I’m a recovering prayer wimp. For years my prayers seemed to zig, then zag, then zig again. Maybe you can relate. Perhaps your prayer life could use a tune up, a reboot? If that sounds overwhelming, I’m inviting you to a simpler plan. Four minutes, plus four weeks, equals forever change! Every day for four weeks, pray for four minutes, focusing on these core elements of prayer:

Father, You are good.

I need help.

They need help.

Thank you.

It’s that simple. Really! Talking with God doesn’t have to be complicated or complex. The power isn’t in the words we pray, but in the One who hears them. Here’s my challenge for you: every day for four weeks, pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before.

Read more Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Jesus' upside-down kingdom upends everything we thought we knew about the good life. Matthew 5 reveals that the blessed ones live in an inverted reality. In this message, Pastor Philip Miller unveils how Jesus offers an internal transformation that resets our broken moral compass. Jesus is picking the people least likely.

This is part two of the sermon, "The Blessed Ones."

This month's special offer is available for a donation of any amount. Get yours at https://livinghopeoffer.net or call us at 1-800-215-5001. 

01:29 – The Global Impact: How the central message of Jesus changed the world.
04:36 – Setting the Stage: The context of Jesus' baptism and victory.
11:24 – A Literal Hand: Why Jesus' invites us to take His hand today.
15:35 – The Subtle Seed: Understanding the "first wave" of the kingdom.
18:58 – Kingdom Influence: Why Jesus bypasses political protest and violence.
20:30 – Listening In: This Sermon is for the faithful few and the curious crowd.

Moody Church Media [https://www.moodymedia.org/], home of "Living Hope" and "Moody Church Hour," exists to bring glory to God through the transformation of lives. 

Dr. Philip Miller is the 17th Senior Pastor of The Moody Church. He is the featured speaker on "Living Hope" and "Moody Church Hour," with programs broadcasting on 700 outlets in the U.S. He and his wife Krista live in Chicago with their four children. Pastor Philip is passionate about proclaiming God's Word, cultivating healthy ministry, and investing in future leaders. 

SUPPORT: 

Tax Deductible Support: https://www.moodymedia.org/donate/ 

Become an Endurance Partner: https://endurancepartners.org/ 

SUBSCRIBE:  

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MoodyChurchMedia 

Daily Devotional and Weekly Digest: https://www.moodymedia.org/newsletters/subscription/

What does it really mean to be called a child of God? Being in Christ means that we're in a world of safety, security, and certainty. In this message, Pastor Lutzer reveals our complete pardon and identity in Christ. The righteousness of Christ is now ours and will take us all the way to heaven.

This month's special offer is available for a donation of any amount. Get yours at https://offerrtw.com or call us at 1-800-215-5001. 

Moody Church Media [https://www.moodymedia.org/], home of "Running To Win," exists to bring glory to God through the transformation of lives. 

Erwin W. Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church in Chicago, where he served as Senior Pastor for 36 years. He is a prolific author of over seventy books. A clear expositor of the Bible, he is the featured speaker on "Running To Win" and "Songs In The Night," with programs broadcasting on over a thousand outlets in the U.S. and across more than fifty countries in seven languages. He and his wife, Rebecca, live in the Chicago area. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren. 

SUPPORT: 

Tax Deductible Support: https://www.moodymedia.org/donate/ 

Become an Endurance Partner: https://endurancepartners.org/ 

We all struggle with seeing God show mercy to those we think don't deserve it. After a second chance, Jonah finally traveled to the great city of Nineveh. In this message, Pastor Lutzer explains how Jonah's heart remained out of sync with God's heart for Ninevah. Will we resent the Lord's kindness toward others?

This month's special offer is available for a donation of any amount. Get yours at https://rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. 

Moody Church Media [https://www.moodymedia.org/], home of "Running To Win," exists to bring glory to God through the transformation of lives. 

Erwin W. Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church in Chicago, where he served as Senior Pastor for 36 years. He is a prolific author of over seventy books. A clear expositor of the Bible, he is the featured speaker on "Running To Win" and "Songs In The Night," with programs broadcasting on over a thousand outlets in the U.S. and across more than fifty countries in seven languages. He and his wife, Rebecca, live in the Chicago area. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren. 

SUPPORT: 

Tax Deductible Support: https://www.moodymedia.org/donate/ 

Become an Endurance Partner: https://endurancepartners.org/ 

The church was never meant to sit still.  Today on BOLD STEPS, Mark Jobe launches a powerful series called Velocity … Church on the Move.  We’re asking a big question: what does it actually look like to live as “movement people” … called out, Spirit-filled, and unleashed for God’s purposes?  Find out what velocity looks like in your own life ... listen to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe!

Bold Steps Gift: Tenacious: Living a Faith That Outlives You

Become a Bold Partner: https://www.moodyradio.org/donateto/boldsteps

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It seems like I’ve been on a diet since I was about six months old, or at least it seems that way. My “thorn in my flesh” could be my metabolism. Is that possible? It refuses to convert calories; it loves to store calories instead. Now, over the years, I’ve made friends with my metabolism, and thankfully I was able to knock off a good amount of that. I’ve learned how much intake I can stand in relation to how much I’ll be doing that day. The problem is that the day is filled with caloric choices, whether it’s a nibble on those snacks that somebody brought to the office, or getting a sandwich from the deli like everybody else is, or eating that tempting dinner that someone has prepared.

I’ve learned a fundamental principle of how to control your weight. You have to decide in advance what you’re going to do. You choose your lunch fare before your appetite or your opportunity chooses for you. I have to decide in the morning what I’m going to do about lunch. And you decide early in the day that perhaps you’re not going to eat dinner or you’re going to figure out a very low-calorie dinner. In fact, pre-choosing? That’s actually the way to control of any part of your life.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Fighting Temptation Before it Hits.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Daniel 1:8. Daniel is actually a captive in another country; he is in Babylon. The Jews have been carried away to captivity there. He’s been identified as kind of a leadership prospect, and he and some of his friends are kind of in the leadership academy there, and he’s being asked to eat food that is forbidden to him by his Jewish faith. He says he won’t do it.

The Bible puts it this way, “Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way.” He goes ahead and eats a diet that is consistent with his convictions and he ends up stronger than any of those who ate the prescribed diet.

Notice here his resolution came before – ahead of time – that he was not going to eat it. Then he took action to support that choice. He had already resolved what he would not eat. See, most of us don’t do that; we make situational choices. Right in the middle of it we’ll say, “I’ll see how I feel. I’ll see how it’s going. I’ll see which way the wind’s blowing. I’ll see how it goes. I’ll see what the circumstances are.” Well, that’s a good way to get blown away spiritually by temptation.

Remember this, the key to no-regrets choices is deciding in advance. I guess Sampson had never really made up his mind how far he would go. And with Delilah he lost his leadership and he lost his life. But Daniel, in contrast, knew where his line was and became one of God’s great leaders. He had decided in advance.

Now, if you’re facing a situation where you’ll be tempted to give away what you’ll later wish you hadn’t, decide in advance how you’re going to handle it. That’s nowhere more crucial than in keeping sex pure and special. You set your line sometime when you’re alone with your Lord, and then you don’t violate that boundary. You don’t let your glands decide. Your glands make lousy choices.

Maybe you’re in a situation where you’re going to be tempted to tell something less than the truth. Well, you’ve got to decide now to tell the truth and what truth you’ll tell. It might be a situation where you’re going to be offered a chance to sin possibly. Would you decide now how you’re going to answer? We live in a world where 99% of the pressure is to not do it God’s way. If you wait and see how it’s going to go, I know how it’s going to go – so do you. You’ll make a wrong choice.

No, you see, like a dieter, you have to know now what you’re going to do then. Remember, the key to no-regrets choices i

The post Kickers can kill. appeared first on Key Life.

A month of fidelity, not pride.

___________

Partner with thousands of others in supporting The Colson Center by visiting colsoncenter.org/cornerstone.

Discover the nine characteristics of a person who is experiencing the favorable hand of God.

Donate: https://store.intouch.org/donate/general

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.