Motivation plays a crucial role in our leadership. It’s the driving force that fuels our actions and decisions, and it’s also the tool we use to inspire and propel our team toward achieving common goals. Here’s how motivation factors into leadership.

God is on the move in a unique way in our generation. I believe we’re seeing the beginning of things that God is desiring to do in His Church. Obviously, we are living in challenging times, yet these are great days to be alive because of the great things God has in store. If our focus is only on the darkness of our day, we can become overwhelmed by it. But if we recognize that, in God’s economy, darkness is not the end but is just the beginning, it changes our perspective and outlook. In fact, it changes everything. Let me explain.

Jesus said the greatest challenge to Christians in this generation is not the external circumstances that are happening around us. It has everything to do with our inner lives, the preparation of our hearts within us. We can’t always control what is happening externally, but we do have control over what happens to us internally, meaning over our hearts and how we keep them.

You and a fellow Christian traveler can journey together more successfully than you can individually. You can cheer up each other, help up each other, and back up each other.

I think we have a tendency toward one of two extremes. We’re either preoccupied with the past or fixated on the future. But do you know today matters? And when I say today, I’m not meaning a 24-hour period after which tomorrow comes. What I am talking about is a period in history that is our unique day. It’s a kairos moment, if you will, in the redemptive history of heaven and earth. That’s the today I’m talking about, and that day matters.

I want us to notice three things from this prayer that Jesus prays for every Christian. He prays that God would keep and protect us, unite us, and prepare a place for us.

Jesus had one thing against the church at Ephesus, even though He knew they were doing many of the right things. They were patiently enduring. They were doctrinally pure. They were pushing back against the progressive liberal theologians of their day. They were even persevering in the face of persecution from the pagan culture around them. He saw their works, their service, and their refusal to grow weary in it all. Then Jesus said this: “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first”

Jesus said, “I am the vine, and my Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1 ESV). In one of His most poignant teachings, Jesus compared Himself to a vine and His followers to its branches. This analogy, while primarily directed at His disciples, holds profound truths for all believers. Understanding the life cycle of a vine and correlating it with our spiritual journey can provide us with a deeper insight into the importance of abiding in Him in every season.

God is seeking something. He’s seeking someone. He’s seeking a certain group of people, even on the earth.

What about you? Do you have a promise? More than likely, Gabriel didn’t deliver a message to you from God, but a promise from God is, nonetheless, His promise to you. And I want to talk to you about carrying your promise to its fulfillment by walking through Mary’s story of carrying her promise to term.

Jesus is coming again. Of course, that shouldn’t be a surprise to us Christians. In fact, 75 percent of American Christians surveyed in April of 2022 said they believe Jesus is coming again. Perhaps the more surprising takeaway from that survey is that 25 percent of those Christians don’t believe He is coming again while 55 percent of all U.S. adults believe He is! So, let me say once more, and this time with greater gusto—Jesus is coming again!

Our world is a hot mess. And the news of the day bears this out. When we watch the news or read news feeds, we see what is going on politically and socially in our nation and across the globe. We can read the news through a two-dimensional lens like left-right political glasses. Or we may read the news through our consumer culture, personal freedom, or social justice lenses. And all that does is it sets us up for more conflict and confusion. 

On the morning of October 7, Hamas—a terrorist organization that has taken over the political apparatus of the Palestinian territory of Gaza—staged a massive terrorist attack against Israel. Innocent Jewish citizens of Israel were murdered, tortured, raped, kidnapped, and assaulted by mercinaries of an organization that has written into its mission statement, “the extermination of Israel and all Jewish people.” Where did this kind of hatred come from?

Our enemy, the devil, is crafty. He is scheming. He is wily. Jesus called him “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44 ESV). And from Genesis to Revelation, we read about his trickery and deceit—this “deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9 ESV). It’s no wonder, then, that the enemy’s primary tactic is deception. He roams about the earth looking for those whom he can deceive and thereby devour. 

Why pray?

Because we are in a war. Because we need divine strength and intervention to fight. Because we need strategies and tactics to combat the enemy. Because prayer changes us, prayer moves the heavens, and prayer alters the course of the battle.

Without the weapon of prayer, we will lose the war. But with prayer, we will win the victory. And so, we must pray, and we must believe that our prayers work—that our prayers are effective.

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face,” heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson famously said. This was his response to a reporter’s question about the fight plan of Tyson’s rival, Evander Holyfield. I’m sure one well-landed punch to the head from a champion like Tyson could temporarily, if not permanently, erase any thoughts a competitor had at the time. After all, an online article claims, back in the day, a Tyson punch was equivalent to being hit by a Vespa and shot with 13 guns in the face. I don’t know how true that is, but the boxing world doesn’t call Tyson “Iron Mike” for nothing.

Who would have thought that those Marvel comic book heroes we loved as kids would one day come together and walk right onto the big screen? With over thirty Marvel movies to date, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has rocked the box office with its action-packed, superhero stories. Starting with Captain America: The First Avenger, the franchise created a film that depicted civilian Steve Rogers undergoing a surgical procedure that greatly enhanced his strength and human ability. 

The unsung hero of US westward expansion in the nineteenth century was the ox. Oxen pulled half to three-quarters of all the one-ton-plus wagons that trudged their way through the 1,200 to 2,100 miles of the Oregon, Santa Fe, and other overland trails. The temperament and strength of the ox made it the right beast for the job, whether that be pulling carts, plowing fields, or hauling fallen trees. And for the pioneers driven by the vision of a new life in the wild frontier, they needed the courage of a lion and the burden-bearing strength and grit of the ox.

Throughout history, leaders have been anointed and appointed. Take, for example, the recent coronation of King Charles III on May 6, 2023. Millions of people watched as the former Prince of Wales became the King of the United Kingdom. One portion of the ceremony, however, was kept from the peering eye of the public. It was the anointing of the king. Beyond being a private and intimate part of the coronation, it was a ritual that in bygone days was believed to confer divine office, help, authority, and power upon the monarch. Hidden under a canopy, the Archbishop of Canterbury anointed the sovereign’s hands, chest, and head with holy oil. Interestingly, the Ampulla that held the sacred oil the Archbishop used was in the shape of an eagle.