Betrayal is as old as humankind.  A strong alliance or partnership is suddenly dissolved.  Close, intimate friends are wounded.  Cynicism sets in as it seems “no one can be trusted.”

There’s hope after betrayal. 

We’ve all been there (including me) and I can help you with a few perspectives:

Elijah had an amazing day.  He wiped out 850 idolatrous prophets and ended a 3 1/2 year nationwide drought by one prayer!  Not bad, huh?  Why in the world is he praying to die the next day?

Mood swings.  They are real.  It feels like the floor disappeared and you are in a free fall. 

What was the source of Elijah’s downward spiral and how did he come out of it?

A policeman has a uniform, a badge, and a weapon.  Without them, he blends into the crowd.  He has no authority.  Wearing them, he carries all authority.

Jesus said, “I have all authority in heaven and earth.”  Why are Christians still living as “victims” instead of “victors?”

Let’s go to work on how you see yourself and why you have lived a life of “retreat” and “defeat”:

The famous hymn, “It Is Well" is one of my favorites.  We all love to sing it but never answer this question:  “Is it well with my soul?” 

HERE ARE THREE KEY QUESTIONS THAT WILL HELP YOU TO KNOW THAT:

We have all made bad decisions. How can you undo them? By making ONE GOOD DECISION. Like a compass, one good decision will start you on the way to navigate out of a world of bad decisions!

Electricity flows through connection.  When connections fray, a “short-circuit” can happen. Living day in, day out for many years can fray your relationship. 

How do you restore the “power” and “magnetism” of marriage? 

HERE ARE SOME THOUGHTS I HAVE HAD TO WORK THROUGH MYSELF IN MY 43 YEARS:

Have you ever thrown something away you wish you had back again?  Whatever you do, don’t throw away your confidence!  You have every reason to hold on to it. 

“Confidence” affects everything:  your spiritual life, your work life, your social life, your moral life. 

Here are five elements of confidence that can shape your legacy:

An insult is a hard thing to handle.  Our pride, position, and even personhood is attacked.  We all tend to automatically lash out in retaliation.

How do you resist the urge to “fight fire with fire?” 

Here are some thoughts to help you calm down and let God fight your battles:

Decisions cause regret.  Someone said, “If you made no decisions, you would have no regrets!”  Regret can paralyze your forward motion for years.

How do you recover from a bad decision…especially one that can never be reversed? God can defeat your regret. 

Here are some steps I have followed to get it OFF my trail:

This May was 50 years in the ministry for me.  I started preaching at 16 and have just turned 66!  I see so many pastors and leaders hurting.  Marriage stress…health breakdowns…children challenges…implosion from temptation.  If you love your pastor, read on.

I’ve developed a tool to stem the tide:  “Pastors University.”  It’s “50 lessons from 50 years.”

Here are the four basic areas of this one year course where I will personally teach four intensive “modules” that each last three days:

Do you feel like you’ve been “dealt a bad hand?”  Circumstances have been reversed?  On a streak of bad luck? 

Try these secrets for turning “bitterness into blessing”!

I am not a great snow skier. I recall a time I slid down a mountain and was only stopped when I hit a snow fence and “face-planted” on the other side of it!

Snow skiing is “slightly downhill and out of control.”  Kind of like TEMPTATION. 

Sin is a slippery slope. 

HOW CAN YOU PUT ON THE BRAKES WHEN YOU ARE ABOUT TO SLIDE OFF THE MOUNTAIN? 

“Drive” is important.  It is the motivation to progress, to accomplish, to produce, to excel.  Nothing every happens without drive.  God made us to “be fruitful” but that doesn’t mean that crops will grow by themselves.

“Driven” is dangerous.  It wrecks relationships.  It turns to envy and road rage.  It damages health.  It forces us to perform rather than fulfilling us when we perform.

 How do you know when you are being driven?

Leaders face crisis.  Parents face crisis.  Nations face crisis.  Dealing with crisis correctly can mean the difference in a marriage divorcing or a war starting. 

Here are four things I have learned to always do when a crisis, a trauma, a shocking development occurs:

People often ask, “Why should I bring my child to church?” Or, “What are the values a child should learn from a life in church?” 

Here are the 10 powerful values I learned in church and then transferred to my children:

Sometimes, leaders face impossible circumstances…like Jericho.  Two huge, impenetrable walls.  No way out or in.  No hope.   We all face those walls. 

How do we get the impossible to move out of our way?

Insecurity, in all of us, is a huge problem.  It pressures us to act like someone we are not in order to get approval.

This 8.5 MILLION pound boulder recently smashed into a highway in Colorado.  It’s so big they are building a new road around it!  Somehow, it reminds me of God Himself who called Himself “THE ROCK.”

I love blessings.  God loves to give them.

The only caveat?  You need to love Him, honor Him, and serve Him.

You do?  Then, here are the 5 amazing blessings from Ps. 112:

Fathering is a heart connection.

Parenting is more than proximity.  It is the power to encourage, comfort, and urge your child to win.

Here are the 5 main things to equip you for this lifelong project:

The biggest giants you face are the ones in your mind.  I have learned that “limiting beliefs” are holding me back from any area I must conquer.

Here are the “FIVE GIANTS” of limitations that you must conquer to enter your promised land of success: