Growth & Development

Overcoming Excuses to Make a Change

Growth & Development, Overcoming /

One of the joys of starting a New Year is the opportunity it affords to initiate a long overdue and much needed change. It is a season ripe for a breakthrough – that will free us from the inertia of the past while propelling us to possess a preferred future – that will break us free from the old while enabling us to lay hold of the new. That is the essence of what we call turning over a new leaf.

When it comes to finally doing what we have hoped and longed to do, many of us can sound like the lame man laying at the Pool of Bethesda. He had a paralytic condition that hindered him from being able to respond in time to the stirring-of-the-water seasons that periodically came along for his healing. As a result, year after year rolled by with their missed opportunities, and his excuse for his inability to change became his testimony – “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” (John 5:5 NIV).

Excuses abound when desired change is not forthcoming. We easily can become fixated on the things that seem to be holding us back. Not unlike the man stuck at the edge of the pool, just feet away from his breakthrough, most are quick to cling to excuses rather than seriously consider what it will take to overcome them and make the change. Or more precisely, WHO it will take to overcome them and make the change.

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3 Indisputable Reasons to Believe in God

Church History, Growth & Development, Overcoming /

“One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” John 9:25 NIV

What do you as a believer say to an unbeliever who is adept at poking holes in any case you present as evidence for the existence of God? How do you counter their rejection of your appeal to a standard of absolute truth (the Bible)? What do you say to their demand for scientific proof in dismissing your claims to the reality of a spiritual dimension to this life and beyond?

Thankfully, there are Biblical precedents and strategies for answering such objections. One line of approach which I’ve found to be very helpful can be summed up in one word – “history.” The power behind this approach in countering atheistic opposition to truth is in sharing the “HisStory” aspect of history. Emphasizing God’s role, both prophetically and instrumentally, in the writing of His story presents factual evidence that is difficult to dispute. In this vein of reasoning, I share here three appeals to history as undeniable facts that are associated with some form of Divine foreknowledge and supernatural intervention.

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The Power of a Simple Prayer

1 Comment / Answers to Prayer!, Growth & Development, Prayer, Relationship with God /

“Do you love me more than these?” . . . “Follow me!” Jesus – John 21:15, 19 NIV

“God I love you.” What would happen if you traded all your personal prayers for that simple four word prayer? What if you made a commitment to stop praying for yourself, your health, your wealth, and your safety and made it the only prayer you prayed for an entire year? We dare not underestimate the transforming power of a simple prayer, breathed repeatedly from an earnest heart.

Like many, I always marvel at the way God chooses to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things. The stories of such people are both intriguing and inspirational because of the unlikely series of circumstances that catapults them from a life on the couch to life on the edge, from a life consumed by the world to life as a world changer. Their testimonies capture our imagination since most of us can identify with the ordinariness of their lives before God called and transformed them into heroes of the faith.

One such hero of the faith for me is a new found friend named George Sisneros. When I met George during a month long visit to Guatemala last February 2016, I was immediately attracted to his no holds barred love for Jesus and passion to pour his life out for the gospel and the Glory of God. I

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Stay In Your Lane

Growth & Development, Life Balance, Overcoming /

Years ago I was invited to a meeting with a couple of Christian leaders in our city with the purpose of exploring a cooperative ministry effort. I knew each of the men and was familiar with the intensity and dedication with which each led their well established and successful ministries. As I was making the thirty minute drive across town on the freeway I decided to take the time to pray for the meeting. Almost immediately I heard these words, whispered by the Holy Spirit “Stay in your lane!” At that moment traffic was fairly heavy on the four lane stretch of road that I was on and my first impulse was to warily check the lanes on either side of me.

Assured that everything was alright, I figured I would stay in the lane in which I was driving until I needed to exit and turned my attention to what the Lord really intended with the words “stay in your lane.” I knew it was a word of wisdom for me as it related to the meeting. The lane I was being warned to stay in was my lane and focus of ministry. God was reminding me of the importance of fixing my heart clearly on His calling and purpose for my life, and not being drawn or forced out of that lane into the lane of another. Having this quickened in my spirit brought a sense of peace with the realization that there was sure to be pressure in the meeting to change ministry lanes.

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Silencing the Voices of Restriction

Growth & Development, Overcoming /

No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.” Isaiah 54:17 ESV

Have you ever stopped to consider what things are holding you back from serving God the way you’ve always wanted? Can you pinpoint what is restricting you from a whole hearted commitment to following Jesus in the way you believe you really should?

Like most people, I love the opportunity afforded us, as we begin a new calendar year, to turn over a new leaf in our spiritual lives.

Regardless of your answers to the opening questions, the reality is that there are obstacles and restrictions standing in your way of new beginnings spiritually. The enemies of our souls are always seeking to thwart the forward progress of every believer who sets their heart to abide in and do the will of God. These enemies of the world, the flesh, and the devil all afflict us with restrictions that can hold us back from experiencing the fullness of God’s plan and purposes for our lives. It’s as if they have “fashioned weapons against” us that through threat and intimidation, bludgeon us into passivity, or worse yet, retreat and hopelessness.

As this verse from Isaiah indicates, these weapons typically fire their volleys as voices – either from within or without, in the form of a “tongue that rises against you in judgment.” These wagging tongues have a way of pelting us with misbeliefs and untruths about ourselves and God. If we give heed to them they inflict us with a sense of unworthiness, lack, fear or worse, which result in spiritual paralysis.

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