That feeling of being trapped.  Not understanding how to move through the discouragement, the defeat, the weakness that we allow ourselves to battle. What is it that traps us?  What is it that we are feeling that makes it so difficult for us to move forward? Discouragement so deep that we can’t see past our pain.  Walking around, feeling like there are bricks on our shoulders, lead in our feet, and fogginess in our brain.  Feelings of being trapped because we don’t believe we have the energy or the ability to move through whatever’s before us.   But…

Our will is capable of overcoming darkness and temptation, as negative signals are attacking us from every angle.  It is a full-time job keeping ahead of the noise and chaos around us.  Being close to Jesus doesn’t protect us from attacks, but it equips us with armor.  Jesus wants us all-in, not lukewarm about our faith.  When we are serious about our faith, we can draw from the Bible the protection we need against Evil.  The armor is most often found in Scripture and prayer.  When we feel drawn to darkness or repeatedly bombarded with annoying things…

What is our understanding if we don’t put it into action? Speaker Chris Caine spoke about a time when an atheist was invited to address a group of church leaders.  The question to the atheist was, “Why don’t you believe?”  The answer, paraphrased, was that most of those who go to church don’t act as they believe either. It is about our actions.  What we do, how we treat people, the choices we make, in public and when no one is watching, indicate our true selves.  We might not know Jesus, but he knows us.  If we…

In the book The One Thing by Gary Keller, if you want fewer distractions and greater productivity, you need to find the one most important thing.  “What is one thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?” (p. 9) Of course we do many things every day, but the “One Thing” is different.  When we focus on this one thing, our life becomes less stressful and more enjoyable.  For several years, Gary Keller’s one thing was finding the right management team.  He didn’t just set aside time to…