Daily Hope Devotional

Are you tired? Some of you are running on steam. You’re tired a lot. At the end of the day, you’re worn out and you’re running out of energy, and the reason why is real simple: You’re a human being. Your strength is limited. God’s strength is unlimited. Your strength is finite. God’s strength is infinite. Your strength is exhaustible — that’s why you get exhausted! But God’s strength is inexhaustible. God never runs out of energy. God never gets tired. Psalm 84:5 says, “You bless all who depend on You for their strength” (CEV). Do you want God’s blessing in your life? Then you need to depend on God for your strength. One of the most famous Christians of the 19th century was a guy named Hudson Taylor. He was a missionary to China, and he was a spiritual giant and a brilliant man. In his old age, he lost his health and became very weak. He wrote a letter to a friend that said this: “I am so weak I can no longer work. I am so weak I can no longer study. I am so weak I can no long

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the LORD and turn away from evil.” (Proverbs 3:5-7 NLT, second edition) Have you ever had a feeling that something was so very, very right, and then when you did it, it ended up being so very, very wrong? Feelings lie. They lie to you all the time! There’s an old country song that says, “How can it be wrong when it feels so right?” Are you kidding me? There are a lot of things that are wrong that feel so right at the moment. After six months in a relationship, you wonder, “What was I thinking?” Just a few months into a job, you think, “How in the world did I get messed up in this?” A quick decision that seemed harmless at the time leaves you broken and scarred years later. If you want to have fewer dead ends and failures in your life, you need to hear what the Bible says

The Bible says God is love. It doesn’t say God has love; it says God is love. Love is His nature. God is love. God created the entire universe. He created this planet; He created the human race; then, He created you because He loves you. God created you as an object of His love. He made you so He could love you and so you could love Him. God’s love for you is the reason your heart is beating right now; it’s the reason you’re breathing. God’s good news is that he loves you on your good days as much as He loves you on your bad days. He loves you when you can feel His love, and He loves you when you can’t seem to feel His love. He loves you whether or not you think you deserve His love. There is nothing you can do that will make God stop loving you. You could try, but you simply can’t do it, because His love for you is based on His character and not on anything you do or say or feel. God loves you so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, into this world, “so that everyone w

“But the angel reassured them. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said. ‘I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.’”  (Luke 2:10 NLT, second edition)  Knowing God is for you will change your whole perspective on life. You’ll stop thinking of God as someone looking down from Heaven, ready to yell “Gotcha!” any time you mess up. God is for your success in life; He created you for a purpose, and He wants you to succeed. It is God, your Creator, Who will measure your success in life and no one else. This is extremely good news! It means you don’t need to be afraid of God, because God is for you. Yet some people are so afraid of God they get nervous just talking about Him. Do you know why? They feel guilty, and then they start thinking, “If I get close to God, He’s going to lecture me. He’s going to remind me of all the things I’ve done wrong, and then I’ll feel even worse!” Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus said,  “I did not come into the world to conde

We are commanded to serve God. Jesus was unmistakable: “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭20:28‬ ‭NASB‬‬) For Christians, service is not something to be tacked onto our schedules if we can spare the time. It is the heart of the Christian life. Jesus came “to serve” and “to give” — and those two verbs should define your life on Earth, too. Jesus taught that spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. Maturity is for ministry! We grow up in order to give out. It is not enough to keep learning more and more. We must act on what we know and practice what we claim to believe. Impression without expression causes depression. Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation. The old comparison between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is still true. Galilee is a lake full of life because it takes in water but also gives it out. In contrast, nothing lives in the Dead Sea because, with no outflow

What is grace? That’s when God gives you what you need, not what you deserve. Grace is when God says, “I’m going to take your problem and make it My problem.” Grace is God’s Riches given to you At Christ’s Expense. The Bible says, “God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT, second edition). In other words, you can’t earn your way to Heaven. You can’t work your way in. It’s just a gift. I know I don’t look like it today, but for three years I was a lifeguard. And every lifeguard knows you can’t save people as long as they are trying to save themselves. If somebody is drowning and flailing around in panic, a lifeguard knows to just stay back for a few seconds and wait until that person gives up. Because if you try to save others while they’re trying to save themselves, they will pull you under, too. Whe

“Take on an entirely new way of life — a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces His character in you.”  (Ephesians 4:22-24 MSG) Many religions and New Age philosophies promote the old lie that we are divine or can become gods. Let me be absolutely clear: You will never become God or even a god. That prideful lie is Satan’s oldest temptation. Satan promised Adam and Eve that if they followed his advice, “You shall be as gods” (Genesis 3:5 KJV). This desire to be a god shows up every time we try to control our circumstances, our future, and people around us. But as creatures, we will never be the Creator. God doesn’t want you to become a god; He wants you to become godly, taking on His values, attitudes, and character. We are meant to  “take on an entirely new way of life — a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his cha

God calls you to a service far beyond anything you could ever imagine. You were put on Earth to make a contribution. You weren’t created just to consume resources — to eat, breathe, and take up space. God designed you to make a difference with your life. You were created to add to life on Earth, not just take from it. God wants you to give something back. The Bible says, “God … has created us for a life of good deeds, which He has already prepared for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 TEV). These “good deeds” are your service to the world. Whenever you serve others in any way, you are actually serving God (Colossians 3:23-24; Matthew 25:34-45; Ephesians 6:7). What God told Jeremiah is also true for you: “Before I made you in your mother’s womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work” (Jeremiah 1:5a NCV). When most people think of this “special work,” they think of pastors, priests, and professional clergy, but God says every member of his family is to

At the end of your life on Earth, you will stand before God, and He is going to evaluate how well you served others with your life. The Bible says, “Each of us will give a personal account to God” (Romans 14:12 NLT, second edition). Think about the implications of that. One day God will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in serving others. At that point, all our excuses for self-centeredness will sound hollow: “I was too busy” or “I had my own goals” or “I was preoccupied with working, having fun, or preparing for retirement.” To all excuses God will respond, “Sorry, wrong answer. I created, saved, and called you and commanded you to live a life of service. What part did you not understand?” The Bible warns unbelievers, “He will pour out His anger and wrath on those who live for themselves,” but for Christians it will mean a loss of eternal rewards (Romans 2:8a). We are only fully alive when we’re helping others. Jesus said

Once you’re convinced that a daily quiet time is necessary for spiritual growth, how do you go about having one? You may be motivated to do it but don’t know how. Someone has said, “If you aim at nothing, you are sure to hit it!” To have a meaningful quiet time, you will need a plan or some kind of general outline to follow. The main rule is this: Keep your plan simple. First, make sure you have a Bible in a contemporary translation, a notebook for writing down what the Lord shows you and for making a prayer list, and a hymnbook in case you want to sing your praise. Then, follow these three simple steps: Relax, request, and read. 1. Wait on God (relax).  Be still for a minute; don’t come running into God’s presence and start talking immediately. Follow God’s admonition: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10a NIV). Be quiet for a short time to put yourself into a reverent mood. 2. Pray briefly (request).  This is not your prayer time, but a short opening prayer

God’s purposes for your life aren’t just for here and now; they are forever and ever and ever. If you think this life is all there is, then you will set goals as if this life is all there is. On the other hand, if you realize one day you are going to stand before God — when He’s going to ask, “What did you do while you were on Earth? Did you learn the things I put you there to learn? Did you trust My Son?” — then it will shape how you look at your goals. Do your goals help you know God, grow in God, serve God, share God, love God, and tell others about God? What I’m asking you is, for instance, how do you pray? When you pray, do you pray to get God to help you with your own purpose or do you pray to align yourself with God’s purpose? If you say, “God, I just want to do what you put me on Earth to do,” I guarantee you, God will bless everything you touch, because He is looking for people He can use to fulfill His purposes. Godly goals have eternity in mind. Paul gives an exam

Do you know what God created you for? Do you know what your destiny is? In order to fulfill your destiny, you must recognize the gifts God has given you to use. These are the cards you are dealt in life. They include the things you can’t control: your parents, your nationality, your race, your native language. They also include your SHAPE: your spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences. These are the things that make you uniquely you. Now, you are not responsible for the gifts God didn’t give you. In other words, if you are not artistically gifted, you are not expected to paint pictures like Rembrandt. But you are responsible for the ones He did give you. When you get to Heaven, God isn’t going to compare you with anyone else, but He will compare you with yourself. What did you do with what you were given? What could you have done if you had trusted God a little bit more? Romans 14:12 says, “Each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (NIV). E

“Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of His body.”   (Romans 12:5 MSG) You are going to give your life for something. What will it be — a career, a sport, a hobby, fame, wealth? None of these will have lasting significance. Service is the pathway to real significance. It is through ministry that we discover the meaning of our lives. The Bible says, “Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body” (Romans 12:5 MSG). As we serve together in God’s family, our lives take on eternal importance. Paul said, “I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less … because of what you are a part of” (1 Corinthians 12:14, 19). God wants to use you to make a difference in the world. He wants to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how you lived. If you’re not involved in any service or ministry, what excuse have you been using? Abraham was old.

The Bible uses the term “heart” to describe the bundle of desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams, and affections that you have. Your heart represents the source of all your motivations — what you love to do and what you care about most. Even today, we still use the word in this way when we say, “I love you with all my heart.” The Bible says what is in your heart is what you really are: “As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart” (Proverbs 27:19 NIV). You are not what others think you are or what circumstances force you to be. Your heart is the real you. It determines why you say the things you do, why you feel the way you do, and why you act the way you do. Physically, each of us has a unique heartbeat. Just as we each have unique thumbprints, eye prints, and voiceprints, our hearts beat in slightly different patterns. It’s amazing that out of all the billions of people who’ve ever lived, no one has ever had a heartbeat exactly like yours. In the same

“Your lives are echoing the Master’s Word …. The news of your faith in God is out. We don’t even have to say anything anymore — you’re the message!”  (1 Thessalonians 1:8 MSG) God has put a life message within you. When you became a believer, you also became God’s messenger. God wants to speak to the world through you. You may think you don’t have anything to share, but that’s the Devil trying to keep you silent. You have a storehouse of experiences that God wants to use to bring others into His family. The Bible says, “ Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony of God in them” (1 John 5:10a GW). Here’s one thing that will help you prepare to share: Write down the major life lessons you’ve learned. We should be grateful Solomon did this, because it gave us the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, which are filled with practical lessons on living. Imagine how much needless frustration could be avoided if we learned from each other’s life lessons. Here are a

“Oh, yes,You shaped me first inside, then out …. You know me inside and out, You know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit …. Like an open book, You watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before You, the days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.”   (Psalm 139:13-16 MSG) God never wastes an experience. Romans 8:28 reminds us, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (NIV). At Church, we help people consider five areas of experience that will influence the kind of ministry they are best shaped for: 1) Educational experiences: What were your favorite subjects in school? 2) Vocational experiences: What jobs have you enjoyed and achieved results while doing? 3) Spiritual experiences: What have been the meaningful or decisive times with God in your life? 4) Ministry experiences: How have you served God

When it comes to planning, many Christians act like atheists. They realize Jesus saved them, but they don’t really trust Him. They think they can plan their life any way they want to. But the reality is God created everyone, and He made each person for a unique purpose. He has a specific destiny for everyone. God had a plan for Mary. He chose her, and He created her to become the mother of the Son of God. And what was Mary’s response? She didn’t say, “I’ve got my own plans for my life. I’m too busy. I have to do what’s best for me.” No, she realized God had a purpose for her life, and she was willing to do whatever He wanted. Her response was a song of praise: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46b-47 NIV). Mary recognized that God was her Lord and Savior, and she was eager to do His will. She trusted Him with her life, even though she knew no one would believe her when she told them what the angel said. Do you trust that God has ma

“Even though you are temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials …. This is no accident — it happens to prove your faith, which is infinitely more valuable than gold.”   (1 Peter 1:6-7 Phillips) Life is not a series of random, freak accidents. Life is not totally unplanned. Life is not without meaning. God knows what’s going on. He’s weaving the tapestry of your life, and it has light and dark threads — happy and sad times — to give richness and texture and color to your life. Nothing can come into the life of a child of God without God’s permission. Everything is Father‑filtered. Don’t misunderstand. I am not saying that everything that happens to you in life is God’s perfect will. That’s just not true. There are a lot of things that are not God’s will. If you go out and sin, that’s not God’s will. If somebody sins against you, that’s not God’s perfect will. But God does have a permissive will. If I go out and I overeat, I pay the consequences. If I go out and wreck my bod

You may understand that a daily quiet time is necessary for spiritual growth and be motivated to do it, but how do you go about having one? You have to start with the proper attitudes. In God’s eyes, why you do something is far more important than what you do. On one occasion God told Samuel, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV). It is quite possible to do the right thing but with the wrong attitude. When you come to meet with God in a quiet time, you should have these proper attitudes: Expectancy:  Come before God with anticipation and eagerness. Expect to have a good time of fellowship with Him and receive a blessing from your time together. That was what David expected: “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek You” (Psalm 63:1). Reverence:  Don’t rush into God’s presence, but prepare your heart by being still before Him and letting the quietness clear away the

God says your salvation is no accident. He chose you long before you chose Him. He took the initiative. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1:2, “You were chosen according to the purpose of God” (TEV). Why would God choose you or me to be a part of his family? Because He is a God of love. He is a God of grace. The more you understand grace, the more you’re going to be amazed by it. God chose you. Did you deserve it? Not a chance. Do you deserve to go to Heaven? No way! Are you good enough to be in God’s family? No. He just chose you. And that’s good news! On what basis did He choose you? “For it is His boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God’s own family” (1 Peter 1:3 TLB). God chose you based on His mercy, not your performance. You’ll never earn it. You’ll never deserve it. You couldn’t work hard enough for it. You couldn’t be perfect enough. It’s only because of God’s grace and mercy that the Creator of the universe says,

We worship God when we give Him our lives every time we pray. Jesus teaches that when we pray, we should commit ourselves to God’s will. God has a specific will for your life. The Bible says in Romans 12:2 that His will is good and perfect and it fits you. Part of connecting with God is saying, “God, what is your will for Me today? I want to do your will.” In Heaven, God’s will is done perfectly. The problem on Earth is God’s will is not always done. That’s why we’re to pray, “Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” We’re saying, “God, I want to submit to You. I want to do what You want me to do.” You can pray “Your will be done” in three different ways. You can say it in resentment: “Your will be done, but I don’t like it.” You can say it in resignation: “Your will be done, because I can’t help it.” Or you can say it in anticipation: “Your will be done, because I know it is the best, and that’s what I want for my life today!”  I was a kid, we watched a popular TV sh

Knowing God is for you will change your whole perspective on life. You’ll stop thinking of God as someone looking down from Heaven, ready to yell “Gotcha!” any time you mess up. God is for your success in life. He created you for a purpose, and He wants you to succeed. It is God, your Creator, Who will measure your success in life, and no one else. This is extremely good news! It means you don’t need to be afraid of God, because God is for you. Yet some people are so afraid of God they get nervous just talking about Him. Do you know why? They feel guilty, and then they start thinking, “If I get close to God, He’s going to lecture me. He’s going to remind me of all the things I’ve done wrong, and then I’ll feel even worse!” Nothing could be further from the truth of God. John 3:17 says, “ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him ” (NIV). In effect, Jesus is saying, “I didn’t come to scold you. I came to save you.” J

You need to be connected to a church family so you can fulfill your calling to serve other believers in practical ways. The Bible says, “ All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it ” (1 Corinthians 12:27 NLT, second edition). Your service is desperately needed in the Body of Christ — just ask any local church! Each of us has a role to play, and every role is important. There is no small service to God; it all matters. Likewise, there are no insignificant ministries in the church. Some are visible and some are behind the scenes, but all are valuable. Small or hidden ministries often make the biggest difference. In my home, the most important light is not the large chandelier in our dining room but the little night-light that keeps me from stubbing my toe when I get up at night. In the same way, there is no correlation between size and significance when it comes to service in the Body of Christ. Every ministry matters because we are all dependent on e

History’s conclusion is inevitable. I believe this with all my heart. It’s a fait accomplishments. It’s done. It’s finished. There’s no doubt. I’ve read the final chapter. God’s Word tells us how it’s going to end. One day God’s going to wrap it all up here on Earth, and He’s going to take His children home to Heaven to be with Him forever. The Bible says, “The Good News about God’s kingdom will be preached in all the world, to every nation. Then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14 NCV). I’m going to tell you something really important. The critics always get this wrong. Saddleback Church is not trying to bring in God’s Kingdom here on Earth through our efforts with The PEACE Plan. We are trying to populate the Kingdom of Heaven. We want to take all our friends and everybody else with us. Our goal is not to set up a kingdom here on Earth. Our goal is to get people in the Kingdom of Heaven so they can be with God for eternity. The convictions we’ve been talking about for the la

Everything is possible with God. “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’” (Matthew 19:26 NIV). Why did Saddleback Church launch The PEACE Plan? What makes us think that we could lead hundreds of thousands of other churches to go after the five biggest problems on the planet? The answer is we have a big God. People say, “Who do you think you are?” Wrong question. The question is, “Who do we think God is?” My God can do anything. Jesus said, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29). God wants to use you. He wants to bless you. He wants to do amazing things in your life. He wants you to be a world changer. But He’s waiting for you to trust Him. You need to stop saying, “I can’t.” “I can’t make this marriage work.” “I can’t do what God wants me to do.” That’s a lie! All things are possible with God. Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now glory be to God, Who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do

The whole world needs Jesus. Jesus said this very clearly over and over, but in Matthew 28:18-20 He gave us the Great Commission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (NIV). What is our assignment? It is “Go.” This is not a suggestion! It’s not optional. If you are a child of God, God expects you to go. What’s the task? Go and make disciples. A disciple is someone who does the five things we were put on Earth to do: know and love God, grow to spiritual maturity, serve God with your shape through ministry, share the Good News, and worship God with all your heart. What’s our authority? It’s not some government or the CIA. It’s Jesus. What is our responsibility? Are we supposed to go and make disciples of some

“I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”  (Matthew 16:18b NLT, second edition) Only the Church will last forever. Nothing else is going to last. No business is going to last forever. No government is going to last forever. No nation is going to last forever. Only the Church is going to last forever. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “ I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it ” (NLT, second edition). The Church is the most magnificent idea God or any human being ever thought up. The entire universe was created for God’s family. What’s God’s family called? The Church. The Church is not a building. The Church is the family of God. God wanted a family, so He decided to create the entire universe just so He could create Earth just so He could create human beings just so we could have the free choice to choose or reject Him. He knew that some of us would choose to love Him back, and He’s going to take us to Heaven to b

It’s not about you. It’s not about profit or politics or anything else. It’s all about God. You may know that the first sentence of The Purpose Driven Life is “It’s not about you.” What you may not remember is that the title of the first chapter is “It’s All About God.” Those two go together. The reason it’s not about you is because it’s all about God. Until you understand that, life is never going to make sense. Until you understand that, I am not going to make sense to you. The goal of my life is not pleasure, it’s not possessions, it’s not prestige, it’s not politics, it’s not power, and it’s not popularity. It’s not anything that the world values. The goal of my life is the glory of God. Romans 11:36 says, “ For everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by His power, and everything is for His glory ” (TLB). Everything on the planet and in the universe was created for God’s glory. What’s the implication of that? If it’s all about God and it’s not all about you o

God will never, ever, ever, ever stop loving you. You will always be loved. Nothing can destroy your relationship with God. If you grasp this fact, it will change your life. Romans 8:38-39 says, “ I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from His love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, or where we are — high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean — nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us ” (TLB). When you put your hand in God’s, He grasps it, and He’s never letting go. There may be times you might like to let go. But He never will. You are eternally secure. Once you are born into a family, you can’t be unborn out of it. Once you’re born again, you can’t be unborn out of the family of God. Once your name is written in the eternal book of life, it can’t be erased. It’s in

“For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are His children, we are His heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.”   (Romans 8:16-17 NLT, second edition) If you were the son or the daughter of Bill Gates, it would probably stand to reason that you were going to receive a large inheritance. But you have a father that is wealthier than Bill Gates. Your heavenly Father has prepared an inheritance for you as one of his children. The Bible says in Romans 8:16-17, “For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are His children, we are His heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory” (NLT, second edition). That is one of the most amazing verses in the entire Bible. Everything that God has given to His Son Jesus Christ He’s given to you also. You’re going to share in His glory. That is limitless! In Heaven, you will have unlimited access to the unlimi

As believers, we have hope because we are going to live forever. Death is not the end. There is more to the story! One day your heart will stop beating, and that will be the end of your body. But it’s not going to be the end of you. You were made in God’s image. You were made to last forever. This is not all there is. Why do we have hope? Because no matter how bad it seems on Earth, it’s just for a while. We’re going to spend trillions of years on the other side of eternity with no more sorrow, no more sadness, no more sickness, no more suffering. The Bible says in Romans 8:11, “The Spirit of God, Who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you” (NLT, second edition). As a pastor, I’ve stood at the graveside of hundreds of families, and I know the difference between people with hope and those without. You can see it in their eyes. I’ve seen the terror

You can give by reason or by revelation. If you’re going to become a person of faith, you have to learn to give by revelation. When you give by reason, you say, “This is what I can reasonably give.” It doesn’t require any faith to give by reason. Giving by revelation is when you say, “God, what do you want to give through me? How much do you want me to trust you for in this particular instance?” My wife Kay and I have been tested many times on giving when we didn’t have it. One of the most dramatic examples was when we raised money to build Saddleback Church’s building back in 1993. We were meeting in a tent and decided that we would have an offering to build a building. People would make commitments to give over a three-year period. So Kay and I prayed about what we would give, and we came up with an amount that certainly wasn’t reasonable. In fact, it was more than we could afford. But we trusted God for that amount. Then one day I was reading in 1 Chronicles 29 about how th

Faith is not believing God can do something. Faith is not hoping he will do something. Faith is thanking God in advance. Jesus said, “ When you pray and you ask for something, believe that you have received it and you will be given what you asked for ” (Mark 11:24 TEV). You say, “Wait a minute! I’ve got to thank God in advance before I get it in order to get it?” Yes. If you thank God after you’ve got it, that’s gratitude. When you thank Him in advance, that’s called faith. If I handed you a check right now for a thousand dollars, would you wait until you cashed it to thank me? No! You’d thank me right now. But it really wouldn’t be yours until you actually cashed it, because that check is really a promise. When I give you that check, you go, “Thank you, Rick,” believing that I was credible and that I had enough money in the bank to cover that check for a thousand dollars. Faith is thanking God in advance. What I’m saying is this: If God tells you to go after Moby Dick in a

There is enormous power in your words. If you’re going to become a woman or man of faith, you have to change the way you talk. You have to announce it in order to experience it. Sometimes speaking in faith appears totally foolish, arrogant, and totally out of touch with reality to people who don’t understand faith. Abraham knew about this. God came to Abram one day and said, “Abram, I’m going to change your name from Abram to Abraham.” Abraham means “the father of a great nation.” There was only one problem: Abraham was 99 years old, and he had no kids. He was probably ruthlessly ridiculed for his name. But God says that we don’t live in the world of human reality. We live in the world of spiritual reality, and we see it not as it is but as it can be, as it should be, as God wants it to be. Romans 4:17 says that God “ speaks of future events with as much certainty as though they were already past ” (TLB). That’s called speaking in faith — you announce it in order to experience

“It was faith that made Moses leave Egypt without being afraid of the king’s anger. As though he saw the invisible God, he refused to turn back.”  (Hebrews 11:27 TEV) Sometimes I don’t feel like being nice to my wife and kids. I don’t feel like doing the unselfish thing. I want to just lie on the couch and watch TV. I don’t want to do one more thing today. I don’t want to handle another problem. But just because I don’t feel like it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it. This will really shock you: Sometimes I don’t feel like praying or reading my Bible. But I do it. I’ve found that if the only time I pray is when I feel like it, the devil makes sure I never feel like it. If the only time I read my Bible is when I feel like it, the devil makes sure I never feel like it. Maturity is when you live your life by your commitments, not by your feelings. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people are willing to do what unsuccessful people