As the church, we are Jesus’ hands, feet, voice, and heart to the world. We invite wounded people into transformational intimacy with our Savior by stewarding both truth and compassion. But there are 3 mindset traps that sabotage Jesus’ mission to wounded people. These 3 mindset traps are so insidious and sneaky we often don’t […]
As God brings wounded people to himself, we as the Church need to learn how to facilitate the healing transformation God wants to bring. Often, this starts with just learning how to pray for people effectively, whether it’s after-service prayer, a phone call from a friend in need, or in a private, dedicated, ministry setting. […]
So I’m staring at a blank screen where this week’s blog post is supposed to be. And I’ve got nothing. My mind is just blank. So I pray, “Lord, I got nothing.” “So write about that,” came his soft, whispered, answer. “What?!?” was my bewildered response. But then I thought, “Ok, let’s go with that. […]
It’s fascinating to me that our New Year here in Western culture occurs in the dead of Winter. I know other cultures’ New Year occurs at different times of the year, and that’s great. I’m sure God is speaking to all cultures with the timing of their New Year celebration, but I’m only qualified to […]
When I was a kid, Christmas couldn’t come fast enough. I loved the big family gatherings, seeing my cousins, all the great food (especially my mom’s fudge), decorating the tree, and of course all the presents. I loved it all. And my birthday is in December. It was the best month of the year. Now, […]
At the end of the day, we all have a choice to make. To keep going or quit. Those are the only two options. We all can have many pivots along the way, where we quit something lesser to pursue something greater. But we never want to quit something greater to pursue nothing at all. […]
So many people live in a scarcity mindset. This causes jealousy and self-destructive behavior in relationships. These people intrinsically believe there’s only a limited amount and I might not have enough. For example, when bosses sabotage their up-and-coming star employees, they’re afraid and threatened by another’s success because of a scarcity mindset. “If you succeed, […]
So often the thing that’s causing the pain in our lives isn’t what we think. It isn’t the blatantly obvious bad fruit like self-destructive addictions or jacked-up relationships. It isn’t the less obvious bad fruit like workaholism or perfectionism. The thing that’s causing the pain in our lives is wounding. But too often we don’t […]
Although there are principles and guidelines clearly spelled out in the Bible, God is intentionally anti-formula. In fact, he goes out of his way to avoid patterns that we could turn into a formula. Because he values something so much more. Partnership with us. Old Testament: Every Battle is Different In the Old Testament, there […]
We all yearn for relationships. God, as the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), is in relationship within himself. And we were created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27). So we were created specifically for relationships, with God and with each other. We are hard-wired by God to need relationships. We can’t be healthy without them. […]