Jesus didn’t command his followers to feel something. He commanded them to do some things.
It is next to impossible to hear the voice of wisdom if we are not really listening for it to begin with. The best counsel in the world is wasted counsel if our minds are already made up.
People who were nothing like him liked him. And Jesus liked people who were nothing like him.
It’s unfortunate that someone can grow up hearing sermons and Sunday school lessons, yet never be captivated by the Scriptures.
You can’t give yourself fully to someone else as long as you are mastered by something else.
Pursuing a vision requires faith. Pursuing a great vision requires great faith. Pursuing a vision will test, stretch, and at times exhaust your faith. And while you are pulling your hair out down here, God revels in the glory he receives.
Preachers’ kids who gravitate toward ministry are commodities. I hire all I can. We see church differently than everybody else.
The roots of envy always run deeper and wider than the relationship in which it surfaces. In.
Nobody matures past his or her need for prayer and meditation.
Pay the price. Embrace the vision. After all, everybody ends up somewhere in life. You have the opportunity to end up somewhere on purpose.
To get from where we don’t want to be to where we do want to be requires two things: time and a change of direction.
One gets to the place one wants to be the same way one got to the place one didn’t want to be – by putting one foot in front of the other and moving in a specific direction.
The best way to know if someone is prepared to commit is to examine his or her prior commitments. If you want to know how someone will behave tomorrow, take a look at what he or she did yesterday.
When you try to exercise authority within a department that is outside your core competencies, you will hinder everything and everyone under your watch. If you fail to distinguish between authority and competence, you will exert your influence in ways that damage projects and people. To put it bluntly, there are things you are responsible for that you should keep your nose out of.
With this approach, every message should have one central idea, application, insight, or principle that serves as the glue to hold the other parts together.
They ask what I often refer to as the best question ever: “In light of my past experience, and my future hopes and dreams, what’s the wise thing to do?
Pride is what keeps us from celebrating what others have accomplished. Pride is what causes us to keep our mouths shut when we should be pouring on the praise.
What gets our attention determines our direction and, ultimately, our destination. Or if you would prefer the short version: attention determines direction.
Lord, help us to see trouble coming long before it gets here. And give us the wisdom to know what to do and the courage to do it.
Your pain isn’t a trophy to show off. It’s not a story to tell. It’s potentially poison to your soul. To refuse to forgive is to choose to self-destruct.