The Reality of Our Present World

The biggest reason why people give up, why people slow down, or why people don’t reach their potential is fear.Fear that they aren’t good enough. Fear that they will fail. Fear that they aren’t qualified.But God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies those who are called. You see this in the story of Moses. Of David. Of Saul. Of Noah.These stories in the Bible speak of people who were fearful. People who lacked faith. People who were nobodies that…

Your heart is going to grow for the kingdom, more and more as you mature, which allows us to receive more and more of God and enjoy so much more of the life he’s giving. But this can be very disorienting if you don’t understand what’s taking place within you. Just as you reach a place where you feel satisfied, it seems you need more. That’s because your soul is expanding, which is a very good thing. Some of the old habits, even the old comforts, just won&rsquo…

Learn to hear the voice of God. Yep. It’s the simplest, most helpful, least practiced treasure and it will literally rescue you in countless ways. The secret of the Christian life—and Christian marriage—is that you don’t have to figure it out. You don’t have to figure life out, you don’t have to figure each other out, you don’t have to figure parenting out, or money or family. You have a counselor, you have a guide, you have God.…

Aaron Burr anxiously awaited the result of the tie-breaking vote from the US House of Representatives. Deadlocked with Thomas Jefferson in the 1800 race for the presidency, Burr had reason to believe that the House would declare him the winner. However, he lost, and bitterness gnawed at his soul. Nurturing grievances against Alexander Hamilton for not supporting his candidacy, Burr killed Hamilton in a gun duel less than four years later. Outraged by the killing, his…

Hard times are inevitable in this life. We will lose loved ones. Some of us will face difficult ailments. We may even be wrongfully accused or mistreated. The range of human suffering is broad, but God is a refuge for those who trust Him. We often feel bewildered during such trials, but having an eternal focus lifts us from despair. God is still the sovereign Lord of the universe. The key to dealing with difficulty lies in trusting the One who is in control of all things.…

A one-year-old boy shattered his back falling down a flight of stairs. He spent his childhood and youth in and out of hospital. Gavin Read, the former Bishop of Maidstone, interviewed him in church. The boy remarked, ‘God is fair.’ Gavin asked, ‘How old are you?’ ‘Seventeen,’ the boy replied. ‘How many years have you spent in hospital?’ The boy answered, ‘Thirteen years.’ Gavin asked, ‘Do you think that is fair?;…

Why did Nicodemus visit Jesus at night? Fear of what his peers would do if they found out. He wasn’t alone in this; John says that “many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue” (John 12:42). They chose job security over Jesus. This fear is a mighty powerful force. The fear of man. Peer pressure. What will others think? This can get deadly. This…

In 1947, a young New Yorker named Glen Chambers had a lifelong dream to work for God in Ecuador. At the airport on the day of departure, he wanted to send a note to his mother but he didn’t have time to buy a card. He noticed a piece of paper on the terminal floor and picked it up. It turned out to be an advertisement with ‘*Why*?’ spread across it. He scribbled his note around the word ‘Why?’ and put it in the post box. That night his airplane…

It was the mid to late 1980s, and there were plenty of opportunities to make tons of money in real estate and a whole lot of other things. Real estate just happened to be my drug of choice—the thing that looked pretty, seductive and pleasurable but ended up being my ultimate demise. It was about my need for significance played out in a very public way. After all, who doesn’t admire a wealthy young man with a lot of flashy toys, including big waterfront homes and…