SUCCESS

Reading Time 6 mins 37 secs – What does “peace” look like for you? An illustrated children’s book that came out years ago told the story of an elephant mom who just wanted “five minutes’ peace” away from her energetic elephant children. For her, “peace” meant escaping alone to a warm bath with something to read, a cup of tea, some cake, and no interruptions. But in the end, she barely managed to get three minutes and forty-five seconds of the peace she sought. (And moms everywhere can probably relate to that.) Everyone’s definition of “peace” is different. For some people, peace does mean finally getting five minutes alone, but for others, it means being surrounded by family and friends. For others, finding peace means a getaway or a vacation, reaching a certain point financially, traveling less for a job, traveling more for a job, living closer to family, living farther from family, laying under the stars, feeling settled in a decision… the list is truly endless. If you had asked me years ago what peace looked like for me, I probably would’ve told you that it looked like getting out of the financial black hole I was in. But there was even more to it than that. You may have heard our backstory, but when Drenda and I got married, we were broke. I made money. I just didn’t make enough. Everything we had was used, broken, or worn out. We owed a lot of people a lot of money. Yes, we loved God. We really, truly loved God. I had an Old Testament degree, and we even led praise and worship at our church, but fear was my middle name. Everything that happened that required money set off emotional fires. I was having panic attacks. I couldn’t sleep at night. I had no peace. You may have also heard me tell a story about a time I had a tooth infection during those chaotic years, a really painful tooth infection. It was so painful that I couldn’t sleep, and I couldn’t think straight. To fight the pain, I took two Tylenol every four hours for several days in a row. One night, I was up trying to cope with the pain when I decided to read the Tylenol box for some reason. You can probably guess what happened. I read on the box that you’re not supposed to take Tylenol as frequently as I had been taking it. And that’s when fear really set in. OH NO, GARY! YOU’VE TAKEN TOO MUCH! I called Poison Control and told them I had taken two tablets of Tylenol too many for the last three days. The girl on the other end of the line said, “We have never had someone live that took that dosage. Either you drive yourself to the hospital, or I’m sending an ambulance after you right now.” No, I’m not kidding. She actually said that, and I actually believed her. So there I was in complete fear and panic, and I drove myself to the hospital. When I got to the emergency room, two guys were pacing back and forth out front, waiting for me. When I walked in, my name was already on the dry-erase board. It said, “Keesee—overdose.” Obviously, I didn’t overdose. In fact, a doctor came in after they ran a bunch of tests and asked me why I was even there. He said, “You don’t even have enough Tylenol in your system to cure a headache.” Yes, it’s funny now, but it sure wasn’t in the moment. My issue, however, was way bigger than a Tylenol scare. I was desperately trying to survive financially, emotionally, and even physically. I couldn’t seem to find peace, no matter how hard I tried. I know I’m not the only one who has been there. People are always looking for peace. There’s the mom whose kids keep fighting, the businessman with an unstable career, the young woman on antidepressants, the teenage boy on drugs, the couple that can’t ever agree on their finances, the grandmother who can’t sleep at night because she’s worrying about her family—they’re all hungry for peace. The world is hungry for peace. People will spend a lot of money and time searching for peace. We buy things, try to find moments, or strive to achieve something because we believe those things, moments, or achievements will bring peace. But peace can’t be found in any thing, place, or achievement. The word “peace” in Hebrew is “shalom,” which means wholeness, completeness, harmony, prosperity, welfare, security, and tranquility . Nothing is missing, and nothing is broken. It’s freedom from the distress experienced as a result of sin. Peace covers all of that. Jesus came to give us true peace. In John 14:27, Jesus tells the disciples that He’s leaving, but He’s leaving His peace with them. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” —John 14:27 (KJV) Can you imagine what the disciples were thinking and saying? He can’t leave! He calmed the storm when we were on the boat! But He always knows how to calm our fears! He helped us understand priorities and what life was about! Every time we were afraid, He gave us courage! He healed so many and raised them from the dead! We can’t be confident without Him around! Do you remember when He told us how to pay our taxes? What are we going to do?!? You and I probably would have reacted the same way. After all, if you had one person to go to who had all the answers for every situation, who could calm your fears, and who could calm the storms in your life with just one word, how do you think you’d react if they said they were leaving you? Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” because the disciples WERE troubled and afraid. Jesus was their peace. They didn’t know how to function without Him, or at least they thought they didn’t. But Jesus was trying to tell them He was leaving them a great gift. Yes, He was the Prince of Peace, but He had peace because of what He had on the inside—the Holy Spirit. And He told them, “My peace (Holy Spirit) I give to you.” The Holy Spirit is the One who counseled Jesus. Jesus walked by the power and peace of the Holy Spirit. Acts 10:38 tells us that Jesus was anointed by God. Jesus was one with the Father and could hear His voice. And He passed that on to YOU and ME . In John 14:26, Jesus says: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” —John 14:26 (KJV) See that? God is the God of Peace because He’s the God of answers . He has given us the Holy Spirit, who knows exactly how to handle every situation. The Bible calls Him a “Comforter.” To comfort doesn’t mean to console, hug, and show your love for someone. What comforts you when you’re sick? Healing . What comforts you when you need money? Money . What comforts you when you need answers? Answers . Friend, the search for peace is over. You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both inclination and character], because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation]. —Isaiah 26:3 (AMP) You DO have someone to go to who has every answer for every situation in your life . One who will calm your fears and the storms in your life and One who says He will never leave or forsake you.

Reading Time 5 mins 10 secs – They didn’t know the water they had been drinking, bathing in, and cooking with was packed with poisonous chemicals and carcinogens. But then the symptoms started to surface. You’ve probably heard at least one news story about contaminated water. A million marines, sailors, and their families were exposed to carcinogens after the military allegedly dumped fuel and cleaning agents near two drinking wells in Camp Lejeune, which is in Jacksonville, North Carolina, from the 1950s through the 1980s. So many people were sick and dying in Hinkley, California, that the small town is now nearly nonexistent. More than 400,000 residents from the greater Milwaukee area were infected, and 100 people died after bacteria that causes gastrointestinal illnesses invaded the water supply—making it the largest documented waterborne disease outbreak in U.S. history. Come on, Gary. Where are you going with this? (Stick with me. There is a really good spiritual point coming.) I’ve done an illustration during weekend services at Faith Life Church several times where I asked for a volunteer who would like to make a quick $20 or silver coin to help me. I asked one woman who had raised her hand to come up front, and I opened a brand-new bottle of water and asked her to take a drink. She did. Then, I told her I was going to add something to her bottle of water—a sample of water from a dirty pond behind our church building. The water was nasty! Then I asked her to drink it. Of course, she refused. And, of course, I still gave her the $20. The point was made though. No one wants to knowingly drink contaminated water. But without knowing it, many people are. Here’s where I stop talking about water contamination and start talking about the things that might be contaminating your soul, your mind, your body—your LIFE. Because the culture is out to get you—to contaminate you—“to make you impure by exposure to or addition of a poisonous or polluting substance.” Satan is out to get you—to contaminate you. He is set on killing, stealing, and destroying you (John 10:10). Are you unknowingly drinking the “contaminated water”? I love this illustration our son Tim once gave using the game of Jenga. Have you ever played it? Basically, you have a big tower of blocks that have been stacked in opposite directions to allow pieces to be poked at and pulled out one by one without having the tower collapse. Only you have to stack the blocks you’ve pulled out on top of the tower, which means the block tower gets more and more unstable as the game goes on, because it’s getting taller and balancing on less and less stable blocks. At some point during the game, the tower collapses. Some of us are building our lives like that. We think we’re building this strong tower day after day and year after year. But Luke 22:31 tells us that Satan desires to sift us as wheat. Too often, we forget we’re in a spiritual battle, and we don’t take the spiritual adversary we have seriously. All of our lives, we’ve seen too many TV shows and cartoons that downplay the enemy as some creepy guy with horns and a red cape. But Satan is alive and demons are real, and they don’t want to see you prosper and live the destiny God has for you. Satan wants you to fail. So, he’s always looking for loose blocks to poke and pull at—those little areas of your life that aren’t so sturdy and stable, those little areas that are contaminated—in his effort to make your whole tower collapse. And he knows he doesn’t have to come at your tower of blocks with a full-on wrecking ball. That’s why the Bible tells us to watch out for the little foxes. Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. —Song of Solomon 2:15 Here’s the thing: Satan uses a lot of little foxes, a lot of tactics, to try to trick us out of our dominion. He knows that faith—your heart being in agreement with heaven—is the currency of the Kingdom. And he knows that if your heart holds on to the Word, it’s going to produce. He also knows that it’s imperishable, and it’s always going to produce after its own kind. Guess what? He doesn’t like that. He claims this place as his. So, he has tactics he uses to get you to agree with him—to contaminate your life with what he says instead of what God says. And he’s pretty sly. He takes a little bit of the principle of God, a little bit of the Word of God, and twists it. He uses it to deceive, to contaminate. But if we know the truth, we can discern for ourselves. But if you don’t know the truth, as Satan works on knocking out loose block after loose block, there will be more openings in your tower, more places for him to get a foothold, more opportunities for him to make the whole structure—your whole life—more rickety and ready for collapse. And that’s the point. Satan is after your fruitfulness. He’s after your assignment. He’s after your purpose. He doesn’t want you to be useful to the Kingdom of God. He wants to prevent you from being a demonstration of the Kingdom of God to other people. So, he keeps going after your heart. Just drink this little bit of contaminated water. It won’t hurt you. Our culture, the earth curse system, is full of perverse ideas that they say won’t harm you. That’s a lie. What you think about, what you feed yourself, and what you look at all put images into your heart, for good or for bad. If you’re contaminating your heart, it’s going to be drawn away and produce what you’re putting into it. You have to CHOOSE to turn your ears to the Word of God and CHOOSE to guard your heart, or you’ll begin to buy into the lies that the enemy and our culture are constantly screaming at us.

Reading Time 8 mins 34 secs – Have you ever felt stuck? Do you feel stuck right now? You’re going to want to stick with me for this one. Keep reading. Drenda once knew an elderly lady who lived through the very tough times of the Great Depression. We would often see her wearing a pair of tattered gloves. Drenda wanted to bless her, so she bought her a new pair of gloves and went to visit with her. When the lady opened Drenda’s gift, she thanked her and took her over to show her something in her dresser. When she opened the top drawer, Drenda was shocked at what she saw. Inside the drawer lay SIX other pairs of brand-new gloves. SIX! The lady laid the pair Drenda had just given her alongside the other six pairs and closed the drawer. Drenda couldn’t believe it. The lady was wearing an old, tattered pair of gloves and not using or enjoying any of those new gloves because she just couldn’t. Her mind was STUCK. Her fear of not having enough had led her to hold on to nearly everything too tightly, even if it meant having six brand-new pairs of gloves sitting in a dresser drawer. She had a wrong pattern of thinking and acting that was holding her back in life. Friend, just like that pair of gloves, God wants to give YOU good gifts. He wants to promote you. He wants you to win in life. So, what has you stuck? What behaviors, habits, and old patterns of thinking and acting are holding you back from being the best you can be and living the life God wants for you? That’s way too intimidating. It’s too late. I’m too old. I don’t have enough money. I’ve made too many mistakes. I don’t have the right experience to take that on. Have you said any of those things to yourself? If you’re like most people, you have. Or maybe you’ve been telling yourself that you’re too young, or too shy, or don’t have the talent, or that you just don’t have what it takes. Drenda and I have both been there. Throughout my life, I’ve had all sorts of reasons not to move forward with the things God was calling me to do. In fact, at one time or another, I’ve probably told myself every one of the reasons I just gave you and more. My ears stuck out when I was a kid. I was overweight. I was so painfully shy that I didn’t talk. In fact, I pretty much did whatever I could to avoid talking and to avoid people. Yes, I’m a pastor and a speaker, and I used to avoid people. I admit it. I talked so rarely that when one of my teachers in high school walked by me in the hallway and heard me talking to a friend, she stopped and said, “So, you CAN talk!” It was really bad. I played football in junior high and high school—I was a starting player—and my sisters were cheerleaders. My mother would have parties after the games, and I would hide in my room. Not only did I go through high school barely speaking to people, but also I had really poor grades. I graduated with a 1.3 grade point average. There was only one other guy who had a lower GPA than I did. I was definitely not voted most likely to succeed. Do I need to keep going? I have a long list of reasons I could give for why I thought I could never win in life. But most of those reasons were really just excuses I kept giving myself because I was afraid. Like the elderly woman with the six pairs of brand-new gloves tucked away in a drawer, I was the one holding myself back with my thoughts. I was the one keeping myself from doing what I wanted to do in life. And I was the one keeping myself from doing what God had called me to do. Is that you? Of course, we sometimes need to be patient with our aspirations. But most of the time, our problem isn’t that we’re trying to move things ahead too quickly. Rather, it’s that at some point, we adapted to cope with negative situations in life and then we parked there, or we got stuck. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds . We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. —2 Corinthians 10:4–5 (NIV) A stronghold is something you’ve believed for so long that it becomes the truth in your life. It becomes the truth even if it’s really a lie. And if you allow yourself to believe a lie, it might as well be the truth. Because if you believe something is too intimidating, it will be. If you believe you’re too old, or too young, or too inexperienced, then that’s exactly what you’ll project. If you believe you can’t do something, you’re probably not even going to try to do it. Moses was a perfect example of this. When God called him to become a great leader, we see that Moses had allowed himself to believe lies that were clearly holding him back. But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” —Exodus 3:11 (NIV) Who am I that I should take this on, God? I’m a nobody… I don’t have what it takes. Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” —Exodus 4:1 (NIV) Why would they listen to me? No one listens to me… I’m not a leader. What’s holding you back from the promotion God is calling you to? “It’s too late.” Did you know Laura Ingalls Wilder was 43 years old when her daughter, Rose, encouraged her to write a memoir about her childhood? Her first attempt at writing her autobiography was rejected several times. 1, 2, 3 Determined to succeed, she spent the next several years improving it. The publishers agreed to publish her work as a fiction story for children when she was 65 years old. She finished the final book in the Little House series when she was 76. Have you ever had a piece of Kentucky Fried Chicken? In 1952, at age 65, living on his $105 a month Social Security check, Colonel Harland Sanders decided he wanted to try to sell his chicken recipe to the world. He was met with little enthusiasm. 4, 5, 6 Colonel Sanders was turned down 1,009 times before his chicken recipe was accepted by one restaurant. When he passed away at age 90, there were around 6,000 KFC locations in 48 countries. As of 2023, there were 29,900 KFC outlets in 149 countries and territories around the world. 7 “It will take too long.” You might know that Bill Gates founded Microsoft in 1975, but did you know that it was six years later before he managed to land a contract with IBM? And it was another five years before Microsoft went public, making Gates a multimillionaire. He became a billionaire just a year later. 8 Have you ever heard of Gladys Burrill? She completed her first marathon when she was 86 years old. At 92, she completed the Honolulu Marathon. Winners of the Honolulu Marathon usually come in under two and a half hours. It took Gladys nine hours and 53 minutes to finish the race. 9, 10 “I don’t have what it takes.” That’s one we usually think but don’t necessarily say out loud. I’m sure you’ve heard of Susan Boyle, right? She was 47 when she auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent. When she took the stage, both the judges and the people in the audience rolled their eyes. Susan didn’t look the part. As soon as Susan hit the first note, all doubts turned to awe. Not only did she receive a standing ovation from the audience, but she also got three yes votes from the judges. Susan’s first album, I Dreamed a Dream became the United Kingdom’s best-selling debut album of all time. She’s since released a total of eight albums, gone on tour, and written an autobiography. 11, 12, 13, 14 Are you getting this, friend? You’re not stuck. It’s not too late for you. It won’t take too long. You DO have what it takes. God is on your side! He is bigger than your past. He’s bigger than your failures. He’s bigger than your shortcomings. He is always faithful. He has a plan. He knows all of the details, and He has the answers. Ask Him. It will take faith to get unstuck and to step out into the unknown, but God wants to lead you. He’s promised never to leave you nor forsake you. And if God is for you, who can be against you? So, get up and GO! Stay the course. Don’t stay stuck. Don’t give up hope. You can still live an incredible life with God—if you decide for it to be so. Sources: 1. “15 Facts You May Not Know About Laura Ingalls Wilder,” AOP Christian Homeschooling, https://aop.com/blogs/lesson-plans/15-facts-you-may-not-know-about-laura-ingalls-wilder, March 25, 2024. 2. Catherine McHugh, “5 Facts About Laura Ingalls Wilder,” https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/laura-ingalls-wilder-biography-facts, June 11, 2020. 3. “Laura Ingalls Wilder Documentary,” https://littlehouseontheprairie.com/laura-ingalls-wilder-documentary-2/, December 25, 2014. 4. “Colonel Harland Sanders,” University of Houston Conrad N. Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership, https://uh.edu/hilton-college/About/Hospitality-Industry-Hall-of-Honor/Inductees/Colonel-Harland-Sanders%20/ 5. “The Real Story of Colonel Sanders Is Far Crazier Than This Bland Inspirational Meme,” The Verge, https://www.theverge.com/2016/7/5/12096466/colonel-sanders-kfc-meme-life-story 6. J.Y. Smith, “Col. Sanders, the Fried-Chicken Gentleman, Dies,” The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1980/12/17/col-sanders-the-fried-chicken-gentleman-dies/64925eb3-3a20-4851-afbc-ba4fe16e9770/, December 17, 1980. 7. “Number of Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurants Worldwide from 2010 to 2013,” Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/256793/kfc-restaurants-worldwide-by-geographic-region/#:~:text=Global%20fast%20food%20chain%20KFC,year%27s%20total%20of%2027.7%20thousand, March 8, 2024. 8. Taylor Locke, “How Bill Gates’ Mom Helped Microsoft Get a Deal with IBM in 1980–and It Propelled the Company’s Huge Success,” https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/how-bill-gates-mother-influenced-the-success-of-microsoft.html, August 6, 2020. 9. “Oldest Female Marathon Finisher: Gladys Burrill Set World Record,” https://www.worldrecordacademy.com/sports/oldest_female_marathon_finisher_Gladys_Burrill_set_world_record_102023.html, December 19, 2010. 10. “Reports & Top Finishers,” Honolulu Marathon, https://www.honolulumarathon.org/key-information/history-statistics/reports-top-10-finishers, December 8, 2024. 11. Jeannette L. Nolen, “Susan Boyle, Scottish Singer,” Encyclopedia Brittanica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Susan-Boyle 12. Davy Leyland, “Susan Boyle - Britains Got Talent 2009 Episode 1 - Saturday 11th April,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk, April 11, 2009. 13. “Susan Boyle,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Boyle 14. https://www.susanboylemusic.com/about/#

Reading Time 3 mins 22 secs – “These people are killing me!” “We can’t afford that.” “I have such a hard time losing weight.” “My husband doesn’t want to do anything.” “I’m so sick and tired of this.” How many of those statements sound familiar? Think about it. How often do you hear things like that said by someone on television, by a coworker, or by a family member? How often do words like that come out of YOUR mouth? Take a few minutes to really think about everything that has come out of your mouth in just the last 24 hours. Either make a mental note of all the things you’ve been saying or actually write them down. Then, come right back to this blog, because you have to know how important this is. Your words are setting the course for your life. What have you been saying, friend? Maybe you’re thinking: But, Gary, I REALLY don’t mean those things when I say them. Maybe you’re like the guy I was flying with one time who started cussing left and right as soon as we took off. There I was in the jump seat hearing everything. When he remembered I was there, he covered his mouth and said, “Oh, I’m sorry. Excuse my French.” He said he didn’t mean to say that. Oh, but he did. Because here’s the thing: You can’t fool your heart. Romans 10:10 (NIV) says, “ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess and are saved. ” You can go to church on the weekend and sing songs about your authority and say, “In Jesus’s name” all you want, and play the religious game, but what is really in your heart will be what comes out of your mouth. It may not come out every day, but it will come out eventually. And whatever you believe in your heart and say with your mouth is what you’ll have— good or bad . Proverbs 18:21 says that YOUR words have the power of life and death. Your mouth is literally releasing life or death with Every. Word. You. Speak. That’s where so many people are messing up. So many people want to win in life, but they’re killing God’s promises and their futures with their own words. Jesus showed us this in Mark 11 when He cursed the fig tree and it died. Your words are just as binding as Jesus’s words. In Matthew 18:18 (NIV), He said, “ Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. ” You HAVE to be careful about what you’re saying. You will walk in EXACTLY what you decree. Don’t say, “Well, I’ve tried that ‘faith stuff,’ but it hasn’t worked.” Don’t say you don’t trust God or you aren’t seeing results. What have you been decreeing over your life? What is really in your heart? Are you saying what you really believe or just saying what you think you’re supposed to say? What comes out of your mouth when the pressure hits? What are you saying in the middle of the night when you couldn’t pay your electric bill and you know they’re coming the next day to shut it off? What are you saying when the pain or the sickness seems downright unbearable? What are you saying when the picture you see doesn’t yet match the promise? God gave YOU the keys. The authority is in YOUR hands. James 3 tells us that we are setting the course of our lives with our words , but most people have no clue how this works. They’re trying to get to one place and end up somewhere else, and they wonder why. It’s like setting out for London and ending up in the Philippines. Friend, you’re the one steering the ship. What are you saying? Make it only good things! Say “yes” and “amen” to every promise! Decree provision, healing, direction, wisdom, and health over your life! Use your words wisely.

Reading Time 3 mins 19 secs – We’ve all heard stories about people making questionable decisions. What makes a person have an affair? Why would someone who was created as a man decide he wants to be a woman? Why are people putting their Bibles down and walking away from church? What causes any person to be willing to do something they know could destroy their reputation, their family, or their business?  The answer is deception. To be deceived means to believe what is false to be true, to be misled, or to be ensnared. We’ve all heard more than a few stories of deception—the woman who found out her husband had another family, the politician who got caught in a web of lies, or the older neighbor couple who was cheated out of thousands of dollars by a contractor. But did you know that the Bible says that we can deceive ourselves? I bet you don’t know of anyone sharing those stories. We can easily deceive ourselves. It just takes a thought. See, thoughts are not innocent. They’re seeds. They’re pictures. What you listen to, what you look at, the things you do, and the friends you hang around all produce thoughts—pictures—in your mind, whether you realize it or not. When you begin to concentrate on those pictures, they produce desire, and desire can get you into trouble. The Bible says that desire drags us. It produces a plan to get what it wants, and that plan can take you to a place you never thought you’d be. Don’t get me wrong—that’s a good thing if you’re thinking about good things. Your good desires can drag you to succeed and to win. The problem is that your heart can’t tell the difference between a good desire and an evil desire. That’s where you have to get a handle on things because this is nothing to play with. It’s life and death. So, what do you do? How can you figure out if you’re deceiving yourself when deceived people don’t usually even know they’re deceived? You start by being careful about what you look at, what you listen to, and who you talk to. This is what the Bible calls “guarding your heart.” Then you decide to choose what you’re thinking about. Yes, you can choose what you think about. No matter what pops into your head, the Bible says that we must take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. Plain and simple, your brain does not have the authority to think anything it wants. You can choose what you think about. So, test every thought you have against God’s will for you. How do you know His will? Read your Bible. Measure everything against what God says. Umpire your thoughts. If they don’t align with what God says, get them out—replace them with the right thoughts. How do you know what the right thought is to think? Read your Bible. This is why I say that memory verses aren’t just for kids; they’re for everyone. If you memorize some Scriptures, you’ll have them ready and waiting to replace those negative thoughts. When you analyze what happens in stories of real change in people’s lives, you’ll almost always find the same scenarios. They decided to change their thoughts. They took the time to make a change. They turned the TV off. They started reading their Bibles. They elevated God’s Word above the other voices in their lives and set their hearts on it. Are you ready for real change in your life? Then, make a decision to change your thoughts, to change your pictures. Ask yourself: What have I been looking at? What have I been watching? How much time have I spent in the Word of God this week? Who am I listening to? Who is giving me advice? Is it someone who has failed or someone who has walked it out and can show me which way to go? What am I focusing on? What am I thinking? Ask yourself these questions, and you’ll see your future.

Reading Time 2 mins 34 secs – How can you make sure you’re equipped for the growth coming your way this year? Here are my 10 steps to posture yourself for opportunity and success. 1. Ask yourself how you’re handling your current responsibilities. Don’t run from your responsibilities. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, you should be a success. People will still see the evidence of God even if you think you’re in the wrong spot. 2. Detox your life of the things that keep you from having time to think. We live in a fast-paced world. There are plenty of things that can keep you distracted. But it’s in the moments that you stop to think that you’ll find ways to solve problems, and that’s where the opportunities are. So figure out what is consuming your time. Start saying no to some things. Find time to think. 3. Don’t hang around people who are always losing. I know people hit rough spots, but if the people in your life are chronically losing, it’s time to expand your circle. Hang around people who are better than you are, who don’t see things as impossible, and who have vision. It may be uncomfortable for you, but their influence will cause you to think differently. 4. Write down EVERY idea that you have, no matter how strange it seems. Most people filter opportunities and ideas through what they perceive their ability to be. This means most people discard ideas by the dozens because they don’t think they can do them. But God isn’t limited to what you know how to do. The ideas He gives you might seem so weird to you that you can’t process them fully. Write them down so you have time to think about them. 5. Research. Research. Repeat. You don’t need to know how to do something; you need to know how to learn how to do it. Research until you find what you’re looking for. 6. Count the cost before you jump. A lot of Christians hear God and jump out too soon, resulting in catastrophe. There are seasons for everything. God will prepare you for where He wants you to go. Be patient. 7. Always be in agreement with your spouse. Never, ever march out into battle without your spouse being in total agreement and your faith aligned. 8. Ask God for direction. Ask Him to help you, to show you where to go, and what to do. And always remember that prophecy from other people shouldn’t lead you; it should only confirm what God has already said to you. 9. Commit to never quit. Quitting is not an option. Once you’ve moved, don’t move again until God speaks to you. Stay with it. Walk it out. Don’t quit. So many people have so much potential, but they get uncomfortable and they quit. If you want to win, you should always be stretching. 10. Get ready to embrace bigger things. Your ability to see the big picture will keep growing as you change and grow on the inside. You’ll pick up on even more opportunities. For more principles, check out this FREE video on success.

Reading Time 3 mins 51 secs – When was the last time you failed at something? Was it something small or something big? Was it fun? Of course, it wasn’t. Failure is never fun. Here’s the thing: it’s not just a cliché to say you can always learn from failure. It’s true. In fact, having a proper understanding of failure is vital to your success. I’m sure you’re familiar with the Honda Corporation. Honda has a proper understanding of failure. I read that their engineers spend 95% of their time studying their failures—why the lawn mower wouldn’t start the first time or why the gas mileage is higher on their new car model than on the old one. Why? Because they know that their success lies in those failures. You have to look at failures the same way. We’re all going to make mistakes. Most of us come into God’s Kingdom, and we don’t know how to live life, so we fail. And the enemy loves to pervert our failures. He wants us to hesitate in moving forward, so he tries to get us to rehearse our failures over and over again, or he paints a vivid picture of the risks. He tells us that our failures are permanent. And, all too often, we believe him. Then, we stop. We don’t move forward because we’re afraid we’ll fail again. Or the enemy has another tactic—blaming the failure on God . That’s one of his favorites. Why? Because it makes us question God. The enemy used this tactic on Joshua. In Joshua 1, Moses died and God put Joshua in charge. Joshua led the people to Jericho, and the walls came down. Things were working just like God had said… until chapter 7. That’s where failure happened. There was a guy named Achan in chapter 7. Achan had stolen some of the spoils from battle, and Joshua had no clue. Unaware of Achan’s failure to follow God’s instructions, Joshua sent men on to the next battle at Ai only to see his men killed. Everyone has a chapter 7. We’ve all had those moments when we begin to follow Christ, and something happens that doesn’t match the picture, or the promise, in the Bible or what we know God has said. And if we don’t understand how to deal with failure, those moments may make us lose our courage. We might hesitate, or we might set up camp and never try again, or we might just try to run back to Egypt. So, we have to understand failure and how to deal with it. Joshua had to learn. At first, like we all do, Joshua reacted . The enemy’s plan to have him blame God worked. Joshua questioned God. Ever done that before? Ever blamed God or questioned Him? We all have. But God wasn’t having it. He told Joshua to GET UP! See, people say that they wish Jesus would just show up. Trust me, you DON’T want that. Jesus isn’t going to show up and say, “Let’s have a group hug.” When the disciples freaked out that they were going to drown in the storm at sea, Jesus didn’t get up and coddle and comfort them. No, Jesus said, “Where is your faith?” In the same way, He’s probably not going to baby you if you experience failure. He’s going to say, “GET UP! Have you not read MY WORD? I already paid the price!” He will correct you. That’s exactly what God did to Joshua. He told him to get up . Then, He told Joshua exactly what had happened. See, the failure wasn’t just on Achan’s part. It was also on Joshua’s. Joshua hadn’t sought instruction from God before he engaged Ai. If he had, God could have told him about Achan before they went to battle. Instead, Joshua just assumed . You can NEVER assume things in the Kingdom. You can’t do anything based on your past victories. The enemy is already wise to them, and he’s already changed strategies. You don’t have to fail. If you go to God first, failure doesn’t have to happen. But even if you do fail, there are steps you can take to overcome the failure and move forward: 1. Ask God what happened. If the Word says it, it’s God’s will. There are a lot of variables—things like unbelief and wrong expectations—that mess with the heart and can short-circuit faith. If it didn’t happen, you need to ask God why. 2. Pinpoint the short circuit. Know who, what, why, when, where, and how so it doesn’t happen again. 3. Ask God how to fix it. 4. Get the plan from Him on how to restore the loss. 5. GET UP and take action. Sure, you’ll probably feel afraid. Ignore your feelings. God commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous. You will have to be too. You can feel afraid, but don’t act like it. Remember, if you’re not doing the hardest thing in your life, you’re not growing. God has already prepared a way for you to go and succeed in a big way. Be confident and let the Holy Spirit teach you, train you, and reveal unique strategies to you. Keep your vision in front of your face. Write it down! Believe it’s possible; otherwise, you’re destined to stay right where you are. God wants to advance His Kingdom in the earth through you. He’s depending on you to overcome failure and take territory for Him.

Reading Time 5 mins 22 secs – No, This Isn’t Actually About Fish Imagine this. You’re sitting in an auditorium with hundreds of other people getting ready to listen to a speaker, and someone walks out on the stage and tells the audience that they’ve hidden a treasure underneath one of the seats. Would you jump up and look under your chair? Would you start looking under the chairs around you? Would you crawl around on the floor, under multiple rows? Would you keep looking for the treasure until someone yelled they found it, or until you found it? Here’s the thing: Your treasure is already out there. You just need a Word of Knowledge from God to uncover it. No, I’m not talking about under some chair in an auditorium. I’m talking about something you don’t know before it is revealed to you, so you can move on it and do whatever it takes to capture it. Look at Luke 5. Jesus borrowed a boat from some fishermen. He sat in the boat and taught the people on the shore. Then, He gave the boat back to the fishermen and told them to go out into the deeper water and let down their nets. And they caught so many fish that their nets began to break and their boat began to sink. The fishermen hadn’t caught any fish that day. It wasn’t due to their lack of knowledge or experience. They were professional fishermen and had grown up on the lake fishing, but they had labored all night and caught nothing. I love this story and reference it often—because something significant happened on the lakeshore that day. The fishermen—Peter, James, and John—went from catching nothing during what was probably an exhausting all-day or night fishing trip to filling TWO boats with fish in a matter of minutes. They filled two boats so full of fish that they almost sank! So, how does that apply to you? How are you supposed to know where your “big catch” is? Colossians 1:12-14 say, “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Do you see that? God rescued us and brought us into the Kingdom of His Son—His Kingdom—His realm of power and authority, and He’s given YOU citizenship, legal rights, and authority in His government. Ephesians 2:19 says, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.” As a son or daughter of God with the Holy Spirit living inside of you, you have the ability to tap into the secret wisdom and knowledge of the Kingdom and to find the fish (treasure) you need, too. And “treasure” doesn’t just mean monetary things; treasure is anything you find valuable, like great health, a happy marriage, a stable family, or success. Just like Peter, James, and John, you can find YOUR hidden treasure. As part of the Church, the hidden things—the things God knows that you don’t know—are supposed to be revealed to you. One of my favorite examples of “hidden” things being revealed is in Daniel 2. King Nebuchadnezzar had some disturbing dreams that really upset him, and he couldn’t sleep. When he called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers, they expected him to tell them the dream so they could interpret it. But King Nebuchadnezzar threw them all a curveball and told them they needed to tell him what he had dreamed and the interpretation. And, if they didn’t, he would have them “cut into pieces and their houses turned into piles of rubble.” How’s that for an impossible demand? I mean, really. Can you imagine someone saying, “Tell me what I dreamed and what it means or I’ll have you killed”? Clearly, King Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t rational. The guy wasn’t getting any sleep, and he was losing it. When the guys couldn’t do what he demanded, he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon—which included Daniel and his friends. Daniel asked for more time. Then, he went to his friends and told them to pray so they wouldn’t be killed. Daniel wasn’t just in a hard spot. He was facing a death sentence! But Daniel knew there is NOTHING that is hidden from God; he knew NOTHING is too hard for God. Daniel 2:19 tells us that the mystery was revealed to Daniel during the night. In verses 20-23 Daniel praised God, saying, Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king. Daniel went to the king and asked that he not execute anyone. He revealed the dream and interpreted it. And King Nebuchadnezzar honored Daniel and promoted him. Stop here for a second. Because I need you to realize that this isn’t just a great Bible story— this applies to YOUR life. See, Jesus made our access to the Kingdom legal, yet most people read the stories in the Bible much like our ancestors viewed things like electricity and lightning—acknowledging that, yes, the events happened, but never envisioning the POWER of those things for themselves. You may not be facing a death sentence like Daniel was, but you still need powerful answers from God; you need Him to direct your steps. That’s your victory—your secret weapon. Jesus said that the same things that we see Him doing, we have the ability to do as well. The Kingdom of God has already been given to YOU. You just have to understand its laws. Because it’s the Kingdom in you that gives you access to the secret knowledge—the hidden knowledge. I’ll say it again: your treasure is already out there. You just need a Word of Knowledge from God to uncover it. You just need something you didn’t know before to be revealed to you, so you can move on it and do whatever it takes to capture it.

Reading Time 3 mins 7 secs – Wherever you are in your life, know this: you’re not stuck. You have before you a great opportunity with great rewards. You may not feel capable or strong enough, but with God, change is possible. It will take some work. There is a price involved. It may take some time, but it will be worth it. So how do you get there? How do you move from where you are to where you want to go? Look with me at Judges 6 and the story of Gideon. There, you’ll find five simple steps to improve your life. 1) Recognize where you are. Gideon was an Israelite. The Israelites had done evil in the sight of God, and He had turned them over to the hand of their enemy, the Midianites, for seven years. The Israelites had resorted to living in caves in the mountains. They were in survival mode. They were impoverished and oppressed, then, finally, they cried out to God. Is there a gap between what the Word of God says you should have and what you actually have? Are you living the promises? Or are you missing it? Have you been accepting dysfunction as normal? It’s amazing how many people put up with living in lack and with dysfunction. Stop and figure out where you really are, because if you don’t recognize where you are, you can’t recognize it’s not where God wants you. 2) Ask God for help. The Israelites asked God for help. Cry out to Him. He’s your answer and your source. 3) Listen. God sent a prophet to the Israelites when they cried out to Him. The prophet told the people they hadn’t listened to the Lord. If you’re going to change things, you’re going to have to trust God with your whole heart. You can’t lean to your normal understanding anymore. You need new direction. This is where you’re going to have to let Him teach you and tell you where you need to change things. Gideon was in a winepress threshing and hiding wheat. He had learned a system. He was oppressed and impoverished. He wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He had learned to cope. The people knew the promises of God, but they weren’t living it. So, the angel of the Lord came and spoke to Gideon. Gideon was the smallest in his family, and his family was the smallest in the clan. But the angel of the Lord said he was a mighty warrior and told him to, “ Go in the strength you have .” 4) Go in the strength you have. No matter how impossible it seems, do what God directs you to do. Recognize He’s with you. God told Gideon to tear down his father’s altar to Baal. That was a big deal for Gideon. It was personal and difficult. But notice that God didn’t tell him to take on the whole army. Gideon didn’t need strength to win the battle by Himself; he only needed strength to make the decision to do what God said. 5) Change your allegiance and adjust your priorities. What has no place in your life? What do you need to change? Anything that’s not prospering you or is deceiving you needs to be destroyed. Realign and reestablish your foundation and your heart. Once Gideon tore those things down, he was positioned. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. See, it’s never God’s intention that you have to do this yourself. He has a plan. You just need to posture yourself so that you can receive the anointing. Get your home right and get your heart right so that when you face the battle, the anointing of God will come upon you and give you the victory.