November 2013 Blog Posts (11)

I’ve realized two disturbing things about my “Gratitude Quotient” recently: (1) I’m not nearly as grateful as I should be for how God has blessed me; (2) Many of the things I’m now MOST grateful for are past events I wasn’t grateful for at all when they were taking place.

I call this second point “gratitude in retrospect.”

Perhaps you can relate. Have you gone through difficult times when it was extremely difficult to give thanks? But now, as you look…

Here is wishing everyone a very Happy, and Blessed Thanksgiving Day. There is so much to be thankful to God for  each and every day. Therefore, as we celebrate this holiday, let us give God thanks for the many things He does for us daily, but most of all for His prescious gift of Salvation.

Let us also use this tme, to be Salt, and light in the earth, that we might win many to Christ, and at the same time, be an encouragement to our…

I once had a friend who responded to almost everything said to him with a one word reply – “Understood!”  It was his way of assuring the talker that he had listened and processed what was said. I sometimes wondered if he really understood or if he was just in the habit of giving that response.  Then I came across a quote from Stephen Covey, “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” Ouch! As one who has made a living by speaking…

I recently had the great privilege of speaking to a group of 80 giant killers. They don’t all realize they are giant killers, but they truly are.

Before I spoke, God spoke to me very distinctly: “This will be the most important message you’ve ever given!”

“Wow, Lord,” I replied. “So this will be the BEST message I’ve ever preached?”

“No, Jim! I didn’t say that,” He replied. “I said the most important message—there’s a…

 A common prayer among those in our urban neighborhood is, “Thank you God for waking me up this morning.”  At first glance, it may seem like a simple statement, but when you hear the stories of how God has sustained people in the midst of daily struggles you realize it comes out of a deep faith and gratitude.  It is a genuine expression of gratefulness to be alive and have another day to live. In communities where people are struggling to get by, nothing is taken for granted.  Every day is…

Have you ever heard someone say, "Can you do me a favor?" It really means that someone is asking someone to do something that they need help with. The person they ask has a choice to either turn their face away or to turn towards them and help them with whatever they ask. 

God laid the story of The Good Samaritan on my heart and the very next day, it was…

I don't trust transparency. There, I admit it.

I'm done with transparency because I learned a long time ago how to use it to get my way or to impress people with my openness. Whether in relationships or communication, my flesh loves to manipulate the other person or the audience with juicy and intriguing stories about how I've failed. But I only give them enough to get what I want--attention, sympathy, esteem. You name it, I can come up with a transparent illustration to get it out of…

I’ve been haunted lately by an old quote attributed to John Wesley, the famed English preacher and founder of Methodism:

“Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven upon the earth.”

My angst over this quote probably began when I entered the world of Twitter and began a daily count of my followers…

KNOWING AND DECLARING THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD



“For I have not shunned to declare to you THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD.28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30…

I don't know if you have noticed this or not, but it seems that there are a lot of movies that are coming out that are now the "back stories" of a movie that has already been produced. The Avengers are doing back stories. The Lord of the Rings just recently premiered a backstory of The Hobbit. There is also a television show about the backstories of country…

We divide and categorize people in many ways – politically, racially, economically, denominationally, geographically. The Bible divides people into two groups – those who follow God’s will and those who don’t. Many use their God-given freedom of choice to choose their own way. My granddaughter graduates from college soon. She recently shared with me her feelings of doing something different with her life than her college major prepared her to do. My response was that you do what you feel God…