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Heavenly Treasures

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:21 As we continue to explore Jesus’ perspective on treasures, I want to pose a question. What kind of heavenly treasures should we store or build up? We could easily compile an extensive list, but I will share just a few. What about manners? Good manners are a heavenly treasure! I remember at 15 years old, I had this radical change in my life when I became a believer. On one occasion, I was rude to my older sister because she took too long in the bathroom getting ready for school. I acknowledged my wrongdoing and told her, “The Bible says love is not rude. I’m sorry.” Then I hugged her. We can always err on the side of good manners! We add to the list of Godly treasures: confidence, the ability to lead, make crucial decisions,

January 2, 2023 No Comments

Believe in Your Future

“There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” – Proverbs 23:18 Happy New Year! I pray that you have joyful anticipation and excitement for this year! We serve a great and loving God, and in this new year, I want to encourage you that life gets better when you get better. When a seed is planted, it grows down before it grows up. The roots must grow to anchor the seed before it sprouts. We must respect this universal principle: “You must grow deep before you grow wide.” This is the treasure you should seek, developing the personality, attitude, skills, methods, and rhythms of life that build into who you want to become. You must believe you can be transformed into the kind of person you envision! Interestingly, you actually don’t have to believe in yourself to get better. In fact, that

January 1, 2023 2 Comments

Wisdom’s Framework

“He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.” – Isaiah 33:6 Even though he was in the thick of trials and up to his ears with problems, King Solomon recognized that there would be more value in understanding how to deal with them than if they disappeared. This is an excellent frame of mind to maintain as we enter the new year. It’s fascinating to me that God not only honored the wise king’s request for wisdom, He assured him that he would have more of it than anyone else on earth. Beyond that, He promised that all the things he wanted but hadn’t asked for would be added to him — wealth, honor, and a long life. I believe this is because the Lord knew that if his

December 28, 2022 No Comments

Favor in the Unfamiliar

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.” – Luke 2:4 Not only did God call Mary and Joseph to a long journey on a rough road in order to get to Bethlehem, but the required travel meant that Jesus would be born in an unfamiliar place. I don’t know about you, but when I’m facing something new or scary, I’m always looking for things that I know to give me stability and a point of reference. I can’t imagine what it was like for a young couple getting ready to welcome their first child as they attempted to find their bearings in a foreign land that was crowded with people. There were no plans laid out nor was anything certain, so they had to cling to each

December 12, 2022 1 Comment

Change Your Philosophy

“…for, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 2:16 Change your philosophy to get the life you want. We each have ideals, standards, or beliefs that have become our personal philosophies. Your philosophy is perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting. Yes, that may sound harsh. I’m not saying this to judge anyone. I’m saying this to encourage you. We are always tempted to blame others when we’re not quite where we want to be. Change your philosophy today. You have the power in you, through Jesus, to build any kind of life you want. He’s laid it before you, but it is easy to place the blame on others. Nobody plays a video game and blames the dragon who’s guarding the princess by saying, there’s a dragon in my way, that

September 1, 2022 No Comments

Good Company With The Lord

“For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.” – Psalm 27:5 Today I want to talk about the importance of keeping good company with the Lord, particularly as it has to do with personal development. We can incorporate personal development into our view of discipleship. To be a disciple of Jesus means to be an apprentice or a student, and the expectation is that we make a choice every day to do our best to follow Christ and become like Him. This is demonstrated as we apply ourselves with a degree of effort to become the best version of ourselves. This version of transformation is not something we’re called to do by duty, but it’s the best possible life we can live. I want to invite

August 12, 2022 No Comments

Imperfect Yet Perfectly Loved

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” – Titus 3:4,5 Do you ever feel like you’re not enough? Are you constantly believing that after you change that one thing in your life, then you’ll be blessed? Unfortunately, it’s easy and all too common to feel like people don’t really see you, and that if they did, they wouldn’t love you or might even reject you. At the root of this is often the mistaken belief that God is mad at you. After all, if He doesn’t approve of you, who will? However, this is the good news about Christianity — it’s like every other religion, only inverted! Nearly all religions say that if you do X, Y, and Z right, then God (or the gods) will be on your side.

July 5, 2022 No Comments

Get Your Garden On

“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” – Matthew 13:23 Jesus tells us in simplistic terms that our life is a garden. In life, we’re always planting seeds around us that in their season will bear fruit. We tend to think of “you reap what you sow,” in a negative way, but in the Bible, there’s a positive aspect as well. When you sow by planting seeds in the ground and no one sees them, that’s building up a real harvest. When you do positive things, you’re growing yourself a better garden, a life that’s improving for you and others over time. I just started gardening with my kids and I’m terrible at it. I have a brown thumb; everything I touch

June 27, 2022 No Comments

Metamorphosis

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” – 2 Corinthians 3:18 What do you think of when you hear the word metamorphosis? If you’re like me, you may picture a lowly caterpillar emerging from a cocoon as a beautiful butterfly, or maybe you see a tiny tadpole transforming into a four-legged frog. Whatever the case, when something undergoes metamorphosis, it changes completely. It moves from an immature and undeveloped form to one that is grown up and complete. Interestingly, the root word for the Greek word translated transformed in Scripture is metamorphoo, which is where we get the English word metamorphosis. In other words, when we come to Jesus, although we are completely loved as we are, there’s a transformation that He desires to bring about in us.

June 18, 2022 No Comments

A Blessing in the Desert

“Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Who are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? May the Lord be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand.” – 1 Samuel 24:14,15 We discussed King David’s wilderness experience between the time he was called and the fulfillment of his anointing yesterday. Today, I want to share with you another significant life lesson gained by this young leader as he observed a great man collapse during the winter season. King Saul used to be a perfect model of a leader. He was Israel’s and Judah’s first king, and he witnessed the Hebrew nation grow from a tribe to a state. Yet, from a clever, noble, and fearless ruler, he deteriorated into a jealous, spiteful, and insane commander who spent years following a shepherd

January 20, 2022 No Comments

Heavenly Treasures

Believe in Your Future

Wisdom’s Framework

Favor in the Unfamiliar

Change Your Philosophy

Good Company With The Lord

Imperfect Yet Perfectly Loved

Get Your Garden On

Metamorphosis

A Blessing in the Desert

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