How will wisdom be seen in 2013? Wisdom is God’s heart intersecting with street smarts. It’s a picture of the cross. In order for us to apply our relationship with God to our earthly relationships and tasks, we must humble all four chambers of our spiritual hearts to Him (Proverbs 1:7). We can remember the […]

Do you respond to God’s generosity and the needs of others with greed? Has your attempt at self-restoration been about what you can gain, or has it been about protecting what you are afraid to lose? Have you tried to be restored, but your self-ambition has pulled you away from living generously? If you answer […]

We must beware of discriminating against the rich in order to help the poor (Exodus 23:3). This is posturing greed. Posturing greed is pretense: helping the poor with a disguised internal jealousy against the rich. We attempt to pursue social justice apart from the loving heart of God. Too often, our hearts for social justice […]

Do you ever show favoritism? Favoritism is giving the gift to ourselves and misses out on intimacy with God (James 2:8-9). It flows from a partially surrendered heart. We show favoritism to those we coach, lead, manage, or serve. We might do so out of fear of losing something or hope in gaining something. However, […]

Is there any area in your life where you are pretending? Attempting to satisfy our desires apart from God creates the gap of pretense in each one of us. Like a spine that is out of alignment, this gap misaligns our hearts, desires, and three resources of life (time, talent, and treasure), from the outside […]

Peter taught: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). We were designed to be generous with our gifts of time, talent, and treasure. We were designed to use our gifts received vertically to serve those horizontally, so that they […]

We all do it. A non-profit corporation CEO offers a favor to a potential donor whom he will ask later for a charitable contribution that will advance his agenda for the organization. He gave the gift to himself. A busy husband reluctantly adheres to his wife’s request to pick up the kids from school only […]

An entrepreneur owned a start-up social networking business. He strategically placed his office in the center of his one hundred employees who could observe his work ethic through the glass panes surrounding his command central. The ecommerce strategy that he was actualising was palpable. One day, an intern who made wine in her spare time […]

Our goodness can be just as much of a barrier to God as our badness because we often trust in it. Jesus told a parable that became known as “The Prodigal Son.” However, Jesus never titled it by that name. Instead, He described two sons, with the climax of the story focusing on the elder […]

What would happen if you surrendered your desires vertically to the Restorer and became significant in the grace of God, content in the peace of God, under control in the power of God, and secure in the truth of God? If you trusted in godliness rather than your giftedness, would you transfer the satisfaction of […]

Have you interpreted a relationship with God as a religious set of rules that have left you feeling insignificant, out of control, insecure, and discontent? In one of the greatest stories ever told, Jesus described an elder son with a stone heart, one that was legalistic, rigid, and immovable. The father offered the same satisfaction […]

In Jesus’ trilogy parable (Luke 15), the prodigal son exhibited a sand heart, one that was loose and licentious, scattered in the wind. The father satisfied the desires of his sand-hearted younger son through the gift of restoration. When the younger son returned home, sandals were placed on his feet, which transformed him from a […]

How do you relate the gospel of Christ to others? When we fully surrender our desires to the Restorer, we translate His satisfying restoration to others. This is a secret that I will only share with you. The apostle Paul used four nouns to describe the gospel of God’s restoration, which we share with others: […]

Imagine life being like a wheel. In our hurriedness, business ambition, worry, or anxiety, we attempt to live at the outside of a wheel that seems to move faster and cover more ground as we trust in our giftedness rather than our godliness. This is pride. However, Christ is at the hub of the wheel, […]

Sin is a desire for any life apart from God. It attempts to find significance, contentment, control, and security in everything else, but Him. The more we try to find these apart from God the more insignificant, discontent, out of control, and insecure we become. Our search is right, yet often times we just look […]

Is there any area of your life where you have one foot in and one foot out with God? That’s the definition of anxiety, a divided inner being. When our hearts are partially devoted to God, we trust in our giftedness, rather than godliness. To get both feet in with God requires full surrender of […]

Are you struggling to find satisfaction? Jesus offered us a clue to why we are not satisfied. Jesus taught, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). Blessed means “satisfied.” Consequently, an impure heart, one with mixed devotions, leads us to dissatisfaction. However, the God of the universe demonstrates His […]

Have you seen God lately? Jesus taught, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). The Bible uses the word “pure” most frequently to reference precious metal, usually gold. Precious metals must be refined to become pure. This process involves intense heat that brings impurities to the top of the […]

What do you add to your devotion to God to satisfy your desires? The equation usually looks like this: God + blank = satisfaction. What do you place in your blank? It might be money, sex outside of God’s design, porn, risk, a rush, a smoke, a toke, a drink, or a line. It might […]

Are you insecure? Before you answer that, take this short quiz. Do you ever worry? Do you struggle with criticism? Are you disappointed that nothing seems to last or stay new? Do you attempt to reconcile conflict without asking for God’s help? Do you have a fear of being misunderstood? Do you constantly seek the […]