Author: admin

When you spend time with God, He will invariably lay His heart over yours. You cannot remain long in His presence without developing a growing concern and love for those who do not yet know Him.

God desires all men to be saved. This includes “good” people who simply need to hear the Gospel message to find salvation. It also encompasses hardened sinners who appear to be infinitely removed from repentance and salvation.

In the course of our busy days, we can occasionally lose sight of the fact that God desires every person to receive His salvation and to surrender to His lordship. In fact, some people appear so far away from God, it doesn’t even cross our minds that God loves them too. But He does.

At times we must remind ourselves that the people we are currently dealing with are people whom Christ desires to save from their sin. When the customer angrily berates us, we must remember, God wants to deliver them from the bondage of their sin. When a neighbor lies to us, we must remind ourselves that Christ longs for that person to know Him. We know in our minds that this is so. But are we living that way?

It has been said that we will get the leaders that we pray for. If true, that could explain the caliber of many of our current government officials!

Our society is extremely polarized. Everyone seems to be in a camp. People pick sides. They cheer on their own leaders and disparage and ridicule those opposed to them. Yet Scripture is clear that we are to pray for our government leaders and anyone in authority over us, whether we like them, or voted for them, or not.

There are many reasons to do this. For one, it is what Christ would do. He loved all people, not just those who agreed with Him. Second, by praying, we seek God’s will to be done rather than our will. God is above politics. His objective is for His purposes to be accomplished on earth. Third, God cares more about eternity than about the next election. He cares about people’s souls, not their political leanings. Finally, praying for government leaders brings good to the country in which we live. Christians ought always to be seeking the well-bring of their nation and the people around them.

Christians ought to bless whatever company, or neighborhood, or country to which they belong. Their prayers ought to transcend their own personal preferences to the higher level of God’s activity. Would God be pleased with the way you are presently humbly, sincerely, praying for the leaders over you?

Seemingly straightforward verses in the Bible can sometimes provide us our greatest challenges. Pray for the people in your life. Seems simple enough. The apostle uses four words to describe the kind of prayer we should be offering. Supplications involve asking God to meet specific needs in peoples’ lives. Prayers refer to every kind of prayer we can lift to God. Intercession can describe what we do for other believers. It is standing in the gap for others. Finally, giving thanks is giving gratitude to God for His work in someone else’s life. Paul claimed we should do this for every person in our life.

Praying for some people is easy. I am happy to ask for God’s blessing upon my spouse and children. My friends at work or church can be a delight to intercede for. But then there are others. What about that colleague at work that continually offends me? Or that customer who is never satisfied? That overbearing boss who is making my life miserable? Praying for God to do anything good in their lives would be challenging enough, but thanking God for them? That seems impossible.

The truth is that spiritual leaders rise above their own grievances and complaints to gain a higher view of God’s activity in the world around them. God is always at work around us. Some of the people we may like the least, could well be the ones in whom God is working most significantly. The only way we can thank God for some people is if we see them from His perspective. If you can’t find anything to pray for some people, you may need God to give you a fresh vantage point.

The Christian message is the same for everyone. It offers the power to overcome sin. It can make us holy. It offers every heavenly resource with which to give us victory and to transform us to be like Christ. Nevertheless, despite all that God makes available, there are many whose spiritual lives ultimately end in ruin.

There are two ways to protect yourself from suffering spiritual shipwreck. The first is faith. Faith is not blind. It is based on truth. It grows as you experience God. It strengthens as you practice it and witness firsthand that God’s word is true. Faith is not something others do for you. It is your responsibility to cultivate it. A robust faith does not happen automatically. The danger comes when you neglect your faith. A crisis comes. A tragedy occurs. A temptation arises. Suddenly you crumble, because you never nurtured your trust in God.

The second source of protection is a good conscience. This results from living with integrity. As you seek to live your life without regret, you find that you avoid those moments that could harm your walk with God. Having faith and a clear conscience is a wonderful thing. It is freeing to your soul. To be without them is to live in bondage and despair. What is the condition of your faith and conscience, today?

Paul recognized potential when he saw it. He had always believed young Timothy could become an effective soldier for Christ. But, like a father sending his young son into battle, Paul also knew there were hazards. Having potential is not enough in the Christian life. Countless followers of Christ have squandered the enormous potential that was theirs through careless or unfocused living.

Apparently there were those who had prophesied concerning Timothy. They had seen the work God had done in his young life and they sensed God had far more He intended to do. The key for Timothy was to heed the counsel of those who spoke words of truth into his life, rather than being distracted by those who spoke criticism and falsehood.

We live and serve on a spiritual battlefield. In a war zone, you don’t have to be careless for very long before you experience great suffering. So Timothy had to remember and apply the godly counsel he had previously been given. All the counsel in the world is of no use to the one who fails to apply it!

You live and work on a spiritual battlefield. Are you living your life by godly counsel and wisdom? You, too, have great potential. Be extremely careful you do not squander it.

It has been said that great leaders are also great followers. Wise leaders understand authority. They don’t continually strive to be in charge. Rather, they are keenly respectful of those who have authority over them. The apostle Paul was an inspirational leader of others, yet he never lost sight of his King. Paul never sought to usurp Christ’s authority or to strive for his independence. He knew his life was wholly dependent on Christ.

Paul was always candid about his own sin and shortcomings. He readily acknowledged that he was the chief of sinners. Yet he could never speak for long before returning his focus and attention to his King. He never lost his amazement that the King of kings had called him into service. As a result, it was never about Paul. He was but a servant. It was always about Christ.

Paul experienced some astounding accomplishments during his life. Yet he never dwelt upon them or boasted about them. He was never held captive by a need for others’ affirmation or approval. No matter what Paul was doing or discussing, he inevitably turned his focus to Christ. Every aspect of Paul’s life could be traced back to his Lord. His entire existence was a doxology to his King.

Sin is a grievous offense against holy God. As creatures of dust, it is an unbelievable affront for us to defy God’s commandments and to ignore His word. In today’s society, it is common practice to excuse our offenses or to minimize them: I did not have a good father . . . I had a bad boss . . . I suffer from low self-esteem . . . I have an addictive personality . . . A handy excuse for our sin is always at our fingertips. And, our peers are quick to accept our excuses as long as we are accepting of theirs as well.

Regardless of how long the apostle Paul served God with distinction, he never lost sight of what he was, apart from Christ. When he looked honestly at his sin, he was so abhorred by it that he could not imagine anyone being a worse sinner than he was. It was not that Paul was merely being hard on himself. This was no false humility. He despised the sin in his life that had done so much harm to God’s kingdom. His sin, in all of its stark ugliness, would always remind Paul of what he was part from Christ.

Paul was able to effectively help Timothy overcome his own sins because Paul was keenly aware that he was a sinner as well. Paul could never grow impatient with Timothy, knowing that he was the chief of sinners. Such humility enabled Paul to help many people overcome their own shortcomings. Having been saved from so much himself Paul was eager to help others find the freedom he had found. Have you been making excuses for your sin, or do you see it in all of its stark ugliness?

It is always good for leaders to remember what they were and what they would be, apart from Christ’s work in their life. It might seem unsettling for the revered apostle Paul to be confessing such shortcomings to the young man he was discipling. Would not Timothy think less of Paul? After all, the godly young Timothy had never committed the heinous sins of his mentor. How could Timothy take Paul seriously when he knew what a terrible person he had been formerly?

Paul wanted Timothy to know God’s power to change people. Timothy had not grown up with a Christian father. He was timid. He apparently had a weak stomach. It might have been easy for Timothy to assume that he didn’t “have what it took” to become a mighty man of God. So Paul shared his own story. Rather than worrying about what people thought of him, Paul gloried in God’s marvelous grace.

Once we become leaders and people of influence, we can forget what we once were. We forget that, apart from the grace of God, our lives would be a disaster. Leaders need to remain humble, regardless of how much God uses them or elevates them. One of the greatest ways to maintain our humility is to always keep before us the profound difference God’s grace has made in our lives.

Most people would view themselves as being reliable. But, of course, what matters is how God views us. How can you tell if God believes we have been faithful? One form of evidence is whether He gives us responsibility. There are those who see themselves as reliable, yet no one wants to entrust anything significant to them. The truth is that when we are faithful, God will give us more.

But this is the key. God never gives us responsibility without also providing us corresponding enabling. God will not set you up to fail! He does not call you to an assignment and then abandon you to your own limited resources. This is particularly important because God often calls us to do things that are impossible unless He intervenes in our lives.

At times we can be so anxious to serve Christ that we put ourselves into ministry. But that can be a frustrating way to live. It involves doing our best with our resources. When God puts us into ministry, He is the one who provides the required provisions for our success. Too many people are growing weary trying to do good things for God. They need, instead, to seek to be faithful in what God is calling them to do, and then enjoy His powerful presence helping them to succeed.

Righteous people don’t need to be surrounded with laws and regulations, for their heart is motivated to always do the right thing. They are not constantly trying to find shortcuts or to avoid their responsibilities. Such people don’t need to be hampered with layers of regulations. Instead, they need to be given as much freedom as possible to do their job well.

Lawless and insubordinate people, however, must be constantly guided and policed by rules. The more ungodly a people are, the more rules and laws they require. That is because it is impossible to legislate against the plethora of ways people can devise to be unethical or immoral.

How blessed is the leader who works with people of integrity! It is freeing to trust those you work with. On the other hand, it can be demoralizing to have to be constantly looking over the shoulders of people you cannot trust.

If you are functioning in an environment of distrust and rules, understand that the issue is people’s hearts, not the operations manual. They need a heart change, not another rule. When you hire your next person, ask yourself the question: is this person righteous?