Receiving God’s love and trusting His love is all we really need to overcome our limitations or anything else we feel is holding us back. The love of God and the identity He gives to us as His children gives us a sense of possibility within, that it is going to be okay, and that we really can do amazing things in Him. Being faithful to His love becomes real success, and spiritually authentic self becomes the vehicle God uses... Read more
This is not a time for gloom and doom. The church can shine its brightest in a dark hour. When my friend Ferrell Hardison moved to the town of Princeton, N.C., in 1990, he began pastoring a Pentecostal church with 70 people. Founded in 1918, it was a tired, aging congregation with a tiny budget. Ferrell was the 25th pastor to lead the church, and some of his predecessors had stayed only a year or two. Not exactly a young... Read more
When I was 12, I had to memorize the poem “The Blind Men and the Elephant” for a school competition. I’ve never forgotten it. Six blind men describe with great certainty the mighty elephant, each touching only one part of it, never the whole animal. The one part they do experience and describe seems very accurate, but their overall conclusions about the whole elephant are wildly and laughably distorted. They assume their experience and viewpoint is the totality of the... Read more
Perhaps your life is like a total eclipse of the sun right now. I’ve run into a lot of people who are having really difficult times. It is a time where much is unknown. Discouragement and disappointment can come from everywhere — misunderstandings, family problems, other people, financial problems, business, health, relationships… or everything at once. Disappointment and discouragement will also often be experienced because of other people — a parent, family member, or someone you feel close to who... Read more
Faithful are the wounds of friends that are willing to deliver the truth that may be painful to receive. There is an inexpressible pleasure in the safety of true friends that will never withhold from you timely considerations for your life. In the spirit of love, they are able to share with you what could possibly be the very thing you have been needing to hear. By not having to mince their words, or having to fear the sting of... Read more
The Spirit leads us into divine cooperation with what God is presently doing and what He plans to do. When we align ourselves with the presence of God, He fills us with unexplainable hope, and reveals a life that is much larger than our own. We can look back realizing that God has been with us all along and was engaged with us in every moment. As we live, move, and have our being to the rhythm of His love,... Read more
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. (Proverbs 11:4 NIV) For most of us, jobs are the way we make money, and money is a high priority for us so that we can live the way we want to live, that is, doing our will according to our ways. Many of us view jobs as little more than a necessary evil. If we didn’t have to make money, we probably would not pursue getting... Read more
We live in a world of shifting foundations, where our worldview seems to be redefined every few months, and it can leave us anxious. Yet, we must lead others toward hope filled faith. When we do not live in the peace and expectation of God, we tend to expend our energy negatively by being against things rather than for the things we do believe in as foundational for life. We must not fall into the trap of an energy draining... Read more
Experiencing God is necessary for mental and emotional health. You cannot become whole until you connect with the Center of your very existence, God. Trying to make Self the center will never work in the long run, as a part can never pretend to be the Whole. God wants to set us free from false centers and false identities. Your absolute identity or True Self can never be found outside of God. To know God is to finally know True... Read more
“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed” (Proverbs 13:20). Renowned Russian author and historian, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, said, “Treasure above all else in the world those who love you and wish you well.” We find friendship for a lifetime when we reconnect to community as God designed it to be. There is a clear connection between the quality of life we live, and the type of friends we choose. We have all... Read more
Robert Ricciardelli
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In