One of the most destructive myths alive in the Christian community is the belief that ignoring disagreements, or turning a blind eye to them, is part of what it means to follow Jesus. We avoid conflict, and then try to rationalize it away by saying it’s something Jesus would want or do.

Prayer is one of the most powerful tools God has given to us to take control of ourselves, as well as communicate with him. I’ve been praying ever since I was a kid, but it wasn’t until recently I tried praying with others…

There are a lot of thoughts out there when it comes to what kind of goals you should be setting in your life. When it comes to my experiences, I have found a particular type of goal to be most effective in getting me where I want to be.

As people we have an incredible ability to compartmentalize things. This ability to separate aspects of our lives into different boxes and address them accordingly allows us to function efficiently in our day to day lives, and be productive members of society. Unfortunately, there is one specific compartmentalization we often make to our detriment.

As we go through life working to be the best we can be, there will be times of extreme difficulty. We will be put through trials that feel impossible to overcome. It’s in these times where the people you surround yourself with will make all the difference in whether you will succeed or not.

Finances are the number one cause of fights among married couples in the U.S. Money is consistently one of the primary worries of people living in the U.S. These statistics are eye opening, but what’s even more eye opening is when you also consider that the U.S. is one of the most economically prosperous country in the world. Additionally, researchers have found that once our basic needs are met, more money doesn’t solve our problems or stresses about money. So what is going wrong?

We’ve all done it. We are talking with someone, trying to get them to see our side of things, and we say a statement that is true, but we purposefully leave out some crucial details. In doing so we imply something to be true, and we try to steer the other persons opinion in a specific direction. The harsh truth is that this is no better than directly lying.

As humans we like to think we are in control of our lives and our situations, and to a certain extent we are. But in many cases, especially with the biggest and most important things in our lives, there is only so much we can do.

Too often we only develop a surface level of spirituality, and we never let God change us deep down. Some signs that we are living emotionally unhealthy lives are that we suppress and ignore our emotions, we separate our lives into secular and sacred compartments, and we deny the impact of the past on the present.

Humility is arguably the single most important character trait that a man must develop in his life. Stewardship is arguably the single most important mindset and action a man must cultivate in his life.

We all know someone who is an amazing conversationalist. Someone who, no matter what, whenever you talk with them its never awkward. They always seem to know how to keep a conversation going, and you don’t feel like the conversation is forced.

A lack of humility is at the core of nearly every failure we experience. Without humility we begin to overestimate our own abilities, and underestimate the abilities of others. In an ever-changing world where the ability to effectively interact with people is becoming increasingly important, we must maintain humility if we want to be successful.

Do you want to know how you can improve your mindset, become happier, form stronger relationships, and begin working towards being the man God wants you to be, all with one simple change? Good. It’s the words that you speak. The things that you say, the words that you utter, control your future more than you know.

Then Matthew 7:5 came to mind, “First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” This is what Jesus had to say about judging others, and the message is the same, fix yourself before you look to fix someone else.

Sacrifice is like bargaining with the future, you don’t know for a fact that just because you sacrifice now, you’ll be better off in the future, but you believe you will. Either because you have seen others do it, or you’ve been told it will work for you. That’s an amazing fact that God has given us in the bible.

There’s only one problem with words, and it’s in the people that speak them. Too often people deceive with their words, they bend the truth, exaggerate others shortcomings or their own successes.

We’ve discussed before how it’s necessary to do hard things in life if you want to develop into the best version of yourself. But Dr. Jordan Peterson took it one step further when he stated “The purpose of life is finding the largest burden that you can bear, and bearing it” and I tend to think he’s right.

Whenever you accomplish anything great you should allow yourself time to celebrate, and whenever you fail at something important you should let yourself experience that pain. But how long should you allow yourself to celebrate or to mourn?

Life is always changing, our circumstances are always changing, the outside world is always changing. If we attempt to maintain our “balanced” lifestyle in the midst of all of this chaos, everything will fall apart.

In reality you don’t need to “warm up” to start your day. Once you’re fully awake, maybe after a cup of coffee, a cold shower, or a quick exercise, you are ready to dive into your most difficult and important work for the day.