The Bible says we are to be witnesses in all the earth. It’s very important that we not only tell people about Jesus but also live in a way that testifies of His goodness.

No one witnessed to me about Jesus when I was in the world. My mentality was so far from God that if a person wanted to minister to me, he could not approach me from a religious standpoint.

Most of the people I knew who claimed to be saved painted an undesirable picture of salvation. I will never forget Mrs. Christina, a woman who lived five houses down from me when I was in the military at Fort Stewart, Ga.

She was a Christian who always told me that she had Jesus but never told me how I could get Him. Her living conditions were not the best, and she was always in desperate need of the simple necessities for herself and her children.

At the time, my goals in life were to have money and be famous. My exposure to the athletic world led me to believe I would find a husband who would sweep me off my feet and move me to Hollywood. Instead, the man I met swept me off my feet and moved me to a mental institution.

When Mrs. Christina sat at my kitchen counter telling me about her hard times, I was at a low place in my life. I felt as if I could not fight anymore. I was coming to the realization that I needed something, but I did not know what it was.

I remember that she would pause every now and then in the midst of her bad luck stories and shout, “Hallelujah,” “Praise God,” or “Thank You, Jesus!” I could not tell which one of us was in a worse condition.

I was a heathen and far from knowing Jesus. But Mrs. Christina knew Him only from a religious standpoint. She had no concept of Jesus as her deliverer and provider.

My natural instincts told me that if she served a God who was so powerful and loved her so much, He would not allow her family to starve every night. Mrs. Christina would quote the few Scriptures she had memorized, but something on the inside of me knew she had no idea what she was saying.

My compassion for her was great because I could not imagine my babies being continually hungry. At least once a week, I cleaned out my refrigerator and gave her family all the food I could spare.

They lived in a house built by the government, so their mortgage was little or nothing. Still, their lights were often turned off, and their furniture had an odor that I’d smelled on her clothing. I am convinced that scent is related to the spirit of poverty.

Demons are referred to in the Bible as foul, unclean spirits. The definition of foul is “to be putrid, offensive and impure.”

Today, I can detect the same odor that was in Mrs. Christina’s house in many homes. My husband and I share the belief that there is a distinct odor that accompanies poverty and lack.

Poverty Complacency

The spirit of poverty has elements that a person does not need a spiritual gift to detect. For example, in the neighborhoods where I grew up, it is common to live with roaches. Christians do not have to call down fire or speak in tongues to get rid of them; just call an exterminator!

Some have been offended when I’ve ministered in this area. However, I know from experience that the devil will trick a person’s mind to make him or her think living in a roach-infested house is normal.

My ministry has been very effective in what we call the “guttermost,” but sometimes my messages have to get down and dirty. I remember hearing the Holy Ghost say one day, “There are demons in the dirt!”

When I started preaching on spiritually and physically cleaning house, a few people felt as if I was picking on them about something they could not help. I understood where they were coming from because I had been there and done that, too. But as an apostle of God, it was my responsibility to let them know they did not have to stay where they were.

Many people who have lived in ghetto environments and survived welfare were never taught basic principles of living. This is the mentoring aspect of evangelism. Sometimes we have to get involved in the private lives of people.

There is a spirit that will make you settle for less. I know the signs, and they all add up to what I call “poverty complacency.” People get used to empty refrigerators, having milk once a week or having to get gas money from the people they are picking up for church.

These things should be dealt with immediately. They are unacceptable spiritual assignments that will keep people from fulfilling God’s vision for their lives.

Staying on top of everyday issues, such as maintaining a good driving record, having auto insurance and changing the oil in their cars is not common in the lives of many of the people I deal with. No one ever took the time to teach them that these are priorities in life.

They are used to hustling. And when people conform to what they have always been exposed to, their potential for transformation is destroyed. Without transformation of the mind, there will be no transition to the next level.

Numbers 14:24 says that Caleb and Joshua had “another spirit,” one that was different from that of the others who were wandering in the wilderness. The word spirit in this passage is ruwach. One of the meanings of this Hebrew word is “mind.”

Joshua and Caleb did not focus on what they were up against in life. They said, “Not only are we able, but we are well able!” (See Numbers 13:30, KJV.) They went forward to possess what God had promised them.

The other folk in the wilderness had no hope of transition. Just like Mrs. Christina, they came out of darkness (Egypt), but they never entered the marvelous light (the land of milk and honey). After God delivers us from whatever our Egypt was, we must get a new attitude in order to enter into the fullness of salvation.

The word salvation means more than going to church every week. It is soteria in the Greek, and it means “welfare, safety, deliverance and health.”

I understand that people will have challenges in life, but we must consider the vicious cycle of the python spirit of poverty. It is so called because it slowly squeezes the provision out of a person’s life. It will allow much to go out and nothing to come in.

Financial Curses in the Word

A sure sign of the poverty spirit is a lot of bills with no provision to pay them. These financial curses found in the Scriptures must be recognized and then renounced:

The curse of Cain. Because of Cain’s actions—withholding his best offering from God and killing his brother in a jealous rage—he was banished from the presence of the Lord and cursed in his ability to produce a harvest.

Cain was also subject to wander in the land of Nod, east of the Garden of Eden. When we try to hold back on God, we end up with nothing. But Proverbs 3:9 says if we honor the Lord with all our substance and the firstfruits of all our increase, God will fill our barns with plenty.

The curse of Malachi. Malachi 3:10-11 tells us to bring all the tithes into the storehouse. When we obey this principle, God promises to open the windows of heaven over our heads and rebuke the hand of the devourer on our behalf.

Many are plagued with curses because they do not honor God in their tithes and offerings. These are holy unto God.

Some make the mistake of not releasing their tithes in their minds. Mentally, they follow the money to the offering room, the bank and even the board meeting, worrying about how it is spent.

The word holy means “separated unto God.” Our tithing is not pleasing unto the Lord until we have the right attitude about it.

The curse of Haggai. The people’s disobedience to God produced bad fruit and brought poverty into their lives in several ways:

• They expected much, but little came in. The little they brought in, God blew away (Hag. 1:9).
• Heaven withheld its dew, and their crops failed (v. 10).
• God decreed a drought on the ground and on the work of men’s hands (v. 11).

God was angry because His house was wasted. The people said that it was not time for the Lord’s house to be rebuilt; instead, they took care of the needs of their own houses (vv. 2-3).

The generational curse of poverty. Exodus 20:5 explains that the iniquities of the fathers can affect as many as four generations.

If the fathers do not hearken to the voice of the Lord to do His commandments, poverty is one of the curses that shall be a sign upon their seed. Deuteronomy 28:46 says, “And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.” 

The curse of Ananias and Sapphira. In a time of great revival, the people were laying their offerings at the feet of the apostles (Acts 5:34-37). But Ananias and Sapphira withheld from the church a portion of the profits from the sale of their property and lied about it to the Holy Ghost. Both of them received the same punishment—death—when Peter exposed their sin.

Through God’s power, all these financial curses can be broken. I have seen people with tragic situations miraculously set free. But I get the greatest joy out of seeing a poverty-stricken person transition into the financial promises of God.

Liberty From Lack 

The keys to freedom from poverty are available to every one of us who is willing to do what God tells us in His Word. If you will start being faithful in your tithes and offerings; if you will honor God’s house and seek to pass on a godly inheritance to the next generation, then you can begin to reverse the curses mentioned and, with God’s help, break their power over your life.

As a preacher and an apostle to the nations, I feel that my ministry is not fulfilling the vision of Christ unless the lives of the people around me are changed for the better. I believe it is a sin to live below the standard that God has given us.

Jesus died so that we would not have to suffer from poverty and lack. When He came to set the captives free, He took the chains off our bank accounts and unlocked our minds, too. Selah! (Pause and think on that.)

The church doesn’t need any more Mrs. Christinas making Jesus appear unconcerned about a person’s physical condition. You can walk in victory over the spirit of poverty and lack and give others a reason to hope for their own deliverance.

Allow God to bring the transformation in your life that will take you to the next level. Then His blessings will become a reality that everyone can witness.

Read a companion devotional.

Kimberly Daniels is the author of From aMess to a Miracle, published by Creation House Press, from which this article is adapted.

If racial differences are not a stumbling block for you, great. But like me, you may be prejudiced and not know it.

Most prejudiced people see through a black or white glass. But I grew up judging through a multifaceted prism the many races, cultures and ethnic groups that surrounded me.

I was born in Puerto Rico to a Cuban family, which makes me “Hispanic”–the general descriptor for people from all Spanish-speaking countries, regardless of racial background or ethnicity. Growing up Cuban meant that I learned at an early age to be proud of who I am and where I came from. (I can trace my family history back through four generations in Cuba all the way to the Basque region of Spain.) It also meant that I inherited a good dose of prejudice–the sort of prejudice that becomes a way of thinking and clouds one’s perception of life.

You see, Latinos are prejudiced against other Latinos. We have our own “rating system,” in which some countries of origin are viewed as more prestigious than others, some races are more accepted than others and some dialects of Spanish are considered better than others. For example, Cubans and Argentineans have always perceived themselves as the “elite.” A famous joke in Latin America states that the definition of “ego” is the little Argentinean or Cuban inside all of us.

But in my family prejudice was not aimed only at Latinos–and at times it was very subtle. When I was young, I was honored to hear the story of how my family had befriended a black man named Juan whom my great-grandfather employed in the family business. Every day my great-grandmother made sure there was enough food for Juan to eat with the family.

What I did not consider until many years later is that the family never spoke about him as Juan; he was always Juan, el negrito (John, the little black boy), and he always came in the house through the kitchen door. Furthermore, the plate, silverware and glass he used the first day he sat at my family’s table became his forever. Yet I was taught to be proud of the way my family “welcomed” blacks.

When I was older, I was discouraged from dating boys who were not Cuban, with the exception of Anglo boys from the United States. The goal was to preserve–or improve–the family line.

In high school I developed a close friendship–not romantic–with a young man from Panama who was mulato (half black, half white). I still remember the speech I got in which I was discouraged to continue the friendship because of what our neighbors would think! After all, we were in a new country (my parents had emigrated to Puerto Rico from Cuba when Fidel Castro established a communist dictatorship there), and we needed to prove our worth. In college I once dated a guy from Mexico, and my dad’s reaction was so strong you would have thought he was having a heart attack!

My parents were also concerned about my choice of college–Auburn University in Alabama. I received a long lecture about the “backward” thinking of southerners, who “think Latinos are a weird mix of brown and do not understand that we are not all the same.” I was warned that I would be viewed as a minority.

Sadly, I found that many of the warnings I received were not completely unfounded. It was in Alabama that I came face to face with the ugly side of prejudice and was discriminated against–though most of the prejudice I encountered was based more on ignorance than on hate.

Many people did not know I was Hispanic because I did not look Mexican. You have no idea how many times I had to explain that Latinos are not all Mexican! Blacks who would never consider dating white women (that is prejudice too!) thought I was somewhere in-between and considered me “exotic.” Anglo men thought I was European.

To everyone, I was “different.” I made the effort to deal with every negative encounter with humor and grace, always trying to educate people on the Latino way of life. Some days my experiences bordered on ridiculous; others turned into funny anecdotes I will share with my grandchildren someday.

While attending the university, I gave my heart to the Lord. Slowly but surely, God began to deal with the prejudice and judgmental attitude that had been ingrained in me since my earliest years. I had to look in the mirror and realize that I, too, was a prejudicial person.

If racial differences are not an issue for you, you may not consider yourself prejudiced. But I have discovered that each of us has some form of prejudice of which we are unaware. My family was wealthy and educated and completely ignorant of their prejudice. Today, they are professionals who contribute to society–yet are still prejudiced!

Why? Because their way of thinking has been passed down from generation to generation, and no one has acknowledged that it is wrong. The same wrong thinking applies to the black and white students I met in college and–dare I say it?–the well-intentioned Christians I have met in many churches. I’m talking about white churches, black churches and Latino churches. I’m talking about the United States as well as Latin America and Europe.

We are all predisposed to judge or be prejudicial against that which we consider foreign or unknown. We make attempts to reach out to those “other” groups, but our efforts fall short because we are still focused on our differences–and that is not what God calls us to. He calls us to unity–the sort of unity that allows us to celebrate our differences while we make the effort to be color-blind, nationality blind and even socially blind.

It’s time to acknowledge that prejudice is more than black and white. Whether you realize it or not, you may have inherited some subtle form of prejudice that prevents you from seeing others through God’s eyes.

So why not take the challenge today and allow God to deal with your heart? Then make an effort to get to know others based on who they are inside, not on where they came from or what color their skin is. You might be surprised to find they are a lot like you!

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Tessie DeVore is Executive Vice President of Strang Communications Book Group.

One day while we were on vacation, my son Jonathan, my sister Leigh and I were visiting on the porch. Leigh mentioned that she needed to get up and put on her makeup.

Jonathan, 5, told his Aunt Leigh he liked her makeup. “It’s pretty,” he said. Leigh asked him if it made her look a little better.

“No,” he answered, “a lot better.”
Kristi Shores

My great-grandmother came to visit with me in the early 1960s. Because she came from a small town in Mississippi that had only one main store, we thought she would enjoy going to a shopping center.

When we walked up to a store, the door opened automatically. She was somewhat surprised by this, so she looked around and then stepped back. This would happen several times before she finally entered the store.

When I asked her why it took her so long to get in, she said, “I was looking for the person who opened the door for me so I could thank him, but I never saw anyone.”
Vera L. Drew

Some of the children in the child-care classroom where I was working were spending quite a bit of time staring out the windows. They were watching the utility men put up new electrical wire.

Back and forth the children would go, from playing to standing absorbed at the windows. When the utility men were finished with their work, Sean came running up to me with his whole face radiating pure excitement. “Teacher, Teacher!” he exclaimed. “The utility men are all done putting up the wire for the birds!”

Oh, to see through the eyes of a child.
Nancy Wells

God actually desires to enter into a genuine interactive friendship with us.

We really are the children of God, and the dynamics of our relationship with Him are more similar to the relationship between earthly parents and their children than we might initially expect. We struggle with this because we all know that human parents don’t have the same attributes and capacities as God. This, however, does not negate the similarities.

For instance, providing for the children is not a burdensome drain upon a loving and resourceful parent. Rather, it is a deeply satisfying pleasure and honor. So it is with God and His children (Ps. 50:15).

Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). He, above all persons, seeks to experience this blessing (happiness).

God Himself has set the example of the blessedness of giving for us to emulate. Of course, this also means that “receiving” is a blessing; otherwise “giving” would be evil!

Therefore, God has ordained that we walk in the blessedness of receiving and also in the super-blessedness of giving. This is truly an ingenious basis for both an economic and a relationship system.

Just imagine what this world would be like if every person walked in the revelation of a cycle of life rooted in gratefully receiving and generously giving. It would be like heaven already is.

Happiness is not a limited commodity in the universe; it is like a holy virus that can and should be spread. Christians, above all other people, should be good advertisements for this quality of happiness.

At times earthly parents “test the desire level” in their children regarding the things that they say they want so much. Wise parents do not always respond to their children’s requests the first time the children ask.

Sometimes good parents might hold back to make sure their children are serious, or they might require them to save their own money to buy what they desire. This way it becomes worth more to the children when they finally get it.

If parents will sometimes require their children to wait patiently for their desire to be fulfilled, then the answer, when it comes, will evoke a greater and longer lasting joy and gratitude in the children’s hearts. So it is with God and His children (Luke 11:13).

There are other situations in which parents will not automatically provide something for their children until the children specifically ask for that thing. When the children speaks up, and the desire is legitimate, loving parents quickly respond to the request without a trace of a begrudging or unwilling attitude.

The children receive what they’ve asked for, but they would have gone without it had they not asked. So it is with God and His children.

“You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2). This has to be one of the most profoundly amazing and convicting principles in all of Scripture.

Yet again, there are times when children’s persistence ultimately prevails over any reluctance in the parents to grant a specific request. The parents see the passionate desire in their loved ones, and they simply cannot withhold the request.

The parents will even rearrange other things to fit the answer to the request into their larger plans for their children’s lives. The priorities of parents can potentially be altered by the expressed desire of their children.

God’s children at times prevail upon Him through persevering prayer (Luke 18:1-8). It is God’s will that we prevail over His permissive will through prayer in order to see His perfect will established. This is significantly what prayer is about by its very nature—God truly listening to the voice of human beings and genuinely responding to them (Josh. 10:14).

God likes that kind of bold “wrestling” in prayer—just as earthly fathers enjoy wrestling with their kids to affectionately bond with them and to help them develop their strength and agility. This is an amazing doctrine of Scripture that has been abused by many and ignored by most.

It remains true nonetheless. The almighty God actually desires to enter into a genuine interactive friendship with us—unmighty as we are.

Prayer is a conversation that really matters both in the heavens and on the earth. Certainly our relationship with God is the most important relationship we have.

Our Father wants us to experience the delight of an intimate relationship with Him, one in which we regularly see Him answer our prayers. Jesus said, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).

God is our Father, and He loves to hear our voices and respond to our stated needs. We must take the time and expend the energy to keep up our dialogue with Him.

Nancy Gardner was an African American woman, born free in Newburyport, Massachusetts, on September 15, 1799. She was known for her devout heart and lived an adventurous life in service to the Lord.

However, Nancy’s life was not void of trials. Her mother was widowed three times. Nancy’s father, her mother’s second husband, died when she was just 3 months old.

Following her third husband’s death, Nancy’s mother, then responsible for eight children, suffered a nervous breakdown. Nancy was 8 when the family’s three older children were put to work to earn their room and board. She and her brother George committed themselves to caring for their mother and their younger siblings.

Although she was tender to the things of God, Nancy did not find peace with Him through the forgiveness of her sins until 1819. On February 15, 1824, she married Nero Prince, who served in the court of the czar of Russia. That spring, they left for Russia, where they lived for 9-1/2 years.

Nancy learned all the Russian languages. She took in and cared for children and opened a clothing business.

Nancy was active in her Protestant assembly. She also helped to buy Bibles to distribute to the Russian poor.

For health reasons, Nancy returned to the United States in 1833. Her husband, Nero, remained in the czar’s employ and, unfortunately, died before they could be reunited.

Later, Nancy’s heart burned to go to Jamaica as a missionary. The Lord opened a door for her in November 1840.

Upon her arrival in Jamaica, she taught in a mission society for a time. Then she decided to open a school for the young girls she found on the island.

Nancy came back to America to raise the necessary funds. But when she returned to Jamaica in 1841, the spiritual and political climate had shifted dramatically.

Many of her colleagues had either left or moved to safer parts of the island. After most of her donations and supplies were stolen by individuals pretending to be missionaries, Nancy returned to America almost destitute.

She wrote and published her memoirs, which detailed her life in America and her adventures in Russia and Jamaica. Not much is known about her after 1856.

Nancy Prince had a difficult life. But her total dependence on Christ allowed her to spend it fruitfully in His service and make a difference for eternity in both Russia and Jamaica.

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Jonette O’Kelley Miller is a freelance writer.

God isn’t looking a perfectly sung worship chorus but for the simple expression of our hearts.

Hagan-Worship FILLER It always seems to begin and end the same–a torn envelope, then a tearful stream.

Birthday rituals, especially those between a papa bear and his cubs, have a way of doing that. I’m as normal, I suppose, as any papa bear at the moment when, just prior to the cake and candles, I begin the jubilee by accepting my birthday cards from the kids. Responding joyfully to their eager offerings, I quickly thumb open the cards with heartfelt surprise. Then, without trying to look unappreciative for the coins spent, I swiftly glance past all the artwork and poetry.

You can always tell if the cards were a last-minute afterthought. If the spit on the envelope flap is still wet, then you know there was some fancy scurrying going on in the back bedroom only moments earlier. But after opening the cards, my chief aim as a papa bear is easy–to unscramble the mysteries of “cub scribble.”

If you’re a parent like myself, you’ve probably nodded through the toddler years and mumbled “How sweet!” while reading your cards, only to suddenly find yourself wordless and watery-eyed at the first sight of “I LuVV U dadee.” Few things in life strike the mute button inside a parent’s heart like the homespun birthday scribble of an offspring.

Curiously enough, I’m now discovering that the intrigue of scribble is the route to deeper and more pregnant worship! My recent awakening came during a wonderful worship service at the church where I serve as pastor.

Our music associate was introducing the congregation to a magnetic new chorus that was truly bravo. It seemed to proclaim an added sense of majesty. It had it all–catchy phrasing, masterful orchestration and sound doctrine. It was the kind of new song you wake with, shower with, drive with and sleep with.

But instead of singing, I stood there with my hands in my suit pockets. Instead of becoming enthralled in Jesus, I was lost in a drift. I thought to myself, How can anyone write a song as beautiful as this?

I felt again those jealous and cheated sentiments that come from not being able to fulfill my secret desire of writing worship songs the world would sing. My dilemma is that my private praise compositions tend to be nothing but nonharmonious humming underscored by repetitious words such as “hallelujah” and “Thank You, Jesus.” Most of the time, my worship and praise vocabulary feels at or below preschool level.

Standing there among hundreds who were lost in fervent worship, I felt embarrassed before the King of kings. After many years, I was still living in such immaturity of worship utterance.

Then, almost mysteriously, I began feeling nostalgic about my last birthday party. For several moments I just stood there saturating myself in the emotions I had experienced when my little children presented me with their birthday cards. I had appreciated the professional script purchased from their limited allowances, but it was their own words–no matter how crudely inscribed–that unleashed the core emotions of my fatherhood.

In that moment, my worship journey altered dramatically–not because of an inspiring new discovery of worship language but because God unveiled something very simplistic about our relationship as son and Father–that He as my Father longed for that same informality of expression. Jesus said, “‘Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all'” (Mark 10:15, NASB).

When it comes to worship, the simple scribble of our adoration is what the Father desires. It is not the high-priced choir leader, the costly chapel carpet or the hired symphony that invites God to be “enthroned upon the praises of [His people]” (Ps. 22:3).

That invitation for habitation is extended as each person who loves the Lord offers with abandonment his spiritual and true affections toward His creator. The kind of worship that reaches beyond the steeple tip and meets with the Father’s delight is the very kind I had been ashamed of offering–the kind that is like the undisguised and naive expressions of a child.

Worship is about relationship, and relationship is about discovering refuge and refreshing from life’s spiritual fires. The Bible tells us that the Father’s presence brings this refreshing. “Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

The word “worship” comes from two Greek words, pros and kuneo. The word pros means “to move forward.” The word kuneo means “to kiss with a sense of awe.” Earnest worship involves both a physical action and a loving intent, both a leaning forward with the body and a reaching out with the soul to touch with both life and lyric the divine magnificence of the Father.

Now each Sunday, I see my Father tearing open envelopes, thumbing beyond all the professionalism and seeking to locate the simple worship scribble of each childlike saint. Though at times they are sour-noted and half-articulated, these gestures of love, I know, are categorically connecting with His beauty and heart.

The kind of worship that delights the Father is like the naive expressions of a child.

Prejudice is sin. It is a form of sin that has kept God’s people in bondage for generations and has created an unnatural separation among them. But I believe it is time for change. God is looking for a generation courageous enough to climb over every dividing wall.

Isaiah 61:1-3 tells us that the Messiah’s ministry involves delivering people from prisons of various kinds. He was anointed to “preach good news to the poor,” “bind up the brokenhearted,” “proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,” “comfort all who mourn” and to “bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (NIV). Those He delivers, or rescues, will “rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated. They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations” (v. 4).

We as believers are among those Jesus has “rescued,” and I believe we have a responsibility to cooperate with God in His healing process by rebuilding ruins in our family and cultural heritage that have been devastated for generations. We can be part of creating a new heritage for our descendants.

One of the ruins we need to rebuild is unconditional love and acceptance of others, even those who are different from ourselves—whether the difference is based on race, ethnic background, education, denominational affiliation or any other factor. Generational prejudice—prejudice that has been passed down from generation to generation—has come out of this ruin, and it is the worst form of bondage. It occurs when we not only accept but also propagate the unscriptural, prejudicial ways of thinking that our ancestors espoused.

Let me give you an example from my own family. My grandmother was a godly woman in many ways, and I loved her—but she was also very prejudiced. I want to pass down her godly traits to the next generation, but not her prejudice! So I have made a conscious choice to reject her way of thinking and refuse to propagate it in our family line.

The Bible gives us an early example of prejudice in the book of Exodus. God had delivered the family of Jacob through his son Joseph, who became second in command of all Egypt. But after Joseph’s generation died, a new pharaoh came to power. Because the Israelites were prospering and multiplying, the Egyptians became afraid, “so they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor” (Ex. 1:11).

What was the origin of the prejudice? The more numerous and strong the Israelites became, the more frightened the Egyptians became of them. Prejudice almost always stems from fear and ignorance.

Another contributing factor is low self-esteem. A study done by the Anti-Defamation League determined that people who feel good about themselves and have strong self-esteem are less likely to be prejudiced than those who don’t.

Those with stronger self-esteem, those who know their own identity—especially those who know their identity in Christ—do not need to put others down so that they can feel lifted up. We can be comfortable getting down on our knees in front of one another and—figuratively, if not literally—washing one another’s feet.

Why Prejudice Has a Hold On Us

Generational prejudice has a strong hold on our society for two reasons. First, it is too rarely acknowledged. We aren’t able to discern it in ourselves—or are too proud to admit it.

When was the last time you heard someone say, “I have a problem with prejudice”? How often do you hear a believer admit to having the problem? Even though it is one of the biggest problems we have, if we asked, in a large group, how many people deal with this issue, very few hands would go up.

If I had ever said to my dear grandmother, “Nanny, you are prejudiced,” she would have vehemently denied it. In fact, she might have told me to go cut myself a switch for accusing her of such a thing. She would have been unable to acknowledge it because she didn’t see it in herself.

What I know as prejudice, she saw as simply “the way she was.” We all use this excuse. “This is just the way my people are.” “This is the way my grandmother was, this is the way my mother was, this is the way all my brothers and sisters are, and this is the way I am.”

And God says to us by His Holy Spirit: “And it is sin.”

There are Christian homes all over the United States in which believers use slang and slurs in their home for other races, never thinking for one minute that their behavior in this regard is incongruent with the rest of the way they live their lives. They don’t acknowledge that prejudice is a problem, but it has a big cost.

Because God despises prejudice, I believe that where it is present, it quenches the activity of the Holy Spirit. If people remain prejudiced, they will not experience the abundant life that comes to those who choose to be free.

The second reason prejudice has such a strong hold is that it is too widely accepted—even in the church. In fact, I believe prejudice is more prevalent in the church than outside it! We’re so exclusive in our denominations that we continue to remain separate.

Prejudice is acceptable in the workplace too. You can’t be in a workplace long before it comes up in one way or another, particularly in casual conversations and often through stories or jokes. But we need to face the fact that prejudice is not funny.

Being Part of the Solution

When we begin to see the prevalence of prejudice, we may feel as if we are so much in the minority that we hesitate to speak up. But if we’re going to stand for Christ, we’re going to have to start objecting when we observe prejudicial attitudes or behavior.

Ephesians 4:15 says that a sign of Christian maturity is to be able to speak the truth in love. As mature believers, we have to get more vocal about the wrong and the sin of prejudice.

The time is fast approaching when we can no longer remain silent. To remain silent is to remain part of the problem. I believe we can, through the Holy Spirit, come to a place of speaking the truth in love and exhibiting zero tolerance for prejudice.

What would happen in our homes and at work, in school lunchrooms, in break rooms—wherever we find ourselves—if we began to practice zero tolerance for prejudice? I don’t think we would get fired if we said, “You know, I’m not comfortable with this conversation” or “I don’t agree with that” or “I really don’t want to hear that” when people are making prejudicial comments.

And we can let our children know we mean zero tolerance by modeling it ourselves and instructing them to do the same. We can teach them to say, when they are playing with other children who display prejudicial behavior, “This is a zero tolerance home. We do not tolerate prejudice in this home.”

If we adopted the attitude of zero tolerance, can you imagine how things would begin to change? This is our opportunity.

We can stand back and resist some things and remain silent, but prejudice is not one of them. It’s too big. It’s going to take an aggressive attack, a proactive attack to make the enemy back off from pitting us against one another.

We’ve got to begin to open our mouths and speak the truth in love. We’ve got to break free. The reason we don’t is that we don’t know one another. When we begin to know one another, we’ll know the stereotypes are not true.

Though prejudice may be natural, like other practices of our flesh nature, it is sin. In our lives it has absolutely no place. In the world it will be present until Christ comes because it is a spiritual problem, and the world lacks the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome it. But Jesus has overcome the world and given us the power to conquer all the works of the enemy.

The biggest obstacle in overcoming prejudice is our questioning who is to blame. We ask, “Where does fault lie in this whole situation?” Particularly if we ourselves are not prejudiced, we resist taking responsibility.

The Bible explains the dilemma. Jeremiah 32:18 says of the Lord, “‘You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers’ sins into the laps of their children after them.'”

Prejudice may not have originated in our hands, but it’s in our laps. We didn’t initiate it; our parents passed it to us.

But we can be part of the undoing of prejudice. The Bible calls it “rebuilding the ancient ruins.” God didn’t say we’d move on to a new place; He said we can go back and rebuild what is in disrepair. Beloved, in our country and culture, prejudice is the outgrowth of ancient ruins.

What Can We Do? 

After I came out of the closet as a victim of childhood abuse a number of years ago, people asked me what they can say to others who have experienced that kind of trauma. I told them, “When someone has gone through a terrible time, the most wonderful thing to hear is simply, ‘I am so sorry that happened to you.'”

I believe we can begin the healing process related to prejudice by saying to one another, “I am so sorry this has happened.” Though prejudice is rampant throughout our culture, we can say we’re sorry for the hatred we have perpetuated.

For some of us, this may be difficult. We haven’t been taught how to accept responsibility and apologize. We’ve learned that it’s always somebody else’s problem. We never would have been this way on our own; somebody else made us do it.

But God’s Word says for us to take responsibility. It’s sitting in our laps. We need to learn how to say we’re sorry.

I’d like to suggest that we do two concrete things. First, acknowledge prejudice in every form, including passively doing nothing, as sin; and second, make some friends.

Let’s be willing today to pray, “God, I acknowledge that prejudice is sin. And I know that in my own power I cannot change my thinking. So, Lord, I invite You to work on changing my heart and mind.”

After we pray, we must begin to accept opportunities to study, worship and fellowship with people who are different from us. In fact, we must look for them. We must look for opportunities to be part of the multicolored church.

We can get together to worship. We can get together to do Bible studies. We can get together in many different ways! Let’s open our church doors and embrace diversity.

I don’t want to see God’s family color-blind. I want to see us color blessed.

The blessing will come when we recognize prejudice in all its forms as sin. It will happen when we ask God to change our hearts and minds. And it will happen when we get to know one another.

Let’s do it! We have so much to gain and nothing but ancient ruins to lose.

Read a companion devotional.

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Beth Moore is the founder of Living Proof Ministries. She has written many books and Bible studies, including So Long Insecurity and Praying God’s Word. Dale McCleskey also contributed to this article.

Often God’s most effective servants experience feelings of defeat after a great victory. Learn how to avoid this trap.

Derek had been invited to speak at a Christian conference. He was preparing for the conference with prayer and fasting when he and the conference organizer had a conversation that put the organizer at odds with Derek.

Derek heard that the organizer was talking to the conference leaders, trying to spread suspicion about him. By the time the conference rolled around, Derek wondered if he should even go. But he did, and the Holy Spirit showed up in a powerful way. People were touched and changed by the truth that was taught and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

It should have been a time of victory and rejoicing for what God had just done through his life and ministry. Instead, Derek could not stop wondering what the leaders thought of him as a result of the gossip. He was plagued by self-doubt, depression and an overwhelming sense of disillusionment.

THE POST-REVIVAL SYNDROME Derek experienced what I call “post-revival syndrome.” It happens to many of us–an incredible time with God immediately followed by a disillusionment that seeps in and causes us to see life through a grim, negative, dark glass. It diminishes in our eyes everything God has just done, and we end up feeling sad, defeated and depressed.

However, we can overcome disillusionment by learning a valuable lesson from the life of Elijah. In 1 Kings 18 Elijah had just experienced a high point in his ministry–a true, one-of-a-kind revival encounter. In front of an entire nation of pagans Elijah, in a matter of minutes, called down fire from heaven, humiliating some 450 prophets of Baal who had tried unsuccessfully for half a day to do the same thing.

The multitudes of people watching fell prostrate before God and cried out, “The Lord–He is God! The Lord–He is God!” (1 Kin. 18:39, NIV). An entire nation changed religions in just half an hour. Israel repented of its idol worship of Baal and returned to worshiping the one, true God.

Instead of basking in God’s glorious victory, though, Elijah fled for his life. Jezebel, the wicked wife of King Ahab, had threatened to kill him for defeating her idol-worshiping prophets. She swore that by the next day Elijah would be dead.

“I HAVE HAD ENOUGH, LORD” Because of the threat of one powerful woman, Elijah lost sight of all that God had been accomplishing through his powerful ministry. Elijah became deeply depressed and, according to 1 Kings 19:4, wanted to die: “‘I have had enough Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life.'”

This mighty Old Testament prophet ended up hiding in a cave. Eventually Elijah responded to God’s gentle, healing power and was told that he was the one to anoint Hazael and Jehu as kings over nations and to anoint Elisha as his successor (see 1 -16). This was probably Elijah’s greatest, most lasting work for God and His kingdom.

Elijah might have thought he was done, but God was getting ready to complete the work He had begun in his life. Elijah might have lost his anointing if he had continued to resist God. But because he responded to God, he was allowed to anoint an assistant to help him with his work.

This assistant eventually inherited Elijah’s ministry and received a double portion of his anointing. Elijah got to see the fulfillment of God’s work in his life.

God desires the same for us today–He wants to complete the work He began in our lives. His work in us involves more than a religious change in our hearts–more than a Sunday blessing. His work will affect every aspect of our lives. The power of God, the joy of the Lord and the holiness of the Lord have to affect us Sunday through Saturday.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DISILLUSIONMENT Perhaps, like Elijah, you are saying: “I have had enough; I can’t take any more. My strength is gone. I am not ready to face the future.” You feel you have come to the end of your enthusiasm, faith and courage.

Allow God’s gentle healing power to envelop your soul. Understand that disillusionment has warning signs and characteristics. Here are some traits that can be found in people who are crossing the threshold into disillusionment.

A disillusioned person is afraid. A few years ago I became very ill because of sheer exhaustion. My doctor prescribed just what I suspected he would: a seven-day hiatus from my ministry. My wife, children and I went to a farm to rest. During those days a dear pastor friend of mine called me on the phone and asked, “Sergio, are you scared?”

He could not have known it, but by that time I was besieged with many fears, so I said yes. “I want you to know,” he continued, “that Satan is attacking you in the very area where God destined for you to be the strongest.”

He went on to explain that I would have tremendous strength and stamina in the future but that Satan was trying to intimidate me in that very area. My friend’s words ushered in a healing unlike any other remedy.

For all of us, many of our fears are totally unfounded and basically part of Satan’s ploy to try and avert the gifts of God in us. That is why God calls us to daily purify our hearts and minds so we can be set free from fear.

A disillusioned person decides when she has had enough. It wasn’t God who said to Elijah: “You have had enough. I am going to give you rest. I am going to take you to heaven now.”

Elijah himself made that decision and told God he had reached his limit! That is how disillusionment operates; it sets false limitations.

Disillusionment causes us to tell God when we are going to stop our ministry and service to Him. It keeps us from asking God if we should go on, and it hinders us from seeking Him for His power to continue.

God has a glorious schedule for each of us to follow, but we create a problem when we decide to quit following His schedule. That is never the will of God. You are not the owner of your life; therefore, you cannot tell God when you are finished!

A disillusioned person sees no progress. Those who live with disillusionment are quick to say that there is no revival in a church or that there is no presence of the Lord in such and such a meeting. They seem eager to shut things down.

A pastor once visited our church in La Plata, Argentina, after hearing that we were experiencing a supernatural visitation from the Lord with signs and wonders. During the service we prayed with him to receive the fire of God, but he was expecting an emotional outburst and instead felt nothing. As he was leaving, one of our ushers overheard him tell his associate, “Nothing is going on here. Why did we come here anyway?”

However, when he returned to his church and stepped into the pulpit, the presence of God fell and a new move of God began. He learned that the fire of holiness is not an emotion or a feeling–it is a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

A disillusioned person withdraws and hides. Some depressed people hide in their addictions; others either overeat or do not eat enough. Some bury themselves in television or other forms of entertainment. Disillusionment causes them to do something–anything–to keep their minds distracted from the things of God.

Perhaps, like Elijah, you have taken your gifts, time, resources, stamina–everything you have–and retreated to a cave. We must resist the pull of disillusionment that causes us to be a part of the “passive audience” found in many churches. Don’t allow your disillusionment to keep you from getting wholeheartedly involved in your church.

A disillusioned person confuses disillusionment with religious zeal. Many people–myself included–like to channel surf while watching television. We want to see everything there is at once. Some people “surf” churches the same way. With the “press of a button” (or the turn of a key in their car’s ignition) they switch churches. They keep switching but never plug in.

People who are under disillusionment are often a part of the group known as “church surfers.” They tend to be restless yet think they are protecting their religious zeal. Sometimes they even think that God sent them to a particular church to correct the pastor. But they fail to take root in any church because no church is spiritual enough for them.

A disillusioned person doesn’t envision the completion of God’s plan. Satan loves to get Christians out of the race, especially if it is during the last lap before their biggest victory. We need to be alert to the schemes of the enemy and pray that God will protect and keep us until His plan for our lives has been fulfilled.

If you believe that you have a right to isolate yourself or to distrust God (or your pastors or spiritual leaders), you may be suffering from what I call religious trauma. Go before the Lord and surrender your trauma at the cross of Jesus. Be willing to trade your disillusionment for hope, faith and power.

BREAKING THE OLD PATTERN If we continue to embrace our disillusionment we will continually feel like victims. We may even feel that we need God to pay more attention to us. From experience, I can tell you that God does not work like that.

Whenever I throw a spiritual tantrum or feel like a victim, I do not get results. I now know better and don’t even try that tactic anymore.

God has never once accepted my invitation to attend my pity parties! I no longer try to impress the heart of God with my victim mentality. Instead, I try to reach God with my faith.

If you have been living with disillusionment, you can start now to change the way you see and respond to the reality around you. Here are some biblical principles to follow.

1. Surrender completely to God’s will. We must learn to trust God even if we don’t understand the whole process. Are you willing to give up your anger and bitterness toward God about issues that cause you hurt or frustration because you can’t see the total picture as God sees it? Take a moment to give God everything you have. He will give you something new.

2. Do not surrender to sorrow. The night before His crucifixion, Jesus experienced anguish, sadness and other emotions, but He was not bitter or disillusioned. He did not hide in a cave. Instead, Luke 22:44 says He prayed earnestly and faced the cross of Calvary with obedience and willingness.

We should follow Jesus’ example. Do not surrender to sorrow. Romans 12:2 says that we are “transformed by the renewing of [our] mind[s].” Jesus will help us to think differently and act differently.

3. Pray so you will not fall into temptation. If you are disillusioned, chances are you will fall into other kinds of sin. Pray that you will not fall into temptation. Hebrews 12:15 warns us, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” Bitterness left unchecked can ruin your Christian life.

4. Tell your soul what to do. The psalmist knew that we can exercise authority over our wayward emotions: “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Ps. 43:5).

The psalmist was talking to his own soul. He was not crazy–he just knew that he had authority to command his own soul.

PRAYER OF REPENTANCE
How about you? Do you want to reach God? Start by praying with me the following prayer: “Father, thank You for untangling my thoughts and taking away confusion through Your Word. Thank You for pointing out the road ahead and removing inferiority complexes and fear from my life. Set me free from disillusionment, replacing it with hope. I pray for a mighty visitation of Your Spirit to transform me.

“Send Your angels to help me. Thank You for protection against the enemy. Give me discernment and purify me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Read a companion devotional.

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Sergio Scataglini is the author of The Twelve Transgressions, published by Charisma House, from which this article is adapted.

As a young girl, living with mental illness was never easy for me. I went through years of needless anxiety, suffering and depression.

But in 1995, when I was 51 years old, my oldest daughter and her husband observed my paranoia and other symptoms and talked with me about seeing a psychiatrist. I was in denial about my condition at the time, and I refused help.

Later, an upper respiratory infection led to my being taken to the emergency room of our local hospital. While I was there, my daughter requested a psychiatric evaluation for me.

Doctors were able to identify a chemical imbalance in my brain that was the source of my problems. Finally, I received a diagnosis: paranoid schizophrenia.

After another few years of denial, I was sent to a state facility. My going there is the best thing that ever happened to me. I learned more about my illness and the methods of treatment necessary for me to stabilize the chemicals in my brain.

I’m 57 now. My health has improved, and I’m praying and reading my Bible every day. At the end of what I believed was a dark tunnel, I have found that there is light and hope.

It seems that no matter what season of life we are in, we want to be in a different one. God wants us to appreciate where we are.

Perhaps you remember The New Yorker cartoon in which two monks in robes and shaved heads are sitting side by side, cross-legged on the floor. The younger one, with a quizzical look on his face, is facing the older, who is saying: “Nothing happens next. This is it.”

That’s exactly what it means to live in the here and now. We aren’t waiting for something else to occur, we aren’t distracted by anything around us, and we aren’t trying to escape mentally to another time. We are “mindfully awake.” Paying attention. Savoring the moment for all it’s worth. We are fully alive!

I once heard Diane Sawyer say on television, “The most important thing in life is to pay attention”—and I would agree. But how often are we able to achieve that? Not often enough, unfortunately. Nevertheless, our richest times in life are those when we are completely present, consciously heightening our awareness because our journey has brought us here—and we choose not to miss it.

I feel this when I’m engaged in rich, meaningful conversation with an interesting person. Questions are enticing, listening is acute, and eye contact is direct. I love that; such focused attention makes me feel alive. I also experience this feeling when I’m alone in an art museum or lost in a good book.

When I’m all there—or rather, all here!—I never want the moment to end. It’s wonderful. It’s the “it” to which the wise old monk referred.

About a year after my mother died in 1971, my dad and I were invited to the wedding of a mutual friend. Daddy was living with my brother, Chuck, and his family, and I picked him up so we could go in my car. At 78 years old, Daddy wasn’t driving anymore.

Since we had plenty of time, I suggested we stop off for coffee at a place along the way where we knew a couple of the waitresses. There we sat, dressed to the nines and sipping coffee in a little short-order restaurant.

After a while it began to rain, and we decided to let the weather clear up before traveling on. We settled back in our chairs and talked about childhood—Dad’s and mine—and about Mother and his love for her through the 40 years they were married. I thanked him for being such a great dad to me and my two brothers.

When the rain became more intense, we gave up the idea of going to the wedding and nestled into one of the sweetest times my dad and I had ever had. We had always been close, but never more than that night. We were totally connected conversationally, not distracted by anything and absolutely in the moment.

Would that we were able to maintain that kind of connectedness all the time, with others as well as with ourselves. It’s hard, almost impossible. So often we want to be somewhere else. We look at the “now” we are in and have this illusion that if we could just inch or leap forward on the journey, our lives would be richer or better or more “together.” We don’t want to be here.

Why is this? Why are we so rarely satisfied? Were we simply programmed to be this way, or is it that we just don’t know ourselves or God well enough to recognize what truly satisfies?

JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY As I look back over my life, I see that there are many times when I wasn’t satisfied; I couldn’t live fully in the moment. I was looking for the next thing to bring me fulfillment and, of course, I wanted that fulfillment to be permanent.

One of the hardest periods in my life was in the mid-1980s. It ultimately became one of the most transforming times because I was willing to attune myself fully to the here and now—even though it was painful. It turned out that my own discomfort contained critical information that formed a pathway to the next leg of my journey. But it was very hard to be as vulnerable as I needed to be to see the real roadblock.

In August of 1985 I experienced some heartbreaking misunderstandings with close friends. At the same time, I was trying to make a major decision—whether or not to take early retirement from Mobil Oil Corp. because of an impending collision between my “real” job and lots of speaking engagements.

I eventually decided to turn over all the turmoil to God. As days and weeks passed, it seemed as though I heard in my head, “Write things down.” So, I did.

The first thing I wrote was a letter to myself, in which I poured out all the feelings I had been dealing with for months or, perhaps unknowingly, for years. I cried out to God about the loneliness I felt and also about the anger, fear, regret, inadequacies, fault-finding, dread and despair.

When I finally stopped writing, it was as if the burden had started to lift. Everything that had been inside was now outside. I had dumped it all on the only One who could handle the whole truckload.

I soon saw positive things happening. For one thing, I came to the realization that my most annoying problem was me.

How could I be my own problem? Simple: I wanted control—of everything—and I resented the fact that God wanted control, too. My desire for control outweighed my desire for connectedness, even with Him.

I felt lonely because I had attached all the desires of my heart to a tiny circle of friends and companions from whom I wanted all my needs met, and they just happened to have lives of their own! I had completely taken my eyes off the big picture of what God had in store for me.

I didn’t want the life I was living; I wanted some pie-in-the-sky existence that wasn’t possible. For some reason I was holding out for it before I would permit myself to be happy where I was.

The second thing I wrote, on September 1, 1985, was a list of goals: all the things I felt were important in life—for now and for later. My first objective was to determine if and when I could retire from Mobil Oil. Since the list was figured on a three-year plan, I aimed for a September 1, 1988, retirement date.

My list included other goals as well—large and small—each with its own objective to stretch me and enlarge my borders. Nothing was too “out there,” but all the goals required discipline—something I was lacking when I felt so frightened.

After the list was completed, I noticed it was entirely about things, not people. Hmmm, it seemed I was still disconnected from my deepest need.

The third thing I did was what rounded me toward home plate. I had been to a Mobil management meeting at which I came across a thought-provoking article on plotting your lifeline in a magazine called the Executive Female. It included instructions for charting one’s life journey, including both personal and career experiences, on a graph, using plus signs for positive events and minus signs for negative or painful events.

I began plotting, and some interesting data quickly emerged.

What I saw was that for the most part, I had enjoyed a good life—happy childhood, meaningful relationships, professional singing, successful career, strong God-consciousness, writing books, travel and so on.

On the minus side, however, were three very difficult experiences that had indented my soul. One related to early problems with my mother and the hurt and sorrow that had been between us. The second was a traumatic move from Texas to California in the 1970s. The third was this current time of loneliness, brought on by insisting things go my way.

As I looked at the chart, I realized something that changed me deeply from that moment on: It was those three painful experiences that had given me my greatest strength and fiber—what I most needed to mature. Through them I was forced to rely on the Lord and deal with reality for what it was. In short, quit griping and grow up! The very things I hated had been the making of me. It was as if I took off a blindfold and walked into the light.

Though I had enjoyed all the good things in the plus category and had had lots of fun, there was no suffering or heartache there—nothing to build character or to provide the rich fodder needed for becoming a balanced adult. Nothing to extract from me the deepest, most revealing, and most transforming truths about myself. These painful experiences had actually helped me the most to become the person God wanted me to be.

When the exercise was finished, I felt I had hit a home run. I felt truly alive and had the guidance I needed to finally take constructive action in my life.

WILLING TO BE VULNERABLE
The soul in each of us is imprisoned until set free by Jesus Christ. We all have shells around us, protecting us from being eaten alive by the pain of life. And when those shells break, we believe we are at grave risk of being hurt, depressed or even dying on the spot.

To prevent this pain and loss, we guard ourselves by retreating deeper and deeper into the shell, being available only to what is pleasant, predictable and safe. But every person I’ve ever known who really had something to give has been burst open by the explosive force of God’s soul-transforming lessons. Each has been willing to be vulnerable to the truth about himself, to admit behavior patterns that are destructive to his own soul.

If we aspire to pay complete attention to the present, we must get out of our own ways. Living fully in the here and now starts deep inside as we allow the self-protective shell to break open so the liberating grace of God can flow in to heal and renew and establish genuine meaning in our lives.

On September 1, 1987, I retired from Mobil Oil Corp.—one year earlier than planned. I also had achieved almost everything else on my goals list. Most important, some of the relationships I had agonized over were restored—and they weren’t even on the list!

For a short time I worked as vice president of public relations at Insight for Living, the international radio Bible ministry of my brother, Chuck, but I soon found I spent more time traveling and speaking than I did working in the office. Once again I “retired” from an office job and began trusting God to meet my financial needs on His terms.

In 1995 I received an invitation to speak at several conferences the following year. The conference organization, now known as Women of Faith, was founded by author-entrepreneur Stephen Arterburn and was designed to be a source of encouragement to women across America. Steve wanted women to get away from their routines for a weekend to have fun, sing and worship the Lord with other women.

Steve asked Patsy Clairmont, Marilyn Meberg, Barbara Johnson and me to be speakers. The next year, we were joined by Thelma Wells and Sheila Walsh.

Every time we spoke at another venue, we experienced fresh excitement. We could sense God was doing something. Thousands of women were discovering what it meant to be a “woman of faith,” to trust God with their desires, their families, their problems, their lives.

Over the last seven years we have spoken to 1.5 million women. Who could have imagined it? I, for one, never dreamed God would swing open this door.

We never know how things will turn out, do we? Feeling stuck or overwhelmed makes us despondent and causes us to stay put a lot longer than we need to.

For me, writing that letter to myself so many years ago taught me things I’ll never forget. Once I saw my effrontery and self-centeredness on paper, I could finally decipher the magnitude of my control problem. I knew change was necessary—and with Christ, possible.

God has shown me that wherever I am in life can be my very best place. I had no idea all the things God had in mind for me. That list I made in September 1985 was only a drop in the bucket to all He had in mind for my journey. And I’m still movin’—enjoying every minute of the here and now!

Adapted from I Married Adventure by Luci Swindoll, copyright 2003. Published by W Publishing Group. Used by permission.

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Luci Swindoll retired from an executive position with Mobil Oil after 30 years of service and began speaking and writing. Her latest book is Simple Secrets to a Happy Life.