left much pain and travail in its wake. The consequences were horrific, but God has used all of that for good. In fact, he’s using it right here with

Looking back to when I learned to ride a unicycle as a kid has taught me a powerful lesson as an adult–never grow weary of listening for God, no matter how strong we feel our faith is and how smooth our lives seem to be going.    Even after I mastered the technique (and that

Have you ever ignored that warning as it blinks annoyingly to nab your attention?    I have. Many times, in fact. And each time it happens I think of how easy it is to ignore what God wants to say to us through Scripture, the Holy Spirit, prayer, our circumstances, and other followers of Jesus.

That’s right, the door to God’s grace—his unmerited love to us—is UNLOCKED.    I spent many years fiddling with different keys to open that door, but never even checked the knob to see if it would open! It reminds me of a great story from famous magician Harry Houdini’s life that makes the point perfectly.