Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) Believers who aren’t aware that they are sons and daughters of God often fall into one of two ruts. Because they aren’t accessing God’s power to live their Christian lives, they tend to make one of two choices. They either fake it or they beg for it. Many Christians can fake the “good Christian life” well. They act like they’re at peace and put on a loving, caring façade, but they can only keep the act up so long. When pressure hits, they lose composure or fall into sin, and everyone around them wonders what happened because they seemed …

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Jeremiah 13:23 (NKJV) Some people read today’s verse and assume it means that we’re incapable of change. First, I want to point out that this is an Old Testament verse. We live in New Testament times, and we benefit from what Jesus did for us. When you gave your life to Jesus, an incredible event took place. You became a child of God (Romans 8:14). So…what does a child of God look like? Barely getting by? Hanging in there until you make heaven one day? No, this Christian life is far more than we can imagine, and it’s not about you trying to become something. Second, today’s verse is actually about who you are …

Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Proverbs 2:2 (NLT) Do you wish you had more influence with certain people? Over the past few days, we’ve been discussing relationship keys that are essential when it comes to influencing and leading others. As the popular saying goes, people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. In other words, influence is often built through relationship. According to Tom Marshall’s book, Understanding Leadership, there are four building blocks to relationship, and so far, we’ve covered the first three: trust, care and respect. Trust is the most fragile of the four. Whether you are leading people you love like your kids or your team members at work, they need to be …

Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.” John 8:54 (NKJV) The world desperately needs more leaders—the kind who develop genuine relationships with others to help bring out the best in those they influence. In fact, you are designed to be this kind of leader. According to Tom Marshall’s book, Understanding Leadership, to develop the kind of relationships necessary, there are four essential building blocks. Yesterday we discussed the first: trust. Today we will cover two more: care and respect. Care is essential in developing great relationships. It’s difficult to form a relationship with someone if they don’t think you care. They need to be shown that …

We are careful to be honorable before the Lord, but we also want everyone else to see that we are honorable. 2 Corinthians 8:21 (NLT) Over the past few days we’ve been discussing leadership. We’ve established that we are all capable of being leaders, since leadership is influence. We all want to be able to influence others, especially when it’s for their own benefit because we have something to share that will help them. We discussed yesterday how you can’t influence someone if all you have is the task or end result in mind. You need to take the whole person into consideration—their hopes, dreams and desires, what they enjoy and their sense of purpose. You also need to build a relationship with them. There …