God is making your obedience known to all – far more people than you realize.
They see the work He is doing in your life.
And those who hunger for God will be drawn to you.
In your past you have been wise concerning what is evil.
You must now pursue the wisdom of the pure.
And soon the God of Peace will crush Satan under your feet. [click to continue…]
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“In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language.” -Mark Twain
In communication, clarity rules.
But logic is only one way people make sense of things. [click to continue…]
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When the clock tolls the launch of a new dawn
And people start stumbling toward their routines,
There in the early light of day many are searching for more –
They’re looking for the light…
They’re looking for you.
When the morning meditators do their thing
And the quiet prayers of hidden millions ascend to heaven,
There in the expressions of thanks and need and hope
They’re looking for the light…
They’re looking for you. [click to continue…]
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Two extremes.
Two in-your-face, He-can’t-be-serious statements made by none other than Jesus Christ.
Two simple statements of fact covered up and made sleepy by years of self-initiated religion.
I’ll tell you right up front – you’ll say you believe it. But I would gently challenge you that on typical days you probably don’t.
The statements? Read this slowly as if you’re reading it for the first time (maybe you are!): [click to continue…]
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Quiet.
Quiet?
Yeah, quiet. You ask how I am… I’m quiet.
In what way? Are you upset?
No. I don’t think so. Just quiet.
Worse ways to be, I guess.
I suppose so.
And what brought you to this place of being so quiet?
I guess it all started with this sense of yearning – of longing for something more in my walk with the Lord.
That’s a good thing.
Sure, ‘til I realized what’s in the way.
Which is…? [click to continue…]
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Nobody who takes on a leadership role sets out to blow it. I’ve never heard of a CEO who dreamed of halving his market share, a pastor who fantasized about getting the right foot of fellowship, or a government leader who longs to go from hero to zero.
But leadership failure happens. Often. And while it can happen quickly at times, usually there are warning signs. Unfortunately, most of the time we wait for hindsight to convince us of what foresight and insight have probably been hollering all along.
If you’re a leader, or have the ear of one, you may want to pay attention to these seven warning signals before it’s too late. [click to continue…]
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The world is full of complex, overwhelming problems.
It’s also full of all sizes and shapes of problem solvers. [click to continue…]
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Take me again to the Chamber of the Beloved –
To the place where I can remember my place again.
Sing over me with love and delight.
Restore my soul, oh, restore my soul. [click to continue…]
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I found myself strangely moved.
The other day a pastor friend, who is walking through new beginnings of his own, sent me a copy of this Thomas Kinkade painting from 2005 titled “Gate of New Beginnings.” I have always appreciated the work of “the Painter of Light,” but mostly at a distance. This one felt up close and personal.
Here’s what Kinkade himself said about it: [click to continue…]
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Years ago I was shopping for a stereo and learned an interesting lesson in the store. I cranked up the volume on a set of speakers and was impressed with what I heard. But the sales assistant told me that even a mediocre set of speakers could do that. The measure of a speaker’s quality, he said, was how low you could turn the volume and still hear quality sound. Then taking the volume all the way to zero, he slowly raised the level. Before the dial reached “1” I was hearing a full range of music from a quality set of speakers.
The same idea is true in the spiritual realm, as no less than Elijah from scripture can testify. [click to continue…]
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