Throughout history, the greatest heroes have been those who’ve had the greatest challenges to overcome. But isn’t it curious that while everyone wants to be an overcomer, we typically freak out when we’re actually given something to overcome?

That’s exactly what happened to Jesus’ disciples when suddenly confronted with “a furious squall” on the Sea of Galilee one day (Mark 4:35-41).

Perhaps you’re facing a storm of a different kind today. Not “a furious squall,” but rather a furious boss, spouse, child, or creditor. Or maybe you’re struggling against storm winds in your health or emotions.

The tempest on the Sea of Galilee that day was so fierce that the boat was “nearly swamped,” and the terrified disciples thought they were going to drown. Life’s storms are a lot like terrorists—popping up when we least expect and doing everything they can to engender fear in our heart.

However, this brief story contains six powerful lessons for how we can not only survive the storms of life, but even be better off because of them:

1.      Remember the promise. The story begins with Jesus saying, “Let us go over to the other side” (v. 35). If the disciples had been paying attention, they would have noticed Jesus’ resolve to bring them OVER, not to let them go UNDER! And I’m convinced He has the same plan for you today. He didn’t say you would drown on the way to your destination, He said would arrive there. So no matter how scary the storm may seem, you can be confident He will bring you safely to “the other side.”

2.      Leave the crowd behind. If you’re truly an overcomer, it’s unlikely you’ll also be Mr. or Ms. Popularity. In fact, verse 36 describes the disciples “leaving the crowd behind…” Why is that significant? Because a lot of people in “the crowd” aren’t on track to be overcomers. They’re content to live mediocre, uneventful lives. Rather than risk facing any storms on their journey to the other side of the lake, they would prefer to camp out safely in the harbor. But remember: You’ll never make a significant impact if you refuse to take risks and venture out into the deeper waters.

3.      Make sure you’re taking Jesus with you—on the INSIDE. This is so basic, but so easy to overlook. One day even His father and mother forgot to bring Jesus along with them (Luke 2:41-50). But here we’re told the “disciples took him along” (v. 36). If you’re going through a storm, it sure is good to have Jesus in the boat with you.

It’s fascinating that “there were also other boats with him” (v. 36). Jesus was only IN the one boat, but other boats were following along nearby. This is an apt depiction of people who attend church or other religious events in order to get in the vicinity of Christ, yet they’ve never really invited Him into their own boat. Until a storm hits, they probably feel safe enough with the status quo, but the storm reveals how dangerous it is to assume Jesus is in your boat, when He truly isn’t. When you’re going through rough waters, you don’t just want the Savior outside your boat—you need Him on the inside.

4.      Don’t doubt His love for you. Seeing Jesus asleep amid the storm, the disciples reacted the same way we would. Waking Him up, they questioned His love for them: “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (v. 38) Their logic was flawed, but we’ve all wondered the same thing at times: “Lord, if You really loved us, You wouldn’t allow us to go through storms like this!” But as the old children’s song says, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Instead of doubting His love while we’re experiencing a storm, we should allow Him to show Himself strong and faithful in the storm.

5.      Be patient when you’re halfway across. When Jesus told you He would get you to the other side of the lake, He meant it. But being in transition is difficult, and sometimes the journey lasts a lot longer than we would like. At times it can even be tempting to go back to the shore we came from instead of forward to the other side. Yet we must not lose heart when we’re halfway there.

6.      Stir up your faith. After Jesus calmed the storm, He asked His disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (v. 40) Although the disciples had to awaken Jesus in this story, that’s not really the message for us, for Jesus isn’t asleep today. Instead, it’s our faith in Him that must be awakened.

The prophet Isaiah cried out to God in despair: “There is no one who calls on Your name, who arouses himself to take hold of You” (Isaiah 64:7). Isaiah’s observation holds a vital key for whatever breakthrough you may be seeking in your life today: You must “arouse yourself” to take hold of the Lord!

You see, storms can be our friend rather than our enemy, because they’re meant to cause us to awaken our faith. Rather than being a one-time proposition, this is something we must do on a regular basis. Paul told Timothy to “kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you” (2 Timothy 1:6). Other translations say we must “stir up” or “fan into flame” the gifts and callings of God in our lives. 

God is calling us to be overcomers, not casualties or victims. When we apply these six lessons, life’s storms will always lift us higher.

I’ve always struggled to get excited about special days—even great days of celebration like Easter. After all, shouldn’t the resurrection of Jesus be a constant reality in our lives, not just a once-a-year commemoration?

Because Jesus lives, we can have true life as well. We can have fellowship with Him NOW, without having to wait until we get to heaven.

But let’s face it: We don’t just need resurrection power once a year. Even worse, some believers apparently have only experienced the power of God once in their lifetime—the day they got saved! No wonder so many experience drab, unfulfilling Christian lives.

The good news is that Easter is meant to be an everyday, moment-by-moment experience:

If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (Romans 8:11).

If you’ve given your life to Christ, His resurrection power lives in you—and you don’t have to wait until Easter comes again to get another dose!

Yet it’s heartbreaking that so many Christians are still trying to live FOR Christ, without realizing God’s plan for Christ to live His life THROUGH THEM! “It is no longer I who live,” Paul declared, “but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Anything less than this is empty religion and self-effort, destined to be fruitless in eyes of eternity (John 15:1-5).

In Second Corinthians, Paul speaks often about the trials he experienced and the lessons he learned: “We were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead” (1:8-9).      

When Easter is more than a once-a-year experience, we learn to lean on God’s resurrection power when times are tough. Yes, there may be times when we’re “burdened beyond measure” in our finances, health, emotions, relationships, or some other area of life. But that’s when we discover the all-sufficient grace and faithfulness of the God of resurrection—the “God who raises the dead.”

So go ahead and celebrate Christ’s resurrection power in your life this Easter—but keep right on celebrating every moment you live!

Based on recent news reports and political talk shows, I’ve concluded that a growing number of Americans want us to be a nation without discrimination. While you probably think a discrimination-free country is a very good objective, you need to be careful what you wish for.

Let me explain…

According to dictionaries, to “discriminate” means to differentiate or make a distinction. So we can reframe my original question like this: Do you really want a country where no one can differentiate or make distinctions?

The entire Bible is a book of distinctions: God vs. Satan, light vs. darkness, good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, faith vs. unbelief, and so on. In fact, the very first test given to the human family was to discriminate between two trees, one that would lead to life and the other to death (Genesis 2:16-17). Failing to discriminate properly, Adam and Eve made the wrong choice, leading to disastrous consequences.

A nation without any discrimination would be a nation of anarchy. Nothing right. Nothing wrong. Everyone setting their own moral compass without fear of contradiction, because it’s politically incorrect, or even illegal, to say otherwise.

This problem can be illustrated by my annual eye and ear checkup a few months ago. While my senses are in pretty good shape for my age, I had to come to grips with my declining ability to discriminate. When they showed me the eye chart, I could see all the letters, of course. But when the letters were too small, I couldn’t differentiate between “M’s” and “N’s,” “C’s” and “G’s.”

The same thing happened when my ears were tested. I could hear all the sounds, but sometimes I couldn’t distinguish one from another.

You see, discrimination is a great thing when you’re using it properly. It’s terrible if you can’t differentiate between letters or between sounds.

Again, the Bible warns against blurring the lines when it comes to moral absolutes: “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter” (Isaiah 5:20 NLT). Instead of bringing freedom and happiness, the result of this kind of nondiscrimination is sorrow and confusion.

None of us wants to be known as a critical, judgmental person (Matthew 7:1-5). However, a normal and extremely valuable part of life is the ability to distinguish between things bearing good fruit and things bearing evil fruit (Matthew 7:15-20).

When Discrimination Goes Wrong

Just as the Bible strongly warns that we must discriminate at times, it also makes it clear that we must NOT discriminate based on the wrong criteria.

For example, the apostle Paul writes, “In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ” (Galatians 3:26-29 MSG). These were quite revolutionary words at the time! People were discriminating based on invalid distinctions, and Paul rebuked them for not recognizing their inherent equality in Christ.

Martin Luther King Jr. put this in perspective when he said people should be judged based on “the content of their character” rather than the color of their skin. So true. Nor should we judge people based on their gender, ethnicity, or income level.

But today many people have missed a vital component of King’s message. He didn’t say people shouldn’t be evaluated at all. Nor was this a “different strokes for different folks” kind of message.

MLK, in stark contrast to many pundits today, was proclaiming our right to evaluate, discriminate, and judge based on the content of people’s character and the fruit of their deeds. When we’re longer able to do that, our nation will quickly descend into an abyss of chaos and moral relativism.

One More Thing

So I would argue that the Bible gives us every right to discriminate, if our discrimination is based on the right criteria. For example, since we’re told that “bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33 NIV), it’s necessary to have discernment about what “bad company” looks like.

Yet many well-meaning Bible-believers have left out an indispensable part of the equation. They excel at pointing out the bad behavior all around them, but they’ve forgotten another principle found throughout the Scriptures: “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10 NIV).  

This means we have no license to be mean to those we disagree with! Quite the contrary, we are called to “do good” to EVERYONE, whenever we have an opportunity. This means showing them love and respect. It means serving them, even when we adamantly disagree with their beliefs or their lifestyle.

You don’t have to throw out your biblical beliefs or spiritual discernment in order to do this. It’s possible to walk in BOTH grace and truth, just as your Lord modeled so perfectly.

Several friends rebuked me last week when I posted a picture on Facebook of the bloody mass a surgeon removed from my back. Simply too gross and inappropriate, they said.

In my defense, I told them I posted the gory post-surgical picture while I was still heavily sedated. I had hoped all my Facebook friends would rejoice with me at how the fatty lymphoma was successfully removed. But, oh well…

Always looking for illustrations to use in my sermons and blogs, I learned some great lessons from my surgery. Even if you weren’t able to rejoice in my gory Facebook picture last week, I hope you’ll at least rejoice in some of the important spiritual principles I gleaned:

1. God’s blessings come not only through what He gives us, but also through what He removes. Actually, the two things are often just reverse sides of the same coin. My daughter Molly was in town for my surgery, and she helped me upgrade my wardrobe. This involved two distinct steps: She helped me go through the clothes in my closet to get rid of stuff I no longer needed; and she also took me to the store to purchase some new items. Both steps were important and necessary. Why? Because you can’t keep adding things to your life unless you’re willing to get rid of some other things.

 2. Sometimes our surgery is long overdue. The fatty lymphoma first appeared on my back nearly 30 years ago, and I probably should have had it removed decades ago. But the lump seemed mostly asymptomatic until the past few years, and I was just too cheap to spend money on surgery. The turning point came when the lump started causing back spasms, and I couldn’t procrastinate any longer. The experience made me wonder whether there might be some other toxic or unproductive elements in my life that I’ve tolerated far too long.

3. When the Master Surgeon gets out His knife, it’s not a good idea to protest or squirm. Resistance is futile, as the old saying goes. Squirming will just make the process longer and more painful. In the case of my surgery last week, the wise surgeon pumped me so full of Valium that I couldn’t help but be submissive.

4. Often God’s remedies are bloody rather than pretty. Can you imagine if Facebook and Twitter existed when Jesus died on the cross? Calvary was one of the bloodiest scenes in human history, but it was the necessary remedy for our sins. Today most of us have attempted to “sanitize” the gospel, removing all the blood and gore. We’ve created a bloodless Christianity—which, of course, is no longer the true gospel at all. The fact is this: You and I couldn’t have been saved without the shedding of Jesus’ blood. In contrast, our crosses today are mere ornaments of silver and gold, free of the blood and gore of Golgotha. We wear the cross, but seldom bear the cross. So it’s no surprise there’s such little transformation in our lives or impact on a watching world. 

5. The knife demonstrates God’s love, not His necessarily His judgment. Remember the knife Abraham wielded as if to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac? (Genesis 22) The result was a new revelation of God as Jehovah-Jireh, our faithful Provider. And Jesus assures us in John 15:1-5 that His gardener’s knife is not designed to destroy us, but rather to enable us to be more fruitful.

Can you see why I’m so happy I went “under the knife” last week? Yes, there was some momentary pain, but God meant it all for good (Genesis 50:20, Romans 8:28).

In the same way, I’m convinced He has a great plan to bless you today—both through the things He ADDS to your life and through the things He REMOVES. Don’t miss His blessings when they come!

I love preaching even more than I like breathing, eating, or taking a walk on the beach. So it was very strange recently when I found myself having absolutely no desire to preach.

What could the problem be?

Of course, some pastors preach every Sunday and are simply burnt out. I could never keep that kind of schedule again. But since I haven’t preached in several months, burnout clearly isn’t my problem.

Another part of my melancholy over the issue is the fact that things didn’t go well the last time I preached. Every pastor has faced this at one time or another. Your sermon is a dud on Sunday, and by Monday you’re thinking of switching careers.

At other times, a preacher may simply be experiencing spiritual dryness. It’s horrible trying to preach a message to others when you yourself feel empty and disconnected with God.

And a similar phenomenon occurs when there’s some kind of emotional trauma going on in your personal life—such as a trial in your health, finances, family, or relationship with church members. It’s no wonder you don’t feel much like preaching when you’re bleeding inside.  

Whatever the cause may be, it sure helps if you have a friend or two to share your angst with. With some prayer, wise counsel, and encouragement, your perspective usually can be restored much quicker than you think.

Lately I’ve been reflecting on Jeremiah’s decision to quit preaching and prophesying. It’s hard to blame him, really. He was delivering lots of bad news to the people of Judah, and all he got in return was ridicule and rejection.

Finally, Jeremiah decided he couldn’t take it anymore. Why waste his words on people who responded with such contempt?

However, when he considered taking a preaching vow of silence, that didn’t go well for him either:

If I say I’ll never mention the Lord
    or speak in his name,
his word burns in my heart like a fire.
    It’s like a fire in my bones!
I am worn out trying to hold it in!
    I can’t do it! (Jeremiah 20:9 NLT)

What a dilemma this mighty prophet faced. When he boldly declared God’s message, no one responded in a positive way. Instead, he became a laughingstock.

But when he determined to simply shut up, he found himself in even more agony. God’s Word inside him was like FIRE in his bones! After becoming utterly worn out when he tried to hold it in, he finally said in exasperation, “I can’t do it!”

I don’t know what you are going through today. Perhaps you are tired of speaking out. Maybe you’ve given up making any real difference in people’s lives.

Yet my prayer is for God to ignite such fire in your bones that you won’t be able to remain silent. No longer will you hold back. No longer will you just go through the motions.

If you are dealing with burnout, I pray you will get the rest and renewal you need. If you’ve been wounded, I pray you will discover God’s healing balm. And whatever it takes, may the Lord restore the joy of your salvation and passion for your calling (Psalm 51:10-13).

May you feel the FIRE again, my friend. We need to hear God’s Word from your lips.

Recently I faced a number of situations where I was put on standby, and none of them were much fun.

At work everything was put on hold two days in a row because of the “possibility” of a very important meeting that never ended up happening. During that same week, a pastor asked me to be on standby to preach for him in case bad weather prevented him from getting back from a ministry trip on time—but he returned successfully.

Meanwhile, I was looking forward to a new initiative in my personal life, only to find out about a six-month waiting period before I could even begin. More waiting. More standby.

I don’t like being on standby. There’s all the stress of preparation and all the frustration of waiting, but the payoff seems so uncertain. I hate to waste time, and that’s usually what it feels like when I’m on hold.

And I bet you’ve faced some “standby” situations too. Perhaps you’re waiting for some kind of medical diagnosis or procedure…a new job or promotion on your present job…the launch of a new ministry…or resolution of some relationship issue.

Lots of people in the Bible were put on standby, with mixed results. Noah’s life couldn’t progress until he completed construction of a gigantic ark—and that project took over 100 years.

Abraham and Sarah were on standby for decades to receive their promised son from the Lord. While waiting, they cooked up a scheme to have a child by other means. The result was the birth of Ishmael—and thousands of years of conflict in the Middle East.

King Saul was told to be on standby until Samuel could return in seven days and present a burnt offering to God. But Saul grew impatient when Samuel didn’t return in the designated time, so he offered the burnt offering himself. As minor as this infraction may seem to you and me, it marked the first step in the unraveling of Saul’s reign.

The disciples were put on standby as Jesus prayed and sweated drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane before His crucifixion. He found them fast asleep, unable to pray and stay awake during even one hour of standby mode.  

As these stories illustrate, it’s a hazardous thing to be on standby. We tend to get impatient...take matters into our own hands…and often do something crazy.

However, I’ve found that God often has a reward in store when we learn how to handle the standby mode correctly. Perhaps an illustration from the world of pets may help…

If you throw some object into the backyard, your dog is likely to retrieve it and bring it back to you. Most dogs do this instinctively, without any training. You can give him a treat to reward him for his efforts, if you would like. But the dog hasn’t really accomplished much, has he? Rather than displaying any feat of obedience, he was simply doing what came naturally.

However, what if you want your dog to get the object and then sit quietly in place until you ask him to come to you? That’s a skill likely to take some training from you and some self-control by the dog. You must teach him what the command “Stay” means, and he must fight all of his natural instincts in order to comply.

It’s pretty impressive when a dog has learned to obey his master in doing something contrary to animal instincts. You really should treat him with a reward when he can do that.

Well, I would like to say I’m a voice-trained dog, but too often I’m not. Too often, I still do what comes naturally instead of what the Master is commanding.

The key to dog training is repetition, I guess. And that seems to be the same pattern God uses in training us to be voice-trained believers. Hopefully, we will learn the lessons in time.

I encourage you to take a hard look at the standby situations in your life today. Are you patiently waiting, listening for your Master’s instructions rather than doing whatever is right in your own eyes?

And perhaps you need to be challenged about the opposite side of the coin: Do you think you are waiting on a green light from God on some issue, when He’s actually waiting on YOU to take action and get started?

Let’s listen to our Master’s voice today, my friend. If we do, I’m convinced our standby periods will be rewarded.

When our family moved from Florida to North Carolina, we realized after a few days that our blue Parakeet was being awfully quiet. Tweety, as we called him, had always been a joyful chirper while we lived in Florida—but now it seemed he had lost his song. For a whole month, Tweety’s silence continued, to the point that we wondered if he would ever be the same again.

I missed the cheery atmosphere that Tweety had previously provided, something I had taken for granted and not appreciated like I should have. It appeared that the trauma of moving 10 hours away and adjusting to a new climate was more than he could bear. When days past without a song from Tweety, I became concerned that he might even die from the strain of our move.

Then, as suddenly as it had disappeared, Tweety’s song returned. Once again, his happy chirping filled our kitchen and lifted our spirits.

Tweety’s resilience is a lesson for us all. Resilience is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.”

Birds aren’t the only creatures that can lose their song—people can too! In fact, I’ve experienced this myself numerous times over the years. Sometimes, like Tweety, I’ve experienced traumatic events that temporarily robbed me of my joy and my sense of purpose. At other times, my song disappeared amid sheer boredom or fatigue. I just didn’t feel like singing anymore, or even living, for that matter.

During these times when I lost my song, it seemed as if it might be gone forever. Life is pretty dreary when you’ve lost your vision, and that happens to me from time to time.

Thankfully, God has always restored my lost song in time. Sometimes He does this instantaneously, but at other times I’ve had to wait for weeks or even months.

During my “lost song” episodes, I’ve had a surprising epiphany: Often when my song returns, it comes in the form of an affirmation of some dream or vision that God had already put on my heart years before. But at other times, I’ve been blessed by unexpectedly receiving a “new song”—some fresh insight into the Lord’s future plans for my life (Psalm 40:1-3, Jeremiah 29:11).

If you’ve presently lost your song, as has happened to Tweety and me, recognize that you aren’t alone. This is a universal human experience, and if you’re a visionary, creative type like me, you’re likely to get hit the hardest.

Time is on your side in the restoration process. Make sure to surround yourself with loving friends who can help you regain your equilibrium and perspective. And a brisk walk or trip to the gym might help you get rid of the cobwebs too.

Don’t believe the lie that your joy will never return. Instead, turn your heart fully to the Lord. Spend time in His Word, where you’ll see how some of the Bible’s greatest heroes lost, and then recovered, their vision and their song.

Some of your most valuable lessons will be discovered in the midst of life’s storms. He is in the restoration business, and He knows exactly what you need to get your song back.

Can’t you hear the music begin to play in the distance? When you hear heaven’s irresistible serenade again, you can’t help but sing. You might even want to put on your dancing shoes.

A few months ago I had a horrifying epiphany that will impact me the rest of my days. In a moment of time, I caught a glimpse of all the teachings and insights God had poured into my life—most of which have never been shared with anyone.

I saw my large filing cabinet of sermons that have never been delivered…my books never completed or never published…my discipleship materials and leadership tools that few people have ever seen.

It was a sickening sight. What a tragic waste, I have murmured to myself ever since.

This caused me to reflect on the great model presented in Ezra 7:10, where we see God’s desire for us to Learn, Do, and Teach.

By God’s grace, I’ve learned a lot over the years, and I’ve also endeavored to put His Word into practice. But what about the final leg of the stool, teaching others the things He has taught me? Of course, I have done that to some degree, but it’s distressing to see how much of this content has never been fully utilized and shared.

My epiphany came into even clearer focus recently when my pastor gave a sermon about the frequent comment in Leviticus that God wants us to give Him “the fat” of our offerings. For example, Leviticus 3:16 says, “A Over 50 times, God refers to “the fat” in the book of Leviticus!

While listening to this message, I suddenly saw what fat really is: unutilized fuel. Our body puts on fat when we ingest more fuel (calories) than we burn. It’s a hoarding mechanism, our body’s method of storing fuel for another day. And anyone who’s tried to lose weight knows that once the body stores unutilized fuel as fat, it’s extremely difficult to get rid of it.   

Finally, I had a framework to explain my epiphany. Put simply, I’ve ingested a lot more spiritual calories over the years than I’ve burned. And while it’s a blessing to be so well fed, the downside of this situation is spelled F-A-T.

It would be one thing to store fuel for your future if you knew you had to make it last for many decades to come. But it doesn’t work that way. You must “use it or lose it.” The fat does you absolutely no good—and instead does you harm—if you store it instead of burn it.

I can’t think of a more repulsive word picture than a morbidly obese person lying motionless in their coffin. What a tragedy. All that unutilized fuel going to waste.

I grew up believing the maxim, “If you waste a minute, you’ll never get it back.” No wonder I have tendencies to be a workaholic, struggling to have days off, take regular vacations, or even enjoy a lazy, unproductive evening.

Although I’ve made some progress in reversing this mindset in recent years, the whole issue got triggered again when I called a friend recently and asked him what he was doing. “Oh, I’m just killing time tonight,” he said.

Killing time? I found myself wanting to scream inside. How could anyone want to kill something as sacred and holy as time? Hadn’t my friend read Paul’s admonition in Ephesians 5:16 that we should make the most of our time?

But before blurting out anything stupid, I caught myself. I started having flashbacks of all the ways God had tried to deal with me on this issue over the years.

I remembered my first year in law school, when I studied nearly all my waking hours, seven days a week. Despite this heroic commitment to my studies, my GPA was less than 2.5—just a C+.

I wanted to do better my final two years, but it seemed impossible. I had already worked my hardest, just to get mediocre results.

When I asked the Lord for a new strategy, I was shocked by His advice. “Jim, you need to take a day off every week. No work…no studies…a day with no agenda.”

I was horrified. What terrible advice! I thought. If I only got a C average while studying seven days a week, how would things getting any better if I worked only six days?

Despite my misgivings, I followed God’s direction during my final two years—and the results were dramatic. To my amazement, I suddenly became an A student, one of the top performers in my class. I even won an award for being the most improved student!

Little did my professors know my secret: studying less and making sure to “kill time” each week.

This experience was a powerful message from God about the “sabbath principle”—the fact that having six days of work with His blessing can be more productive than seven days without His blessing.

Yet I’ll admit, I still hate to see time go to waste. And I still need God to change my perspective on what truly constitutes a “waste” of time.

At age 40, Moses fled from Egypt and spent 40 years taking care of sheep in the wilderness. If that were me, I would feel like my life was wasting away. But that’s not how God looked at things. This 40-year period of obscurity was part of the Lord’s training ground for Moses’ next 40 years, when he would lead the Israelites through the wilderness toward their Promised Land.

But the subject of wasting time came up again recently when I received an email from a friend who was going through a divorce after 10 years of marriage. “I feel like she just wasted 10 years of my life, Jim,” my friend wrote in frustration.

What would you say to person in this kind of situation, who feels as if someone else has “killed time” that will never be regained? Fortunately, the Scriptures provide this great promise about what God can do when we fully turn to Him after suffering losses: "I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust" (Joel 2:25).

Isn’t that incredible? God not only can restore lost minutes, but He even can give us back lost years. Wow.

So if you’ve seen some of your time killed, whether through your own actions or by someone else, don’t despair. God can turn things around. His favor can reverse your losses. He can restore lost time in astounding ways.

The starting point is to make sure you’ve truly put your time in God’s hands (Psalm 31:15). Then get ready for a resurrection of your “dead” time, your lost hopes, and your abandoned dreams. Nothing committed to Him is ever wasted.

I’ll never forget the day I met James “Buster” Douglas for the first time. His fiancé, Bertha, worked for my dad and me in our law office in Columbus, Ohio, and he came straight from the gym to visit her.

Bertha was clearly in love with this guy, and I could see why. He had a great smile and personality, and his highly toned body soared to 6’4”.

But when I later asked her what kind of work her fiancé did, I couldn’t help but laugh at her response. “Oh, he’s a boxer,” she said with true admiration.

“OK, so he likes to box,” I told her with a chuckle. “That’s nice hobby, but what does he do to make a living?”

“He boxes all around the state,” Bertha told me defensively, “and he makes money whenever he wins.”

I could tell I wasn’t going to get anywhere in this conversation, so I just dropped it, noting to her that he seemed like a really nice guy.

Less than a decade after I met this sturdy young man called Buster, he knocked out previously undefeated heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson in Tokyo. That was 25 years ago last week.

I guess his boxing “hobby” paid off after all.

There are two important lessons in this story. First, I’m ashamed to admit that I fell into the common trap of not valuing someone’s dreams and aspirations. What are the odds of someone “making it” as a professional boxer? I smugly thought to myself.

According to the odds going into the Tyson-Douglas fight, Buster was a 42-1 underdog. Nobody with any sense would take odds like that. His victory has been called one of the greatest upsets in history in any sport.

You see, success in life is not a matter of statistics and probabilities. According to oddsmakers, none of the trailblazers in history would have had a high probability of success. Think about Christopher Columbus…Abraham Lincoln…Thomas Edison…Steve Jobs…the list could go on and on.

So, the first lesson is this: Be careful about laughing at other people’s dreams—or at your own dreams, for that matter. God is a God who loves to prove the critics and oddsmakers wrong, and He has done so time and time again.

The second lesson is derived from what happened in the months and years after that fateful victory by Buster Douglas in February 1990. Just eight months later, he lost in the third round to Evander Holyfield in a completely lackluster performance.

What had happened in those eight months, between his dazzling victory and his dismal defeat? In the words of the old Rocky movie, Buster had quickly lost “the eye of the tiger.” After achieving his initial success, he was content to take it easy and rest on his laurels. He already had more money than he could have ever dreamed, so why push himself?

In the years after losing to Holyfield, Buster put on more than 100 pounds and experienced serious health issues. At one point, he went into a diabetic coma and almost died. According to some reports, these days he spends much of his time eating and fishing with his buddies.

So, here’s the second crucial lesson: After you win a victory, you must avoid the tendency to get fat and lazy. It’s not just that Buster had to keep winning boxing matches. But perhaps he at least could have been a better steward of his health, his time, and his money. Even if he had lost his zeal to beat up on his boxing opponents, couldn’t he have found new mountains to climb and new victories to win?

As various translations of Proverbs 29:18 point out, when we no longer have any vision, we are likely to “run wild,” “cast off restraint,” or even “stumble all over ourselves.”

I think we all can see ourselves in one aspect or another of Buster Douglas’ life. For example, just because the odds may seem against you today, that doesn’t mean you should quit. With God’s help, you can prove the devil and the naysayers wrong!

And just because you’ve had great success in the past, that doesn’t give you an excuse to quit dreaming now. There are new dragons to slay, new battles to win, new ways to invest your life to advance the kingdom of God and make the world a better place for others.

May God give you fresh vision for your life today! May He enlighten your eyes once again to see the hope of your calling (Ephesians 1:18), so you can win new victories and press on to new heights (Philippians 3:12-14).

I really like the concept of miracles. As a writer for a Christian ministry, I find myself regularly penning articles and books about God’s desire to give “supernatural breakthroughs” to His people in their health, finances, emotions, and relationships.

It’s not entirely hype. I’ve seen breakthroughs like that, and they are awesome. We desperately need to see more of God’s supernatural power manifested in the American church today.

However, like almost any Biblical issue, there’s another side to the story. Yes, God wants to reveal His POWER, but He also wants us to understand that some miracles require a PROCESS.

A simple illustration is the conception, development, and birth of a baby. The whole thing is pretty miraculous, if you ask me. But God doesn’t do it all by Himself. He works through a man and woman through a set process that ultimately leads to a baby being born.

A great quote attributed to St. Augustine says, “Without God, we cannot. But without us, God will not.” In other words, we’re called to be what the apostle Paul described as “God’s partners” (NLT) or “God’s co-workers” (NIV). He will always be faithful to do HIS part, but the outcome of a matter is often dependent on us doing OUR part as well.

Farmers traditionally have had a keen appreciation for this partnership. Perhaps that’s why Jesus told several parables about sowing seeds and trusting God for a fruitful harvest (e.g., see Mark 4). I particularly love the parable about a man who scattered seed on the ground and then went to sleep (vs. 26-29). Isn’t that cool? The man knew he had faithfully done his part, and then he rested in the assurance that God would cause his seeds to “sprout and grow,” even though “he himself does not know how.”  

The farmer in this story didn’t have to understand the entire biology of “how” his seeds would be turned into a crop. He simply knew the process would work, if he worked the process.

It’s fascinating to see that although this man’s harvest could be aptly described as a “miracle breakthrough,” it wasn’t instantaneous but gradual and progressive in nature: “first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.”

If you’re like me, you get frustrated by this. Why can’t the harvest come all at once, fully grown right from the beginning? While I’m sure some harvests DO arrive instantly, that’s surely not the norm. Almost always, we have to wait for our seeds to sprout, and then we have to wait some more until they come to maturity.

I’ve noticed that some people are so in love with the concept of the supernatural that they overlook their responsibility to plant any seeds. They haven’t witnessed to anyone, but they seem puzzled that no one is getting saved. Or they beg God to open the door for a new job, even though they haven’t gotten around to sending out their resume yet.

Other people are painstakingly trying to work life’s processes, but they are in desperate need of a supernatural touch from God to energize and multiply their well-intentioned seeds. They’ve forgotten that even after seeds have been planted and watered, GOD must be the one who makes them grow (1 Corinthians 3:6).

In order to reach maximum fruitfulness, we need both God’s power and His processes. The processes may not be glamorous, but they are a necessary part of receiving the Lord’s provision. Apart from Him we can accomplish nothing of lasting value, but as we abide in Him and apply His prescribed processes, we will surely bear much fruit (John 15:5).

It’s beautiful, but also exasperating, that the Bible often points out two seemingly opposite and contradictory sides of a subject. For example, Jesus is both God and man, a paradox that is hard, if not impossible, for us to fully grasp.

And have you ever studied the issue of “eternal security”? If so, you’ve found verses that seem to state the absolute impossibility of losing your salvation (e.g., John 10:28-29, Romans 8:31-39, Philippians 1:6), while other passages warn about the danger of falling away (Hebrews 6:4-6, Hebrews 10:26-27, 2 Timothy 2:12, 2 Peter 2:20-22). I’m sure God understands how all of this works together. But if we’re honest, sometimes it’s a bit baffling for us.

In the face of the Bible’s paradoxes, our tendency is to cite proof texts on one side of an issue or the other. In doing so, we ignore verses that show the other side, and this typically leads to heated theological arguments with sincere believers who have their own set of proof texts.

Hey, I used to be an attorney, so I’m pretty good at presenting just one side of the evidence.

Some of the Bible’s paradoxes are practical, not just theological, in nature. For example, I have a close friend who loves to quote Paul’s words about contentment: “  (Philippians 4:11).

Over the many years this friend has known me, he’s periodically observed my discontentment over my finances, my weight, my lack of spiritual impact, and many other things. And even after I was able to get unstuck and make progress in these areas of discontentment, he’s noticed that I always find another mountain of discontentment that I still needed to climb.

When my friend preaches to me contentment, I quote to him a passage Paul writes in the chapter right before his statement about being content: “I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

I guess I struggle with the whole contentment thing. How can we be content, when our spiritual condition or other aspects of our lives fall short of God’s best for us?

What a dilemma this is. By focusing on the importance of contentment, my friend runs the risk of settling for circumstances in his life that God wants to change. In time, he’s liable to get stuck in situations that are far less than God’s high calling for his life.

But my perspective clearly has its dangers too. By stressing a lifestyle of continually “pressing on” to ever-higher goals and objectives, I run the risk of never resting or enjoying the journey. Life tends to become just one long marathon race, never being satisfied with my current position on the GPS.

Somehow both of these scriptural principles are true. Wherever we’re currently at on our journey through life, we must learn to abide in the Lord and experience His peace (Philippians 4:6-9, John 15:1-5). Thankful that He is faithfully working out His purpose in our lives, we can unapologetically take some time to “smell the roses” along the way.

Of course, this doesn’t negate the realization that we haven’t “arrived” yet. No matter how far we’ve come so far, we are still in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). And rather than allowing ourselves to become stuck on some spiritual plateau, we must recognize God’s “upward call” to transform us from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18).

So which side of the contentment dilemma are you on today? Do you need a nudge to get unstuck and press higher, or is it time to take a deep breath, rest, and enjoy where God has brought you so far?

With the approaching of Valentine’s Day, I found myself Googling “The Greatest Love Songs of All Time.” Wow. Pretty interesting list.

Many of the “secular” love songs could be described as mushy…overly sentimental…even corny. And some of your favorite songs probably didn’t make the list (sorry, but Kenny Chesney’s “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” was overlooked).

One of the striking things about the tabulation of great love songs is that often they’re just a dim reflection of the kind of love God has for us, and wants from us. After all, the Bible tells us “love is from God” (1 John 4:7). That’s where it comes from. Our Lord is the ultimate Lover and the source of all genuine human love. “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). And even if you think you’ve got a pretty good supply of human love, it’s destined to run out someday unless you’re connected to the never-ending source of love.

Perhaps you’ve never really thought of God as the ultimate romantic. But if you take a look at the world’s great love songs, you’ll see they’re often more scriptural than you’ve ever imagined.

For example, when the Bee Gees asked the probing question “How Deep Is Your Love?,” can’t you hear Jesus asking you about that as well? In John 21:15-17, He asked Peter this question not just once, but three times. And Paul picked up on the same theme when he prayed for you to be “rooted and grounded in love…able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19).  

Yes, God’s love is very deep, very wide, very long, and very high. As John Mark McMillan says in his song, “How He Loves,” “if His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.”

So, I could go on and on about how the world’s love songs reveal the human craving for a love that ultimately must be found in a relationship with God:

• We all want to experience a constant love like Whitney Houston expressed in her song, “I Will Always Love You.”
• We want to experience the transforming love described in Celine Dion’s song, “Because You Loved Me.”
• When we pass through life’s storms, we want God’s assurance that “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
• We’re desperate to have someone who truly believes in us, even when we don’t believe in ourselves, and Kenny Rogers expressed this well in “She Believes in Me.”
• We need someone who loves us not because we’re perfect, but rather says “I Love You Just the Way You Are,” as Billy Joel and Bruno Mars have sung about.

Yes, we’re looking for romantic love, but we also need something deeper and more durable than that. We want someone who sees us with grace—“Through the Eyes of Love,” as Melissa Manchester’s beautiful song says.

However, if your God is just a religious God, it will be pretty hard to see Him in any of these love songs. You definitely wouldn’t want a religious, angry, puritanical God to be your Valentine, would you?

I’m sure glad God saw to it that The Song of Solomon would make it into the Bible. Lest we think of Him as some distant, judgmental, religious tyrant in the sky, He reveals Himself there as our passionate Bridegroom and Lover, obsessed by our beauty—even when we feel anything but beautiful. And even when we’re down on our luck and down on ourselves, He sings love songs and dances with us (Zephaniah 3:17).

It’s so cool that Jesus didn’t choose to do His first miracle in a church service. Instead, He turned water into wine at a wedding! (John 2) Ironic as it might sound, Jesus wasn’t nearly as religious as we are. If we could grasp that fact, we would be much better at attracting unbelievers—and especially young people—to the Savior’s unending, sacrificial love demonstrated on Calvary.

What are your favorite love songs? They probably say a lot about what you need God to do in your heart today. So, go ahead and sing. Go ahead and dance. Throw caution to the wind.

He’s waiting to be your Valentine.

I recently had an experience that forced me to die to myself. It was a “Who Moved My Cheese?” type of moment, when I made my wishes known on a matter but was overruled.

In the overall scope of things, this incident was clearly no big deal. But I hadn’t gotten my way, and it hurt. I felt disrespected…disregarded…undervalued.

Yet what hurt the most was realizing I had overreacted, blowing up the whole thing much bigger than it actually was.

Thankfully, God graciously showed me what had happened during this unusual emotional meltdown. The incident that triggered my flood of ugly emotions was relatively minor. But like the tip of an iceberg, it was meant to alert me to the fact that a much BIGGER hunk of the iceberg was still lurking beneath the surface.

You see, the small incident in question had a very strange effect, causing me to experience flashbacks of numerous other times in my life when I had felt rejected or unappreciated. I thought I had long since forgiven and been healed of these past experiences…but some of the wounds apparently remained.

Ouch. It was painful to see the ugly sense of pride and entitlement hiding deep within my heart. But I also was grateful to the Lord for exposing it. I saw that the real issue wasn’t the tip of the iceberg that was in view, but rather the hidden iceberg in my heart.

I surely don’t like dying to myself. None of us do. And in my case, I felt like I had already died to myself enough to last a lifetime! Why did I have to do so again?

At that point, I remembered a time in the 1990s when I was a senior pastor facing a horrific wave of rejection due to a massive church split. It was excruciating to be rejected and lied about by people I loved and had endeavored to pour my life into.

Finally, I reached my limit. I’d had enough.

So one day I told my pastor friend Duane Flemming of my decision to resign. “I don’t need this, Duane. It’s just not fair, and I don’t have to take it anymore.”

Duane is a man of great wisdom, and he listened intently as I went on and on about how I had been mistreated. Finally, he asked me a simple question that still haunts me today:

“So Jim, are you saying you’re enough like Jesus already?”

How could I answer a question like that? Of course I wasn’t enough like Jesus yet. Jesus bore the cross all the way to His death on Calvary, yet I was ready to jettison my cross at the first sign of pain or injustice.

Forgive me, Lord. You’ve helped me see that I’m not entitled to bypass the cross today, just because I died to myself on some occasions in the past.

What about you, my friend? Are you able to relate to my story today? Is there some issue in your life where you are being forced to embrace the cross…die to yourself…and extend forgiveness to those who may not deserve it? Do you find yourself squealing like a pig, just because you aren’t getting your own way?

Amid the trials and disappointments of life, let me encourage you to fix your eyes on “Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2-3).

Yes, I know, you probably have already died to yourself a million times before. But the life a disciple requires dying daily (Luke 9:23, 1 Corinthians 15:31), not just in the distant past. That’s the only way to experience more of Jesus’ resurrection power, after all, and it’s a process that’s not going to change until He returns.

I have a love-hate relationship with transitions. Whenever friends tell me they are going through “transitions” in their life, my heart goes out to them. I’ve been there and done that—and transitions are seldom fun or easy.

However, I also feel sorry for people who aren’t going through any transitions at all. Too often, such folks are dealing with a situation far worse than transitions. They’re stuck in place, locked in an unhealthy coffin of contentment and apathy.

If you’ve ever been through major transitions, you know they’re uncomfortable, and sometimes even terrifying. They typically feel akin to a whitewater rafting trip where you’ve lost your oars and have absolutely no control of where you’re going.

Yet again, the opposite is not so great either. If you aren’t experiencing any transitions at all, it feels like your raft is dead in the water. Just sitting there. No progress in any direction. What a dreadfully boring life…

Sometimes we have a choice to make in whether or not to allow a transition. One day Jesus challenged some fishermen: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). He was giving these men a choice, and certainly not an easy choice at the time. It was a choice to engage in a lifetime of self-denial and constant transitions—but the world would ultimately be transformed as a result of their decision.

Another great story about transition involved four lepers who were sitting on the edge of a city on the brink of starvation because of being surrounded by an enemy army, the Syrians. Things were looking bleak, when finally one of the lepers pointed out an obvious fact: “Why are we sitting here until we die?” (2 Kings 7:3-9)

What a profound observation! Like these lepers, if we just sit in place, refusing to take bold steps of faith, we will surely die. In fact, I’ve met people who are already dead in some ways. Although they are still walking around, their hopes, dreams, and visions have died long before.

No, I don’t really like transitions. I would prefer to just find some comfortable oasis and camp out there until Jesus returns.

And one thing I especially dislike about transitions is the feeling of being “in-between.” It’s like being in limbo—knowing you’re not where you used to be, but not where you’re going to be either.

But I’ve discovered that I’m even more afraid of getting stuck than I’m afraid of transitions. Like every other believer, I know I’m called to be increasingly conformed to the image of Christ, and that process will be thwarted if I’m unwilling to grow and change.

So, whether you are going through a difficult transition or feel stuck in place, my heart goes out to you either way. Yet I’ve concluded that transitions are preferable after all. They are an indispensable part of God’s plan to take you from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18, Proverbs 4:18).

So if the white waters of transition are raging all around you, don’t panic. Hang on to the Lord and try to enjoy the ride. You’ll be better for it in the end.

Don’t get too comfortable. That seems to be what God is saying to many of us these days. He’s reminding us that our comfort zones can easily become our coffins if things aren’t shaken up from time to time.

A beautiful Scripture passage describes this very uncomfortable process. After providing an assurance of God’s great love for us as “the apple of His eye,” it goes on to depict Him as a mother eagle teaching her babies to fly: “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft” (Deuteronomy 32:10-11).

Picture the scene, which you may be able to relate to: Some baby eagles were enjoying life in their comfortable, well-protected nest, on a mountaintop high above the mundane life of lesser birds. Kept warm and well fed by the mother eagle, they remarked to each other, “It doesn’t get any better than this!”

Just about that time, something drastically changed. The mother eagle, once so nurturing and protective, suddenly went on a rampage. She horrified her chicks by stirring up—and even destroying—their comfy nest.

When it seemed like things couldn’t get any worse, the mother took an even more drastic step, casting each of the baby eagles high into the thin air above the canyon below. One by one, the terrified chicks plunged downward to what seemed like a certain death.

However, at the very last moment, their mother intervened. As the verse depicts, it “spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft.” This process happened over and over, until the young eagles finally understood their mother’s objective: “teaching them to fly” (Deuteronomy 32:11 MSG).

Take a moment to assess where you are in this process. Have you been resting comfortably in your nest? That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because the Bible says our Good Shepherd knows we need to “lie down” at times (Psalm 23:2).

But maybe you sense that God is stirring your nest, making you uncomfortable with the surroundings that once seemed so carefree and secure. If so, you must remember this: He loves you! You are the apple of His eye, and He wants what is best for you. That’s what this process is all about.

Yes, sometimes you might feel like you are plunging to your destruction, but the Lord has other things in mind. He’s teaching you to fly! It’s time to grow up and learn to soar like all eagles are meant to do.

If you don’t understand everything that’s happening to you right now, that’s okay. You’re not alone. Some things don’t seem to make sense at the time, but God will explain them later, whether in this life or in the next.

So wait upon the Lord, and He will renew your strength (Isaiah 40:31). Then get ready to SOAR!

I recently found myself humming an old tune, which is an apt prophetic picture of where many of us presently find ourselves:

He flies through the air with the greatest of ease,

The daring young man on the flying trapeze.

Just as a circus trapeze artist must let go of one trapeze and fly through the air until grabbing the next one, I often have found myself in a similar position—flying through the air in transition between the trapeze left behind and the one still to come.

It must be an exhilarating experience for a trapeze artist to fly through the air like that. But I’m sure it’s also a bit terrifying to know that the force of gravity will take its effect if the next trapeze doesn’t come within reach soon.

Much of the church is in a similar place, it seems. We have been propelled by many wonderful trapezes, past revivals and moves of God. But now many of us are flying swiftly through the air, on our way to a coming trapeze that is not yet altogether visible.

If we recognize that God’s plan is to take us “from one degree of glory to another” in this process (2 Corinthians 3:18), this can be an exhilarating experience. However, it’s easy to feel apprehensive as well, with nothing to hang onto except the Lord Himself.

Experienced trapeze artists realize they dare not look down or they will surely miss the next trapeze. Big mistake! Instead, the Lord’s intention is not only to keep us from falling (Jude 1:24), but to enable us to soar on eagles’ wings (Isaiah 40:31).

Despite the dangers, this is no time to play it safe. If we insist on clinging for dear life to our original trapeze, we are certain to make no progress at all. We’ll never go any higher unless we exhibit the courage of “the daring young man” who was willing to defy gravity and fly.

Be bold and courageous, my friend. As you let go of the past and press forward, I pray you will be strengthened for exciting new transitions on God’s flying trapeze. 

Are You READY for the Ministry God Has Called You To?

The Bible makes it absolutely clear that every believer is called to “ministry” of one kind or another (1 Peter 4:10-11). This doesn’t mean everyone is called to be a pastor, of course, but we’ve all been given spiritual gifts of one kind or another—gifts that God expects us to use to advance His kingdom.

However, in addition to recognizing our CALLING as God’s ministers, we must also understand God’s processes to TRAIN and EQUIP us for the work we’ve been called to do.

So here are two vital questions today:

• Do you know what God has called you to do?
• If so, what are you doing to be equipped for that ministry?

For years now, most American churches have largely relinquished their training responsibilities to seminaries, Bible colleges, and parachurch organizations. Many of these have done an excellent job, and we should be grateful for the service they’ve performed in helping to equip people for ministry. However, it’s time for local churches, or groups of churches in a region, to again fulfill their biblical mandate “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4:11-12).

No matter how a person seeks to be equipped for ministry, there are three crucial steps that will always be necessary. These are shown in the development of Ezra’s teaching ministry: “Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD, and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).

Ezra’s pattern is valuable for any of us who desire to be prepared for service: Study, do, and then teach.

Let’s take a closer look:

Study. Ezra’s teaching ministry came after he first set his heart to study the Word of God for himself. No matter how good the training is that we receive from others, there is no substitute for personally studying and meditating on the Scriptures. Proverbs 5:15 exhorts us: “Drink water from your own cistern, and fresh water from your own well.”

Do (practice what we’ve learned). Ezra saw that the goal of his studying was not merely to gain knowledge—it was to bring about obedience. Jesus made a similar point when He said that the man who built his house on a rock was the one who not only heard the Word, but also acted upon it (Matthew 7:24-27). We will have no authority to teach on scriptural principles that we’re not actually living.

Teach. We have a responsibility to share with others the things we have learned. Our training is deficient if it does not result in both doing the Word and also helping to equip others.

We must never forget that God Himself is the One who ultimately trains His people for ministry. Our hope must never be primarily in the human vessels or organizations He chooses to use. Rather, we must trust in the wisdom of His customized training plan—designed just for us. Our Heavenly Father knows best which means of training will best prepare us to fulfill His plans for our lives. And often the much critical key is our passionate hunger to fulfill His purposes—whatever that might take.

Although the Lord Himself is the master equipper, He has chosen to do much of the equipping through people. If we are wise, we will humble ourselves and receive from those He chooses to mentor us. And the biblical model of Ephesians 4:11-12 demonstrates that, whatever ministry we have, we should be equipping others to fulfill that same kind of ministry.

So I ask you two questions: Have you been adequately trained to fulfill the Lord’s purpose for your life? If so, are you actively training others, imparting to them the same lessons God has taught you?

Your answer to these questions will play a key role in determining your future fruitfulness and impact. God wants to get you ready!

No Christian musician ever influenced me as much as Andrae Crouch did. In fact, I modeled my own “music ministry” after his.

Of course, I stunk as a singer and musician, and my attempt to become a contemporary Christian artist ended the day a friend told me, “Jim, your singing is hoarse and out of key, but at least you sing with feeling.” 

Oh well. It was painful, but I got the message.

Although I quit singing much in public after that, in my private devotions I always aspired to be more like Andrae Crouch. He sang with feeling too, and I could relate.

I was privileged to see Andrae in concert on numerous occasions. The first time was at an outdoor concert, where I chatted briefly with him as he walked through the crowd and listened to the other groups on the stage before him. Although his group, Andrae Crouch and the Disciples, was the headliner of the day, he was just an approachable, humble brother in the Lord behind the scenes.

But I was the most impacted by a concert in Dayton, Ohio. Andrae’s group was the final act, and I remember sitting through some incredibly boring Southern Gospel groups who came on first.

When the moment finally came for Andrae to take the stage, he was introduced by a rather obnoxious local DJ. For what seemed like an eternity, the DJ went on and on about how great Andrae was, citing all the awards he had already won and all the #1 songs he had written.

The DJ’s introduction was over-the-top, nauseating HYPE, pure and simple. He seemed to be preparing the crowd for Andrae Crouch to suddenly descend from heaven in a cloud of smoke or walk on water as he took the stage. I couldn’t help wondering how Andrae was going to begin his concert after such an uproarious introduction.

The DJ eventually ran out of accolades and declared loudly, “HERE HE IS, GRAMMY AND DOVE AWARD-WINNER, ANDRAE CROUCH!!!”

Despite the hype that preceded him, Andrae took the stage without saying a word. He didn’t greet the audience or even look our way. Nor did he start his concert with a rousing song to match the hype of the DJ’s introduction.

Instead, Andrae quietly sat down on his piano bench, looked toward heaven, and began singing one of my favorite songs: “Thank You, Lord. I just want to thank You, I just want to thank You…for all you’ve done for me.”

The scene still brings tears to my eyes today. Many of us would have fallen into the trap of believing the hype and accepting the accolades for ourselves. But not Andrae Crouch.

Even at the height of his popularity and acclaim, Andrae was careful to lay down his crowns and trophies at the feet of Jesus. You see, that’s what we’ll all do in eternity, but Andrae was wise and humble enough to get a head start on glorifying God while he was still alive.

Today Andrae Crouch is no doubt singing in a much more anointed group than he ever experienced on earth. Casting down their crowns before the Lord’s throne, I’m sure they are singing passionately:

You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created (Revelation 4:11)

 Thank You, Lord, for Andrae Crouch. To You be the glory for a life so well spent.

All of us who profess to be followers of Christ are missionaries, whether we realize it or not. We may be good missionaries or bad ones, but the Lord has left each of us on this earth as part of His mission to spread the gospel and fill the whole world with His glory (Habakkuk 2:14).

In the mid-1970s I was just completing law school, and was given my first client in the school’s legal clinic program. It was a traffic violation, and my client, Geneva Clark, had been charged with rear-ending another vehicle. Not only that, but her driver’s license had been suspended and was invalid at the time of the accident. And, to make matters worse, Geneva was drunk at the time of the accident.

When the police officers arrived at the accident scene, they reported that Geneva was “strutting boisterously and unclad” in the center of Broad Street, one of the main roads in town. When they charged her with disorderly conduct, she resisted arrest—so they charged her with that too.

Here I was, an intern with the legal clinic, wanting to do well in my first case. Approaching Geneva before we went before the judge, I told her my pessimistic assessment of her case. “Well, Mrs. Clark, I have reviewed your file, and as far as I can see, you have no defense at all.”

Geneva listened politely, and then with a twinkle in her eye started rummaging around in her oversized purse. “Don’t worry, young man,” she assured me calmly. “I have something to show the judge that will help.” She finally found what she was looking for, a rather crumpled-looking card of some kind.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Oh, this is my missionary card,” she replied seriously. “We’ll show this to the judge and he will understand that I’m a missionary...doing God’s work!”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. There may be some areas of the world where a missionary can be effective by “strutting boisterously and unclad,” but Broad Street in Columbus, Ohio, was definitely not such a place. All I could reply to Geneva was, “Somehow I don’t think that will help your case.”

This admittedly is a rather extreme example, but it shows how the world often looks at those who name the name of Christ. Instead of allowing Him to transform our character and manifest His sweet aroma, we end up living like the devil and then trying to use the name of Jesus to cover up for ourselves.

There will never be an impactful revival of Biblical outreach unless it is accompanied by a revival of Biblical character. Before Isaiah was ready to say, “Here am I! Send me,” his sins were purged by burning coals from the altar of God (see Isaiah 6:1-8). Before we can spread the holy fire, it first must be allowed to do its work in our own lives.

So, what kind of missionary are you? When people look at your life, do they truly see Jesus or just a repulsive religious caricature?

In order to influence people for Christ, they must want what we have. I pray you are living that kind of life today, full of the Holy Spirit and radiating His fruit in every situation (Galatians 5:22-23).