You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Psalm 139:15 (MSG) You have God-given gifts and abilities. Are you discovering them and putting them to use?  God has wired you a certain way for a purpose. He doesn’t expect you to be good at everything or attempt to please everyone. Philippians 4:13 says that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, meaning He strengthens you to handle each challenge and do what He has called you to do. It doesn’t say that you can run around doing everything under the sun and He’ll strengthen you in it all.  The question is: what is Christ strengthening you to do?  As you pursue a …

“If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a musty cellar. Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don’t get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room.” Luke 11:34–36 (MSG) Nothing kills vision faster than division—in other words, having two visions. You can have several visions within one, but they need to fit into the same overall picture. For example, if you picture your family being close and happy but you also picture yourself suffering from sickness and disease, you have a problem. You cannot have a dark, hopeless vision and a positive, faith-infused vision at the same time.  Division happens …

“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come.” Habakkuk 2:2–3 (NKJV) In Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) it says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” A Spanish translation adds that without vision, people go unrestrained like wild horses. Wild horses are beautiful, but you can’t get anything done with them. They are undisciplined. On the other hand, people who have vision want guidelines, routines and habits to follow to keep them on course.  Having a vision for every area of your life is vital if …

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! 1 John 3:1 (NLT) Would you like to walk in more freedom in 2023? We’ve been on a series about how to disengage from toxic sources of love—specifically how to stop feeling like you need to please people to feel okay about yourself. Walking in more freedom in this area involves changing your expectations. You see, relying on people-pleasing means you expect others to meet all your needs for love. The problem is you can’t make everyone happy. Sometimes the people in your life will be great at loving you; other times they won’t. But when you rely on God’s love, it’s so freeing! You …

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. John 13:34 (NLT) As Christians, we are to love like Jesus loved. But we need to realize something very important. Loving is not the same thing as people-pleasing.   Jesus most definitely loved people, but He was not a doormat. He did the will of His Father, who is love, but He wasn’t a “nice Christian” in the way we tend to understand it. He flipped over tables in a synagogue in anger (John 2:15). He confronted religious leaders, even calling them names that were definitely not nice (John 8:44). He was real with His friends and let them know when they …