battle

You Are Not Your Mistakes

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” – Hebrews 12:1 Often, when we struggle with things like addiction or long-standing sin, we grow discouraged because we feel like we will never beat it. We make progress, but then we backslide, and the devil whispers in our ear that we’re just too broken and messed up to change. In fact, this is how he gains a foothold in our lives. When we listen to his constant fatalistic commentary, he convinces us to give up on ourselves, and that’s when we get in trouble. Once we’re running with the ball of self-defeat, we’re tempted to believe that our Heavenly Father feels as negatively about us as we do, and our view

July 2, 2021 No Comments

Surrender the Fight

“God again set a certain day, calling it ‘Today.’ This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’” – Hebrews 4:7 I’ve heard stories about soldiers who’ve gone to war, and though they depart from home full of life, vitality, and hope, they return bitter and disillusioned. Fighting for so long — often on the front lines and in the face of death itself — leaves them wounded and unable to let their guard down again. And while most of us haven’t been in this kind of physical combat, the fatigue of fighting is something that we all can relate to. So today, I’m writing to the warriors who are battle-scarred and weary. Life has dealt you a hard blow, and it’s been one thing after another. Maybe it’s losing

April 21, 2021 2 Comments

Move Forward

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:13,14 One Sunday, when I first started in a pastoral role at Hour of Power, I gave a message on moving forward. After I finished preaching, I quickly changed out of my suit and into a t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops and headed to downtown Orange, California, where I was pastoring another church. I started my 1999 Toyota Camry, which had over 200,000 miles and a ceiling that was beginning to sag, and as I was pulling out of the parking lot of the Crystal Cathedral, a horrible sound came from my car. Unfortunately, my transmission had gone

April 3, 2021 3 Comments

Making the Weak Strong

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 One of the things I love about God is how He is always on the side of the little guy. He likes to make the weak strong so they can do good. Along those lines, today, I want to talk about Alexander the Great, one of my favorite historical figures. Alexander was a tyrant who came to power after his father, Philip the second, died. Philip had assembled an enormous, highly trained army, so when Alexander ascended the throne, he gained

February 15, 2021 No Comments

Trust in the Lord

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5,6 Today, I have a word for those of you who feel trapped, stuck or frozen. It’s not a particularly profound or deep thought, but it’s worth repeating again and again — trust the Lord. I know the ongoing nature of the COVID situation has many feeling discouraged and wondering if there will ever be an end. Like everyone, I struggle with the mixed emotions of the whole thing, and as I pray, God keeps bringing me back to the truth that He is trustworthy because He is good. Even as we drill through, trying to do the right thing day after day, His Kingdom remains unshaken. His plan is not affected by earthly circumstances, and He is not

February 10, 2021 No Comments

Stand on His Promises

“It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure.” – Psalm 18:32 Well, 2021 has gotten off to a bit of a rough start. As the COVID pandemic continues to rage and political strife runs rampant, it’s important to remember and consistently focus on the source of our strength. The events of this troubling time can be an energy drain since it seems as if everything is more difficult than it used to be. It’s easy to get bogged down and pulled under by the “bad news” of the day, but thankfully, Jesus offers us a much better alternative! In fact, the Bible says that He arms us with strength. That’s an interesting way of saying it because it infers that our spiritual toughness is a weapon, which further implies that our spirits are under attack. We are not our own worst enemies — Satan is,

January 19, 2021 No Comments

Simple is Strong

“David said to Saul, ‘Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.’ Saul replied, ‘You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.’” – 1 Samuel 17:32,33 We’ve looked in quite some detail at Goliath, so today, I want to introduce you to David, the other half of the famous fighting duo. Strangely enough, the young shepherd arrived at the Isrealites’ battleground to bring food to his brothers, and he had no intention of taking on the giant himself. However, upon hearing that King Saul was offering wealth and his daughter’s hand in marriage to any man brave enough to face him, he immediately decided to “give it a shot.” His undaunted courage caused his brother Eliab to lash out in anger

November 22, 2020 No Comments

You Are Not Your Mistakes

Surrender the Fight

Move Forward

Making the Weak Strong

Trust in the Lord

Stand on His Promises

Simple is Strong

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