SELF-DISCIPLINE WILL GUARD US FROM DISASTER AND HELP US ACHIEVE OUR POTENTIAL Many of us identify with Oscar Wilde who famously said, “I can resist anything but temptation.” But temptation needs to be resisted. That’s where self-discipline comes in. In last week's blog, we talked about the...
THE FREEDOM TO ACHIEVE OUR GREATEST POTENTIAL IN LIFE DEPENDS ON SELF-DISCIPLINE Someone once said, "In order to be free to sail the seven seas, you must make yourself a slave to the compass." This is because every freedom has a corresponding bondage, and every bondage has...
NAVY SEAL TRAINING APPLIED TO THE CHRISTIAN LIFE Navy SEAL training is among the most challenging military training in the world, involving six months of long, torturous runs in soft seashore sand, midnight swims in the cold water off San Diego, brutal obstacle courses, unending calisthenics,...
BE HAPPIER, BE HEALTHIER, MAKE A GREATER IMPACT This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a uniquely American holiday. Its origin was a "First Thanksgiving" celebrated by 53 pilgrims and 90 Native Americans in October 1621. It was a three-day feast for celebrating a...
HOW TO KEEP A SPIRITUAL FOCUS IN A PHYSICAL WORLD The Book of Job pulls the curtain of reality back and allows us to get a remarkable glimpse of both the physical and the spiritual world at the same time. We see the physical world of a...
INVESTING TIME, TALENT AND TREASURE IN LIGHT OF ETERNITY This life is not about this life. This life is about the next life. And we are to live this life in preparation for the next. Colossians 3:1-3 says, Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking...
THREE PASSAGES THAT COMBINE TO CREATE A FORMIDABLE BARRIER AGAINST SPIRITUAL DISCOURAGEMENT About two weeks ago, I had the privilege of speaking at the Xcelerate 2017 Discipleship Conference, at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, along with two other presenters, Michael Kelly, author of Transformational Discipleship: How People...
3 SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE AND ACCLERATE YOUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH Dr. Caroline Leaf is a neuroscientist and committed Christian who is taking the lead in revealing how brain science can help Christians grow spiritually. She writes in her book, Switch on Your Brain: Self-directed neuroplasticity is a...
A SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE FOR RENEWING YOUR MIND AND TRANSFORMING YOUR LIFE As you know, I am big on taking truth through the brain over and over again to encourage mental renewal. My enthusiasm for this principle comes from two things. First, a reading of Romans 12:2, which...
FOUR EXTRAORDINARY DEMONSTRATIONS OF GOD'S LOVE Though there is plenty in Scripture to indicate that God loves us, some of us are still unconvinced, held back by the nagging question, "But if He really loves us, as He says He does, why doesn't He take better...