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Category: Personal Development for Believers

While everyone is welcome to browse or read these articles, they will likely be of most interest to Christian believers.

Don't Look Now, But You're in a Wilderness

There is a worship song that is popular right now that says, “Jesus, You change everything.” But let’s be honest. Sometimes He doesn’t. Things stay the same, week after week, and even year after year. If nothing changes in spite of your efforts, you are likely in a wilderness situation. God has put you there for […]

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The Blessed Life, the Broken Life

When I was younger, as the reality of life started to unfold and I began to experience difficulties, I coped with it by assuming that my life was going to be mapped out in two phases—a period of brokenness and a period of blessing. Once the brokenness was over, when I had learned what I […]

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Slaying the Dragon of Striving

Absalom. Anyone who mentions the name of this Old Testament anti-hero recalls a man who was restless, torn from within. Worse, his inward battles projected outward. But when we read the full story of Absalom in 2 Samuel 13–18, we learn that something happened earlier in his life that set this cause-and-effect in motion. His […]

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Worried? You've Got Options

If there is one thing consistent about our world today, it is change. We are feeling the tectonic plates shift beneath our so often it is beginning to feel commonplace. The temptation to worry is extremely strong. But worry is a choice, and we have other options. Jesus counteracts our tendency to worry with a […]

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Are You Following a Dream or a Vision

Many people encourage us to dream big, to follow our dreams. You will see challenges like this on social media, you will hear them at graduation ceremonies, and even in sermons. Granted, people who follow their dreams often do great things. Many dreams are realized, especially when hard work is applied. On  the surface, there is […]

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A Shift in Focus = a Change in Results

I cannot forget one of the experiences I had doing mission work as an 18-year-old. I had volunteered to do some mission work in Canada with a friend. One of the tasks we were given was to take some young boys on a camping trip. So we drove out together to the woods near Lake […]

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It's All in How You Look At It

1986 was a watershed year for the NFL. For the first time in the game’s history, throughout the entire season, officials were allowed to overrule a call made on the field. Fans got used to extra commercial breaks while the officials sorted out a controversial play. It often came down to the camera angle of the […]

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When You're Needing a Breakthrough

When I was a boy, I would often get in wrestling matches and even outright fights with the other boys in the neighborhood, at school, or even at church. However, being the youngest of three boys, I rarely mixed it up with my brothers. My oldest brother was four years older than I was and […]

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Forgiveness: Another Way There

Years ago, I was having a deep conversation with a friend and somehow we got onto the subject of pornography. He made reference to Jesus’ statement that lust is actually committing adultery in your heart. He told me that people quoting that verse to him didn't really help him. I told him that it didn’t […]

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Life Mapping: The Best Gift You Could Give Yourself

Many people go through their entire lives without ever getting any real sense of perspective. If you are in the process of setting goals for the new year, hit the pause button because I want you to consider something I stumbled across in the not-too-distant past. Two years ago, instead of writing out resolutions for […]

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When You Feel Like You're Getting Clobbered

When I was in college, it seemed like there would always be a week or two every semester when I was overwhelmed. All my major assignments would come due at the same time. I thought, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say my professors are sitting in the faculty lounge, saying something like, 'Oh you've […]

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It's All in the Timing

If you’ve watched any nature shows, you know that one thing always becomes obvious as you're watching: Nature has its own timetable. You can’t make the deer to calve, you can’t change the timing of the tide, and you cannot rush a caterpillar out of its chrysalis. Somehow, nature has the sense to know when […]

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