This is a continuation of last week’s article that can be found here: https://pastors.com/how-to-become-a-…-preacher-part-1/

As a preacher, it’s never enough just to communicate information. God didn’t call us to be seminary professors or entertainers. God called us to be do-something preachers. He expects us to preach for transformation.

Last week, I talked about how to become a do-something preacher by helping your congregation see that they cannot change their behavior without changing what they believe, because all behavior is based on a belief. Change always starts in the mind!

The biblical word for “changing your mind” is repentance. When most people think of the word “repentance,” they think it means to stop doing something. But not a single Greek lexicon defines repentance (metanoia) that way. Repentance means to change your mind.

Helping the people you preach to change the way they think is a battle, because they may have held these wrong beliefs for years. Changing them isn’t easy.

7. You don’t change people’s minds. 

The applied Word of God does. Paul writes, “When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths” (1 Corinthians 2:13 NLT).

The Bible teaches that real preaching isn’t just a matter of intellectual study and the presentation of facts. God is at work within the speaker, and that makes it different.

As preachers, we “demolish arguments” (2 Corinthians 10:4). Spiritual warfare isn’t as much about fighting demons as it is about battling ideologies, beliefs, and values. That’s why we’re so exhausted after preaching. We’re not just giving a pep talk. We’re battling for the minds of men and women. 

8. Changing the way I act is a result (or fruit) of repentance.
   

Repentance happens in our minds. It’s not about our actions. Repentance doesn’t mean forsaking your sins. It means changing your mind. That’s why John the Baptist says, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8 NIV). Actions follow beliefs. 

Paul echoed this in Acts 20:26 when he said: “I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds” (NIV). Deeds are not repentance. Deeds are the proof of repentance. 

9. The deepest preaching is preaching for repentance. 

Life application preaching is not shallow preaching. Anytime you teach doctrine without applying it to the lives of listeners, your teaching is shallow. Life change only happens when you challenge someone’s thinking. Preaching for repentance is preaching for life change. 

Repentance is the central theme of the New Testament. Just look at these verses:

• John the Baptist: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2 NIV). 
• Peter: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38 NIV). 
• Paul: “I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20 NIV).   
• Jesus: “This is what is written: ‘The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’” (Luke 24:46-47 NIV).

The message of the Bible isn’t information and interpretation—it’s life change. 

10. To produce lasting life change, you must enlighten the mind, engage the emotion, and challenge the will.

Many pastors particularly struggle with the third of these—challenging the will. But as a preacher, it’s critical you challenge the will. Every message really comes down to two words. Will you. 

Will you do what you were created to do? 

You make the challenge, and then you have the courage to wait and let your congregation respond.

It takes courage to do that because it’s risky to challenge our congregants. They may reject you. They may walk out on you. People may not like what you ask. But never forget what the Bible says in Proverbs 29:25, “The fear of man will prove to be a snare” (NIV). The moment we worry about what other people think, we’re finished as a teacher. We are no longer a tool in the hand of God because we’re worried about what others will think. 

So now what?

Over the past two weeks, I’ve shown just how important it is to preach for life change. God wants to help the people in our churches to be Christlike in conviction, character, and conduct. The purpose of preaching is to produce doers of the Word, not just hearers of the Word.

Preaching for application isn’t just a matter of preference or style. It’s a matter of obedience. God intended his Word to be used for the changing of lives.

Will you repent and never again preach just to communicate information?

Becoming a Do-Something Preacher (Part 2), by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

Jesus was a do-something preacher. He didn’t want people to just listen to what he said. He wanted them to do something as a result of what he taught them.

He said, “Anyone who hears these words of mine and does not obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand” (Matthew 7:26 GNT).

Other New Testament preachers expected the same. John the Baptist said, “Do the things that show you really have changed your hearts and lives” (Matthew 3:8 NCV). And the apostle Paul instructed Titus to “[tell] believers to live the kind of life that goes along with accurate teachings” (Titus 2:1 GW).

It’s not enough to be an accurate teacher of the Bible. You must show your congregation how to live out God’s Word. 

So how do you become a do-something preacher? You help your congregation see that they cannot change their behavior without changing what they believe.

All behavior is based on a belief. Every action we take, good or bad, is based on what we believe. If we want to change the action, then we must change the belief. Unless we recognize the beliefs driving our thoughts, then we cannot change our minds. 

Behind every sin is a lie that we believe. When we are tempted, it’s not something out there that’s the problem. It’s Satan twisting our own desires and thoughts that are already out of order.

Your congregation is aware of their sinful behavior—laziness, gossip, greed, etc. They need you to help them see that the battle they are really facing is in their mind. As Paul said, “I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there’s something else deep within me that is at war with my mind and it wins the fight and it makes me a slave to the sin within me” (Romans 7:22-23 TLB).

Change always starts in the mind. You’ll find this principle throughout the New Testament. Romans 12:2 says, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (NLT). The way you think determines the way you feel. And the way you feel determines the way you act.

If you want people to change the way they act, then don’t tell them to “do better.” Help them understand how to identify the belief behind the feeling behind the action. 

People will not change their behavior unless they first change their beliefs. The battle with temptation always starts in the mind. If you want people to change to become more like Christ, then you must first help them see the lies they believe about God, about themselves, and about their circumstances. 

When Satan wants to tempt us, he tries to get us to doubt what God has said. He whispers to us, “You know what will make you happy more than God does” and, “It’s no big deal; no one will get hurt.” Our self-defeating behaviors are our autopilot mode, where we keep believing Satan’s lies and repeating them to ourselves. Some of our behaviors are the result of a mental rut, where we stopped challenging our thoughts and keep believing them, even though they are based on a lie. 

We’ve got to turn off the autopilot. How do you help people identify the lies they believe and change their minds? You point them to God’s Word. We separate truth from lies by holding what we think up to the light of Scripture. “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:2 NIV).

We’ll continue to talk next week about how to become a do-something preacher by helping people obey God’s Word and God’s Spirit. Until then, how will you apply these truths to your own life?

Next week, I’ll share five more tips about how you can become a do-something preacher.

How to Become a Do-Something Preacher (Part 1), by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

In more than 50 years of ministry, I’ve encountered many fears that threaten to derail what God wants to do through his followers. But there’s one fear that stands out among all the rest: the fear of commitment. 

It’s what keeps the men and women in your church from joining a small group, sharing their faith, and participating in a mission trip. For many pastors, it’s what keeps us from taking new ministry assignments that God is clearly calling us toward. 

But none of us can grow without making commitments and pushing past the excuses that hold us back. Every time you make a commitment, you grow. 

During the time I led Saddleback Church, I faced many moments when I was scared of taking the step I needed to. Even several decades into ministry, the fear of stepping into the unknown never completely vanishes.

I remember praying through decisions involving purchasing property or significant shifts in our church’s direction, feeling a weight that could easily crush any sense of certainty I had. But here’s the truth I’ve clung to: Being controlled by fear or by the fluctuating tides of our emotions is not an option. The call to do the right thing—to follow through on God’s guidance—doesn’t wait for fear to subside. That’s what courage is all about. 

Courage isn’t about the absence of fear. It’s about moving forward despite the fear. It’s about having faith in God’s guidance, even when you feel like doing the opposite. 

At Saddleback, we made it a practice not to let fear dictate our decisions. Instead, we learned to lean into the guidance of the Holy Spirit, allowing faith to navigate through the uncertainties. This principle of pressing forward, not in the absence of fear but in the middle of it, is crucial for any pastor or leader. 

You can see this principle in the life of Moses. When God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery in Exodus 3, Moses kept giving excuses. 

• But what if I’m not important enough to get a hearing before Pharaoh?
• But what if I’m not a good enough speaker?
• But what if I don’t know what to say?
• But what if they reject me?

These excuses should sound familiar. We’ve heard them before in our own churches. Notice the first word of each of them: but. 

But is a very versatile word. We can use it as a conjunction, a preposition, an adverb, and even a noun. We can use it to show contrast or to state an objection. Or, like Moses, we can use the word but to form a pathetic excuse.

What “but” has been in the way of what God wants to do through your life and the lives of those you lead?

If you’re still hanging on to an excuse for not doing what God is calling you to do, you need to take a long look at what the Bible says in Exodus 4:14—“The LORD’s anger burned against Moses” (CSB).

Pastor, God is long-suffering; he’s patient. But his patience will run out. When you make excuses for why you’re not doing what he is leading you to do, you’re testing his patience. You don’t want to do that.

Moses ended up stepping past his fear and following God’s call to lead his people out of bondage. It wasn’t easy. But Moses kept pushing past the excuses until the Israelites were free. 

A few years later, the Israelites had a similar choice before them. This time they chose wrong. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they became comfortable with where they were. But God said, in effect, “I want you to move on. It’s time to go to the Promised Land.” 

The Israelites wouldn’t do it. Instead, they basically said, “But God, we like it here.” 

God said, “Fine. You all can die in the desert.” Of course, that’s exactly what happened. An entire generation died in the desert. 

Pastor, God will not force you to go into the Promised Land. 

God has so much more in store for your ministry than you could ever possibly imagine. But if you’re afraid to commit to what God wants to do through you, he will not force his best on you.

Are you ready to push past the excuses?

Facing Your Fear of Commitment, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

One common challenge faced by leaders, including pastors and church leaders, is the fear of embarrassment—especially when met with hard questions or situations where we might not have all the answers.

We’re afraid we’ll look dumb in front of those we lead. 

Some of the greatest leaders in history have struggled with this. Consider Moses’ burning bush interaction with God. When God called Moses to lead the people out of Egyptian slavery, the first question Moses asked God was about his own identity: “Who am I to . . . lead your people?” (Exodus 3:11 CEV). But notice the second question: “What should I say, if they ask me your name?” (Exodus 3:13 CEV). Moses is worried he won’t know how to answer the Israelites’ questions.

I know many pastors who resonate with this fear. Everyone expects the pastor to answer any question about Scripture and life in general. But no one knows everything. If you had to know the answer to every question to be the leader, you’d never lead.

God responds to Moses with an answer that, at first, seems odd. God tells Moses what God’s own name is. God says, “I Am Who I Am. This is what you must say to the people of Israel: ‘I Am has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14 GW). The name that God tells Moses points to God’s eternal, unchanging nature.

Today, parents often choose names for their babies because the names are cute. But in Bible times, you were named for your character. Throughout the Old Testament, the Bible uses many names for God. All those names tell us something about who he is and how he works in our lives. When God tells Moses God’s own name, God is reminding Moses not to root his identity in himself. Instead, Moses needs to root his identity in the eternal, unchanging nature of God himself. 

Psalm 124:8 gets at this: “Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth” (NIV). In our society, we observe this dynamic in action through law enforcement. If you see police officers chasing someone, you may hear them yell, “Stop in the name of the law!” The police officer’s request for the person to stop is based on the authority of the law, not the officer’s own authority.

There’s a difference between authority and power for us as leaders. You don’t have all of God’s power or all the answers he has at his disposal, but you have God’s authority based upon his name. That is more than enough for any issue you’ll face. 

When confronted with a difficult question or situation, it’s okay to admit, “I don’t know the answer, but I trust in the God who does.” This stance doesn’t diminish your leadership. Instead, it amplifies the authority by which you lead—the authority of God’s name.

You don’t need to answer everyone’s questions based upon your own authority. Your authority wouldn’t cut it anyway. But just as Moses had the identity and authority of God to point toward, so do you. 

You don’t know the answer to every question that’ll come your way in ministry, but you serve in the authority of the eternal God, who describes himself as “I Am Who I Am.”

God knows every answer to any question you’ll ever be asked. Pastor, that’s all you need. 

When You Don’t Know the Answer, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

Satan painted a bullseye on your back the moment you stepped up to serve Jesus. So, no matter how you’re serving in ministry, you can expect to encounter problems. 

Fear is one of the most significant weapons that Satan uses against you. Most leaders never do what God wants them to do because they let fear stand in their way. They lock themselves in a self-imposed prison. 

In one of the most famous passages in the Bible, Moses faces a fear we commonly face in ministry—the fear of inadequacy.

You can easily split Moses’ life into three parts. He spent the first 40 years in Pharaoh’s court learning how to be somebody. He spent the next 40 years in the desert learning to be a nobody. Then he spent his final 40 years learning to be God’s somebody. 

As you already know, at the end of period two, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush, where God spoke to him and commissioned him to lead the Israelites out of slavery. 

Moses’ first response is similar to how we today often respond to God’s call: “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11 NLT).

Moses didn’t feel like he was the right man for the job. God was calling Moses to be one of the most important people in human history and set free a million people. God placed a big mission in front of Moses.

You don’t have Moses’ calling, but when God called you to serve him, you may have felt something similar to what Moses did. In fact, you may still feel it today. You may believe that you don’t have enough education or that you don’t have the right background to fulfill your calling. 

You can see the beginning of Moses’ problem with the question he asks of God: “Who am I?” The better question would have been, “Who is God?”

Moses didn’t need to be confident when God called him. God already knew all of Moses’ strengths and weaknesses when he called him to lead the Israelites out of bondage. None of that mattered to God. God’s calling wasn’t about Moses. It was about God’s plan. 

The apostle Paul understood this. He said, “We can say this, because through Christ we feel certain before God. We are not saying that we can do this work ourselves. It is God who makes us able to do all that we do” (2 Corinthians 3:4-5 NCV). 

If Moses and Paul felt inadequate, we certainly can too. I felt inadequate many times while leading Saddleback. I wasn’t competent to lead Saddleback, but God called me.

If God wants you to do something, you’ll succeed no matter what. Throughout the entire Bible, God uses unexpected people to do his work in the world. Even today, he doesn’t pick the top of the class or the star athlete. God regularly uses the inadequate to do his work.

God chose David, the youngest of his family, to become king. He picked Rahab, the prostitute, to save a nation. He chose an older widow to save the prophet Elijah.  

Jeremiah is another example. When God called Jeremiah, he responded, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!” (Jeremiah 1:6 NLT).

 God responded to Jeremiah in the same way he did with Moses—promising that he would be with him: “‘Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the LORD. Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘I have put my words in your mouth.’” (Jeremiah 1:8-9 NIV).

God’s answer to your inadequacy is his adequacy. It doesn’t matter how little experience you have or how insufficient your ability is. God is more than sufficient for whatever he is asking you to do.  

It’s natural to feel a little uneasy and anxious when God commissions you. Otherwise, you wouldn’t depend upon him. But you never grow unless you’re stretched. If everything is easy, you’re just coasting. That’s not healthy. A healthy ministry is one you fulfill through faith. 

If God has called you to your ministry, he’ll prepare you for whatever is ahead. Trust him to do through you what you can’t do on your own. 

When You Don’t Feel Like You’re Good Enough, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

Faith is an interesting substance. You don’t get it by sitting in a Bible study group. You don’t get it by just talking about it. You don’t get it by just thinking, hoping, or wishing. 

Faith is like a muscle. You develop it more by using it more. The more you use a muscle, the stronger it gets. The more you use the little faith you have, the more it gets stretched. The more it gets stretched, the more God blesses your life.  

Just ask Joshua. 

Joshua 1 tells the story of his installment as the leader of Israel. God had given Joshua the impossible task of possessing the Promised Land. As you know, the rest of the book tells the story of Joshua leading God’s people to do exactly that. 

I don’t know what God has called you to do through your ministry, but I know he is leading you to a step of faith that feels just as impossible as Joshua’s. 

But I also know this: Your ministry will never please God if you don’t take risks. 

The Bible says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV). 

The good news is that God is faithful. The Bible teaches that when we trust God and depend on his promises, we experience great benefits.

In Joshua 1, God gives us four promises that we can lean on as we step out in faith to follow Jesus.

• God promises us power. “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you” (Joshua 1:5 NIV). God told Joshua that he would be invincible. Nothing will stop us either if we’re conscious of God’s power within us.
  

• God promises us protection. “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5 NIV). Nothing can harm us because God will be with us wherever we go.
  

• God promises us prosperity. “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go” (Joshua 1:7 NIV). The success God promises doesn’t mean you’ll someday lead a mega-church if you study and obey his Word. Prosperity means that you’re being all that God wants you to be, using the talents he gave you.
• God guarantees his presence. “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5 NIV). That’s quite a guarantee. Choosing to trust in God has consistently provided me with a new sense of his presence during times of loneliness as a leader.

But notice that God promises all of this with a condition. He says, “Be careful to observe all the law my servant Moses gave you” (Joshua 1:7 NIV). If we want God’s power, we don’t get the option of picking and choosing the rules we like and throwing out the rest. 

You see that all throughout the life of Joshua. He obeyed God in faith, and God blessed him. In fact, Joshua 24:15—which tells about Joshua near the end of his life—perfectly encapsulates the life of faith he pursued: 

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (NIV).

God gives his power to the people that demonstrate the kind of faith Joshua did. No matter what risk God is calling you to take, he stands ready and willing to give you his power, protection, prosperity, and presence.

Are you ready to step out in faith?

Four Benefits of Trusting God, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

Every pastor makes mistakes; every pastor has defeats. Mistakes are a part of life. Sadly, so is sin. Not even a pastor can escape Romans 3:23: “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory” (CEV).

None of us are perfect.

The difference between successful and unsuccessful leaders isn’t that the successful people don’t fail. The difference is that successful leaders learn from their failures.

I heard a story years ago about a young man who asked an executive, “What is the secret of success?”

“The secret of success is the right decisions,” the executive responded. 

“How do you make the right decisions?”

“By experience.”

“How do you get experience?”

“By making mistakes.”

I always told my staff at Saddleback to call failure an education. We did more things that didn’t work than did. That means I had a highly educated staff!

But the important part was we weren’t afraid to admit our mistakes and learn from them. The road to success is paved with failure. But what’s critical is this: We need to learn from those failures.

You can read a good example of learning from failures in Joshua 7. After the Israelites’ great victory at Jericho, they came to the little town of Ai.  

The Israelites had just taken on the greatest, most fortified city in the land—and had a resounding military victory. Then they got a little cocky and presumed upon God’s grace. Joshua sent only about 3,000 troops into the town to capture it—and his soldiers were defeated. 

But take note of how Joshua responded. He threw himself onto the ground and prayed, and God told him he needed to take care of a problem in the community. A man named Achan had taken some spoils of war when God had clearly told them not to; the entire camp was suffering because of Achan’s sin. 

God told Joshua to act, and that’s exactly what he did. Joshua could have defended Achan and refused to confront his sin. Instead, he admitted that Israel had sin in the camp. 

He allowed himself to be corrected by his defeat—and that’s a mark of a great leader. 

Pastor, be big enough to admit your error.

The real mark of leadership is the willingness to say to your people in your church, “I was wrong. I made a mistake.”

But do you know what’s better than learning from your mistakes? Learning from the mistakes of others. It’s wise to learn from experience, but it’s wiser to learn from the experiences of others. We don’t have time to make all the mistakes ourselves.

Of course, that means learning from people you know. When you see people failing, talk with them. Ask questions about what they’ve learned—and be alert to what they may still have to learn. 

And do these things too: Read biographies. Be teachable. Pray for insight. Always be on the lookout for people who have failed and recovered. 

Whatever you do, be corrected by your defeats and learn from the mistakes of others so you won’t have to make all of the mistakes yourself.

Learn From Failure, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

Commitment is key to accomplishing anything in ministry. Without commitment, you won’t finish anything.

You probably know many people in your church who struggle to commit. They jump from one relationship to another, one career to another, or one church to another. They never seem to give God time to work in their lives, and they always have a Plan B; they’re ready to bolt when life gets complicated. It’s a frustrating experience for leaders.

But, pastor, are you doing the same thing? Are you watching your ministry flounder because you’re regularly shuffling through new priorities?

That pattern never leads to success in ministry or any other area of your life.

There are three things that tempt us as leaders to give up before finishing: 

• Problems—Every good idea has something wrong with it. Even the Promised Land had giants in it. Unfortunately, those problems scare us and make us want to quit what God is calling us to do.
  

• Pressures—Reaching the goal can become too much responsibility to handle alone. Moses’s father-in-law recognized this and told him, “Moses, this job is too heavy a burden for you to try to handle all by yourself” (Exodus 18:18 TLB). God never meant for success to be a one-man show. When the pressures get too heavy, God intends for us to get help, not give up. 
• People—In ministry, people may be the greatest discouragement of all. The people we lead are sinners and far from perfect. They will disappoint and criticize us. Inevitably, those negative attitudes spread and make us want to give up.

The only way to overcome the problems, pressures, and people that threaten to derail your 2024 commitments is to never give up. Remember what Jesus told his followers: “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62 NLT).

So, pastor, “Don’t look back!”

The way you get to be a success in life is to keep moving forward and outlast your critics. Commitment is a key to accomplishment. If you’re not fully invested in your ministry, nothing will ever get done.

Joshua understood this. Remember what he did right before the Israelites crossed over into the Promised Land? “Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over . . . Joshua told the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you’” (Joshua 3:1,5 NIV).

Consecrating yourself is an act of total, unreserved commitment. Joshua made it clear to the people he was leading: “We’re going for it—no matter what happens!”

You can’t use baby steps to jump across a canyon. You have to cross it with gusto. That’s true in your ministry as well.

Unless you’re ready to move forward with a “whatever it takes” attitude, you’re not ready to step out in faith toward your ministry goals. If you’re chasing down a big goal, stop looking back. It’s time to jump. 

Take a Leap in 2024, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

By Jeni Baker, Global Co-Executive Director of CR

As a recovering Co-Dependent and an Adult Child of Family Dysfunction, a big part of my recovery was learning that my emotions don’t make me a burden. When I share my feelings, people won’t think that I’m not worth it and leave me. I’m lovable even if I’m feeling bad, or low, or having a hard time.

Just shy of a year into this Covid pandemic, I was writing a gratitude list about this past year, and something occurred to me. I spent the first 5-6 months of the pandemic angry. Like really angry, bitter, and resentful. But as I look back on all that God has done for me this past year, I realized he let me have my big feelings, and my temper tantrums, and my pity parties, and he still loved me. He let me work through my emotions without abandoning me, giving up on me, or forsaking me. He let me be honest about how I was feeling, and he so gently led me through the process of refining those thoughts and feelings. Then he used those experiences to teach me and help me grow and heal. Not only did he not push me away, but he brought me closer to him. He “let me take refuge in the shelter of his wings” (Psalm 61:4 NASB).

Psalm 73:28 (Amplified Bible) says, “But as for me, it is good for me to draw near to God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge and placed my trust in Him, That I may tell of all Your works.”

God is so good! He loves us so much that He will not abandon us when we are honest with him. He wants us to draw close to him when we are hurting so that he can be our refuge. The fact that he loves us so much makes him the safest place to share how we’re feeling and to be completely honest with all of our emotions. God can handle our big emotions because he has big emotions too. When we are honest with God about how we’re feeling, it is a sign of trust in him.

Psalm 62:8 (ESV) says, “Trust [confidently] in him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah”.

It still amazes me how deep those layers of insecurities about sharing my feelings can go. But I’m grateful that God has proven to me time and time again that he is a safe place and refuge for me to be honest about how I’m feeling and that he is trustworthy.

_______________________________________________

If you would like to learn how to start your own Celebrate Recovery ministry, to contact your Celebrate Recovery Rep, please visit: https://crgroups.info/. To get involved in an already existing Celebrate Recovery ministry near you, please visit: https://locator.crgroups.info/.

Your Are Not a Burden, by Celebrate Recovery, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

Recently, a storm was moving through the Pacific Northwest that knocked out our power in the middle of the night. I was immediately aware of all the new risks to our household. Our phones lacked the power to provide the charge they needed for the next day. Our gas furnace would work, but the fans would not move the warm air. I wondered if the power would return quickly enough that our frozen food would stay frozen. Worse than all of those, I was aware that our security system would no longer keep me notified if anything happened to our house.

As I sat in silence, I truly understood the definition of powerlessness. I could do nothing to restore the comforts I have grown to expect. On top of that, I didn’t even know which tree was to blame for my discomfort. I very much wanted to make something happen, but at 1 am, I was powerless.

My years in Celebrate Recovery showed me the pathway back to peaceful slumber. Knowing I was powerless, I turned to the one with all power. I handed over my role as “lead figure-it-out-er” and rested on the fact that God has all the power necessary to protect my family. It wasn’t easy to wrestle my flesh into submission, but it became possible through earnestly believing that God exists and that my family and I matter to him.

Looking back on that night, I was reminded of when Jesus sent out his disciples in Matthew chapter 10. Jesus was asking them to go into a scary world without the protection and comfort they were accustomed to. To calm their fears and encourage them to move forward, he reminded his disciples that God pays attention to each sparrow on earth and knows how many hairs are on the disciple’s heads. In verse 31, Jesus said, “So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Our power returned a few hours later, and we awoke to a warm house and fully charged devices. In our most powerless and uncomfortable moments, we can find rest in the fact that we have a Father in heaven who sees us and cares for us.

Safety in Any Storm, by Celebrate Recovery, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

Confidence is important for all leaders, but it’s particularly important for leaders pursuing God’s mission in the world. Why is confidence so important for biblical leadership?

Because doubt is the opposite of faith, and the Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV). 

Too often, the enemy gets us to question the goals God has given us for our ministry. We start asking, “Is this really God’s will? What if I’m wrong?” But we can’t afford to doubt what God is calling us to do. 

A few years back, I saw a Peanuts cartoon that illustrates this perfectly. Charlie Brown is standing on the pitcher’s mound. He says, “A pop fly. I’ve got it. It’s all mine. If I catch this ball, we’ll win the first game of the season.” 

Then he starts praying, “Please let me catch it. Please let me be the hero. Please let me catch it. Please.” 

Then, as the ball comes down, he says, “On the other hand, do I think I deserve to be the hero? Is the baseball game really this important?” 

In the next frame he says, “Lots of kids, all over the world, have never heard of baseball.” Next frame: “Lots of kids don’t get a place to play at all or have a place to sleep.” 

Finally, the ball falls into Charlie’s mitt but then bounces out onto the ground. Linus comes up and says, “Charlie Brown! How could you miss such an easy pop fly?” 

 “I prayed myself out of it,” Charlie Brown says. 

I don’t know about you, but I do that sometimes. I pray myself out of a goal God has given me. As leaders, we need to have the confidence to say, “He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6 CSB). We need to trust that God will give us the strength to do whatever he calls us to do.

Over the years, I’ve seen three things that rob church leaders of confidence.

1. Experience. When you try something multiple times (and it fails), you’ll often express doubts when God tells you to try it again.
   You can’t let defeats, old mistakes, and past hurts keep you from leading your church how God wants you to lead it. Bad memories shouldn’t control your future.
2. Emotions. Many leaders put too much trust in their moods. I hear them say, “I don’t feel like it” or “I feel too inadequate” when facing something God wants them to do. To be the leader that God wants you to be, you must learn to master your moods. Over the years, I had many weekends I didn’t feel like preaching, particularly when I was preaching multiple times a day. But the Bible says, “Be ready in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2 CSB). I always found that the toughest part of ministry was maintaining my emotional bucket—keeping it full of the love, peace, and joy of God, so I would be prepared to give it out.
3. Excuses. To rationalize means “rational lies.” Rationalizations sound good, but they’re not the truth. We may say that we don’t have the time, the money, or the lay leadership to do what God wants us to do. But don’t let excuses hold you back. 

In the Bible, Joshua struggled with confidence. He felt inadequate in his leadership. God had to keep giving Joshua pep talks. Four times in Joshua 1, God basically tells him, “You can do it!”

• “Be strong and courageous” (v. 6 NIV).
• “Be strong and very courageous” (v. 7 NIV).
• “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous” (v. 9 NIV).
• “Only be strong and courageous!” (v. 18 NIV, as God encourages Joshua through the Israelites).

Why did God give those pep talks? God realized that fear keeps leaders from leading people where God wants them to go. Your biggest obstacle isn’t the problems that come up or the difficulties that stand in your way. 

It’s fear that keeps you from being all that God wants you to be. 

Trust that God will help you complete what he has called you to do.

Be Confident in God’s Direction, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

Has God given you what feels like an impossible assignment? Maybe he is leading your church to reach a new community or meet an additional need. Maybe you’re in the middle of starting a new church among people who desperately need to hear about Jesus.

You’re not the first person God has given an impossible task. Take Joshua, for example. In Deuteronomy 7:1, Moses told the Israelites about the land that Joshua would lead them to possess after Moses died. Seven nations inhabited the land. All of them were stronger than Israel. 

It must have looked impossible to Joshua. But God made a promise to him. It’s the same promise he makes to you: “Be strong and brave. Be sure to obey all the teachings my servant Moses gave you. If you follow them exactly, you will be successful in everything you do. Always remember what is written in the Book of the Teachings. Study it day and night to be sure to obey everything that is written there. If you do this, you will be wise and successful in everything” (Joshua 1:7-8 NCV). 

God’s Word gives us a blueprint for success, no matter what kind of impossible odds we face in 2024 and beyond. Joshua 1 (NCV) gives a foolproof plan any pastor can use to find ministry success in 2024.

It starts in the first four verses of the book, where God lays out a clear direction for Joshua. God tells him what to do, when to do it, and where to go: 

• WHAT: “You and all these people go across the Jordan River into the land I am giving to the Israelites” (v. 2).
• WHEN: “Now . . .” (v. 2).
• WHERE: “All the land from the desert in the south to Lebanon in the north will be yours. All the land from the great river, the Euphrates, in the east, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west will be yours, too, including the land of the Hittites” (v. 4).

Joshua had specific direction. You can’t take on the impossible in 2024 unless you, too, know what God is specifically calling you to do.

I talk to pastors all the time who don’t really know where they are going with their family or their church. They’re frustrated. They say things like, “I’m a caretaker of this ministry, just maintaining this ministry.” When I press them about their specific goals for their ministry, their descriptions get fuzzy. 

Everybody needs a clear, specific goal. Nothing becomes dynamic until it becomes specific. Having a clear direction gives your church a magnetic pull.

I saw this many times in my ministry at Saddleback. If you’re familiar with our story, you know we waited for years to have a building of our own. In fact, the church grew to over 10,000 in attendance before we had a building. We didn’t start looking for land until we were five years old, and then it took us years to find the right plot. 

I’ll never forget when we finally secured the land and were ready to move onto the property. We put everything into that move. We planned to worship in a tent on the property as we made plans to build. As we prepared for that move, attendance grew, giving grew, and the morale of the congregation grew. 

When everyone is on the same page about a goal at your church, it’ll propel your church forward.

Before you tackle the impossible this year, make sure you’re clear—and everyone else on your team is clear—about what God is calling your church to do. Spend time in prayer. Don’t move forward without clarity.

Getting Clarity about 2024, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

When it comes to churches, bigger isn’t better. Healthy is better.

Your ministry matters to God, no matter the size or location. Never confuse prominence with significance. My nose is prominent. (I have a big nose!) But my nose is not significant. My nose could get cut off, but I could still live happily

Even though I’ve never seen my liver, heart, or lungs, they’re all significant. If I lost any of them, I’d drop dead. 

Your ministry is significant, even if it’s not prominent. As you head into 2024, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. You may never go viral on social media. You might not get a book contract or grace the cover of a magazine. You might feel as if no one sees your ministry.

But God does. One day, you’ll stand before your loving Creator so he can say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful in little things. Now be faithful in much.” Your church’s size won’t matter then, and it doesn’t matter now. Every church matters to God. 

Imagine you have two pilots. One will fly a 747 today with 400 people. Another will fly a regional plane that holds 14 people. The pilot of the 747 doesn’t have a more important job. Both are still responsible for the safety of people created in the image of God. The pilot with 14 can’t afford to be less careful or less skilled. 

As a church leader, you’re in a life-or-death ministry. Souls hang in the balance. They’ll either go to heaven or hell. It doesn’t matter if it’s two souls, 20 souls, or 200 souls. They all matter to God. In fact, if you ever wonder how much the souls of the people you shepherd matter, just look at the cross. Jesus gave his life for the souls of every person in your congregation, regardless of its size.

Your kingdom assignment matters to God. 

Shepherding the flock of God is the single greatest privilege and stewardship in life. If Jesus doesn’t return first, we don’t know what will be around in a thousand years. There likely won’t be a United States of America, an Amazon, or a Whole Foods. Nothing man-made lasts forever. 

But the church will last for eternity. In a thousand years, we know there will be a church. God created the church to last forever. And God has long-range plans for the souls you shepherd. If God has put you in charge of feeding and leading a church, there isn’t another job on the planet whose effects will last that long. 

Your ministry matters more than you can imagine.

Never Doubt Your Ministry’s Significance, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

When you got involved in ministry, you weren’t given a pass that gets you out of difficulties. You know this. Like anyone else, pastors have habits they struggle to let go of. 

Some of those self-defeating habits were actually survival tactics when you were a kid. They helped you cope with trauma when you didn’t know how to fight back.

Eventually, these patterns become old friends. You know now that they aren’t good for you, but you’re accustomed to them and identify them as part of you.

But you don’t need to be a slave to those patterns. You can change them—but it won’t be easy. While you can change anything for a day or a week, lasting change requires something more. The Bible gives four principles for lasting change. Do what God’s Word says, and you can make even the hardest changes in your life.

1. Learn and face the truth. It’s painful to face the truth about ourselves, so we would rather stay deluded. The truth is, we’re all broken. We’re all imperfect. That includes you and me. 1 John 1:8 says, “If we say, ‘We have no sin,’ we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (CSB).

You can’t change anything until you recognize you have a problem. Behind every self-defeating defect is a lie you’re believing. Facing the truth is the most loving action you can take toward yourself. 

The Bible says, “Love should always make us tell the truth. Then we will grow in every way and be more like Christ, the head” (Ephesians 4:15 CEV).

If you love God, love yourself, and love others, you will face the truth about yourself. 

2. Think differently. The battle for change happens in your mind: “Your attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better” (Ephesians 4:23 TLB).

Feelings are a response to what you think. Those feelings lead to actions. But it doesn’t work to just choose to feel differently or act differently. You must go to the root of the problem—your thoughts.

The Bible calls this repentance, which literally means “to change your mind.” In Philippians 2:5, Paul tells us what change our minds need. He tells us to “think the same way that Christ Jesus thought” (CEV). 

When you think God’s thoughts and see yourself as Jesus sees you, you’ll begin to see your defects in a different light. 

Often, your defects are attempts to meet a legitimate need in your life. Everyone needs to feel respected. Everyone needs to be loved. Everyone needs to feel safe. But the problem comes when we try to meet the need outside of our relationship with God. Instead, we need to think differently about the need. 

3. Get help from others. You can’t get well on your own. Pastor, some problems are so big you need help to tackle them. It’s like the big football player barreling toward the end zone. It’ll take more than one person to tackle what’s ailing you.

That’s why Ephesians 4:25 teaches, “‘Let each of us speak the truth to his neighbor,’ for we belong to one another” (NCV). 

You can’t become without belonging. You can’t become what God wants you to be without getting connected to a group of believers.

Small groups can be tough for pastors. Surveys show that lots of pastors don’t have anyone they can truly be honest with. 

But if you’re serious about making changes to your life, you’ll need to face your fear and be gut-level honest with a couple of people. You don’t need everyone to know what you’re working on inside of you, but you need a few people. The moment you tell one person, you get instant power you never had in any other way. All of a sudden, you open the closet and the boogie man is not as big as you once thought. 

4. Lean on the Holy Spirit. You can’t make important changes in your life through your own energy. Only God can make those changes. He describes it this way in Zechariah 4:6: “You won’t ⸤succeed⸥ by might or by power, but by my Spirit” (GWT). Willpower isn’t enough to make the changes you want to make in your life. You can’t transform yourself to be more like Christ any more than you can turn yourself into a tiger or a leopard.

But over the course of your life with Christ, the Bible says, the Holy Spirit will make you more like Jesus: “As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him.”  (2 Corinthians 3:18 TLB).

There are no shortcuts for the changes God wants to make in your life. But you can know that God will be faithful to finish what he has started in you (Philippians 1:6). 

I don’t know what area of your life you want to see God do something new in, but I pray 2024 is the year you begin to make those changes.  

Making The Hard Changes In Your Life, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

Hi, I am a grateful believer in Jesus Christ who struggles with grief and control. My name is Amanda. 

My heart is no longer hardened by grief, anxiety, and control. I used to hide my pain and wonder why my heart hurt, even when I prayed and read God’s Word. I was missing a piece of the puzzle. I wasn’t letting the pain out. When I started coming to Celebrate Recovery two years ago, I kept hearing James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” 

 Sharing my struggles and peeling back the layers of shame, guilt, hurt, and harm have helped me gain a sound mind. My husband Warren and I are healing old wounds, learning to communicate hard things, and finding a shared vision for parenting God’s way. I delight in my children instead of losing my cool. In fact, our entire family comes to CR. 

I grew up in a big, chaotic family as the oldest of 10 children. We suffered several tragedies, including losing my baby brother to an accidental drowning when I was 10 and our home to a fire five years later. 

By my eleventh birthday, I could get five kids ready for school, clean the house, do the laundry, and make perfect grades. I often stepped into my parents’ conflicts to try to bring peace. I had multiple secret rituals to help alleviate the stress: cleaning, leaving on certain lights, and losing myself in books. I would do anything to keep that buzz of anxiety under the surface. 

I also became obsessed with performance. I was a perfect student and a talented writer. But I was crumbling inside. My compulsive reactions to stress, fear, anxiety, and grief would haunt me for the next 30 years. 

I graduated No. 1 in high school and got a full college scholarship, forging my escape, or so I thought. 

I became a Christian at school and started praying big, bold prayers at 20. My first bold prayer was for the husband God wanted me to marry. Oh boy, did he answer my prayer! He gave me my best friend and intellectual equal, and we married in 2005. We had our first daughter in 2008 and lost my husband’s dad that year. This loss opened a gulf of stalled communication and repressed grief in our marriage. 

In 2011, we got pregnant again and were strapped for resources. The doctors told us our baby wasn’t viable, and I needed emergency surgery and weekly testing for the next year to ensure I didn’t get cancer. I was overwhelmed, terrified, and back in darkness. I know God was carrying me through these dark days, but I withdrew inside myself and pushed my husband further away. My three-year-old daughter held my hand and showed me love was still possible. But I felt like I was fading away in my grief. It was such a lonely place, but I prayed one of those big prayers. “God, please give us another child.”

Well, we got two babies — 16 months apart. Then, I was too busy raising babies to be worried about my mental health for the next few years.

In 2016, I began having panic attacks in church — a place I felt safe and loved. Between my codependent family leaning on me to clean up family crises and save the day, a looming lawsuit with our construction company, and my husband’s new adventurous career as a storm-chasing insurance adjuster, I felt stretched as a wife and mother. I felt overcome with grief and like I was losing my identity. I was at the end of myself.

I asked my husband to go with me to talk to our pastor. Our pastor shared that I was struggling as an adult child of family dysfunction and that I needed counseling to root out my deep codependence and anxiety. I went to counseling and learned some tools, but there was still a piece missing. I felt better in the counselor’s office, but the compulsions kept coming back.

Add on some struggles with our gifted son that required me to be “on” all the time, and I was as wound up as tight as a spring. My sister Michelle died very suddenly from a surgery complication the next year. I was devastated. But I didn’t have time for the grief. I was too busy running my son’s program, parenting by myself, and saving my family. I wanted to run away. 

My control issues got significantly worse over the next few years. In 2020, I decided to see a doctor to help with my anxiety. I learned that I had a rare form of OCD and chose to start medication to help me heal. I felt like an even bigger failure, hating myself for being so weak. But I was desperate.

I came to CR two years ago when a friend invited me to hear his testimony. I was already at a low point. My dad had just survived a grueling hospital stay, and my soul felt flattened. I knew my dad didn’t have long to live. 

When we moved to Colorado and joined a church with a Celebrate Recovery, I didn’t think CR would help me. I was wrong. Through the weekly share groups and step study, I started sharing what I thought made me an outsider. I found a sponsor and multiple accountability partners here, dived deep into the roots of my reaction to grief, and started to feel sound in mind and spirit. 

I got off my anxiety medication a year ago because I had new tools and a new outlook on my mental health. I found my own “program.”

My dad got sick again last spring as I was writing my inventory. We made peace with our past, and I forgave my parents. I lost my dad in July, and I didn’t completely retreat and hide for the first time. I opened up and shared the hurt and am healing from the loss. 

I know God made a mighty move in bringing me and my family to CR. I’ll keep coming back and giving back because this is where I learned to trust, let go, and let God.

Amanda Brandon’s Testimony, by Celebrate Recovery, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

As I thought about the holidays, the first thing that immediately came to my mind was relationships. Relationships with people I love and people I will share time with that I don’t get to share time with any other time during the year. Holidays truly are a special time, so I will make the most of the time I get to spend with them, especially while sitting around our old dining room table. I like table time because Jesus liked table time.

We know from Luke chapter 24 verse 36 and following that Jesus appears to his disciples, not as a ghost, but in bodily form, and after showing them his hands and side where he had been pierced, being from southern Galilee, I’m sure he said something like, “Y’all got something to eat here?”  Then…….. AFTER THEY HAD EATEN…….it says he opened their minds so they could comprehend even more.

 During, and especially after a meal, you share with people you love; opportunities arise for you to share things you may not have a chance to share at any other time.

 Throughout the Bible, mealtime is bonding time. 

 Jesus himself said:

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (NIV: Revelation 3: 20)

 Even in what seems like the darkest hour of Jesus’s ministry, when Jesus himself wanted to explain to his disciples what his forthcoming death was all about, he didn’t say let me give you all the facts about what is going to happen, he shared His story through a meal.”

Some things don’t change, and mealtime can be a bonding time like no other.

 As I think about table time with people I love, I think about an old table I built years ago, and when I sit there all alone, I can look around that table and see the people we loved the most who have sat there with us. 

 Meals were shared. Stories were told. Sins were confessed. We laughed together and cried together. Together, we remembered where we’d been and dreamed of where God would take us on this journey.

 We prayed at that table. And there at that table, we experienced God’s nearness, kindness, and love.

 Sharing around a table is one of our most uniquely human things. 

 No other creature sits at a table to eat its food. Sharing table time with others reminds us there’s more to food than fuel. 

 We don’t eat only for sustenance. We eat for fellowship.

 God himself reminds us,

“You treat me to a feast

    while my enemies watch.

You honor me as your guest

    and fill my cup until it overflows.”

 Psalm 23:5 CEV

So, during this holiday season, remember the value of table time.

Table Time Devotional, by Celebrate Recovery, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

We spend a lot of time in waiting rooms. 

Some of those waiting rooms are in hospitals where we await word of a diagnosis. But we don’t just sit in waiting rooms in hospitals. We sit in our offices and wait for a ministry assignment we’re expecting soon. Sometimes we wait for relationships that need healing. Other times we wait for a specific transition period in our lives—graduation, marriage, or having children.

We also wait for God to answer our prayers—prayers for healing, hope, and guidance. Understanding God’s timing can be tough. 

The Christmas story has a lot to say about waiting and God’s timing. God’s promise to send his Son into the world had the Israelites waiting for years. But the Bible tells us, “When the right time came, God sent his Son ⸤into the world⸥” (Galatians 4:4 GW). 

God hadn’t forgotten about the Israelites. He was waiting for “the right time” to send his Son. 

He hasn’t forgotten about you either.

God’s delays aren’t a denial. There’s a big difference between “no” and “not yet.” When God is giving you a “not yet,” it’s important you learn to wait well. If not dealt with well, the waiting room can be full of temptations.

The Bible gives us four important actions we need to take as we wait on God.

1. Fear Not: Trust God.

When things don’t happen on your timetable, “fear not” means “trust God.” The opposite of fear is faith. When you fill your life with faith, then you can get rid of the fear.

The phrase “fear not” is in the Bible 365 times—once for every day of the year. God is saying to us, “I don’t want you to be afraid. You just need to trust my timing.”

Trusting God is the number one way to relieve stress in your life. The more you trust God, the more your stress will go down. The less you trust God, the more your stress is going to go up. 

Prayer is another great stress reliever. In fact, Psalm 31 provides us with a model for a prayer during fear-filled times: “I trust in you, LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands” (Psalm 31:14-15 NIV). It’s hard to pray this when we’re in the waiting rooms of life, but recognizing that our times are in God’s hands takes the pressure off. 

2. Fret Not: Be patient. 

In the old English, “fret” meant “worry.” When you fret, you become stressed out, anxious, and irritable. We worry when our world is moving too fast and when it moves too slow.

The Bible says, “Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper—it only leads to harm” (Psalm 37:7-8 NLT).

The Psalmist reminds us that one of the biggest reasons we get stressed in the waiting room is that we focus on what’s happening in the lives of others. We wonder why God is blessing them while we wait. 

Waiting patiently on God is a statement of faith. You’re complimenting God by saying, “God, I trust you. I’m waiting on you. I depend upon you.”

3. Forget Not: Study God’s promises.

God has given you over 6,000 promises in his Word that he wants you to remember while you’re in the waiting room. You can’t claim those promises unless you know them. 

It’s like this. If you have an insurance policy and you don’t know what’s in it, you’ll be fearful and fretful. If you get in an accident, you don’t know what it covers. But if you know what’s in the policy, you don’t have to worry. The Bible is the policy on your life. If you don’t read it unless you’re studying to prepare a sermon, you won’t know what God has promised to do in your life.

For example, the Bible promises this to you: “If anyone keeps looking steadily into God’s law for free men, he will not only remember it but he will do what it says, and God will greatly bless him in everything he does” (James 1:25 TLB).

When you study God’s Word and do what it says, God doesn’t just bless part of your life. He blesses all you do. That means no matter what’s on the other side of your waiting room, God will bless you. You can depend upon that promise.

4. Faint Not: Don’t give up

God also urges us not to give up when we’re waiting: “Let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up” (Galatians 6:9 TLB).

Just because God isn’t working on your timetable doesn’t mean you should give up. Don’t give up on the dream God has given you. Don’t give up on the ministry God has called you to. Don’t give up on the relationship you’re struggling to reignite. God hasn’t given up on you. Don’t give up on him.

The light is on at the end of the tunnel. What you’re waiting for may be right around the corner.

Thriving in God’s Waiting Room, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

Before we know it, 2024 will be here—and the beginning of the year is a great time for a fresh start in your life and in your ministry. It’s when we try new diets, new budgets, and (often) new ministry plans. While there is nothing magical about the first few days of a calendar year, it can be a logical time to try something new.

If you’re already eyeing a change in 2024, don’t overlook the most important place to start: All change starts in your mind. 

Here’s why.

Your thoughts direct your life. “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts” (Proverbs 4:23 TEV). Every action and reaction in your life begins as a thought. If you don’t think it, it won’t happen.

You can use this idea for both good and for bad. Good thoughts lead to good behavior. But the opposite is true, as well: Bad thoughts lead to bad behavior. We don’t realize how often we sabotage ourselves with our own thoughts.

That means anything you’re hoping to change about your life in 2024—whether in your ministry, your family, or somewhere else—starts in your thoughts.

Your struggles in 2023 were in your mind. “I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me . . . that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin” (Romans 7:22-23 TLB).

You have a battle raging in your brain. Every struggle you felt this year was centered in your mind. You may not be surprised that internal struggles—depression, fear, anxiety, etc.—are rooted in your brain. But even external ones, such as conflicts in your family or in your church, start in your mind. James 4:1 tells us interpersonal conflict comes from “the selfish desires that war within you” (NCV).

Whether those battles take place inside or outside of your body, they take a toll on you. Sometimes you’re conscious of the toll, but many times you’re not. This conflict steals your sleep. It weighs on your emotions and your soul. But you rarely notice it.

You can’t have your best 2024 if you’re spending all your energy on silent but deadly mental battles.

Your mind is where God’s spirit is at work in you. “If your thinking is controlled by your sinful self, there is spiritual death. But if your thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace” (Romans 8:6 ERV).

Most of the time we describe the Spirit’s work as taking place in the heart, which is usually how the Bible describes his work, as well. But the heart is just a symbol for your brain because that’s where you think.

If you’re planning to make important changes in your life in 2024, you need to understand how change in your mind—in your thinking—happens. When God suggests an idea to you, it’s called inspiration. When Satan does, it’s a temptation. Whether you accept an inspiration or reject a temptation, it’s your choice. You choose what ideas you hold on to and which ones you reject.

2024 could be the most important year of your life. It may be the year that changes your family and your ministry forever. 

But if that change is going to happen, it’ll start in your mind.

Why Your Mindset Will Matter in 2024, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

A few years ago, my computer froze about an hour before I was going to preach. I lost all my sermon notes. For about 30 minutes, I panicked. Fortunately, a computer whiz on my staff saved about a third of my message. Although not the entire sermon, it was quite helpful. 

But my computer had been sluggish for a while before this emergency. Finally, it just stopped working because too many programs were clogging up the system. At that point, all I could do was hit the reset button. My computer needed a fresh start.

Our churches need a fresh start sometimes, too. We live in a complicated world. Our ministries can get more complicated than we intended. When that happens, we need a clean slate.

January 1 isn’t a magical date on the calendar that makes your reset easier, but it can be a natural time to begin. But you have some prep work to do before you get started. Here are four actions every church needs to take before making a reset.  

• Start asking God to do something new in your ministry. When you ask God to do something new in your church, rest assured that new is a part of Jesus’ job description: “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5 NIV). Jesus transforms lives and churches by doing something new all the time.
  
  Spend some time praying with other leaders in your church for Jesus to change your church. Any change you want God to do in your church starts with prayer. Pray it repeatedly so God knows you’re serious about the change. 
  

• Pinpoint specifically what needs to change. Nothing becomes transformational until it becomes specific. You don’t just say, “God, I want you to change our church.” The next question from God will be, “Change what?” You can’t change a generality.
  
  Do you want God to change your church culture? Do you want him to give your congregants a passion to reach your neighbors? Does your worship service need to better reflect the people you’re trying to reach?
  
  The more specific you are about what you want God to change in your church, the easier it will be for God to help you do it.
  
  By the way, every church has something new that Jesus needs to do in their midst. No perfect churches exist.
  

• Find some people to support the reset. You can’t make important changes in your church on your own. Of course, you need the support of other leaders in your church and your congregation as a whole. But you also need support from leaders outside of your church.
  
  God has wired us so that we need the support of other people. That requires humility. As long as you think you can do it on your own, you’ll struggle. The Bible tells us why in Ecclesiastes 4:12—“An enemy might defeat one person, but two people together can defend themselves; a rope that is woven of three strings is hard to break” (NCV).
  
  When you’re trying to tackle a major change in your church, it’s easy to feel defeated. You need other leaders who can encourage you when you feel like giving up. Community is God’s antidote to discouragement, defeat, and failure.
  

• Get rid of anything that gets in your way. Eliminate anything unhelpful or unhealthy. As the writer of Hebrews tells us, “We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back” (Hebrews 12:1 NCV). Your church may have many things that get in the way of the reset you need.
  
  Maybe there’s an attitude you should repent of. Or maybe it’s just a bunch of extra programs that don’t move you forward in the mission God has called you to embrace. Neither is easy to eliminate. But you won’t have the reset God calls you toward until you take the step of getting rid of what’s in the way. 

January 2024 could mark a monumental moment in the story God is telling through your church. Follow these four steps to prepare for your crucial reset.

Four Important Steps Before a Church Reset, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.

God has called us to lead in a world that’s often preoccupied with immediate gratification and short-term goals. Every problem has an immediate solution. Every bit of pain needs to be removed right now. 

But God looks for something different in Christian leaders. He is looking for far-sighted, eternally focused leadership. That’s leadership that always keeps eternity in mind. It isn’t easy. Often we have immediate issues that we must be focused upon. But when we don’t keep eternity in mind, it’s easy to get sidetracked by the frustrations and stresses of life.

The Bible teaches us what’s most important won’t come and go tomorrow. It lasts forever. That’s why we must focus  on eternal matters. Paul tells us this in Colossians 3:2, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (NIV). 

Living in light of eternity changes your priorities. Jesus modeled this for us perfectly. Just read his first and last words. Jesus’ first recorded words were, “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49 NKJV). His last words were: “It is finished” (John 19:30 NKJV). Jesus had finished his father’s business. Those were the perfect bookends of a purpose-driven life. Jesus’ priority was his father’s business, on the eternal work of God in the world. 

That’s why he could endure the horrible pain of the cross. The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus, “for the joy set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:1 NLT). Jesus looked beyond the cross to a greater purpose—one that impacted all of eternity. 

Compare Jesus’ purpose-driven life to the priorities of many Christians today.  We won’t remember the latest smartphone, the hottest movie, or the nicest clothes a decade from now, much less into eternity. I’ve seen many Christian leaders waste much of their lives because they’re preoccupied with the present. 

I don’t have to tell you that many days in ministry are tough. You’re facing criticism, church conflict, family pressures, and intense workload. Plus, there’s the physical and emotional exhaustion that often comes with ministry. I understand that stress. I’ve often written about how often I wanted to quit on Monday mornings after a long weekend.

When you’re preoccupied with the present, you’ll quit when those tough days come. It all comes down to motivation. What keeps you going when everything inside you wants to quit? For some, it’s an internal motivation. They are motivated by a deep desire to succeed and not to appear to quit. For others, it’s about external motivation. They long for the recognition and approval that comes with the refusal to quit.

But neither of those are good enough to keep you going during the tough times. Just ask Paul. In 2 Corinthians, Paul tells us about the massive struggles he faced while serving Jesus. He was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, stranded, and shepherded broken churches as he shared Christ throughout the known world. 

But earlier in the letter, he tells us exactly how he kept going. “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV). Paul had the right motivation—an eternal one. 

How do you keep that kind of eternal motivation going? You focus on things that will never go away. 

• You read God’s Word. (Matthew 24:35) Jesus tells us that his words will never pass away. Every moment you spend in the Bible is an investment in eternity.
• You pray. (Revelation 5:8) Your prayers matter for eternity. God is answering prayers today that were prayed a century ago. Some of your prayers might not see results until another century has gone by. Your prayers aren’t limited by time.
• Tell people about Jesus. (Matthew 28:18-20) You have the opportunity to impact the eternal destiny of other people. That’s more important than anything else you’ll do in this life. 

That’s what it looks like to be an eternally focused leader. 

In God’s eyes, the greatest heroes of faith are not those who achieve prosperity, success, and power in this life, but those eternally focused leaders who treat life as a temporary assignment and serve faithfully, expecting their promised reward in eternity.

The Eternally Focused Leader, by Rick Warren, is an article from Pastors.com. © 2012 Pastors.com.