DEC. 7, 2025 Be optimistic (1) "God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good."  Ge 1:31 NKJV Before the age of two, Helen Keller lost her vision and her hearing. In an instant, her world went dark and silent. Then a godsend named Anne Sullivan broke through Helen's solitary confinement and touched her soul. As a result,  Helen became the first deaf/blind person to earn a bachelor's degree.  She also authored a dozen books, including a manifesto on her phil

DEC. 6, 2025 Let's honor one another . "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another."  Ro 12:10 NKJV Have you ever noticed how quick we are to accuse someone else of some of the very things we excuse in ourselves? In so doing, we practice a double standard, requiring more from others than of ourselves. Jesus said, " Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?"  (Mt

DEC. 5, 2025 "Don't compare yourself with others". "Don't compare yourself with others." Gal 6:4 MSG Paul wrote: "Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life"  (vv. 4-5). Jesus was insistent on this. After the resurrection, He appeared to some of His followers. He gave Peter a specific pastoral assignment that included great sacrifice. Peter responded by pointing at John and asking, ''Lord, wh

DEC. 4, 2025 As a parent you must be secure . "Train up a child in the way he should go."  Pr 22:6 NKJV Whether you lead at home, in church, or in business, you'll be called upon to make hard and unpopular decisions for the good of all concerned.  This is particularly so for parents.  Those who fear rejection or loss of a child's affection often "go along to get along." That's a selfish decision, because you're putting your own need to be loved and accepted above your child's

DEC. 3, 2025 God is for you! "This I know...God is for me." Ps 56:9 NKJV In his bestselling book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell defines the tipping point as "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point." It's the moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior passes the point of no return and gains acceptance. In the realm of physics, a tipping point is when an object is displaced from a stable state of equilibrium into a new state. In economics, it's

DEC. 2, 2025 Healing broken relationships. "Love makes up for all offenses." Pr 10:12 NLT Loving relationships are a cornerstone of life. They are the foundation of Christ's church and evidence that we have the love of God in our hearts. God places a big emphasis on how we relate to others, because our relationships impact every area of our lives: at home, at work, at church, at school, and during our everyday interactions.  A relationship built on love, sensitivity, and resp

DEC. 1, 2025 Keep your priorities straight . "Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. " Ps 90:12 NLT When he became campaign manager for President George Bush and chairman of the Republican National Committee, Lee Atwater had accomplished the two things he wanted to do by the time he was forty years of age. Then he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Shortly before he died, he wrote these sobering words: "I acquired more wealth, power a

NOV. 30, 2025 This experience is preparing you . "The Lord, who delivered me from...the lion and...the bear...will deliver me from...this Philistine." 1Sa 17:37 NKJV Every experience in our past has prepared us for some future opportunity. God doesn't redeem only our souls; He also redeems our experiences, both good and bad. He does it by refining our character, developing our gifts, and teaching lessons that we can't learn any other way. We learn the most important lessons i

NOV. 29, 2025 Look for opportunities to "do good". "Do not forget to do good and to share." Heb 13:16 NKJV Peter describes the life of Jesus in these words: "Who went about doing good"  (Ac 10:38 NKJV). So, becoming more Christlike means looking for opportunities to do good. An anonymous author wrote: "When people are unreasonable, illogical, self-centered, and arrogant, love them anyway. When people insist that your goodness contains selfish motives, do good anyway. If you a

NOV. 28, 2025 Your words have power . "How forceful are right words!"  Job 6:25 NKJV Here are two stories from history that illustrate how the power of your words can affect others:  ( 1 ) One day an altar boy was serving the priest at a mass at the country church in his small village. The boy, nervous in his new role, accidentally dropped the cruet of wine. The priest struck him sharply on the cheek. Then in a gruff voice the congregation could hear, he shouted, "Leave the a

NOV. 27, 2025 Be sure to praise the Lord . "Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful."  Ps 33:1 NKJV Of 150 psalms recorded in the Bible, the dominant recurring theme is "praise the Lord!" The book is like a memo from psalmists that says, "Today be sure to praise the Lord."  In Psalm 34, David writes: "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shal

NOV. 26, 2025 The healing ministry of the New Testament church. "And they were all healed."  Ac 5:16 NKJV Before Jesus left this earth, He told His disciples, "The works that I do [you] will do also" (Jn 14:12 NKJV).  And they did. "Through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done...so that they brought the sick out into the streets...that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding citie

NOV. 25, 2025 Start small, and keep a winning attitude . "Do not despise...small beginnings."  Zec 4:10 NLT Juan grew up in Puerto Rico, the son of a sugarcane plantation foreman. One of a family of eight, he lived in a three-room shack with a dirt floor and no toilet.  His first job, at age six , was driving oxen to plow the cane fields. He worked eight hours a day and earned one dollar. Juan said it was in the cane fields that he learned important lessons like being  on tim

NOV. 25, 2025 Start small, and keep a winning attitude . "Do not despise...small beginnings."  Zec 4:10 NLT Juan grew up in Puerto Rico, the son of a sugarcane plantation foreman. One of a family of eight, he lived in a three-room shack with a dirt floor and no toilet.  His first job, at age six , was driving oxen to plow the cane fields. He worked eight hours a day and earned one dollar. Juan said it was in the cane fields that he learned important lessons like being  on tim

NOV. 24, 2025 Love and serve others . "Through love serve one another."  Gal 5:13 NKJV In 1881, shortly after Booker T. Washington became head of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama that trained schoolteachers, he was walking past the house of a wealthy family. Assuming that Washington was one of the yard workers her husband had hired, the woman of the house asked him if he would chop some wood for her.  Professor Washington smiled, nodded, took off his coat, and chopped the wo

NOV. 23, 2025 Where there is a will, there is a way. "Do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise." Heb 10:35-36 NKJV In the early 1950s, Irwin W. Rosenberg, a junior naval officer, was discharged from military service after he was diagnosed with cancer-standard military procedure at the time. The loss of his job was quite a blow, but he was determined to get

NOV. 21, 2025 Be an edifier; a people builder . "Edify one another." 1Th 5:11 NKJV The word "edify" means "to build up, strengthen, encourage, and motivate." There are probably people in your life right now who need someone to speak blessing over them. You don't know how much it will mean when you give them your approval and let them know you are proud of them and that you think they can do great things.  Everyone needs to be edified.  So, what kind of seeds are you planting

NOV. 20, 2025 Your rewards in heaven . "For great is your reward in heaven."  Mt 5:12 NKJV The historian Edward Gibbon tracked the speedy progress of Christianity in the days of the Roman Empire, and points to five reasons for it:  (1) The fervor of the early Christians.  (2) The power of miracles.  (3) The pure morals of the Christians.  (4) The compact church organization.  (5) The belief in future rewards.  The Bible often speaks about our rewards in heaven. Here are a few

NOV. 19, 2025 Salvation is a gift . "By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God."  Eph 2:8 NKJV Jack Welch, who guided the General Electric company through some of its most profitable years, wrote a book called Winning. Compiling many of the different questions people had asked him along with his answers, he wrote a book on management principles.  One question was this: "Do you think you will go to heaven when you die?" In re

NOV. 18, 2025 Honesty is the best policy . "People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall."  Pr 10:9 NLT In preparation for a dinner party, a woman stopped by a small butcher shop to buy meat for the meal. She had decided to stuff and roast a chicken as the main course. When she asked the man at the counter for the largest chicken he had, he reached into the cold-storage compartment, grabbed the last chicken he had, and placed it on