My old friend Bill Bright and I would often speak together at events sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ. We had a regular procedure on such occasions. I would begin by confronting the listeners with hard truths about themselves. Many times I could be heard expounding a favorite text from Colossians: “Put off all these; …
Category Archives: Partner Ministries
65805 5. Living with Others
We just discussed the importance of living with yourself. However, your behavior with and toward others is just as important in building self-respect. And I have discovered that our interactions with other people often reveal unexpected, self-centered behavior. My Trip with a Good Friend Several years ago, a mission organization executive for whom I had …
65806 6. How Are You Using Your Words?
The use of words is the most common subject that comes up when people come to see me for counseling. With words, we compliment and praise one another. Our words can be comforting, helpful, supportive, and instructive, revealing all the good things that are on our mind. At the same time, words can cut, hurt, …
65807 7. Are Your Feelings and Emotions Positive or Negative?
A friend of mine was the supervisor of summer volunteers for a mission organization. He shared this story with me that illustrates that how we respond to our life situations really does make all the difference in the world. He assigned two couples to different areas of an island populated with disadvantaged people. Each couple …
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65808 8. What’s in Your Head?
What goes on in your head is the most private part of your inner life. The longer I work with people, the more convinced I am that everyone can and does control his or her own mind. We make our own decisions, and no one can change them. Power to Choose Here are some areas …
65809 9. Goals
I’m firmly convinced that the goals we set for ourselves account for one of the most crucial factors of all in helping us to experience happiness. Goals bring life into focus. They give meaning and purpose to life. But they must all be grounded in God’s plans and purposes. Climbing Mt. Whitney I have a …
65810 10. Marriage and Parenting
I have found that there is nothing that seems to affect our happiness more than our close relationships, specifically those of marriage and parenting. Your marriage partner is typically more intimately involved in your life than anyone else and your children usually run a close second. However, it is important to remember that how we …
65811 11. Happiness – It’s Your Choice!
Our happiness is not something that happens to us. It is something you and I have control over. God’s Word has so much to teach us about how we can make choices that will help us to experience not only his perfect plan for our lives, but his peace and joy and contentment. This book …
65509 9. Pride: It’s All About Me
It is no accident that we start our tour of the sin families with the sin of pride. In some sense, pride is the foundational sin. As Bible commentator William Barclay declared, “Pride is the ground in which all the other sins grow, and the parent from which all rebellion against God’s commands. Pride may …
65510 10. Fear: From Doubt to Dread
Fuss and feverishness, anxiety, intensity, intolerance, instability, pessimism and wobble, and every kind of hurry and worry—these, even on the highest levels,” declared spiritual writer Evelyn Underhill, “are signs of the self-made and self-acting soul; the spiritual parvenu.”1 A parvenu is someone who has been raised to a new position but has not yet acquired …