Everyone wants to know how to multiply their business, their finances, and their influence. Jesus showed us the secret by having the crowd of people sit down in groups of 50 before He multiplied the bread. Order precedes multiplication.

I have observed that multiplication is wishful thinking for most leaders. They forget that God is “not the author of confusion” and that everything should be done “decently and in order.”

Everyone struggles with their tongue. Sometimes it feels like a coiled up viper, ready to strike. No matter how hard you grit your teeth to stop it, it will come flying out at a moment’s notice! James described your tongue as a runaway horse: “And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

We all reach a point where we need to take a break. Jesus told His disciples to come apart and rest for a while. Someone said once, "if you don’t come apart you will surely come apart!" Perhaps you are at a point that you have become compulsive.

Ezekiel and John both saw the four awesome living creatures that stand around the throne of God. Both of them (Eze. 1: 10, Rev. 4: 7) describe their four faces: an eagle, an ox, a lion, and a man. Could these four powerful creatures give us an insight into the nature of God’s kingdom and leadership model?

How do you view impossibilities? Do they intimidate you and stop you dead in your tracks before you ever even attempt to defeat them? I have found that there are usually 2 different ways to approach an obstacle in your life.

Most leaders are struggling to “fit it all in”. From home, to work, to kids, to spouse, to church, to parents we are all trying to not leave anyone out. We feel stretched and stressed. Successful relationships happen on purpose. Here is how to prioritize the relationships in your life and make sure you are hitting the bullseye.

Negative pessimism is a hard monkey to get off your back. It colors everything dull and bland. It stifles creativity, ruins relationships, and makes everything hopeless. You lose sight of all that you “have and are” for what you “want and are not.”

Maintaining stability as a leader is one of the greatest crisis in America today. Business leaders, political leaders, spiritual leaders are “uprooted” from their positions by moral, financial, and ethical failure. How do you maintain long-term stability as a leader?

I’ll never forget being in Lebanon and taking a trip to see the “cedars of Lebanon.” There, perched high on a mountain, these gentle giants were 30 ft. around! I wondered how they received their nourishment and flourished in such a harsh mountaintop climate.

Everyone wants to be a great leader.  They try every book, conference, and seminar.  They pump themselves full of motivation.  They read and listen to the latest leadership strategy.

All good.  The missing ingredient of all of the above?  “Self-awareness.”  

If you are single, you have got to figure this out.

If you are married, you have to remember it again.

What attracts a man to a woman after all?

I remember the day I was married. What I remember most, however, was what attracted me to Melanie in the beginning.

Of course, she was beautiful! Over these years, however, I have realized that it is six other qualities that KEEP me attracted.

Everyone is in a panic. We operate more on adrenaline than anointing! We have pressures, commitments, deadlines, obligations, possessions and relationships that require continual maintenance. It reminds me of my first time snow skiing (a big deal for a Louisiana resident). I made it fine on the ski lift, but the moment my skis turned “south” I realized the first principle of snow skiing: “It is downhill and slightly out of control!”

Why is it so hard to forgive? I run across leaders all the time who have deep grudges, bitter feelings, and hard hearts. An unforgiving heart could be in the top five issues all leaders deal with.

Marriages are affected, health is affected, and even generations are affected. Forgiveness 101 is all about conversations, decisions, and memories.

We can put people on the moon but we can’t get cell phones to work everywhere. Communication runs our world now. From social media to digital cable, Internet, and (of course) smartphones, we all have to learn to communicate better.

Great leaders have great attitudes. They always keep their sights above the line. They know if they let that attitude dip below the line, they will eventually crash.

I love to pray. It hasn’t always been that way. I have moved from “desire” to “discipline” to “delight.”

As I talk to men around the country, most of their marriage issues center around one word: “respect.” They perceive that their wife’s words are demeaning and they go into shutdown mode.

As a husband, let me give you my thoughts on why this is and how to repair that tension!

“The heart of the issue is an issue of the heart.”

Somebody’s heart has gotten hard.  Somebody’s heart has become selfish or impure.  It may be MINE.

Here are 7 areas I try to continually look into the mirror of Scripture so I can watch over my heart like a hawk:

The will of God:  Is it a “path” or an “environment”? It’s BOTH. You have to “find” God’s path.  You have to “follow” God’s path by your attitude.  

Israel “found” God’s path from Egypt to Palestine (the cloud and fire).  They could not “follow” it because of their attitudes.

Here are the 6 ways from 1 Thessalonians 5 that will help you to “follow” the will of God after you “find” it:

How many times do couples fight per year? A British insurance survey said 2,455 (that’s 7 per day!).

Out of 28 sources of fights, I picked out 10:

Depression, loneliness, and anxiety are at an all-time high. Yet, we have more possessions, connections, and options than ever.

What’s the problem?

It appears that instead of connecting, we are drifting further apart. We can’t find our friends. Our possessions don’t satisfy us and we have to have more. We try more and more medication to ease the depression and anxiety.