What am I going to do?  What degree will I pursue?  Where does God want to lead my family?  Should I put the kids in private school?  Can I afford this?  Should we buy this home?  How can I tell them that?  Am I ready for this?  Should I stay?  Do I go?

Some decisions are trivial, while others are life-changing; either way they have consequences.  Making a decision is something that is accomplished within a moment of time, but the effect has far-reaching and long-lasting results.  That is why it is important not to hastily jump to a conclusion.  …

The Lord wants us to bear fruit. As a matter of fact, this is the natural order of creation. On the third day, God created the vegetative world and ordered it to produce after its kind. He placed within each plant, tree, shrub, bush, and flower a seed to bring forth fruit. Throughout the history of the world this has been the divine order. God has designed creation in such a way to be self-producing. Again, the Lord wants us to bear fruit.

I believe it is safe to assume that rational, well-meaning Christians want to bear fruit as well. …

The great tragedy of trials is not going through them, but rather going through them and not learning anything from them.  God permits, and sometimes even sends, trials our way so that we can steward those trials for the benefit of others.  The apostle Paul alludes to this truth in 2 Corinthians 1:4.  He said,

“Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” 

Notice three principles from this verse:

The Principle of Suffering

Paul used the word …

Recent trends in Christianity reveal that the church is revamping traditional worship services to accommodate the world. More and more congregations are calling off Sunday evening services in an attempt to promote family and leisure time. Wednesday evening services are reduced to small “connect groups.” Statistics prove that although America is still a religious nation, it is placing less emphasis on faithful church attendance with the average parishioner only attending 2-4 services a month. However, the current trends that de-emphasize church attendance are not producing “on-fire” Christians; on the contrary, the results show that more and more believers are becoming …

I am going to confess something…I have to really work at being positive. I am not a naturally-optimistic person; as a matter of fact, I lean toward pessimism more times than not. So for me to stay positive requires a lot of effort on my part.

I know most of you who are reading this do not have this issue (did I mention that I am sarcastic as well); but I have learned that being and staying positive really is a choice that we make about the everyday decisions in life. I have studied various causes for pessimism and they …