Adventures of Faith

A quote often attributed to Abraham Lincoln says, "If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first four hours sharpening the axe." Yet we live in a time when everyone seems to be more concerned with how quickly they can cut down their own tree than with whether their axe is sharp enough to get the job done. This reflects the intense pressure to perform that many of us face every day. When I speak of the pressure to perform, I am not referring only to workplace demands, but to the pressure we experience in our personal lives to produce visible results. Pressure can be a good thing when it is properly managed. It can motivate us to grow, improve, and reach our goals. However, when left unchecked, it can become destructive. One of the surest ways to manage the pressure to perform is by refusing to let the success of others become a source of unhealthy pressure in your own life. If you allow that to happen, you do yourself a great disservice. It is only natural to...

In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. (2Tim.2:20-21) Men look at the use of a vessel, but God looks at its value. Wooden and earthen vessels in a house may appear more useful than gold and silver vessels, but the gold and silver vessels are far more valuable. God’s point of view, His regard is not for use; it is for value. It is not performance that brings the glory of God, it is value. How do you bring about this value? Start by fixing your Love walk Love is the halmark of our Christian faith Love for God and people is what attracts the glory of God upon a man and makes the man valuable. In a previous article I wrote I shared my thoughts on Paul and Silas’ experienc...

  Whenever I have had the opportunity to speak or write on the subject like this, I have always laid the foundation on the premise that God desires for us to prosper (3Jn.2). It is His will for all men, for all time. As the renowned faith apostle Kenneth Copeland puts it, “faith begins where the will of God is known.” Therefore, if you are not convinced that God wants you to succeed, you cannot effectively exercise your faith for success. Repeatedly, throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God makes it clear that He desires His people to prosper and succeed. One of the most remarkable success stories in the Bible is that of Jacob. This was a man who fled from home after taking his brother’s birthright, fully aware that his brother intended to kill him. He journeyed to a distant land and began working for a man named Laban. Laban attempted to exploit Jacob in many ways, even altering his wages to suppress his progress. But how do you keep down a man who carries the Blessing of ...

  In the first part of this piece, I shared two important principles you need to succeed as a believer (you can catch up with the first part using this link: Part 1 ). I shared that although God has set laws in motion and placed abundant resources in the earth for our benefit, there are principles we must imbibe and things we must do to attract success. In this piece, I will quickly share the remaining three principles. As I mentioned in the introduction of the first part, these principles are by no means exhaustive, but I believe that if you practice them faithfully, you will experience great success. 3. Be Diligent Prov. 22:29: Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men. Diligence is the steady, earnest, and painstaking effort applied to work, reflecting a strong work ethic, persistence, and careful attention to detail. It is surprising how some believers think that God will prosper anyone without the quality of dili...

Isa. 54:2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes. The concept of stretching is very important for anyone who desires to make any meaningful progress in life. God has so designed everything in a manner that makes it almost impossible to make progress without any stretch. Even the human body grows by this same concept. It has been revealed that for a muscle to grow, it must first undergo "micro-tears." When you lift a weight that is slightly too heavy, the muscle fiber stretches and tears. It is only in the repair of those tears that the muscle becomes larger and stronger than before. If there is no tension, there is no transformation. The "pain" of the stretch is actually the signal that growth is happening. So If the human body grows by stretching, it follows to say that to reach anything significant in this life, we must stretch. God will always require ...

  Success is often described as a journey rather than a destination. However, for the purpose of this piece, let us view success as a phenomenon that can be cultivated. God desires His people to be successful, and He has set laws in motion and placed abundant resources within our reach to help us achieve it. Yet, with all that God has provided, not everyone experiences success in the way they should. This is not due to any failure on God’s part, but on ours. Are there things we can do to better attract success into our lives? Absolutely. There are many, and in this piece I will highlight just a few. This list is by no means exhaustive, but if you apply these principles, you can be assured that success will follow by the grace of God. 1. Trust God Absolutely Proverbs 3:5 – “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Trusting God completely is the primary key to attracting success as a believer. You may have heard stories of people who claime...