#self-counsel

When More Effort Is Not the Answer: Self-Counsel from Ecclesiastes 10:10 Most of us have a natural response when things are not going well. We try harder. When a project stalls, we put in more hours. When ministry becomes difficult, we work longer and push harder. When relationships become strained, we often increase our efforts to fix them. When spiritual growth seems slow, we make another…

I recently heard someone quote a coach with the following statement: “Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most.” What a powerful statement. This coach emphasizes what is true about discipline: Discipline is about making choices. When considering your growth in Christ, this is especially true. Let’s begin by reflecting on what discipline means for those of us who…

The past days have been full of various pressures, loss, and disappointment. Maybe you are like the ones I have in mind as I go back to this familiar theme today. Possibly you have lost the job, experienced the loss of a loved one, or experienced the crushing blow of sin against you, your marriage, or your family. All of these things leave us breathless and can cause real worry, anxiety, and…

A New Year’s Prayer  for 2025 Dear Heavenly Father, As we look around us at the dawn of 2024, we come before Your presence with a sober heart, saddened by what we see and anticipate in a new year. Evil abounds. Wars rage. For those of us in the US, an election year looms. We see and experience levels of suffering. Technology blesses while in many instances enslaves. Relationship suffer under the…

What Every Christian Should Remember about Jeffrey Epstein and His Story Hundreds of pages of documents begin to be released related to Jeffrey Epstein and those who were named in the court filings from a defamation lawsuit brought against Ghislaine Maxwell by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre in 2015, after she branded her a liar over her claims that she was sexually abused as a minor. Over the…

Welcome 2024: Four Questions to Consider We have turned the page on the calendar and have welcomed a new year – 2024. Of course there are practical implications such as the simple thing of remembering to change the year when we sign documents, such as checks. On the other hand, there are spiritual implications of a new year as well. Let me suggest four primary questions that will benefit you as…

A New Year’s Prayer  for 2024 Dear Heavenly Father, As we look around us at the dawn of 2024, we come before Your presence with a sober heart, saddened by what we see and anticipate in a new year. Evil abounds. Wars rage. For those of us in the US, an election year looms. We see and experience levels of suffering. Technology blesses while in many instances enslaves. Relationship suffer under the…

How to Make a Gratitude List – a Simple Guide People often say we should be grateful. Of course, we agree. But where do we begin? In today’s blog ~ How to Make a Gratitude List – a Simple and Complete Guide ~ you will learn how to make a gratitude list. Before we consider how though, we need to think through a few reasons why it is important to make one. Throughout this blog, a gratitude list…