Wisdom for parenting teenagers . "There is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." Ecc 3:1 NKJV Why does a happy, cooperative twelve-year-old suddenly turn into a sullen, depressed thirteen-year-old? There are two powerful forces that account for some of the adolescent behavior that drives you crazy as a parent. The first is linked to social pressures common at that age. But there is a second source of disruption. It's related to hormonal changes that not only transform the physical bo...
Jun 10, 2025•53 min
JUN. 10, 2025 The five crowns (3). "There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness." 2Ti 4:8 NKJV The third crown mentioned in Scripture is the crown of righteousness. Paul writes: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord...will give to me on that Day, and... also to all who have loved His appearing" (vv. 7-8 NKJV). A pastor amplifies this: "The book of 2 Timothy represents the ...
Jun 10, 2025•51 min
The five crowns (1). "They do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown." 1Co 9:25 NKJV In describing our heavenly rewards, the Bible speaks of crowns. Let's look at each and see what we can learn. The first is the victor's crown . "Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discip...
Jun 10, 2025•52 min
JUN. 5, 2025 Honor others, and God will honor you . "...In honor giving preference to one another." Ro 12:10 NKJV One of the real tests of character and maturity is how you react to someone else's success. That's particularly so when they succeed in an area where you failed or in which you're frustrated over not having achieved greater success. F. B. Meyer, a well-known author and minister in England, once shared the following experience to a few of his friends: "It was easy to pray for the succ...
Jun 05, 2025•54 min
Finding your life's purpose. "I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness." Ac 26:16 NKJV In baseball, the catcher tries to distract the batter. On one occasion when Yogi Berra was behind the plate, Hank Aaron came up to bat. Yogi started in, "Hank, you've got the writing on the bat in the wrong place. The words should be facing you." Yogi kept going, "You better check it." Hank didn't say a word. On the next pitch, Hank hit the ball over the center field fence....
Jun 05, 2025•58 min
JUN. 3, 2025 Take responsibility for your life. "Do you want to get well?" Jn 5:6 NIV What an amazing question Jesus asked this paralyzed man: "Do you want to get well?" Who wouldn't? You might be surprised! Kay Arthur tells of passing a beggar one day on a street in the Old City of Jerusalem. As he sat begging, his trouser leg was pulled up to reveal his terrible sores. She writes: "My nurse's heart brought my feet to a halt. I wanted to bend down and shield the open wound from the dust...It sh...
Jun 03, 2025•49 min
JUN. 2, 2025 A word to graduates . "Concentrate on doing your best for God." 2Ti 2:15 MSG Graduate, here are eleven lessons to empower and inspire you: ( 1 ) You're here for a reason, and the most vital thing you can do is find it. ( 2 ) Follow your passion. You may not already know what it is, but make it your mission to discover it. ( 3 ) Although you might love Facebook, you might not like working for the company. And because you enjoy cooking doesn't mean you will enjoy owning a restaurant. ...
Jun 02, 2025•52 min
MAY. 29, 2025 The need for connectedness. "Being rooted and established in love." Eph 3:17 NIV Unfortunately, the word fellowship has come to be associated with awkward gatherings in church basements, drinking red punch, and participating in stilted conversations. No wonder people give up on it! Paul describes connectedness as "being rooted and established in love." When a tree puts roots into the ground, it takes in nutrients and water, and the tree grows and has life, but only if it's rooted. ...
May 29, 2025•56 min
MAY. 28, 2025 When you feel blah . "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Pr 29:18 The word "perish" conjures up images of deterioration and decay, like fruit rotting from within. On what specific day does passion leave a marriage or a worker lose interest in a job that once excited them? Like air leaking silently out of a tire, what was meant to carry our weight and to power us toward our destiny can now barely wobble. If that's how you're feeling now, read this promise, and let it take...
May 28, 2025•52 min
MAY. 27, 2025 Are you in a stress mess? "What you are doing is not good...You... will only wear yourselves out." Ex 18:17-18 NIV The Bible says: "The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, 'What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?' Moses answered...
May 28, 2025•54 min
MAY. 26, 2025 When God asks you to give . "The Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do." Eph 6:8 NIV When God asks you to sacrifice on behalf of somebody else, do it. It's like putting money in a heavenly account. You may not need it today or tomorrow, but when you do, God will ensure it comes back to you in multiplied form. Indian Christian missionary Sadhu Sundar Singh and a companion were traveling through a pass high in the Himalayas when they found a body lying in the snow. They...
May 28, 2025•51 min
MAY. 22, 2025 How to stay enthusiastic about God . ' My food,' said Jesus, 'is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.'" Jn 4:34 NIV No one had more energy than Jesus. He got up early, stayed up late, and sometimes pulled all-nighters. Where did He get all that energy from? The answer is found in a fascinating dialogue. " His disciples urged him, 'Rabbi, eat something. But He said to them, 'I have food to eat that you know nothing about! Then His disciples said to each other, '...
May 28, 2025•52 min
MAY. 21, 2025 The secret to success. "Whose weakness was turned to strength." Heb 11:34 NIV The so-called "secret" to success is really no secret at all! It's simply getting back up when life has knocked you down and taking with you into the future the lessons you have learned. In talking about heroes such as Samson and David, the Bible goes on to say, "Whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies" (v. 34 NIV). Notice these people weren't alw...
May 28, 2025•53 min
MAY. 20, 2025 Who are you depending on? "Without Me you can do nothing." Jn 15:5 NKJV Because God's Spirit lives within you doesn't guarantee His power is at work in your life. God's power is available, but you must plug into it. Jesus associates our spiritual life with a vine and its branches: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (v. 5 NKJV). In this comparison, the branch is completely dependent on the mai...
May 20, 2025•53 min
MAY. 19, 2025 Get alone with God (3 ) "When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it." Ecc 5:4 NIV When the pressures in your life begin to mount, the first thing you will be tempted to drop is your time alone with God, praying and reading His Word. And what's more, Satan knows if he can keep you from it, he has won the battle, and he will get no opposition from you. So, how can you overcome this problem? (1) By making a covenant with God . Think about it: Why do we make marriage vows? ...
May 20, 2025•56 min
MAY. 16, 2025 Don't lose your passion for God . "Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: 'Passion for God's house will consume me.'" Jn 2:17 NLT Try to imagine the fire in the eyes of Jesus and the flex of His muscles as He turns over the tables of the money changers in the temple. And He does it while wielding a whip He made Himself. "Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: 'Passion for God's house will consume me.'" Jesus was the wisest and kin...
May 17, 2025•28 min
MAY. 15, 2025 Free from jealousy. "If your heart is full of...jealousy...don't... cover up the truth." Jas 3:14 CEV The Bible says, "People are slaves to whatever has mastered them" (2Pe 2:19 NIV). And that's especially true of jealousy. Chuck Swindoll writes: "Jealousy and envy are often used interchangeably, but there's a difference. Envy begins with empty hands; it mourns what it doesn't have...Jealousy begins with full hands; it's threatened by the pain of losing what you have to someone els...
May 17, 2025•51 min
MAY. 14, 2025 Have a biblical perspective. "That through the endurance taught in the Scriptures...we might have hope." Ro 15:4 NIV There is a cute story about a girl who left home and went away to college. After her first semester, she emailed her mother, saying, "I think it's time I brought you up to date on what's going on in my life. Shortly after I arrived at college, I got bored with dormitory life and stole fifty dollars from my roommate's purse. With the money, I rented a motorcycle, whic...
May 17, 2025•53 min
MAY. 13, 2025 Faith is not faith until it is acted upon . "Faith without works is dead." Jas 2:26 Could it be that the negative perception people have of the church stems from the negative energy we project? And could it be that our negative energy stems from our negative view of righteousness? We falsely view righteousness as doing nothing wrong: "Don't do this. Don't do that. And you're okay." The problem with that approach is you can do nothing wrong and still not do the right thing; the thin...
May 17, 2025•52 min
MAY. 12, 2025 Knowing the season you're in. "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." Ecc 3:1 NKJV Your life's purpose is connected to a specific time and season. In other words, it will have a beginning and an ending. Some of God's purposes can be fulfilled in a short time, while others take a lifetime. You won't always be able to do what you're doing today, or at least to the extent you're doing it now. The Bible teaches, "As your days, so shall your strength be...
May 17, 2025•54 min
MAY. 7, 2025 Why can't we work together? (4) "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Eph 4:3 NIV A lady told her friend, "My husband and I have a very happy marriage. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him, and there's nothing he wouldn't do for me. And that's the way we go through life-doing nothing for each other!" We smile, but that's not so funny when it's true. That attitude paves the road to disaster in marriage, business, church, personal relationship...
May 11, 2025•54 min
Why can't we work together? (3). "How good…..it is... to dwell together in unity!" Ps 133:1 NKJV Reason three: temperament . Some people aren't naturally outgoing. When they face challenges, it never occurs to them to enlist other people's help in order to accomplish their goal. When you operate alone, you will achieve a certain amount of success, but when you cooperate with the right people, you will achieve things you never dreamed possible. When you do everything alone and never partner with ...
May 11, 2025•51 min
Try. Try harder. Try longer. "Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Gal 6:9 NKJV One of the greatest predictors of success in any endeavor is persistence. It's not only how hard you try; it's how long you try. We tend to overestimate how much we can accomplish in the short term. And according to an American pastor and author, we also "underestimate how much we can accomplish over the long haul. Why? Because energy is exponential. The ha...
May 11, 2025•53 min
MAY. 4, 2025 Why can't we work together? (1) "Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence." 3Jn v. 9 NKJV Reason one: insecurity. The Florentine philosopher Machiavelli said, "The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him." Insecure leaders are threatened by talented individuals, so they surround themselves with weak people. As a result, the work suffers, and everybody involved suffers too. When a leader responds to a genuine question by sa...
May 06, 2025•52 min
APR. 15, 2025 Become willing to change. "You will grow as you learn to know God better and better." Col 1:10 NLT To grow, you must dedicate yourself to the process. Whether it's in your career, your marriage, your ministry, or your walk with God, once you dedicate yourself to growth and development and a lifestyle of planned improvement, it becomes normal to you. And you realize when you're not making progress. Something is missing! It's been reputed that the Polish American classical pianist Ar...
Apr 26, 2025•53 min
APR. 24, 2025 The waiting strategy. "I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry." Ps 40:1 NKJV When you're up against a problem that seems too big for you or feel like you are "in over your head" and you don't know what to do or which way to go, use the waiting strategy. That's the one David the psalmist used. And it worked for him: "I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry...
Apr 26, 2025•51 min
APR. 25, 2025 Resolve conflict quickly (1) "If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." Mt 18:15 Few things in life cause more stress than unresolved conflict. It will elevate your blood pressure and consume your thoughts until you resolve it, so if you're wise, you will deal with it right away. Not all people feel this way. Even though Jesus commanded us to deal with it, many Christians r...
Apr 26, 2025•46 min
APR. 2, 2025 Be real. "People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1Sa 16:7 NLT Jesus was rough on Pharisees: "People look at you and think you are saints, but beneath... you are total frauds" (Mt 23:28 MSG). They put on a good front but were devoid of grace, mercy, and compassion. And Jesus called them on it! Because we live in an appearance-focused society, Jesus warns us about the dangers that come from dwelling on the outer life at the cost of developing the inner l...
Apr 03, 2025•56 min
APR. 3, 2025 Today, use your God-given power . "You shall receive power." Ac 1:8 NKJV You say, "If Christ lives in me, why do I still think and act the way I do?" A Christian leader explains: "The answer is illustrated in a story about a lady who had a small house...at the turn of the century. She was quite wealthy but also quite frugal... People were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home. Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appe...
Apr 03, 2025•51 min
Put God between yourself and the foe "There is none like you to help." 2Ch 14:11 ESV Faced with an enemy he couldn't conquer on his own, King Asa prayed, "Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us...we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you! The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah" (vv. 11-12 NIV). F. B. Meyer writes: "Remind God of his entire respo...
Mar 16, 2025•50 min
