Tag: prayer

Posted on

Love Her Well

By Kari Kampakis (summary by Jeffrey Bush)

  • Remember that God chose you for your child.
  • Let your daughter know that only Jesus is perfect, and you need Him just like she
    needs Him.
  • Remember that God loves your daughter much more than you can. Remember also
    that you are not alone, and you need help from God and others.
  • Your relationship will never be perfect, but it can be exceptional.
  • Your daughter needs you, and you need her.
  • We don’t give up on what God has given us (daughter) because God does not give
    up on us.

10 ways to find joy and connection with your teenage daughter:

  1. Choose your words and timing carefully.
    Criticism is a killer of relationships.
    Words have power, and your words as a parent have superpowers.
  2. Listen and empathize with her world.
    Listen to your daughter attentively.
    Proverbs 18:13.
  3. Be her mom.

You can outsource many things, but you cannot outsource your God-
given role as a parent.

Don’t be afraid to parent.
Your child might not understand rules now, but you are the parent.
Make your daughter aware of choices and consequences.
Don’t wait to have the difficult conversations with your daughter.
Help your daughter learn to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. She
will need to make decisions to do what’s right in life and it will not always
be comfortable.
Some parents work on rules with their children, and some parents work
on relationship – a wise parent does both.
Proverbs 29:17.
The question is not if your daughter will mess up rather how will you help
her when she messes up.

  1. Make relationship a priority.

Teenagers are human, and like any other human, they do better listening
from someone they know loves them.
Take the lead in cultivating a strong relationship with your daughter.
Apologize when you are wrong.
Be concise; she most likely will not listen to you give a long lecture, so be
concise.
Let go of regret.
Don’t compare your relationship with that of other parents/teens. Every
relationship has peaks and valleys, good and difficult seasons.
Give your daughter space when needed instead of peppering her with
questions.
Spend one on one time together.
Express specifically what you love about her.
Show affection, even when she does not reciprocate.
Show up, do your best, and keep trying.
Don’t take rejection personally.
Have fun together, don’t be afraid to be silly.

  1. See the good, loving her as she is where she is.

Recognize her potential.
Be the first to believe in her in the last to lose faith.
No one enjoys being around a person that expects perfection.
Be quick to point out when she does something right.
Praise her and applaud her.
Love her as she is.
Love her where she is.
When you become impatient with your daughter, remember how patient
God is with you.
Treat your daughter like she is already the person she has potential of
being.
Remember your own mess-ups.
Remember your influence with your daughter.
Those closest to us are the ones who can hurt us the most, so remember
this before you react or blow up.
Your daughter may look grown-up, but her brain is still developing, so
help her.
Know that your daughter is already criticizing herself.

  1. Help her find good friends and positive influences.

Friendships help get through adolescent years but friendships don’t
always stay the same.
Friendship for your daughter are just like friendships for you, they make
life better.
Help your daughter understand that the closer she is to God, the better
friend she can be.
A great friendship keeps God at the center.
Friendships make life better, but they do not eliminate all problems.
Only God is perfect and can give all the help needed — help your
daughter understands that.
Forced friendships, always expire.
Friendships should be a source of encouragement, not of stress.
Help your daughter know she needs the right friends, and needs to avoid
the wrong friends.
It is important that your daughter knows that good company will help her
while bad company will pull her down.

Your friends reveal your future, so help your daughter find the right
friends.
Get to know your daughter’s friends.

  1. Be her emotional coach.

Give your daughter space for her feelings and emotions.
Teach your daughter how to resolve conflict.
Limit her social media time.
Don’t be afraid of setting boundaries when needed.
Teach your daughter empathy – every day is a new opportunity to
practice empathy towards others.
Help her cultivate a healthy thought life.
Remember to be an example, because your daughter sees more in you
than she hears from you.
See conflicts as opportunities.
Teach your daughter to have an intimate walk with God.
Remember that you need good mental health in order to help your
daughter.
James 1:5 — God offers the wisdom you need.
Your daughter’s emotions can make her or break her, and you have the
responsibility to help her know how to navigate those emotions.

  1. Enjoy her, laugh often, and have fun.

Pay attention to the little things your daughter enjoys.
Randomly stop by your daughter’s bed and pray for her.
Do something fun with her like buy her something out of the norm, or
watch a movie late at night.
Take her to a coffee shop.
Play a board game or cards with her.
Surprise her with a gift or going somewhere.
Plan a party for her by picking up all her friends and taking them
somewhere.
Be present when you are with her.

  1. Take care of yourself and have a support system for hard days.

Exercise.
Go to the doctor when you need it.

Stop beating yourself up.
The script in your head matters, be careful what you tell yourself.
Don’t dwell on past regrets.
Yesterday is over and today is a new day.
Turn outward and not inward. Get help with problems instead of isolating
yourself. God and others are there to help you.
Know yourself and set limits for what you can and cannot do.
Teenagers need space and help, and it’s easier to give them the space
and help they need.

  1. Pray for her and empower her through faith.

Pray for your daughter to make the right decisions.
Pray for God to cultivate a love for Him and others in her heart.
Pray for her health.
Pray for her to seek God’s approval over men’s approval.
Pray for her to have good friends.
Pray for her future spouse.
Pray she will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and have strong convictions.
Remember it’s not in your prayers but in the One to whom you are
praying.

Posted on

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life: Book Review by Jeff Bush

By Donald S. Whitney 

  • Disciplines without direction equals drudgery. 
  • How can we pursue holiness? How can we be more like our Lord Jesus Christ? We must have discipline. 1 Timothy 4:7 — “exercise thyself rather unto godliness.”
  • Man arrives to maturity by way of spiritual discipline.
  • Our Lord modeled self-discipline for us.
  • Just as practicing to play an instrument requires discipline, so growing in your spiritual life requires discipline.
  • God’s Word.
        • No spiritual discipline is more important than the intake of God’s word.
        • Listen to the Word of God. Romans 10:17. 
        • Read the Word of God. How often do you need wisdom, encouragement, and strength? Every day! Then read God’s Word every day.
        • Discipline yourself to read the Word of God. Find a time. Find a plan. Find a word, verse, or thought to meditate on throughout the day.
        • What is one thing you can do to enhance your intake of God’s Word every day? 
        • Interview the text that you read. 
        • Consciously commit yourself to take at least one action from your daily intake of God’s Word.
  • Prayer. 
        • We learn to pray by meditating on the Scripture. 
        • Pray with others.
        • Where there is godliness, there is prayer.
        • Men and women of God are always people of prayer. 
        • Worship is responding to and focusing on God. 
        • Worship is a discipline to be cultivated.
  • Evangelism.
        • New Testament evangelism is presenting the gospel. 
        • Not every Christian should use the same means of evangelism, but every Christian should evangelize.
        • Evangelism is not a gift for a few, all of God’s children are to be ambassadors.
        • Before we make excuses, we should stop and ask ourselves, are we really too busy to fulfill the Great Commission?
  • Serving for Godliness.
        • If we don’t discipline ourselves for the purpose of God’s kingdom, we will probably never serve. 
        • Serving goes against two of our biggest fleshly enemies, our sloth and our pride.
        • We are to serve the Lord with gladness. It is a privilege, not a burden. 
        • Psalms 84:10 — “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
        • If we are to be like Christ, we must learn to serve.
  • Stewardship. 
        • Unless we practice self control, our bodies will choose to please self more than please God. 
        • Evaluate your use of time. The time to value time is right now.
        • Decide to discipline yourself and use your time for godliness.
        • We value time at the moment of death. 
        • Realize God owns everything you have. We are just temporary stewards of the things God owns.
  • Fasting. 
        • There is fasting from food as well as times to fast from entertainment and other areas.
        • The Lord expects His children to fast. He doesn’t say “if” but “when” you fast. 
        • Before we fast, we must have purpose, a God-centered purpose.
        • Fasting is one of the best friends we can offer to our prayer. 
        • It is more rewarding to feast on God than food.
  • Silence and Solitude for the purpose of godliness. 
        • God used silence and solitude in the life of both Moses and the Apostle Paul. 
        • Jesus practiced silence and solitude. 
        • One of the biggest reasons to get alone is to better hear God speak. 
        • We have an addiction to noise, and it’s connected to a spiritual shallowness. 
  • Spiritual Discipline of Journaling. 
        • A personal writing of thoughts to the Lord. Prayers, joys, verse challenge you read, etc.
        • Consider the discipline of journaling for godliness, and to remember God‘s faithfulness.
  • Learning for the Purpose of Godliness.
        • Wise and righteous people are teachable and continue learning.
        • Wise men seek and store knowledge. 
        • Mark 12:29–30. Our Lord teaches us to love Him with all of our mind.
        • How can we know more about our Lord if we do not learn more about him?
        • Learning is mostly intentional by discipline instead of accidental.
        • Most students don’t learn because their parents don’t learn. When was the last time you read a book to your children?
        • Growing Christians are reading Christians.
        • Godly learning leads to godly living. 
  • Perseverance in Godly Discipline.
        • Laziness does not lead to godliness.
        • Even though self-discipline is not easy, it is not self-punishment. Self-discipline is actually doing what your spirit need you to do.
        • Just as the only way to God is through Christ, so the only way to godliness is through Christlike practice of spiritual disciplines.
Posted on

Real-Life Discipleship Book Review by Jeff Bush

By Tom Cheshire and Tom Gensler 

  • You can’t give away what you don’t possess.
  • If you were in a room of people and asked them about discipleship, almost everyone of them would refer to a person that helped them in their life.
  • Preaching is essential, but your preaching is not discipleship. 
  • Discipleship is 2 Timothy 2:2 in action.
  • Discipleship is the process of spiritual growth.
  • Jesus was not just telling disciples to be like Him, He was showing them how to live God-centered lives.
  • Discipleship is one individual investing in one or more other individuals on a consistent basis.
  • Which results more in your children listening — what you tell them to do or what they see you do? And this is what discipleship is about as well. 
  • You can and should be a disciple, as well as a disciple maker. 
  • You need to know who you are, but you also need to know Who’s you are. 
  • If you want others to follow your example, you must have been discipled and be discipling others.
  • Discipleship is not about perfection, but about progress.
  • Luke 6:12–13 teaches that before Jesus chose the disciples, He spent time in prayer.
  • Jesus always spoke to His Father. We would be wise to realize we cannot do anything on our own, we need God’s help. 
  • Discipleship is more caught than taught. Do not overcomplicate discipleship; recognize how Jesus walked and spent time investing in others.
  • Much of what you need to do with those you are discipling is to love them. 
  • In Luke 8, we see only 25% of the seed sown bears fruit. We should not be surprised that not everyone we disciple will bear fruit, but we still do our duty. 
  • The growth of an individual is not like a mushroom that shoots up quickly, rather like an oak that grows over a long period of time.
  • Discipleship is relational, it is life-on-life. 
Posted on

Raising Grateful Kids In An Entitled Generation: Book Review by Jeff Bush

by Kristen Welch 

  • How can we explain or expect gratitude from our children if we are not showing it in our own lives.
  • Although our children should expect our love and acceptance, they must learn not to expect the material things this world places in front of them.
  • Entitlement winds its way through families. Everything from portion sizes, presents, activities, clothes and toys.
  • Resolving entitlement starts with teaching your children to be thankful for what they already have.
  • Entitlement has always been around, so maybe it’s the parenting that has changed and not the children. We are giving without making them earn, not saying no and overindulging.
  • Proverbs 22:6 has another side to it, a negative one. If you allow children to do whatever they want, they are not going to depart from their bad ways even when they’re old. 
  • Sometimes parents say no so often that they lose the opportunities to explain why they say no.
  • Sadly, parents feel pressured to give their children things they don’t necessarily need because everyone else is giving it to their children (best schools, sports, brand names, vacations, etc.).
  • Begin your quest for contentment. Is Jesus really enough for you?
  • The blurry line of being friend and parent is one of the most controversial lines in parenting today.
  • Kids need to learn how to problem solve. Parents do not need to rob this lesson from them.
  • We cannot make our parenting decisions based on what other parents are doing.
  • Temporary unhappiness from kids not getting their way can make for happiness as adults that love God and others.
  • Wanting our kids to be happy all the time might just be feeding their entitlement attitude.
  • Let your kids be devastated at age six so their first time is not when they are in college.
  • Tell your kids it’s more important who they are then what they have.
  • It is not your job as a parent to provide exciting activities every leisure moment. Kids are known for saying they are bored, but they need to learn to go outside, be creative and find things to do. 
  • Challenge your kids to turn their phone around and take pictures of others instead of themselves. Take them to a homeless shelter. Teach them to think of others.
  • Parents should make restrictions on their kid’s social media platforms/accounts, and should not feel bad about it.
  • You should ask and know your children’s passwords and accounts. This is not an invasion of privacy, it is protecting your children. There are predators and dangerous people out there that want to hurt your children.
  • We must teach our children self control. We will not always be with them to help make decisions, so they must learn to make decisions on their own. Proverbs 25:28
  • Obedience should be expected not suggested. But do so with grace and love.
  • Losing is good for your kids, not bad. Giving a participation trophy does not teach them about life, in fact, it makes them expect more.
  • Make your marriage more important than your children, it’s what you and your kids need. 
  • Nothing makes us more grateful than perspective.
  • The best way to teach gratitude is to model it. Do they see you saying thank you, writing a thank you card and being kind to the server at a restaurant?
  • You may get mad or feel you’ve messed up with your kids, but there’s time to ask forgiveness… so do it when necessary. 
  • Talking to older parents will help coach you as you’re raising your kids.
  • 7 Ways yo Teach Gratitude to our Kids, instead of Entitlement:
          1. Teach ownership. Chores and responsibilities. Their clothes and possessions. 
          2. Stress the value of money. Saving and spending money. Let them have an allowance for their work or an amount on vacation and not get more when it’s spent. It’s easier for them to spend your money than theirs. Teach and encourage them to give. 
          3. Emphasize the value of hard work. Make work part of your daily routine. Teach them to pick up after themselves as well as specific jobs around the house. Let them be in charge of making dinner and cleaning up after meals.
          4. Teach responsibility and consequences. Require them to do their own laundry when they get to a certain age, and when they run out of clean items don’t run to the rescue. It is hard to watch your kids fail, but sometimes that’s what they need to do. 
          5. See the benefits of delayed gratification. In a world of instant gratification children must learn to delay the immediate reward for the later reward. The reward that is worked for and waited for is usually much more valued. 
          6. Give your children a larger worldview. Perspective is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children and yourself, and service is a great way to package it. Not everyone in the world has what you have, many have far less. Your kids need to know that. Take them to work at a homeless shelter or places they can help and as see the need of others. Your family is at its best when you are helping serve others. 
          7. Strive to instill faithfulness. Persevering when things are hard is often rewarding. 
  • Don’t ground your children from spiritual activities. Sometimes parents will not let their children go to a church event because of the way they acted. But they need that influence more than other things they have or do in life.
  • One of the greatest gifts we can ask from the Lord is wisdom. 
  • Nothing we can do or say can ever substitute for bowing our heads and praying for our children. 
  • Prayer is often the last thing we think when raising kids, but God wants to walk this path with us. And there’s nothing greater than telling our parental needs to the One who parents us.
Posted on

Planting by Pastoring Book Review by Jeff Bush

By Nathan Knight 

  • Don’t look at the best business models, look to God. 
  • We love size and speed, but a church can grow and be healthy without those. 
  • Most authors and church planters say that size and speed are important in church planting, but when we go to Scripture, the narrative of God is more on slowness. Consider Abraham and Sarah who were childless for 25 years after being told they would have a child. Consider Israel who was is in slavery in Egypt for 420 years. Or consider the coming of Christ in which thousands of years have passed.
  • The essence of a church is not their financial stability.
  • Multiplication does not come at the expense of depth. 
  • Planting by pastoring is glorious and grace filled, but it is not efficient. It takes time and energy. 
  • Evangelism is not the finish line in church planting. 
  • We want to know names, not just see numbers. We want to know stories, not just statistics. 
  • We plant churches to pastor people individually so we can worship Jesus collectively.
  • What if Jesus did not intend for churches to look like McDonald’s serving a billion people, rather look like your kitchen to serve your family and friends?
  • Pastor’s sacrifice for their sheep
  • Jesus knew His people and His people knew Him. He pastored them as names and not numbers.
  • The foundation of the church is Jesus and His Gospel. If you are a church planter, you should ask yourself what lies at the foundation of this thing that you are spending so much time building. 
  • Let the size and significance of the church you are planting take care of themselves. Slow down and press the Gospel into the lives of the people just as Jesus did.
  • The people need to know that you are wanting to help them, not get something from them. You are a pastor, not an entrepreneur.
  • Jesus gathered men before He ever held a public campaign or evangelistic effort.
  • A planter pastor must have character, competence, and compassion. 
  • Charisma might attract people on the front end, but it rarely endures. Your love for Jesus will keep you there, not your charisma. 
  • The power is in the Gospel. A magnetic personality and eloquent composure is nice to have, but they are bonus, extra, and unnecessary. 
  • If you are planting churches to be respected, heard, and esteemed, you are doing so for the wrong reasons.
  • Plant churches for the identity of Jesus, not to find or focus on your own identity.
  • Our areas do not need community centers and places of entertainment, they need a church where Christ is preached.
  • If you’re going to plant a church you need to be sent out by a church. A church that will love you and lead you.
  • A church planting team will minimize weaknesses and maximize effectiveness. Throughout the Bible, we see teams going out. Paul and Barnabas, Jesus and the disciples, and even many letters that Paul signed included a team of people.
  • In planting a church, we can get so involved with a list of what needs done and neglect our own souls. 
  • A team helps you with encouragement and accountability.
  • Prayer is your lifeline to God. Prayer is essential.
  • You should allow people to challenge your thinking. Is the place you are wanting to go truly a place of need? 
  • When, choosing a city, ask yourself if you are reflecting the need of Romans 15:19–20.
  • Preach, pray, love, and stay in a community. 
  • Love people, not programs.
  • Use as many evangelistic tools as possible, but one of the best tools will be the church members’ influence on other people.
  • Church planters can rest in God’s fruit as they faithfully scatter the seed.
Posted on

Perspectives on Missions Book Review by Jeff Bush

by Dr. Don Sisk

  • There are many enemies. If you do not believe it, consider this: there are more than 5 million fundamental Baptist Christians in America today. But these 5 million Christians have fewer than 5000 foreign missionaries., Which means it takes 1000 fundamental Baptist to go to get one missionary on the field. Last year, less than $75 million was given through all fundamental Baptist mission agencies for worldwide evangelization. This represent approximately $15 per fundamental Baptist per year for foreign missions. This is enough to convince anyone that to the average person, missions is not considered obligatory, but optional. Many show a token interest in worldwide evangelization, but only a few our whole heartedly involved. — page 21
  • When He directs people, He has a purpose for them. God prepares the fields before He directs the workers. — page 23
  • The Moravians had such a missionary zeal that 1 out of every 92 members of their congregations were serving God on a foreign mission field. It was not long before the Moravians in foreign countries, outnumbered the Moravians in Germany by 3 to 1. I do not know that there has ever been a more intensified effort on any group to get the gospel out around the world than this group. — page 25-26
  • I believe the missionary should plan his furlough around his work, instead of planning his work around his furlough. — page 39
  • In June (1990), BIMI will be 30 years old. I try to check our pulse regularly. I have a phobia of being a part of something that has lost its purpose. I have a fear of having a name that we live, but are dead (Revelation 3:1). A wise man once said, “Many Christian institutions are dead, but we can’t bury them because they are too heavily endowed.” — page 63
  • As I check our pulse, I must say: “Praise God, we’re alive! Let’s not go to sleep on the job. Let’s not rest on our past and become useless for the present and lose our opportunities for the future.” 
  • I have some visions for our 30th anniversary year:
        1. A gain of 30 missionary couples per year for the next 10 years. (Since every mission loses missionaries each year by death, retirement, etc., we must have at least 60 new missionaries each year.) This would give us 1200 active missionaries by the year 2000.
        2. Thirty new supporting churches for the home office each year. (Administrative cost increase each year. We must have help from churches to keep down the cost for the missionaries.)
        3. Thirty new fields opened in the next 10 years. (There are more opportunities now than at any time in the history of BIMI.)
        4. Thirty new churches established by our missionaries each year for the next 10 years.
  • We are alive! Will you allow us to help you? As your church thinks about missions, would you let us suggest some missionaries? Could we help you in your missionary conference? As you consider the mission field, would you consider BIMI as your mission? Pastor, would you recommend to your church BIMI for monthly support? — page 63-64
  • Someone has well said, “God accepts us as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us as we are.” — page 67
  • How sad, but throughout Christian history, some have come to believe “If I said it, you should believe it.” No man should assume that, and none of us should give any man that kind of allegiance. Any man can make a mistake, and any man can be replaced. We are instruments. God changes instruments, but God does not change. He buries his workmen, but his work goes on. — page 78-79
  • The cry of a Mexican pastor, Brother Enoch, continues to ring in my ear as I remember hearing him say, “There is enough of the Bread of Life to feed the whole world. There’s enough of the Light of the World to enlighten every person who lives on the face of the earth. There’s enough of the Water of Life to quench the thirst of every thirsty soul in the whole world. But the great majority of the people of the world know nothing about the Bread of Life. They know nothing about the Light of the World. They know nothing about the Water of Life.” — page 138
  • Perhaps there are 200 Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching churches in this (Mexico City) city. There’s about 1 Christian worker for every 300,000 people. In contrast, there is about 1 for every 150 people in Chattanooga, Greenville, Dallas, Jacksonville, and Memphis. On we could go naming cities in America, where the Gospel has been preached. — page 139
  • I have a dream… that pastors from all over America can come here to the World Missions Center and, in modular courses, be trained in worldwide evangelization by pastors and mission personnel, who have experienced firsthand what missions is all about. — page 148
  • God never commands the impossible, and He has commanded us, “Go, ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). — page 148
  • We (BIMI) are not a fellowship, we are not a denomination, we have no authority over any church anywhere. It is not our job to keep everybody straight or even to determine who is right and who is wrong. It is our task to serve. To that purpose, we want to get in totally dictate ourselves. — page 152
  • Available! The laborers are in the Bible-believing, fundamental Baptist churches in our country. There are at least fifteen thousand fundamental Baptist churches in North America. However, there are fewer than ten thousand fundamental Baptist missionaries. Thousands of churches have never sent one missionary to the mission field. Thank God for good sending churches. However, this is not a task for a few, but for all. Every church should be sending forth missionaries. — page 170
  • I often say to people, “It is always too early to quit.” The great difference between winners and losers is not that winners never fail – they do. There will always be failures in any endeavor. The difference between winners and losers is that winners never quit. — page 174
  • Approximately 80% of the independent Baptist churches in America do not have a missions conference. That is, they do not have a time during the year that is set apart for the emphasis of worldwide evangelization. I am aware of the fact that we need not to emphasize world evangelization every Sunday; however, churches that are being used by God to make an impact in world missions set aside some time every year for missions is the main emphasis. — page 184
  • The problem is not with the harvest; the problem is a lack of laborers. After making that great statement, Jesus commanded his disciples, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest” (verse 38). What if you and I would go before God daily, and pray to Him that He would send forth laborers into this great harvest field? — page 185
  • Someone has well said, “We should not pray unless we are willing to be the answer to God’s prayer.” — page 186
  • It was not until God allowed the persecution of the church to come that the fulfillment of Acts 1:8 began to be unveiled. — page 220
  • It would be impossible for anyone to read the Bible, and not realize that God is interested in the whole world. — page 229
Posted on

Out of The Cave Book Review by Jeff Bush

By Chris Hodges 

  • 1 out of 9 people in the US are on some form of anxiety medication. 1 out of 5 people have used it in the past. 
  • Depression has surpassed other diseases in our world such as cancer, etc.
  • Many things we tell someone that is depressed it’s not helpful – quit thinking about it, try harder, at least your problems are not as big as others, read your Bible more, etc. We should learn to listen and sympathize.
  • We need to stop talking about chemical imbalances and start talking about imbalances in our lifestyle. What we eat, how little we sleep, always on the run, not going outside, etc.
  • If we are burning the candle at both ends, we might not be as bright as we think we are. – Rick Warren
  • Motions are the precursors for emotions. When you feel …, you will… 
  • When someone throws up, the problem is a result of something happening in their body. And in the same manner, depression is not the problem, but a result of something that is happening within them.
  • An overwhelmed schedule produces an overwhelmed soul. Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. 
  • The comparison culture eats us alive. Proverbs 14:30
  • Experts agree that we’ve never been so connected yet so lonely at the same time.
  • The same social media that connects us also controls us, condemns us, manipulates us, and deceives us. 
  • Your social media very likely needs to be regulated and reduced. It is the number one reason for comparison and envy in the lives of most people.
  • If you want to come out of your cave, you have to stop comparing because God made you incomparable.
  • We cannot change our lives until we change the way we think.
  • The first problem was not sin but isolation. It was not good for Adam to be alone. We were not designed to be self-sufficient. 
  • In Exodus 17, Aaron and Hur held up the arms of Moses. Moses was used of God to open the Red Sea, but he needed help to keep his hands up. Who is helping you keep your hands lifted high?
  • Joy is an attitude that trusts God despite the circumstances. 
  • Instead of asking why to God, we should learn to ask what He wants to teach us through this situation.
  • Fight with light. The devil is dead set against you, but the good news is that the devil and demons are subject unto our God.
  • Prayer is both communion with God and confrontation against the devil.
  • If we want to win over depression, we must let God fill us. 
  • Perhaps our physical needs (rest and nutritious food) is more important then we think. God confronted Elijah‘s physical needs before his spiritual needs.
  • The opposite of depression is not happiness rather meaning and purpose in life.
  • Whether you like it or not, your ministry is strengthen by times you have been through. Your hard times can be either a prison of misery or schooling to help you learn.