What Is, and What Can Be

The proverb is true, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18) Vision is central living a Spirit-led life. Vision is a powerful motivator, and it helps clarify direction and decisions as we move forward. There truly is power in vision. It is also true that vision needs to come from the right source. Too often we equate our personal hopes and dreams […]

More Than a Diagnosis

Imagine this scenario. You arrive at the doctor’s office after taking a fall, with sharp pain in your arm. The doctor examines you, runs a few tests, and takes X-rays of your arm. After looking at the results, she informs you that your arm is broken and that is the cause of your pain. You wait but nothing happens. You ask about your broken arm, […]

Why I Never Volunteer at Church

I hear it frequently, and have many times over the past 30 years of ministry, “We just cannot get enough volunteers.” It seems like most churches wrestle with this issue. How can we get more people to volunteer for the various ministries we offer? Sometimes, this leads to a place of great frustration where leaders begin to believe that nobody cares about the ministry of […]

Choice

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land […]

Wait for It

“Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.” – Habakkuk 2:2-3 Twenty-four years ago, God gave […]

Lift off!

There is nothing quite like knowing you are on your way! There is a sense of excitement and joy that comes from each new beginning in our lives. We feel things begin to tremble as we begin to launch and we know that we are underway, something amazing is about to begin. The anticipation is tangible. Even facing some fear and the unknowns, we know […]

5 Steps for Breaking Free (Gravity Pt. 3)

Identifying the sources of negative spiritual gravity in our lives is the first step to breaking free. When we see what is holding us back, those things begin to lose some power in the light of that exposure, but knowing gravity exists will not give us the power to overcome its pull. We need to take active steps to move upward. Here are five steps […]

7 Sources of Negative Spiritual Gravity

Yesterday, we considered the challenge of overcoming negative sources of spiritual gravity holding us back from living an adventurous life with Jesus. In order to break free from the pull of these strongholds, we must first identify them. While the list could be quite long, here are seven common sources of negative spiritual gravity: 1. Familiarity This is the one, as a pastor, I encounter […]