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The Entire Bible In One Word: Love

Just Love — And Everything Else Will Fall Into Place

SYNOPSIS: It has been called “The Great Commandment.” Within it you will discover the bottom line to what God wants from his people. It is a job description, if you will, that succinctly describes what must occupy the attitudes, thoughts and actions of every true disciple. It is the gold standard of a growing spirituality, the truest measurement of a salvation that has taken root, the surest sign of transformation into Christ-likeness. It is also a brilliant one-word summation of the entire Bible.  In a word, here is what Jesus said: LOVE! Love—not the noun, but the verb. Love—that’s it. Just love, and everything else will take care of itself.

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // Matthew 22:37-40

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Jesus’ response to a question asking him to identify the most important law in Scripture has been called, “The Great Commandment”, and truly, it is a great one!

Within it you will discover the bottom line to what God wants from his people. It is a job description, if you will, that succinctly describes what must occupy the attitudes, thoughts and actions of every true disciple.  It is the gold standard of a growing spirituality, the truest measurement of a salvation that has taken root, the surest sign of transformation into Christ-likeness.

It is also a brilliant one-word summation of the entire Bible.  In a word, here is what Jesus said:

LOVE!

Love—not the noun, but the verb. Love—that’s it. Do that, and everything else will take care of itself. Simply love God with every fiber of your being, and your religion will be pure, your faith will be authentic and your Christianity will be true to plumb. For when you love God wholeheartedly, then you will love his Word, obey his commands, testify of his greatness, steward his resources, serve his purposes, worship his name, care for his creation—and you will store up treasure in heaven, to boot! Just love God, and everything will be alright with you!

And if you really are loving God with your whole heart, then you will also love your neighbor as yourself. If you are not loving people in that manner, then you have a love problem; your love for God is anemic. The truest sign that God’s love is transforming your own heart is a demonstrable love for the people around you.  Likewise, the most effective love for the people around you is rooted in and issues from your love for God. Love for God and love for people are inseparable; you can’t have one without the other.

That’s right: Love is the thing. All else pales in comparison; nothing else matters!

So the burning question is, how do you love God like he wants to be loved?  How do you fulfill this first and greatest commandment?

To begin with, let me encourage you not to limit your understanding of love to the feelings and emotions of love that we have come to expect.  Just as you don’t always “feel” love for another person, you won’t always feel the warm sensation of love for God.  At times you will—and that’s wonderful—but don’t depend just on your feelings.  They are way overrated!

Rather, look at love for God this way:  Start with a decision to love—purpose in your heart that you will love God. Then make a commitment to love—make loving God the highest and most fiercely guarded priority of your life.  Follow that with the action of love—do the things that demonstrate your love for God: Spend time with him, talk to him—and listen, tangibly care for the things he cares for, align your life around the things that matter to him. Finally, never take your love for God, or his love for you, for granted. One of the best ways to keep love fresh is by expressing gratitude for what his love has done for you.

Though it seems crazy and is actually quite impossible, make it your life’s ambition to outdo the love God has for you by your love for him.  It’ll never work, but you’ll be amazed at the kind of life that results from trying.  Henry Martyn, an Anglican mission from the early nineteenth century wrote,

“With thee, O my God, there is no disappointment; I shall never have to regret that I loved thee too well.”

Make love the thing—love for God, love for people—and you will never, ever regret it!

Reflect & Apply:  If you are worried that your love for God is waning, I would recommend that you pray what I once heard someone offer as a heartfelt cry to God: “Lord, I want to love you.  Help me to want to want to love you more!” That may sound a little strange, but I somehow sense that your Father would be moved by that kind of request.

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Get Rid Of Your Gods—There Is Only One!

Honor The First Commandment—The Other Nine Will Fall Into Place

SYNOPSIS: It is true that if the Israelites, and by extension, you and I, honored this first commandment—worship only God—then we would need none of the other nine commandments. We would never lie, never hurt our neighbor, always be faithful to our spouse, never lust, cuss, gripe or sin in any other way. Get this one right and you will be righteous.

The Journey// Focus: Deuteronomy 5:6-7

I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery., You must not have any other god but me.

Deuteronomy is Moses’ leadership swan song. He is about to go the way of all the earth; his impossible mission is accomplished and God is going to take him to his final reward. He has left a leadership legacy that has not been matched in human history up to this moment. I doubt anyone will ever surpass the feat of spiritual, military, social and organizational leadership that Moses pulled off.

What Moses accomplished, however, as incredible as it might have been, was nothing compared to what God pulled off. Think about it: The Lord rescued two million Israelites out of slavery in Egypt through the ten plagues and the Red Sea crossing—in the Top Ten of All Time Great Miracles, you would agree. He guided his people through forty years in the barren wasteland of the Sinai Desert, keeping them fed, watered, clothed, protected and loved. He formed a rebellious, complaining, sin-prone, dull and disorganized people into his own holy nation—the only people still a nation from that ancient time until this very day. So if you think Moses was impressive, wait til you get a load of God! He outdid himself with Israel!

Now as Moses, in his final act, recounts those mighty acts of God along with God’s requirements for his people to remain his chosen, holy nation, he reminds them of God’s top ten laws—what we call the Ten Commandments. This is the second time Moses has publically preached them, and right at the top of the top ten, not only literally but strategically, is rule number one:

I am God! You exist only because of my mighty acts. Now you must worship, serve and obey none other than me.

It is true that if the Israelites, and by extension, you and I, honored this first commandment that we would need none of the others. We would never lie, never hurt our neighbor, always be faithful to our spouse, never lust, gripe, swear or sin in any other way. Get this one right and you will be righteous. But we don’t. We violate this one early and often.

How so? Whenever we put what we want ahead of what God demands, we sin. And by that we are worshipping ourselves rather than only him. And the big three violations of that throughout history, including today, including your history and mine, is our push for indefatigable quest for money, our insatiable lust for sexual pleasure and our unquenchable thirst for power. Yep, independence from our dependence on his daily provision (money), satisfying our desire for pleasure outside of his game rules (sex outside of marriage) and desire for power, control and recognition (the desire for fame, even fifteen minutes of it) are clearly violations of the basic rule: thou shalt have no other gods before me.

If we were truly intelligent beings, we would stop and ask ourselves how our unstoppable thirst for money, sex and power are working out for us. We would look at the wreckage of those who have crashed and burned in the ditch of wealth, or more accurately, the insatiable love of it. We would see the ruined lives of those who have lost everything for the momentary pleasure of an illicit sexual encounter. We would stop, drop and roll when we look at too many cautionary tales of the self-immolation of those who couldn’t handle flame of fame—pastors, politicians, athletes, celebrities who lost it all, or took their own lives—because they were not built to handle worship. No one is.

Whenever we give ourselves in word, thought or deed to something other than God, we have broken all the rules by breaking the first one. And it won’t work out very well. It never does.

That’s the dark side, but there is a bright side incomparably brighter than the false light of sin when we put and keep God first in our lives: provision, pleasure and power in the purest form imaginable. God fully satisfies, his blessings never fades and our worship of him alone produces eternal fruit that is always in season.

Now when Moses delivered the Ten Commandments, the people responded the way all people who have been rescued by God should. They said to Moses, “come and tell us everything he tells you, and we will listen and obey.” (Deuteronomy 5:27) Then Moses, literally speaking for God, responded to them

The Lord heard the request you made to me. And he said, “I have heard what the people said to you, and they are right. Oh, that they would always have hearts like this, that they might fear me and obey all my commands! If they did, they and their descendants would prosper forever.” (Deuteronomy 5:28-29)

Sin calls us to put other gods before the One who alone is God and worthy of our worship. Those gods—money, sex and power—promise pleasure but only and always deliver untold pain. The Living God promises unlimited provision, holy pleasure and eternal significance—prosperity forever! And this God never breaks a promise.

Your God says to you, “I am God, your God, who brought you out of bondage, bought you out of sin. So no other gods, only me!”

Going Deeper: Money, sex and power…by pursuing these are you putting you before God? That is worshiping other gods. So repent and return to the God who alone deserves your worship.

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Prayer For A Once Mighty Nation

An Impassioned Intercession

SYNOPSIS: God is very clear that consequences follow sin; the law of sowing and reaping is unmistakable in Scripture. Yet the psalmist, Asaph, along with other Biblical writers, often placed their hope in God’s mercy—then prayed like crazy for a crop failure. I think it’s okay to pray for a crop failure. In fact, I would even say it’s wise to pray that way. Why? God may just substitute his mercy for his discipline. Micah 7:18 tells us, “Mercy is your specialty.” Since mercy and grace are what makes God, God, why not tap into them and pray for the restoration of a once mighty nation—or perhaps, a once blessed life!

An Impassioned Intercession // Psalm 80:19

Restore us, O LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

How do you pray for a once-godly nation that is now suffering the just punishment for rebellion? You do what the psalmist did: Boldly, persistently and unashamedly pray for restoration![/callout]

Restore us, O LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

Three times the psalmist made the exact same appeal for the restoration of Israel—Psalm 80:3,7,19. Each appeal is more intense than the previous, building to this crescendo of importunity in the final verse. He even sneaks in another plea for revival in the penultimate verse: “Revive us so we can call on your name once more.” (Ps. 80:18) This guy is bent on national renewal in Israel through a spiritual awakening!

What is interesting about Psalm 80—which you would agree is especially applicable for America right now—is that this desperate cry for restoration came during a time when the Almighty had removed his blessing because of the nation’s persistent rebellion. It was most likely written at the tail end of the Northern Kingdom’s rebellious run as a nation, and they were suffering the harsh reality of life without the protective hand of God—deservedly so!

How like America! We, too, have strayed from our once declared dependence upon the Almighty’s protective hand. We have abandoned the collective sense of our national raison d’être: To serve God’s purposes in the earth. We have bowed at the idol of political ideology, conflating our politics with Kingdom value’s. And let me be clear, the Christian nationalism that is growing in America is nothing less than idolatrous! Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36)

We have traveled so far down the road of spiritual rebellion—both sinner AND saint—that God will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah if he withholds punishment on this nation much longer. That is really what we deserve. But in reality, isn’t what was true of Israel, and what is true of America, true of you and me, too? At the end of the day, aren’t we all undeserving of anything but God’s judgment?

Yet what is even more interesting about Psalm 80 is that the appeal for restoration is not based on the worthiness of Israel, it is rather rooted in the immutable character of God—who is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love and delights to show mercy rather than send calamity! (Psalm 103:8-14, Joel 2:13, Micah 7:18)

God has been very clear that consequences will follow sin; the law of sowing and reaping is unmistakably clear in Scripture. Yet the psalmist, along with other Biblical writers, often placed their hope in the mercy of God—and prayed like crazy for a crop failure.

I think it’s okay to pray for a crop failure. In fact, I would even say it’s wise to pray that way. Why? God may just substitute his mercy for discipline. The Message translation says of God in Micah 7:18,

Mercy is your specialty.

Since mercy and grace are what makes God, God, why not tap into them and pray for the restoration of a once mighty nation—and perhaps, a once blessed life!

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How To Distinguish Yourself

SYNOPSIS: To live under God’s undeserved blessings, you have one, and only one thing, that you must do: obey! It is that simple—not easy, because of your fallen nature—but simple. And by your loving and loyal obedience to God’s law, not only will you turn on the spigot of grace for your life, you will distinguish yourself among those who watch your life; you will provoke them to envy by the amazing life you lead. Don’t believe me? Then believe God, who said, “Obey my commands completely, and you will display your wisdom and intelligence among the surrounding nations. When they hear all these decrees, they will exclaim, ‘How wise and prudent are the people of this great nation!’” (Deuteronomy 4:6)

The Journey // Focus: Deuteronomy 4:5-10

Look, I now teach you these decrees and regulations just as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy. Obey them completely, and you will display your wisdom and intelligence among the surrounding nations. When they hear all these decrees, they will exclaim, ‘How wise and prudent are the people of this great nation!’ For what great nation has a god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we call on him? And what great nation has decrees and regulations as righteous and fair as this body of instructions that I am giving you today? But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren….‘Then they will learn to fear me as long as they live, and they will teach their children to fear me also.’

Just as God called Israel to be his people, he has chosen you, too. God has called you out from the world and redeemed you as his very own. He has distinguished you and set apart among the people of earth as holy unto him. And his intended purpose is to pour out uncommon blessing upon you as a way to provoke the world to reach out to him. They will admire you and desire him. Think about God’s plan for you: you are distinctly blessed!

Now to live under that undeserved blessing, you have one, and only one thing, that you must do: obey! It is that simple—not easy, because of your fallen nature—but simple. And by your loving and loyal obedience to God’s law, not only will you turn on the spigot of grace for your life, you will distinguish yourself among those who watch your life; you will provoke them to envy by the amazing life you lead. Don’t believe me? Then believe God, who said,

Obey my commands completely, and you will display your wisdom and intelligence among the surrounding nations. When they hear all these decrees, they will exclaim, ‘How wise and prudent are the people of this great nation!’ (Deuteronomy 4:6)

Your life of obedience will be translated to the world as wisdom and intelligence. What a witness! You don’t have to stand on the street corner with a sign that says “Turn or burn!” Just live a life of ruthless obedience and you will be attractive more than you realize.

Not only does God want your simple and sustained obedience, he wants you to live a life of obedience so winsomely that your children and grandchildren will embrace a lifestyle of obedience to God themselves. Through your life and from your lips, your divine calling is to reproduce the walk of obedience in the generations that spring from your DNA, because God wants to bless them, too. He wants to distinguish your posterity as his own. The fruit of authentic obedience is that it is sustainable and reproducible.

Of course, obedience is easier talked about than lived out. That is because not only does your sinful flesh recoil from it, but your soul’s enemy, Satan, continually and masterfully tempts you away from obedience. And then the world is there to partner with your sin nature and Satan to lure you into the seasonal pleasures of sin. The flesh, the devil and the world are an ever-present threat to your obedience. That is why Moses warned several times in Deuteronomy 4 about the drift into disobedience. And one of the more subtle drifts occurs when one of the aforementioned forces lure us into thinking that we know better than God, or that we can cut corners on complete obedience, or that God doesn’t really concern himself or care about little indiscretions. That is why Moses appealed,

Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you. (Deuteronomy 4:2)

Just obey. That is the sum and substance of the life that God can bless and the kind of witness that distinguished itself among the people of the world. Just obey. And the good news is, God himself is helping you to obey, for as you “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, God works in you to will and to do his good pleasure.

Imagine that: God helps you to work out what he has worked in. Now that is quite the deal, wouldn’t you agree? God helps you to help yourself!

So just obey!

Going Deeper: Obedience is simple, but not easy. So just ask God to help you, because he has promised to do just that!

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God Has Spoken—Thank God!

SYNOPSIS: I’m starting a new project today. It’s Project 52. For the next 52 weeks, I’m going to “hide God’s Word in my heart” (Ps. 119:11) by memorizing key verses to the tune of one per week. And since you’re reading this, I’m assuming you’re going to join me in this project. If that assumption is premature, I hope that at least you’ll consider it. I’m beginning Week One with Hebrews 4:12, which tells us that God’s Word is living and active. Why that one? Because the Bible doesn’t just provide us with more information about God, it catalyzes transformation within us. That’s what I need in 2021! How about you?

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

I’m starting a new project today. It’s Project 52. For the next 52 weeks, I am going to memorize key verses from God’s Word to the tune of one per week. And since you’re reading this, I’m assuming you are going to join me in this project. If that assumption is premature, I hope that at least you’ll consider it.

The reason I’m doing this is two-fold:  First, as I’ve prayed about my personal walk with Christ, I sense the Holy Spirit urging from me a greater dedication to God’s Word. Second, I know of no single greater resource for a closer walk with Christ than reading, reflecting on, and obeying God’s Word.

And what better instrument for reading, absorbing and living out God’s Word than committing it to memory. That’s why I’m doing this—and I am excited about the potential Project 52 holds, both for you and for me.

I appreciate what Chuck Swindoll said about Scripture memory:

I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture…No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified.

Think about it: There is no more powerful, transformative tool that we have been given than the Word of God. The words of God are why we exist in the first place—for he spoke and the worlds came into being. The words of God, spoken through and recorded by both Old and New Testament prophets, reveal what we are to do, direct where we are to go and show how we will get there. The words of God—both recorded in the written Word and revealed in the living Word, Jesus—unfolds who God is and how we can be in right standing with him.

For those reasons, the Word of God is unlike any other word, spoken or written. As the writer of Hebrews says, God’s Word is living—even if we’re only viewing it on the pages of an ancient book. Moreover, God’s Word is active—it doesn’t just provide us with more information about God, it catalyzes transformation within us. And thankfully, God’s Word not only comforts us, it discomforts us, too.  When we read it and hear it, because it is living and active, it penetrates right to the core of our being, and like a surgical implement, exposes our selfish, sinful flesh to the cleansing, healing, restoring light of God’s eternal truth.

Yes, God has spoken through his Word—thank God for that!

So I think it’s pretty obvious why, among other practices we ought to engage in as it relates to God’s Word, we ought to make committing it to memory a top priority.

I’m going to.  I hope you will, too!

Reflect and Apply:  Are there any “thoughts and attitudes” that you need to confess to God and allow him to cleanse in your heart by the washing of his Word?  Now would be a good time to do that.  And while you’re at it, reflect on the last few verses of this chapter, Hebrews 4:14-16. I think you will be encouraged.

 

 

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Passing The Baton

Send Your Influence Forward

SYNOPSIS: Whether you are a parent, a president or a pastor, you will be required to pass the baton of your leadership to a new generation. Take care in what you pass on and with how well you pass it. Don’t drop the baton. That day will get here sooner than you think, so make sure you are ready to send forward that which is worthy to live on!

The Journey// Focus: Deuteronomy 3:27-28

God said to Moses, “Go up to Pisgah Peak, and look over the Promised Land in every direction. Take a good look, but you may not cross the Jordan River. Instead, commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead the people across the Jordan. He will give them all the land you now see before you as their possession.”

It happens sooner or later—usually sooner than we expect: we come to the end of our leg of the race and have to pass the baton. It might be giving the keys to the family business to an adult child, turning over a ministry to a new leader, or passing on the patriarchal role due to advancing aged or declining health or the nearing of death.

Without fail, that day comes, maybe later, but more likely sooner. Just ask any person who has had to pass the baton! Talk to any elderly person and they will say, “I don’t know where the time went.” Perhaps the epitaph on one particular headstone says it best:

THIS IS WHAT I EXPECTED
BUT NOT SO SOON

Life is a baton pass, and so is the Kingdom of God. No one, no matter how great, how powerful, how successful, or how admired is indispensable. Just consider Moses. He was the greatest leader of all time—a man of impeccable character, unmatched power, incredible wisdom, organic humility, and closeness to God. He has a string of wins with no defeats to speak of. He had pulled off one of the greatest leadership feats of all time: he got two million plus slaves out of the clutches of the most powerful nation on earth, led them through a desert for forty years, keeping them fed, watered, organized and focused—and at the end of it all, his popularity would make any U.S. president drool with envy.

Yet the time came when God called him to give it up. He was at the end, and even though Moses personally wanted to continue on (“I pleaded with the Lord, ‘Please let me cross the Jordan to see the wonderful land on the other side, the beautiful hill country and the Lebanon mountains.’” Deuteronomy 3:23-25), God told him no. Moreover, God commissioned him to prepare his successor, and he was to prepare him in such a way that the new leader would achieve even greater success than Moses. Moses had done all the heavy lifting, yet Joshua would reap the reward.

By the way, that is not the only time in scripture we see this: David wanted to build a temple to the Lord, but God assigned him to prepare Solomon to achieve that marvelous feat. Jesus finished his ministry with just a handful of followers, yet he commissioned them to turn his kingdom into a force that would dominate the world. The Apostle Paul had grand designs to preach the gospel around the known world, but he came to his end in a Roman jail.

All of these examples of great leadership had something in common: they finished well by preparing others to take the baton and move the kingdom forward. Which brings me to a point: the greatness of your life is not so much in what you leave behind, but in what you send forward. Whether you are a parent, a president or a pastor, you will be required to pass the baton of your leadership to a new generation. Take care in what you pass on and with how well you pass it. Don’t drop the baton.

Yes, that day will get here sooner than you think. So make sure you are ready to send forward that which is worthy to live on!

Going Deeper: A very good but sobering exercise is to write your own epitaph or obituary in advance. The whole point of that activity is to make sure you live now as you wish to be remembered then.

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2021: God Is Already There

What Would You Attempt If You Knew You Couldn't Fail?

SYNOPSIS: What would you attempt for God as you look ahead to 2021 if you knew that he was already where your steps of faith will lead? How energetically would you press forward if you knew he was waiting for you to arrive? What level of confidence would you have knowing that God had gone ahead of you and secured your victory even before the battle began? The truth is, when God calls you to step out, he has not only promised to be with you, he has promised to actually go before you. And while you may not see around the bend of faith, God is already there with your victory in hand.

A New Year Promise // Judges 4:14-15

Then Deborah said to Barak, “Get ready! This is the day the Lord will give you victory over Sisera, for the Lord is marching ahead of you.” So Barak led his 10,000 warriors down the slopes of Mount Tabor into battle. When Barak attacked, the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and warriors into a panic.

What would you attempt for God in 2021 if you knew he was marching ahead of you? What grand thing would you pursue if you knew that he was already where your steps of faith would lead, waiting for you to arrive? What level of confidence would you have knowing that God had gone ahead of you and secured your victory even before the battle began?

When God calls you to a step of faith, you are guaranteed his presence and his power, which means that you are invincible in the journey. Moreover, he has not only promised to be with you, he has promised to actually go before you, and while you may not see around the bend of faith, God is already there, waiting for you to take the victory lap for a victory that he won for you. How cool is that!

That is exactly what the prophetess Deborah is telling the reluctant general of the Israelite army, Barak. He is shivering in his boots knowing that his army is outmanned and outgunned by the Canaanite army of General Sisera. We are told in Judges 4:3, “Sisera, who had 900 iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.” 900 iron chariots to Israel’s none…no wonder, on a human level, Barak was not too excited about leading Israel into battle.

But this battle was not going to be fought only on a human level. No battle is. In the spiritual realm, God had already heard the cries of the Israelites and had determined to deliver them from their oppressors under the guidance of Deborah the Judge and Barak the General. In light of that, the fight was over before it even started. Barak couldn’t see that, but Deborah could. That is why she told him, “now get out there and fight, for God is already ahead of you and how guaranteed the victory. C’mon, go take your victory lap.” And that is exactly what Barak did, and a great deliverance for Israel was accomplished.

Perhaps you are a little uncertain about what’s next for you. Maybe you’re not too confident about your future. Maybe the circumstance you face are overwhelming, from a human perspective. You are outnumbered and outgunned. But where God is asking you to step out in faith, those odds do not matter one iota. God is on your side; he is with you, he is actually before you. He is already where he has called you to go, waiting for you to walk into a victory that he has secured for you. You cannot loose. So take heart.

Therefore, because of God’s exemplary record of faithful goodness in leading his people to victory, do not be afraid to trust an unknown tomorrow to a known God. So get ready! This is the day God will give you victory, for he is marching ahead of you. That is God’s promise to you!

In a verse similar to this, King David said to his son Solomon as he gave him the daunting task of building a temple in Jerusalem to the God of Israel,

Be strong and courageous and get to work. Don’t be frightened by the size of the task, for the Lord God is with you; he will not forsake you. He will see to it that everything is finished correctly. (1 Chronicles 28:20, LB)

Whatever is before you, if God is calling you to step out, then do it with confidence; God is already out there where you have been called to go. And he has guaranteed victory if you will go with him!

Thrive: Picture your greatest challenge. Once you have that in view, picture God already there, waiting for you to arrive. Now get out there and go for it! In fact, as a declaration of faith, go ahead and take a victory lap in anticipation of the victory that God has won for you.