Mindset For Success

And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”  So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;  and ...

 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. - Galatians 1:6-10 (ESV) In a world filled with opinions, likes, and expectations, it's easy to fall into the trap of trying to please everyone. But Paul's bold declaration reminds us that the approval that matters most is God's--not people's. He was confronting false gospels being taught to appease others. He wasn...

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.-Ephesians 4:29 (NASB) 1. "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth" Paul urges believers to guard their speech. The Greek word translated "unwholesome" refers to something rotten or decaying—like spoiled fruit. It includes not only profanity, but also gossip, slander, sarcasm, bitterness, and anything that tears others down. Words are leaves, the real fruit is in the heart. Be careful, then, that your speech reveals the grace that lives within. - Charles Spurgeon What kind of words are “proceeding” from my mouth? Are they healing or harmful? 2. "But only such a word as is good for edification" Christian speech should be constructive, not destructive. “Edification” means building up. Words should act like tools to encourage, strengthen, and support others in their walk with...

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. - John 14:23-26 (LSB) Jesus emphasized the need for the habitual practice of obedience to His commands as evidence of the believer’s love for Him and the Father. True saving faith is manifested by works produced by God in the transforming, regenerating power of the Spirit. Those works are expressions of the love which the Spirit pours into the believer’s heart. - John MacArthur What use is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sist...

Thirty years ago, I had the opportunity to pay tribute to the most influential man in my life. One of the things I shared was that in the way he lived his life, Monday through Saturday were no different than Sunday. His Christlike behavior was not relegated to Sunday, it was lived out each day of his life. Whether he was teaching, coaching, officiating, negotiating, serving in the church, or driving a truck (his summer job), it was evident that his priority in life was to bring honor to the name of Jesus Christ. The pastor that spoke at his funeral credited him as one of the three most influential men in his life. As a young boy, I was blessed to be in the next room while he shared the Gospel at our kitchen table with a young man that he had coached in high school, and led him in the prayer of salvation. If you were to get up very early in the morning at our house and look down the hallway, you would see the light on in his study. If you looked in, you would see him either in his chair...

After the death of Moses, the Lord’s disciple, God spoke to Moses’ assistant, whose name was Joshua (the son of Nun), and said to him, “Now that my disciple is dead, you are the new leader of Israel. Lead my people across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. I say to you what I said to Moses: ‘Wherever you go will be part of the land of Israel— all the way from the Negeb Desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Euphrates River in the east, including all the land of the Hittites.’ No one will be able to oppose you as long as you live, for I will be with you just as I was with Moses; I will not abandon you or fail to help you. “Be strong and brave, for you will be a successful leader of my people; and they shall conquer all the land I promised to their ancestors. You need only to be strong and courageous and to obey to the letter every law Moses gave you, for if you are careful to obey every one of them, you will be ...