Excel Still More

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Check out the brand-new book: How to Find Jesus in the Psalms.

Visit our new website with many study resources: ExcelStillMore.life

For any future financial needs, call our title sponsor, Jon Cunningham, at Cunningham Financial Group. He's been a great help to my family, and I know he can be for yours. 205-913-1720

Raising Children God's Way: Gifts, Arrows, and Olive Plants

Parenting is one of life's greatest blessings—and one of our greatest responsibilities. In Psalms 127 and 128, God gives us three beautiful pictures of our children: gifts from the Lord, arrows in the hand of a warrior, and olive plants around our table. Each picture teaches us something important about how we should view our children, what we should be preparing them for, and how we can help them grow.

Our children are not simply ours to enjoy. They are blessings entrusted to us by God, with souls to nurture, character to develop, and futures to prepare. How do we raise children who love the Lord, respect authority, develop wisdom, and become faithful, productive adults?

In this episode of Excel Still More, we'll explore these three powerful images from the Psalms and consider seven essential teachings from Proverbs about instruction, correction, discipline, and love.

The Big Seven — Proverbs on Parenting:

1. Proverbs 1:8–9 — The importance of a father's instruction and a mother's teaching.
2. Proverbs 3:11–12 — Understanding discipline as an expression of love.
3. Proverbs 13:24 — Loving our children enough to correct them.
4. Proverbs 19:18 — Correcting our children while there is still hope.
5. Proverbs 22:6, 15 — Training children in the right way and addressing foolishness.
6. Proverbs 23:13 — The importance of not withholding appropriate discipline.
7. Proverbs 29:17 — The peace and delight that come from raising disciplined children.

The goal of parenting is not merely to raise happy children, but to prepare faithful adults. May we learn to appreciate our gifts, carefully aim our arrows, and patiently cultivate our olive plants—all for the glory of God and the good of the next generation.

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks!

Check out the brand-new book: How to Find Jesus in the Psalms.

Visit our new website with many study resources: ExcelStillMore.life

For any future financial needs, call our title sponsor, Jon Cunningham, at Cunningham Financial Group. He's been a great help to my family, and I know he can be for yours. 205-913-1720

Are you a people pleaser? You might be surprised by how many different forms that can take. Some people are outgoing, talkative, and eager to connect. They want to be liked, appreciated, and accepted. Others are quiet, reserved, and accommodating. They avoid conflict, struggle to say no, and hate disappointing anyone. Two very different personalities, but often the same underlying struggle: We care too much about what other people think of us.

In this episode of Excel Still More, we explore the strengths and struggles of people pleasing. Being thoughtful, encouraging, helpful, and considerate are wonderful qualities. But what happens when our desire to make others happy begins controlling our decisions, emotions, and relationships?

THE FIVE HIDDEN COSTS OF PEOPLE PLEASING

1. Emotional Dependence: Our happiness rises and falls based on how others respond to us.
2. Losing Authenticity: We change our words, opinions, or behavior to maintain approval.
3. Avoiding Discomfort: We struggle to say no, express disagreement, or have difficult conversations.
4. Exhaustion and Resentment: We give too much, commit too often, and quietly grow frustrated.
5. Misplaced Priorities: We allow people's expectations to influence us more than our convictions and responsibilities.

WHAT'S DRIVING ALL OF THIS UNDERNEATH?

• The Need to Belong: We naturally desire connection and acceptance, but sometimes that desire becomes a dependency.
• The Search for Worth: We begin measuring our value by how much people like, appreciate, or need us.
• The Avoidance of Discomfort: Whether through talking, entertaining, serving, or remaining silent, we try to protect ourselves from rejection and disapproval.

FIVE WAYS TO FIND A HEALTHIER BALANCE

1. Stop Trying to Be Liked by Everyone. Start Trying to Love Everyone. Genuine love doesn't always produce approval.
2. Learn the Difference Between Kindness and Compliance. Doing what someone wants isn't always the same as doing what's best for them.
3. Become Comfortable with Disappointment. Someone being unhappy with your decision doesn't automatically mean you made the wrong one.
4. Stop Measuring Your Worth by People's Responses. Ask whether you were faithful, loving, honest, and wise rather than whether everyone approved.
5. Keep Your Strengths, but Lose the Fear. Remain outgoing, encouraging, gentle, and generous without allowing fear of rejection to control those qualities.

Jesus provides the perfect example. He noticed people, served them, encouraged them, and loved them deeply. But He also challenged people, corrected them, withdrew from crowds, and refused to allow their expectations to determine His mission. He was perfectly loving without being a people pleaser.

THREE TAKEAWAYS TO REMEMBER

• Caring about people is a strength. Being controlled by their opinions is a weakness.
• Sometimes we want people to be happy more than we want to do what is right.
• The goal is not to care less about people. It is to fear their disapproval less.

Whether you're the outgoing person who wants everyone to like you or the quiet person who never wants to disappoint anyone, this episode is about learning to love people with greater freedom, confidence, and sincerity.

We don't need to become less thoughtful or compassionate. We need to become more courageous in doing what is right.

Because the goal isn't to please everyone. It's to love others while faithfully pleasing God.

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks!

Try our New Website!
And check out the new book: How to Find Jesus in the Psalms

Cunningham Financial and Jon Cunningham have been an amazing support to my family. I encourage you to call him with any and all financial planning needs! 

Call Jon today! 205-913-1720

Forgiveness Is Complicated

Forgiveness sounds simple until we're the ones who have been hurt. What happens when both people are wrong? What if someone hurts us but doesn't believe they've sinned? What if we disagree about what happened? And what if someone refuses to repent?

In this episode, we begin by asking a different question: What do I really want when I ask God to forgive me? His forgiveness involves so much more than escaping punishment. We want mercy, compassion, restored fellowship, and the opportunity to become better people.

But are we willing to extend those same things to others?

We'll explore four complicated situations involving forgiveness, the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, and why a forgiving heart doesn't necessarily mean restored trust. Most importantly, we'll consider how the mercy we've received from God should transform the way we respond to those who hurt us.

Forgiveness isn't pretending that wrong is right. It's refusing to let wrong have the final word in our hearts.

Key Scriptures: Luke 17:3–4; Luke 6:27–28; Romans 12:17–21; Ephesians 4:31–32.

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks!

Check out our New Website: www.excelstillmore.life. You can read the Bible, read articles, listen to podcasts and sermons, check out new books, and explore 255 Christian businesses!

Please check out our new book: Finding Jesus in the Psalms. This is my first reader-instructional book, and I hope you love the journey.

For any financial needs, reach out to Jon Cunningham. 
He continues to help my family, and I know he can help you. 

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 205-913-1720

And for home owneship needs, call Tyler Cain, a Senior Loan Officer 

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 813-380-8487

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

What if the best way to improve your own life is to invest in the people and environments around you?

We've all heard the expression, "A rising tide lifts all boats." But what if we started living like we believed it? Rather than focusing exclusively on our own success, what if we worked to create conditions where everyone had a better opportunity to grow?

In this episode of Excel Still More, we're exploring the power of investing in others and building environments that encourage growth. Whether it's strengthening faith, developing deeper friendships, improving fitness, or making wiser financial decisions, the principle remains the same: When we help raise the tide, we rise with it.

We'll consider practical questions about the environments we're creating, the people we're influencing, and the opportunities we have to make life better for those around us.

You don't have to lift every boat. Sometimes the greatest thing you can do is help raise the water.

Let's Excel Still More, together!

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GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY: JESUS BOOKS (Book on Amazon)

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Excel Still More Journal - Amazon

New GENESIS Daily Bible Devotional!

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Email: [email protected]

Phone: 205-913-1720

Sponsor: Tyler Cain, Senior Loan Officer 

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 813-380-8487

What if the hardest part of Start, Stop, Continue is simply learning to stop? Not only from sinful or harmful things, but from good, useful, ordinary things that can quietly crowd out what matters most.

In this episode, we begin in Leviticus 23, where God deliberately built Sabbath rest, remembrance, and interruption into Israel’s life. We then move into the New Testament and the example of Jesus, who regularly withdrew from crowds, activity, and demands in order to pray and be with the Father.

From there, we consider insights from Dr. Arthur Brooks on technology, meaning, and the danger of becoming “deskilled in the deepest mysteries of life.” Our phones have nearly eliminated boredom, silence, and reflection. So how do we get some of that back?

The answer may be surprisingly simple: TIME. ZONES. FASTS.

Set times when the phone is off limits. Create places where it does not go. Practice regular periods of separation.

The goal is not to hate technology. It is to refuse to be mastered by it, to make room for faith and relationships, and to recover the ability to be still, think deeply, and know God.

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BRAND NEW - Daily Seek Ye First Journal

Finding Jesus First - OT Bible Series

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Sponsor: Jon Cunningham, Cunningham Financial

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 205-913-1720

Sponsor: Tyler Cain, Senior Loan Officer 

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 813-380-8487

A surprising number of the problems we face are preventable. We spend too much time thinking about ourselves, too much energy thinking negatively about other people, and too much of today looking backward at yesterday. Before long, we are discouraged, distracted, frustrated, and stuck.

There is a better way to begin each day: J.O.Y.

Jesus first. Others second. Yourself third.

When you start every morning by putting Jesus first, you remember who you belong to and what matters most. When you turn your attention toward others, you begin looking for ways to encourage, serve, forgive, and help instead of criticizing and comparing. And when you put yourself in the proper place, you discover that humility does not diminish your life. It gives your life direction.

That order produces three things we desperately need: humility, hope, and purpose. Humility keeps us from making everything about ourselves. Hope keeps the past from controlling the future. Purpose gives us something meaningful to pursue today.

From there, every day becomes an opportunity to make simple adjustments: start what helps, stop what hurts, and continue what is already working.

You cannot change yesterday, and you cannot control everyone around you. But you can decide how you will begin today. Start with Jesus. Think about others. Put yourself in the right place. Then move forward with humility, hope, and purpose.

Choose J.O.Y. every morning, and give yourself a better chance to live a better day.

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks!

GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY: JESUS BOOKS (Book on Amazon)

[email protected]

Excel Still More Journal - Amazon

New GENESIS Daily Bible Devotional!

Daily Bible Devotional Series - Amazon

Sponsor: Jon Cunningham, Cunningham Financial

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 205-913-1720

Sponsor: Tyler Cain, Senior Loan Officer 

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 813-380-8487

Simon Sinek’s Start With Why challenges us to begin with the deeper purpose behind what we do. That principle has powerful applications for faith and relationships. In the Christian life, the sequence matters: Grace, Faith, Life. We begin with what God has done for us. His grace produces faith, and genuine faith shapes the way we live. Too often, we start with behavior and work backward. But when we understand the “why,” everything changes. In this episode, we explore how starting with grace can deepen our faith, strengthen our relationships, and produce a life that flows naturally from gratitude, purpose, and love.

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks!

GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS: JESUS BOOKS (Book on Amazon)

[email protected]

Excel Still More Journal - Amazon

New GENESIS Daily Bible Devotional!

Daily Bible Devotional Series - Amazon

Sponsor: Jon Cunningham, Cunningham Financial

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 205-913-1720

Sponsor: Tyler Cain, Senior Loan Officer 

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 813-380-8487

Stages of Growth

What does spiritual maturity actually look like?

In 1 John 2:12–24, John speaks to little children, young men, and fathers—a beautiful picture of stages of growth in the Christian life. We begin as little children, overwhelmed with gratitude that our sins are forgiven and that we belong to God. As we grow, that gratitude develops into the strength of young men—a life of sacrificial service, overcoming the evil one and giving ourselves fully to the work of God.

But maturity takes us even deeper. Like fathers who have “known Him who is from the beginning,” we learn to rest in something greater than what God has done for us or even what we can do for Him: simply knowing God Himself.

We never leave gratitude behind. We never outgrow service. We carry both with us as we mature into a deeper relationship with the eternal God.

Grateful for what He has done.
Committed to what we can do for Him.
Growing to simply know Him.

That is the journey of spiritual growth.

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NEW GENESIS: A JESUS BOOK (Book on Amazon)

[email protected]

Excel Still More Journal - Amazon

New GENESIS Daily Bible Devotional!

Daily Bible Devotional Series - Amazon

Sponsor: Jon Cunningham, Cunningham Financial

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 205-913-1720

Sponsor: Tyler Cain, Senior Loan Officer 

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 813-380-8487

Top 5 Arguments AGAINST Praying to Jesus:
1) Jesus taught His disciples to pray to the Father.

2) Jesus Himself prayed to the Father

3) The apostles normally addressed prayers to God/the Father.

4) Jesus is specifically described as our mediator/intercessor.

5) "In Jesus' Name" naturally suggests praying to God through Jesus.

Top 5 Arguments FOR Praying to Jesus:

1) Stephen directly addressed Jesus while dying.

2) Paul apparently prayed directly to Jesus about the thorn in the flesh.

3) Revelation ends with a direct request to Jesus.

4) Early Christians are described as people who "call upon" Jesus' name.

5) Psalm 45 / Hebrews 1 provides an intriguing example of praising Jesus.

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks!

[email protected]

Excel Still More Journal - Amazon

New GENESIS Daily Bible Devotional!

Daily Bible Devotional Series - Amazon

Sponsor: Jon Cunningham, Cunningham Financial

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 205-913-1720

Sponsor: Tyler Cain, Senior Loan Officer 

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 813-380-8487

Job's Friends Did Some Things Right:

1. They Showed Up

2. They Entered Into His Grief

3. They Sat In Silence

4. They Believed Strongly In God

5. They Spoke What They Believed

Eliphas was influenced by Experience

Bildad by Tradition. Zophar by Certainty. 

So, they made some prideful mistakes:

1. They assumed they knew why Job was suffering

2. They turned principles into absolute truths

3. They stopped listening

4. Their accusations became harsher

5. They lacked compassion

6. They spoke for God without understanding God