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Some time ago I realized my car’s gas tank was nearly empty. I spotted a convenience store and parked next to a pump. I placed the nozzle in my tank, swiped my card, and began filling up my car. I then went into the store and bought a soda. I chatted with the store clerk. I went back to my car and washed the windshield. I was barely back on the road when I happened to look at my gas gauge. It was on empty! Knowing my attention span, I probably forgot to squeeze the lever. I did everything except the one thing I needed to do.

Have you done the same? Have you neglected the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God longs to give you his great power. Challenges come with life, but they need not define your life. Help is here.

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For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

With the referee’s final gesture, wrestler Kennedy Blades became a 2024 Olympian. She pressed her palms together, lifted her hands and eyes to the heavens, and gave God glory. A reporter asked about her growth over the past three years. The elite athlete didn’t even mention her physical training. “I’ve just gotten super close to Jesus,” she said. Professing Christ as King, she proclaimed that He’s coming again and encouraged others to believe in Him. “It’s Him,” she said. “That’s the main reason why I was able to accomplish such a big thing.” In other interviews, she faithfully declared that Jesus is everything to her and the reason for everything good in her life.

This passion for living a God-centered life reflects David’s confessions in Psalm 63. Acknowledging his desperation for his creator, he said, “I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you” (v. 1). David had “seen” God and “beheld” His “power” and “glory” (v. 2). He declared God’s steadfast love as “better than life” (v. 3). Then, he prayed: “Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me” (vv. 7-8). God was clearly everything to David.

Our lives can be beacons that point others to a life-saving relationship with God when Jesus becomes our reason, our everything.

Jesus would not let his followers begin their ministries unless they knew the Holy Spirit. By this point the disciples had spent three years in training. They had seen the empty tomb, they had touched his resurrected body, they had spent forty days listening to the resurrected Christ teach about the kingdom. But they needed more.

Jesus told them, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NKJV).

The Holy Spirit comes with power. Power to make good choices, to keep promises, to silence the inner voices of fear and failure. Power to get busy about the right things in the right way. Power! This is what Jesus promised then, and this is what Jesus promises still.

Read more Help Is Here

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

If what you focus on expands and what you put behind you shrinks, your focus impacts the trajectory of your leadership. This week, we’re continuing our two-part series where John Maxwell shares 4 things that you should focus on!

After his lesson, Mark Cole and Chris Robinson discuss John’s insights and give you practical ways that you can apply them to your life and leadership. 

Key takeaways: 

• Take action on things that are worthwhile. 

• The main difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do. 

• Don’t allow others to control your destiny. 

Our BONUS resource for this episode is the What You Focus on Expands (Part 2) Worksheet, which includes fill-in-the-blank notes from John’s teaching. You can download the worksheet by visiting MaxwellPodcast.com/Expand and clicking “Download the Bonus Resource.” 

Take the next step in your growth journey and become a Maxwell Leadership Certified Team Member.

In this episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni Catron continues the Summer of Leadership series by tackling one of the most overlooked yet essential leadership skills: decision-making. Whether you're leading a small team or an entire organization, how decisions are made—and how clearly that process is communicated—can either build trust or breed confusion.

Jenni outlines three keys to clear, confident decision-making:

1. Define the Who – Clarify who has decision-making authority at every level.
2. Align Decisions with Values – Ensure every decision reflects your organization’s core values.
3. Communicate the Why – Explain the rationale behind decisions to foster understanding and trust.

This episode offers practical insights for leaders who want to bring more clarity, consistency, and cultural alignment to the decisions they make every day. Plus, Jenni shares simple next steps you can take to assess and improve your team’s decision-making process right away.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!

Living in a coastal town, Valerie loved warm weather, wildlife photography, and being in the water. Above all, she loved watching the sunrise over the ocean. Every morning, she woke up before dawn to catch a view of the water. Val estimated that despite cloudy weather or travel, she still managed to see more than 300 waterfront sunrises each year. She never tired of watching them. In her eyes, the sunrise held a glory she didn’t want to miss.

In Exodus, we read about Moses’ radiant face, literally reflecting his glorious encounter with the Lord (Exodus 34). Paul said that since Jesus came, there is an even more glorious ministry than what Moses experienced (2 Corinthians 3:7). It is the ministry of the Spirit, which brings righteousness (v. 9). God’s plan of salvation has permanent glory, surpassing anything that came before (v. 10), and we get to participate in it. Paul said, “We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory” (v. 18). That ever-increasing glory is not dependent on how well we perform, but on the Holy Spirit. We, like the clouds at sunrise, just reflect a little more and a little better each day the glorious work that He is doing.

Lessons from one of America's fastest-growing and largest churches, Christ Church of the Valley (CCV). Senior Pastor Ashley Wooldridge talks about lessons he learned from a decade at Intel before...

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