If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be? If you received a visitation from an angel expressing God’s favor toward you and offering you whatever you most wanted – for what would you ask? Would you ask for money, relationships, skills or health? If you could have anything what would that thing [...]

What are the deep inner needs that people have? We all want to be accepted, to find a measure of joy and happiness, to have a sense of direction and purpose, to be whole and to be connected to others and God. This is a rounded and healthy life.
There are many aspects of life that [...]

When life feels overwhelming it can easily lead to a negative, unproductive spiral if you aren’t careful. A scarcity mentality can sap the life out of life. You know how it works: “I don’t have enough energy, so I will do as little as I can to get by;” “I don’t have much money, so [...]

What do you do when the list is too long? What do you do when you are falling behind and the goals seem too hard to attain? Do you press yourself too hard? Do you press others too hard?
Remember, when all else fails, choose love. Make sure that you “put on” love, like a favorite [...]

There is a Sabbath-rest for the people of God. Anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own heavy, driven, striving efforts. (Hebrews 4:9-10) God wants to invite you to share His rest with Him.
God’s rest is not a matter of inactivity, for God is active even at this very moment. His rest is [...]

Is it hard for you to ask for things? We know that men rarely ask for directions, and that those in the helping services find it difficult to ask for help for themselves, but what about you? As you consider this past week, have you asked for anything?
The book of James says, “You don’t have [...]

Often we miss much of what is going on around us. We tend to be busy with our lives – with the next thing that feels so important to us – that we overlook what else is happening. It is almost as if we only care about what “We” are doing. Remember, however, that life [...]

When you consider God does He seem close or far away? Does it seem that He communicates with you regularly or once in a great while?
In the Old Testament we see record of God showing up in great power to lead and direct His people, but these theophanies were rare and inconsistent. God tended to [...]

You are going to face hardships in life. Unfortunately, the difficulties often come in converging waves with riptide force that seek to pull you into deep waters of faith – where you can’t easily touch ground. The good news is that God will lead you through these trials if you can seek Him and follow [...]

Are you growing as a person? Are you growing spiritually? How can you tell?
Personal growth is necessary for spiritual growth. Some people don’t understand this. They think that they can grow spiritually without becoming more mature as a person. They hope they can become spiritual giants without becoming more honest and responsible. It will not [...]

Are you a starter, a maintainer or a finisher? Are you energized by vision and the front end of projects and endeavors? Or are you wired to work with the vision of others – to tweak it, make it work and keep working? Or do you like to bring things home – taking huge delight [...]

Do you ever feel like your challenges are more than a match for you? Maybe your financial situation looks impossible, or you need to confront someone about something that you think might make them really mad, possibly your work feels too hard or beyond your skill-set, or maybe you feel lonely or depressed and you [...]

I wasn’t able to exercise very well for about 5 weeks due to sickness and schedule issues. This caused me to remember a few of the difficult truths about exercise. It takes a long time to make exercise a consistent practice in your life; you can lose consistency very quickly; and when you stop exercising, [...]

“What if God really had you in mind when He made you?” I heard this thought this week, and it has stuck in the recesses of my mind. The statement is tongue in cheek because it is obvious that the Creator knew what He was creating. David realized this and wrote of God, “You created [...]

When people died in ancient times, particularly in rocky and mountainous areas, their bodies were often laid in tombs or caves, rather than in graves (as we are used to seeing). In order to keep the bodies safe from wild animals, and in order to isolate the smell of decomposing flesh, a large stone was [...]

Have you ever really enjoyed a teacher of some kind, and gotten an opportunity to work with him/her? It could have been someone who taught you a sport, or a skill at work, or a class in school. Working with that person may have felt like a dream come true. You actually got to be [...]