Devotionals

Romans 14:12

What do we mean by accountability? In the simplest terms, it is answering the hard questions. Accountability includes opening one's life to a few carefully selected, trusted, loyal confidants who speak the truth—who have the right to examine, to question, to appraise, and to give counsel. 

People who are accountable usually have four qualities: 

Vulnerability—capable of being wounded, shown to be wrong, even admitting it before being confronted. 

Proverbs 16:9

God offers instruction, but then it's our move. We must accept His instruction and apply it to our lives. Then, and only then, can we expect to cash in on the benefits of His instruction. So you see, application is the essential link between instruction and change.

Hebrews 12:2

Almost every week I come into contact with people who have been misled, thinking that success depends solely upon talent or brilliance or education.

But the list doesn't end there. For some it's getting the breaks, pulling the right strings, having the right personality, being in the right place at the right time, knowing the right people, playing their cards right. 

1 Peter 1:3

Can you remember a recent "grey slush" day? Of course you can. So can I. The laws of fairness and justice were displaced by a couple of Murphy's Laws. Your dream dissolved into a nightmare. High hopes took a hike. Good intentions got lost in a comedy of errors, only this time nobody was laughing. You didn't soar, you slumped. Instead of "pressing on the upward way," you felt like telling Bunyan to move over as you slid down into his Slough of Despond near Doubting Castle, whose owner was Giant Despair. Discouragement is just plain awful. 

1 Peter 5:1-4

If we hope to demonstrate the level of excellence modelled by Jesus Christ, then we'll have to come to terms with the kingdom we are going to serve: the eternal kingdom our Lord represented and told us to seek (Matthew 6:23) or the temporal kingdom of today.

Let's pause long enough to understand what I'm referring to when I mention the kingdom. It's one of those terms we like to use but seldom define. 

2 Corinthians 7:1

I need to be very candid with you. If you are a "Sunday Christian," you will not stand alone when outnumbered. Apart from a personal and vital faith in Jesus Christ, it is impossible to wage a winning effort against the system called "the world."

Trying to overcome the powerful magnet of the majority without help from above would be a frustrating and counterproductive effort. Only God can give us such transforming power through our faith in His Son. 

Psalm 139:13-16

One of the great American myths is that we are all a bunch of rugged individualists. We would like to think that, but it simply is not true. There are some exceptions, of course, but for the majority it is not that way at all.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7

Reflect on God's gifts to you. In case you need a little help, read through Psalm 103.

Job 8:21; Psalm 126:2

Luke 9:51

When Jesus tells us to "seek first the kingdom of God," the very word "seek" implies a strong-minded pursuit. J. B. Phillips paraphrases the idea with "set your heart on." The Amplified Bible says, "Aim at and strive after." The Greek text of Matthew's Gospel states a continual command: "Keep on continually seeking...." The thought is determination, which I define as "deciding to hang tough, regardless."