Joy F. Strang
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Here’s What God Says Matters Most When You Set Your New Year’s Goals
We ring in the year 2020 at midnight in a few days. I can remember when we were anticipating the year 2000—which was to be a big year—more significant than others, perhaps, because it was the beginning of a new age. The year 2020 is no less significant as we face another presidential election. The
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How You Can Love God ‘With All Your Heart’
I once heard a message in church on “the balanced life.” Using a diagram of three overlapping circles, the speaker made the point that we need to give equal time to each of the most significant areas of our lives so we don’t get out of balance. I had a small computer Bible with me
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Married or Single, You Must Prepare for This Wedding Most of All
When a woman is planning to be married, she generally spends months preparing for the wedding ceremony. She shops for a wedding dress, chooses outfits for her attendants, orders the flowers, addresses and mails out invitations, secures a location for the reception, engages a photographer and musicians, schedules a church and clergyman and does scores
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Will Your Resolutions Produce Fruit That Remains?
We ring in the year 2018 at midnight tonight. I can remember when we were anticipating the year 2000—which was to be a big year—more significant than others perhaps because it was the beginning of a new age. The year 1990 was a big year too—the beginning of the last decade of that millennium—and I
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How Holy Spirit Helps You Prepare for Your Heavenly Wedding
When a woman is planning to be married, she generally spends months preparing for the wedding ceremony. She shops for a wedding dress, chooses outfits for her attendants, orders the flowers, addresses and mails out invitations, secures a location for the reception, engages a photographer and musicians, schedules a church and clergyman and does scores
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How to Rely on God
During the holidays one year, my family traveled to London, England, for a vacation. After we returned, I realized that the trip was an analogy of a much more important journey each of us is on—fulfilling God’s plan for his or her life. There are a number of similarities. For one thing, the time of
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6 Lessons Learned From Change
As most of you can testify from your own experience, God has different plans for us in different seasons of our lives. He says in His Word that “there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1, NIV). The same holds true in publishing. Nearly *10 years ago,
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Why You’re in a Spiritual Desert
One morning several years ago when I was thanking God for the delight of His presence, I heard a voice say, “If you seek Me for the way you feel in My presence, it is no different from any other soul-realm passion.” I had never thought about my relationship with Him in those terms before.
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3 Things That Keep You From Freedom in the Holy Spirit
A friend named Arthur Burt once told me a story of a farmer who found an eagle with a broken wing. The farmer rescued the eagle and put it in a chicken pen. Because of its injury, the eagle was forced to live like a chicken. But it wasn’t a chicken; it was an eagle
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The Key to the Church Changing the World
One day when I was driving down the highway, a song came on my CD player. Some of the phrases rang in my spirit: “I am so tired of compromising/ I am so tired of lukewarm living/ I want to go against the grain/ Set me on fire.” As I listened, I was struck by
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The One Thing That Shuts Out God
Have you ever watched a small child transition from the infantile state of total dependence to relative independence? As he learns to dress himself, brush his teeth and so on, he develops an attitude that declares, “I can do it myself!” This attitude, encouraged by parents and reinforced by a culture that prides itself on
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4 Keys to a Fresh Move of God in Your Life
Are you feeling winds of change in the Spirit? Are you yearning for a new move of God? Prophetic voices say we are on the verge of such a move. Though the timing of this large-scale revival is in God’s hands, you can position yourself for personal revival right now. I once heard the story
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The Most Important New Year’s Resolution You Can Make
Years ago I sat down on New Year’s Day and worked diligently to complete a list of goals and objectives for every major area of my life: spiritual, marriage, family, financial, business and ministry. It was quite a task. That day I sat down to pray over my well-ordered goals, expecting God to give me
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How to Get Your Wandering Heart Right With God
The prodigal son didn’t end up among the pigs the day he left his father’s house; he went through a gradual process of decline (see Luke 15:11-15). So it is with us. If the enemy presented the end with the first temptation, it would be easy to resist! But usually the departure from grace is
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Want to Change the World?
One day when I was driving down the highway, a song came on my CD player. Some of the phrases rang in my spirit: “I am so tired of compromising/ I am so tired of lukewarm living/ I want to go against the grain/ Set me on fire.” I hit the repeat button over and
