Intention is the heartbeat of the Christian life. Our motive in serving Christ is equally, if not more so, important than the actual service. It is possible for the unregenerate man to perform the same external duties and operate in the same peripheral fashion as the saved. It is also possible for the backslidden individual to so calibrate his life that he runs at the same speed with the zealous. The difference, however, in their service and performance is motivation. What is the intention, the aim, the overarching drive behind the service? When you discover that answer you will discover …

Opposition is the birthmark of progress.  You’ve heard it said many times, “If you do not want to be criticized, laughed at, or scorned: Do nothing, say nothing, be nothing and have nothing.”  But if you want to have something, it will require doing something, saying something, and becoming something.  When the will is intentional, the warfare becomes intense.  What I mean to say is this: if you get ready to do something for God, the enemy will start working diligently to do something to you.

Every major Bible personality faced his or her fair share of opposition.  Some of …

The worst kind of teacher/preacher/spiritual leader is the one who thinks he cannot learn anything else.  Those who feel like they are too old to take notes typically live a boring, stale, and somewhat prideful life.  God has called us to be perpetual, persistent pupils until we see Him in all His power.  The most influential people, the most effective voices in our generation are those who have not “arrived.”  Arrival, in its purest form, simply means to be done, to be finished with the course.  Those who “have arrived” really have nowhere else to go.  Or as John Gardiner …

Have you ever listened to yourself on a voice recorder?  I will never forget the first time I heard myself preach from a cassette tape.  My heart sank as I heard the sermon. I cringed as I listened to the dialect, tone, and inflection of my voice.  “Something had to be wrong with the tape, or the recorder,” I thought, “there’s no way I sound like that.”

But I did…that was really me.  The raw reality of myself came into light that day like never before.  It was as though I was introduced to myself for the first time.

Such

Spiritual growth is not the product of your age; it is the position of your heart.  It is sad to think that many people will live their entire lives and never grow in the grace of God.  At the end of the day all that really matters is your relationship with the Lord, and your relationship with others (you can hang the entire law on that premise).  Therefore, if we are not working diligently on those relationships we merely exist, we never expand.  Fred Smith said, “I don’t think God is as interested in our success as much as He …