NEWS: Joel Osteen Ministries Blogs About “The Power of A Half Hour”

The Power of A Half hour by Tommy Barnett is the topic on Joel Osteen Ministries blog.

Osteen writes, “As my friend, Tommy Barnett shares in his new book, The Power of a Half Hour thirty minutes can wreck or redeem a life. Think about all you can do in thirty minutes; have lunch, watch television, check Facebook, or work on your goals and dreams, get ahead, build a relationship, or grow with God. The time passes anyway. You decide if that time is used to help you get ahead or not.”

To read the complete post, click here.

Ignite the Ordinary

Today’s Bible reading: Exodus 3:1–10

When you strip the biblical miracles of their spectacular special effects, a common plot point emerges: extraordinary moves of God begin with ordinary acts of obedience.

Consider Moses’s first encounter with God.

Moses is tending the family sheep out in the nondescript countryside.

He happens to notice a bush that’s caught fire.

He walks over to take a look…

Up to this point, it’s not exactly a riveting scene, is it?

In reality, the illustrious burning-bush encounter that seemed so captivating in Sunday school is…really…quite…ordinary. Moses is performing menial manual labor, working for his father-in-law. It’s dusty. The sheep stink. Does it get any more mundane?

Almost all encounters with God begin that way. You may be living under the illusion that when God ignites great things in your life, He’ll announce it with a [ … ]

On the 12th Day of Christmas…Classic Books, Timeless Wisdom

We all know them.

They’re the ones with a degree in English literature, theology, or philosophy. (Maybe even all three!) They pin quotes from great thinkers, writers and artists on their Pinterest boards. These people say things like, “As the great apologists say…”, and they head straight to the musty, dusty bookshelves in every antique store.

These are the Classics-lovers.

If you gift wrap a gorgeous, leather-bound tome with fragile pages full of long-standing wisdom, these people will talk about your excellent gift giving skills all year long. But let’s face it–the books that aren’t leather-bound are pretty great, too.

On this 12th Day of Christmas, I wanted to share a few of my favorite classic authors and books with you. These books are bursting with soul-nourishing, timeless wisdom, but manage to be as accessible and enjoyable a read as [ … ]

Home for the Holidays

Christmas has a way of beckoning us home, doesn’t it? We long for our loved ones to be seated at our holiday tables, gathered cozy in our festive living rooms, and posing for family photos at the blazing hearth. Expectations can be high and disappointments can run deep when what we want – everyone home for Christmas – isn’t what we have. We want to be home and we want everyone we love to be home with us.

It’s interesting that we should feel this way when we consider that Joseph and Mary were far from home the night Jesus was born. The shepherds that celebrated with this little family on that starry night were strangers, not loved ones, and the setting wasn’t cozy or festive. And yet when we think of that first Christmas, we think of joy, serenity, [ … ]

SNEAK PEEK: Crash the Chatterbox by Steven Furtick

Read the first chapter of Crash the Chatterbox.

Crashing the chatterbox = Overpowering lies of insecurity, fear, condemnation, and discouragement with the promises of God.

I used to think that someone who struggled with the kinds of weaknesses I deal with daily was useless to God. I felt so often like I was drowning in internal dialogue I couldn’t control. It had been the soundtrack of my life for as long as I could remember. Yet everything changed when I began to realize God has given us the ability to choose the dialogue we believe and respond to. And once we learn how, we can switch from lies to truth as deliberately as we can choose the Beatles over Miley Cyrus on satellite radio.

 

A Perfect Christmas Gift

Tis the season to ponder your budget in time and money for a blowout, sensational, colossal, I-appreciate-you-more-than-you-can-fathom gift exchange. . . . Or not.

I love shopping for the perfect gift for someone I love. And I have a few tips for getting it right.

My son is a self-proclaimed, academic elitist. And at the other end of the spectrum, a role-playing gamer with a collection of fantasy and science fiction that should be bequeathed to a library in his will. My son-in-law has several hidden talents, and I always look for something to nurture those abilities that lurk under the surface. My daughter wears funky clothes. No problem there. My daughter-in-law likes quirky jewelry.

My advice: Identify the inner interests and cater to those. Or, identify an obvious, surface trait and cater to that.

But there is [ … ]

Grow Your Gratitude

“If you want to grow your faith, grow your gratitude. To grow your gratitude, take time to count your blessings.
When you take time to stop and look around you—to look at the people who invest in you and those from the past who helped build your character and your life—you remember things that you can never take credit for. They were given to you, like Grandma’s prayers that accompanied you on your salvation journey, like the providence of God that led you to meet your spouse, like the miracle birth of your child, circumstances that allowed you to go to college, the friend of a friend who paved the path for your first job. Once you start counting blessings—many of them ones you have never before acknowledged—you will be overwhelmed. Once you start the list, you’ll find it’s [ … ]

Beautiful messes

Christians don’t like mess much, not in our world and especially not in ourselves or our churches. Somewhere along the line, we have embraced a picture of a Jesus who would turn us into perfect people unpolluted by the world or our own sin. But He didn’t. In Him we are new creations; in ourselves we are dump dwellers. Longing for our full redemption, we strive to please Him and groan in our fallenness and bask in His beauty. For whatever reason, Jesus didn’t choose to instantly sanitize the whole lot of us. We often think He did, though, so we spend a lot of time running around with mops and buckets, getting ready for a bunk inspection. In our kingdoms, we begin to believe that we can fix all our messes. In Jesus’ kingdom, He alone can start with [ … ]

The Prayer That Stopped the Sun

Today’s Bible reading: Joshua 10:1–14

Right here on Day 1, I’m going to throw out a challenge to you: If you’re not daring to believe God for the impossible, you’re sleeping through some of the best parts of your Christian life. And further
still, if the size of your vision for your life isn’t intimidating to you, there’s a good chance it’s insulting to God. You should be living by audacious faith every day. Audacity is not just for “elite Christians.”
It’s intended for every believer. So today we’re beginning a spiritual journey toward trusting God for what seems impossible. I’m thrilled to think about what it’s going to do for our lives and our world.

A story from the life of Joshua serves as our template for audacious faith.

The Israelites unleash a surprise attack on the [ … ]

Priests Without Collars

“As priests, we are responsible to each other and to our culture to encourage, to challenge, to walk alongside one another on this journey with Jesus. God wants to use you to make an impact for Him each day by serving as a reconciler, as a go-between for other people and Himself.
Though Jesus bridges the gap between God and people, He commissions you to lead people to God and help them find reconciliation. When I think of this, my first reaction is to feel unworthy. The images of the deeds I’ve done and the words I’ve said make for a pretty squalid rerun. But when, at the prompting of God, I reach out and intentionally help others as a priest, I get an amazing benefit back. I feel stronger, more empowered, renewed. I live with eyes wide open.”

[ … ]