Effective leaders offer discouraged people strength, not comfort. Most people want comfort, not strength. Believers in China or Cuba or Iraq or Sudan today need strength more than comfort. They need both, but if they have to choose, they clearly need strength. We are no less at war, but our war is less visible and our culture offers the pretense […]
A great daily prayer might be, “Lord, give me ears that hear and eyes that see and a heart that listens and obeys!” As a large crowd was gathering, and people were flocking to Him from every town, He said in a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some fell along the path; […]
Father, please cause Your Kingdom to come here, by causing Your will to be done here just as it is done in Heaven. By instruction from Jesus, that is part of the disciples’ prayer. The launch of the mission to help that prayer be answered was the choosing of 12 initial apostles to colonize the earth with the power, the […]
Holy Spirit wants to teach you all things. He is capable of being your only Teacher. That is not His usual method, though. In the past, He has used many means to transmit information, explanation, and direction. Angels, dreams, angels in dreams, animals, insects, teachers, prophets, evangelists, seasons, friends, enemies, demons, Scriptures, apocryphal Scriptures, creative imaginations, stars, planets, rivers, oceans, […]
Billy Graham made the hymn “Just as I Am” become perhaps the most well-known church song ever by having George Beverly Shay sing verses of it at the invitation at the end of each of Billy’s sermons. His invitation was accepted by many people because of the welcome he helped them feel by the power of the love Jesus had […]
Your identity is comprised of what you do and to whom you are related. In eighth century villages, everyone knew who your parents were, so you didn’t really need a last name. I think there are probably a few hundred Douglas Thomases, so even last names are not sufficient to identify uniqueness today. Where you were born fits into the […]
Peter was hiding while Jesus was paying for my sin (and Peter’s) on the cross. He accepted the invitation of Jesus to stand again in hope and in purpose, though. When I feel that my failures and sins have been too much, when my fears and doubts make me give up, I cannot stay in those defeated places. I don’t […]
There is currently an attempt to overthrow the government of the United States being waged by the same criminals who were successful at the same crime in North Korea, China, Venezuela, Cuba, Vietnam, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and other nations. Their tactics include promoting racism (BLM and Critical Race Theory), destroying family-based morality (LGBTQ and the lucrative […]
I expect that when a child first becomes capable of carrying on a conversation, their favorite word will almost always become “Why?” When we learn how to answer that question, we can lead them into a level of creativity that should become supernatural. When we stifle that question, we will likely push them to ask it of people whose answers […]
Every good word that has been spoken was a tiny piece of these two things: Love Yahweh with all you have and with all you are Love your neighbor like you love yourself Those are not new commandments, but if you pause a few minutes and listen to the Spirit of Jesus, He can probably give you a new idea […]