One time I was on one of those hater websites that was talking trash about several preachers. They had a clip, that I must admit even surprised me a bit; where Kenneth Copeland basically said you don't have to earn your money. His said something like, "Did you earn Jesus? Did you earn salvation? Did you earn the Holy Spirit? Then why do you have to earn your money?" I'm sure I'm not quoting it perfectly, but it was very similar. I admit that I thought, "Whoa, that's not right." But now I think he was right. Let me explain. (By the way I hate websites devoted to preacher bashing.) Let us begin by agreeing that salvation is the greatest gift that man could ever receive. Remember that it is a "free gift" as Romans tells us. We don't receive this by works, lest any man should boast. But it is by grace you are saved, through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us, and in this way...

Do you want to do great things for God, but don’t know where to start? I know I feel like that regularly. We see countless preachers with huge churches and worldwide ministries. We love God and feel His calling. But we don’t find anything to do, no outlet for our gifts. I just want to encourage you that God sees your faith and desire. God knows how you want to serve Him, in fact, God gave you that want. Jeremiah says God knows the plans He has for us. Ephesians says that God created us and planned specific good works for us to do. Don’t give up hope. Just continually be faithful in what you have to do today. I know it can be hard, especially when it doesn’t look like much. This blog doesn’t have many subscribers, but I know God wants me to write here. If I’m not faithful in this little thing, how can I expect God to put me in charge of big things? If I’m not faithful to work on my own spiritual life, why would God put me in position to help the spiritual lives of others? I know waitin...

Last Friday, after four months and 24 days, we closed on the short sale of our previous home. Now to you that might not sound so amazing, but for us it was an extremely difficult battle that revealed God’s love and power multiple times. I know that from the beginning the battle was the Lord’s, but we had to take some steps along the way to work with God to see His will come to pass. I wanted to share with you a step by step roadmap of this victory, and I pray that it blesses, encourages and exhorts you for your own personal situations. I suppose the story really begins in September of 2009. While alone on a long drive I began seriously worrying about our home’s value, and the fact that we were probably seriously under water. On that drive the Holy Spirit had me confess, “The power of these mortgages is broken over our lives, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.” I received that Word into my heart, and felt better about the situation. I worried little about it for the next six months. Then on March 8,...

I used to play a video game called “Big Buck Hunter,” or something like that. There were several variations revolving around which type of animal you hunted. It had an orange shotgun and you would move from one wilderness scene to the next. After each scene, if you did well enough to continue, the narrator would say very distinctly, “Keep Going.” More than ever I hear those words ringing in my head. My stepmother sometimes discusses how certain things stay with you for a reason. I believe my spiritually renewed mind remembers this especially when the going gets tough. As you know my wife and I are going through some trying times. I just can’t describe in full detail how the Lord told me not to worry, then I worried, and now I see there was never any reason to worry. We have to develop a mental framework for going through trials. We all know that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Do you feel like you’ve been delivered from every afflic...