Spiritual Life

We are called to be one kingdom people, which means cultivating a holy, reverent fear of God.

What is your response to Jesus’ invitation to embrace the kingdom of heaven and follow Him?

How do you find joy even through the difficult times of ministry?

When you woke up this morning, did you get pumped that you could have an encounter with Christ, that you could meet the Spirit of God to see Him living through you in a supernatural way? Or did you go back to the flesh-and-blood stuff again?

A pastor recently contacted me to ask if there was any hope for his church to survive. The few people in his church were aged, and the church was slowly but surely declining in numbers. My answer shocked him. I said there was great hope for him and his church ‒ because the Father was already at work in his town.

If even Jesus, the Son of God, could do "nothing of Himself, but only what He sees the Father do," how much more so do we need to depend on living in the Presence of God, sensing what He is doing in the situation and partnering with Him to carry it out. Yes, the Lord uses our talents, gifts, intellect and skills. But we can't trust those things for the answer. We need to allow Christ to build His wisdom as we wait in His presence.

Are you lost in God? God is asking us, “Do you really, intentionally love Me?” If you are not doing this, you cannot teach your people to love God. It’s learned by examples, whether it's a leader in the Old Testament or us. Our kids and disciples know how to love God because they’ve seen it modeled before them.

For over a decade I was a pastor of spiritual development. As I analyzed the process that I had seen bring radical breakthrough to so many, I discovered over and again the rhythms of grace consistently playing a significant role at key points of change.

When those we are leading argue and complain, we try to please them, argue back or explain ourselves. But is that what Jesus did?

Hebrews 11 lists several faith heroes from the past and includes details about their lives that evidence great faith. We often refer to this chapter as the “faith” chapter. It offers leaders profound insight about faith that we must believe and embody to effectively lead. I suggest these six faith qualities every leader should embody.

Everybody talks about leaders needing more boldness and confidence ‒ that we need to make a deeper difference in the world. But rarely addressed is the actual personal path leading us to this level of inner strength and impact. One of the most important elements of powerful leadership (the real game changer) is simply learning ... to DISAPPEAR.

Sometimes there can be confusion about what the Christian life is and isn’t. But really it all boils down to this one question.