God has crowned man with glory and favor, giving him dominion over the works of His hands.When I first began…

Learn to chill out when life heats up

Have you ever lost your car keys? You frantically search, knowing they should be exactly where you left them. And as soon as you realize they’re gone, you lose your peace.

I remember when Dave and I wanted to have extra keys made to our safety deposit box. Knowing he had the original key, I asked him for it. He said he didn’t know where it was.

No, not like that—His choice is for you to fulfill your destiny

God chose me. He didn’t just get stuck with me, and He didn’t settle for me because there was no one else He could choose. He deliberately chose me. And the same is true for you too. 

I didn’t have a special talent when He chose me. The thing I do best is talk, and He’s made me a mouth in the body of Christ. My voice is unusual and unique—not the kind of voice you would think He would choose to broadcast all over the place. But God has given me the opportunity to speak to billions of people around the world. And I don’t always use correct grammar or pronounce words just right, but we don’t have to be polished according to the world’s standards to be used mightily by God.

Don’t be. God is with you.

There are many types of fear we could name or count, but they all have the same source and the same purpose. They all are from Satan and they all are intended to steal the life Jesus died to give us. 

We often think fear is simply an emotion or feeling, but it also affects us physically. In Who Switched Off My Brain? author Caroline Leaf notes, “[Fear] triggers more than 1,400 known physical and chemical responses, and activates more than 30 different hormones and neurotransmitters.” Fear, she says, is at the root of all stress. When fear causes a stress reaction, it actually “marinates” the body in toxic chemicals. This, of course, is terribly unhealthy and threatening to our physical well-being.

Famed philosopher and orator Edmund
Burke once said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for
good men to do nothing.” It’s true. Doing nothing is easy, but it’s
also dangerous. Where there is no opposition to evil, evil will
multiply.

We all fall into the trap of complaining
about the things that are wrong. But complaining does nothing except
discourage us even more. It changes nothing because there is no
positive power in it.

One of the most beautiful things the Bible says is that
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (see Rom. 5:8). He did
not wait for us to deserve His love. He loves us unconditionally. To be
honest, that’s hard for many of us to comprehend because we are so
accustomed to having to earn everything in life.

Because of His great, wonderful and intense love for us, God poured His life out for us freely (see Eph. 2:4). That is revolutionary love! Real, revolutionary love must give itself because it can never be satisfied doing anything less.

One of the easiest ways to fuel a “love revolution” is to
decide to make others feel valuable. Mother Teresa said: “Being
unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody: I think that is
a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has
nothing to eat.”

I have discovered that most people we
meet or come into contact with in our everyday lives don’t have a sense
of their infinite value as children of God. I think the devil works
very hard to make people feel devalued and worthless, but we can
neutralize the effect of his lies and insinuations by building up,
encouraging and edifying people.

I frequently stay in hotels during my ministry travels.
When I am in my room, I always put the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the
door so nobody will bother me. Hanging this sign on my hotel room door
is acceptable. Putting it on my life isn’t.

Have you ever noticed that God does not always do things
on your timetable or in ways that are convenient to you? Paul told
Timothy that as a servant of God and a minister of the gospel Timothy
had to fulfill his duties whether doing so was convenient or
inconvenient (see 2 Tim. 4:2).

To be successful in accomplishing God’s will for our lives, we must have determination. One definition of “determine” is “to settle a dispute by an authoritative decision or a pronouncement.” This definition encourages me because I make “pronouncements,” often as a way of building my determination in certain areas.

Sometimes the best way to overcome the temptation to give up is to say to yourself: “Oh, no you don’t! Stop your whining and straighten up right this minute!” Over the years, when I have felt like giving up and had no one to encourage me, I’ve said to myself: “Joyce, you can make it! It may be hard, but you can make it and don’t you dare think you can’t!”

Being critical of others not only destroys our relationships but also blinds us to our own weaknesses.

Much torment comes to people’s lives because of judgmental attitudes, criticism and suspicion. Multitudes of relationships are destroyed by these enemies.

Following god is easier when we are led by his spirit rather than by our emotions. Following God is easier when we are led by His Spirit rather by our emotions.

It is God’s greatest desire that, as believers, you and I progressively learn how to be led by His Spirit. However, there is a powerful enemy that stands in the way: our emotions. Satan is the most powerful enemy we face externally, but internally, it’s our emotions that give us some of the biggest problems.

Many of us struggle with fear. Yet those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ have no need to…