There seems to be a popular belief in our culture that the only way to get ahead is to only watch out for ‘number one.’ This means that you do what you think is best for yourself and not care about other people.

On the contrary, that is not how God designed us to live. Rather than being consumed with thoughts about ourselves, we are called to esteem and serve others. That’s why our greatest success in life is often found in helping others succeed.

When you help others, it first opens up your heart to the needs of others. Secondly, it opens your life to a whole new level of possibilities. Without question, when you focus on helping others succeed, eventually your payoff will be far greater than your investment.

Scripture Focus:

“Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”– Philippians 2:4 (NLT)

To live a happy and meaningful life is something we all aspire to. But too often, we make the mistake of looking at others and comparing our worth to theirs. These thoughts only foster feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy. 

The real shift in your life happens when you can look deep within yourself and discover your own worth and value. This requires that you first get rid of the negative narrative you have created about yourself, and allow God’s grace to rewrite your story. 

Neither your past, or the people in it, has any bearing whatsoever on what your future looks like in Christ. No matter how many times you’ve failed, despite how impressed you are with someone else’s success, when you discover who God created you to be, then nothing can stop you from having the life He designed for you! 

Scripture Focus: 

“I will give thanks to you because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made. Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this.” Psalms‬ ‭139:14‬ ‭(GW‬‬T) 

We live in a time of overwhelming gaps and brokenness in our society. The world has never been more interconnected through social media and technology. Yet, the sad reality is that we have never been more separated.

Because there is a great divide in our culture like never before, the world needs more bridge builders. What is a bridge builder? In times of conflict, a bridge builder seeks to bring people together, not tear them apart.

All throughout His life and ministry, Jesus built bridges where religion had built walls. He stood in the gap between Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, prostitutes and Pharisees. Ultimately, He came to bridge the gap between God and man.

Just like Jesus, we are called to be bridge builders. Bridging the gap and overcoming the barriers that divide us will take much prayer, understanding, compassion, and patience. In essence, we must be intentional about reconciling a spiritually broken and disconnected world.

Scripture Focus:

”For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” – 1 Timothy 2:5

When God created the world, He created man and woman in His own image. The original mandate given to man was to be fruitful, multiply, and rule over all God had created. As part of that rule, God gave Adam the authority to name the animals, which was the first creative act of man.

Whether we realize it or not, God designed each one of us with a divine ability to create. We are the unique handiwork of God, and within our DNA is creative ability to fulfill our unique purpose on earth. In other words, we are created to reflect our Creator, the source of all creativity.

Every person reading this today is creative in some way. Whether you are involved in a task, a project, or some team-building effort, you are creative. When you pen a poem, write an essay, prepare a presentation, paint a picture, or coordinate an event, you are using your gift of creativity!

Do you know what creative skills or abilities you possess? Send in your prayer requests today and let’s believe that the spirit of creativity would be activated in your life and creative ideas would come forth.


Scripture Focus:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)