Welcome to the Victory Blog

This week, we witnessed what is probably the biggest election in our lifetimes. Many of us are happy and many are sad at the results of this election. I’ll have more on that to say later. In the mean time, let me reiterate that our trust is not in the President of the United States. As Psalm 118:8-9 says: It’s better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It’s better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes [leadership]. Regardless of the changes that are in store for our country, it is Jesus that we must put our trust in.

One of the things I’m convinced of is that over the last eight to ten years, the church has drifted away from its influence in society. We’ve started to put a lot of trust in government to solve our problems. Unfortunately, because of that, the church has lost its influence in our society. And, as a result of that, our culture has begun to degrade to levels that I’ve never seen in my lifetime.

Because of this, I wanted to introduce a good friend of mine to you who brings a message about what is really happening in our society and how far it has fallen. That friend is Dr. Michael L. Brown, founder and president of ICN Ministries (RevolutionNow.org). He has a word that is shocking, challenging and timely. My hope is that his message will sound an alarm to the church that will awaken us to the plight of America and the need for a Jesus Revolution in the church, our nation and the world. Here’s some of what he had to share with us:

I’ve got some bad news, some really bad news and some great news to share with you. The bad news is that America is in a terrible mess. We are in a terrible moral and cultural crisis. The really bad news is that the church is in a terrible mess; a terrible moral and cultural crisis. You don’t have to go into the world to find the sex scandals, teen pregnancy, pornography, rampant divorce or families falling apart; they’re everywhere in the church. The great news, however, is that if we submit our lives, our hearts, our minds fully to the Lord and make ourselves available and avail ourselves of God’s power, we are the solution to the problems in America.

Jesus said, You are the salt of the earth… and, …if the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! The great problem in America today is that the salt (that’s us, the church) has lost its saltiness. We are no longer the moral conscience of our nation. Most of the nation hardly takes us seriously because we seem to be hypocrites - saying one thing and living differently. The light within our nation is darkness. Rather than the church changing the world, the world is changing the church. We cannot set others free if we ourselves are bound.

What God wants to do in America starts with the people of God - not with any politician. The problems in our society are so deep that there is no political solution. It doesn’t matter who gets elected. We cannot put any trust in the political system. Yes, we have to vote according to our convictions to uphold what is right and to elect people to office that will do so - but we can’t put our trust in that system. There is only a gospel solution.

Today, I want to sound the alarm about things that are going on. As an example, there are homosexual activists, some of them very well-funded, and the things they are standing and fighting for will undo the very foundations of our society.

Now, let me start by pointing out that the average gay/lesbian person has no concept of a homosexual agenda. They think it’s just something the religious right just made up. Their agenda is that we just let them live a normal life and not bother them. But there are gay activists with a specific agenda that is being aggressively promoted in places like our schools, targeting our children - even first graders are being exposed to diversity training (which is nothing more than homosexual activist training) including discussions and materials about sex-change operations, gender identity confusion, etc. In many schools, gender has become the enemy. The rights of parental authority and free speech have been stripped by the courts.

This didn’t just happen overnight. There’s been a progression:

1. 40-yrs ago gay activist began coming out of the closet.
2. They began to say, We demand our rights.
3. They then began to demand that conservative Christians would recognize those rights.
4. They began to take away the rights of conservative Christians.
5. Now they are trying to put you and me in the closet.

We have so fallen asleep. We’ve got to wake up to reality. We’ve been so passive that we haven’t even realized that we’ve been pushed into the closet and the door is closing. We need a revolution - not the way the world does it with anger, but by overcoming evil with good. We lay down our lives and overcome hatred with love.

Revolutions start when people get to a breaking point. We’ve already crossed the ‘enough is enough’ line in our culture. We need to wake up and realize we are not primarily here for what’s good for us. We are here to make a difference. We need to start living out the Scriptures as though every word is real. We need to step back and think about what we can/need to do. We have a higher goal - the kingdom of God. We’ve got to recapture our prophetic zeal and remember that we’re here with a mission. We do this by going after God and His Word. We are God’s agents of radical change in society. Won’t you take up the challenge to make yourself available to Him?

This past weekend, we were so pleased to have guest speaker Bishop Harry Jackson, Sr. Pastor of Hope Christian Church in Washington D.C. and founder of High Impact Leadership Coalition. He brought a stirring and timely message that I’d like to recap here.

In case you haven’t noticed, we seem to be having a meltdown - politically, economically, morally, etc. We’re in a real crisis time and we don’t like it. Most of us just want everything to be nice and easy. Some of us need to get off of easy street and join the battle that’s already raging. Something more important is at stake than our comfort zones.

You see, God wants to take us through a process of transformation…but it’s not easy. In fact, it usually requires some degree of struggle. Yet, when we get into a time of crisis, usually all we can think about is how badly we want out. We just cry out, “Oh, God! Get me out of this trouble!” But God is not about just getting us out of difficulty. He wants to use our crises to transformation us. Yes, God does want to bring us out of these problems, but he wants to do so by changing us, transforming us. He doesn’t want us to be defined by our “issues.” He wants to take us beyond them into the increasing glory of the purposes he has designed for us.

God has a prophetic destiny for every generation and every individual, but sometimes we miss these callings because we need to be transformed. We, the church in America, are in that place right now. We are so divided in so many ways - particularly along racial lines - and this hinders the accomplishment of God’s purposes for us. God wants to do something in the area of reconciliation - a real transformation, anextreme makeover, if you will. Think about it: if we were transformed and began strategically evangelizing, reaching across cultural barriers, we could end racism in America in one decade. (Let me note: The diversity that is represented at Victory is a prime example and is essential to the work of reconciliation that God wants to do through the church in America.)

So, we need to get an extreme makeover - to go through a major transformation process. In order to do this, there are four stages we go must go through, four types of grace that we need to rely on.

First, we need Survival Grace - This is for times of crisis, like when you only have enough time to say “Jesus” right before a car wreck…and you survive…and it’s amazing that you’re still alive. This is God demonstrating that his hand is on you. In these times, instead of despairing about what has been destroyed, we have to understand that God is doing something.

Next, there’s Visionary Grace. In this stage, God uses the crisis to tamper with our inner vision, desires, hopes and dreams. The old ones have to be dashed; they are often the flesh or the enemy. They are really false hopes and God has to break us free from these things because they limit our faith. He wants to take us beyond our limitations, to do above and beyond all that we have asked or imagined. So, he breaks us out of our current hopes, expectations and visions (ours are just not big enough for the abundance that he wants to pour out) and expands our capacity. He uses the season of trial to stretch our box.

Thirdly, we need Transitional Grace. Because old wine skins can’t take new wine, God has to make us ready. Sometimes, at the beginning of a transition things seem to be going the opposite of where their supposed to go. That’s because we don’t know how to operate in the new realm yet. We need a transitional time to learn how.

Finally, we need Establishment Grace. As we move into the new realm, God begins to say “touch this/don’t touch that.” It’s about getting our priorities straight. We have to ask ourselves, “Is God first?” and “Do I trust him?” God is going to give us a new way of operating in this new realm. As we step into the fullness of the new realm of transformation, this grace will produce the ability to bring tremendous reconciliation along racial and other lines and so impact our nation as never before.

I urge you, if you are going through a time of crisis, understand that it is an opportunity to get a hold these graces and be transformed by God as he moves you into a whole new realm. Don’t resist the process; embrace it and the One who is at work in the midst of it. Let him give you an Extreme Makeover.

On September 5th and 6th a group of Victory men attended Men’s Advance themed, Band of Brothers: No Man Down. Hosted by Pastor Dennis and special guest speaker Chip Judd and held at the beautiful Simpsonwood Retreat Center, this Men’s Advance included four power-packed sessions and an Extreme Rescue Mission that gave us the tools we need to help keep ourselves and our brothers from becoming the “man down”.

All of us, from different walks of life, came together to be challenged and equipped spiritually, mentally and physically to effectively deal with those areas in which the enemy attacks hardest and has had the most success in taking men out. We had times of dynamic worship, challenging instruction and open, honest sharing. Of course, we also enjoyed fellowship, building relationships with other guys and good food.

The Extreme Rescue Mission consisted of a number of team-based physical challenges which forced team members to rely on one another and cooperate in order to succeed. It was a lot of fun and at the same time, provided an excellent interactive illustration of principles learned during the teaching sessions. One of the guys, Pete, had this to say: “The messages from Chip and Pastor Dennis were right on. The challenges were a lot of fun. Every man at Victory should take advantage of this great opportunity and attend Men’s Advance in the future. It’s truly life-changing! I can’t wait until the next one!” (If you attended this event and were impacted by it, we would love to hear your story. Please submit it here.)

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There were quite a few photos taken at the event. If you’d like to view the entire gallery, download photos or order prints, click here.

This last weekend, Pastors Dennis and Colleen had the opportunity to train some pastors in Oslo, Norway. It was great to be able to have a wise man of God like Olin Holly speak in their absence. He brought a message that challenged all of us to pursue excellence. Here are some thoughts from his message:

Think about the athletes at the Olympics. Over 10,500 of them are participating in 28 different sporting events over the next two weeks. Yet, only about 300 gold medals will be won. To win a gold medal, they have to bring their “A” game. Excellence is essential. To achieve that level of excellence, they make huge sacrifices and overcome incredible odds. Do we not all appreciate that?

Now, think about our own lives. We expect a degree of excellence in many areas of life - whenever we pay money for a service, for food, for entertainment and even at church. We always expect to receive the best. The question is, are we consistent in that expectation with ourselves? Are we willing to give excellence to others? So often, we do not reciprocate the excellence we expect of others.

God expects the best from us. He is the best, and so deserves the best. In the book of Malachi God challenged the Old Testament priests to give Him the very best, not second best. They were bringing wounded and sick animals to sacrifice and keeping the best for themselves and He strongly rebuked them for it. And, just as He expected the best from His priests, He also expects it of us. He doesn’t want just part of us, but all of us. Are we bringing our “A” game to God? He set the example of giving the best by giving His Son, Jesus. Because He didn’t hold back His best, should we not also, then, give ours? The answer, of course, is, “Yes!”

Have you ever known anyone who is so passionate for what they do that they always give it 110% and seem to go about 100 m.p.h.? We can learn a lot from these kind of people if we study their lives and what motivates them. Paul is a great example. He was passionate about bringing people to Christ. This was his sole life-focus after encountering Christ. He exhibits what I call the Attributes of the “A” Game:

• Run to win - don’t just get in the race
• Discipline yourself - exercise strict self-control
• Keep an eternal perspective - we’re not going after an earthly, destructible prize
• Make your efforts count - make the most of every opportunity
• Practice what you preach - be an example; don’t disqualify yourself

If we want to “win the prize,” we have to apply these attributes to our own life - in our relationship with God, marriage, parenting, friendships/courtships, career/school/ministry and health. And, we have to finish strong. That means stripping off the weights and sin that hinder us, keeping our eyes on Christ rather than the things that slow us down and casting all our cares upon Him. We can’t afford to get distracted. If we endure to the end, we will win. Imagine what it will be like to stand before the Father and all of heaven to hear the anthem, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Ever feel like your life is like a game show? You wonder, “Should I chose door number one or door number two?” What about when one of the choices looks easy and one looks hard - like a door with a bunch of locks on it? How can we know we’re making the right choice?

In our day and age, we are surrounded by choices. Not too long ago, if you wanted coffee, you could choose between coffee or…..coffee. Now, you go into a place like Starbucks and you have literally hundreds of combinations to choose from: tall (which for some reason is small), grande, venti, single, double, triple, cappuccino, macchiato, Americano, mocha, etc. The choices are endless. The average supermarket has 36,000 individual items to choose from - which is why I walk out with so many things I don’t need. Revlon has 156 different shades of lipstick.

We are completely bombarded with choices every single day - some easy, some hard. Sometimes the difficult choice is the right one. “Do I go in early and work hard to make it to my son’s baseball game tomorrow or break one more promise?” “Do I take that second look at the girl at work or keep my eyes pure?”

The choices we make now have consequences - both big and small. Too often we go through the easy door. Making the wrong choices results in things like debt, messing up sexually, abortion, going to prison, HIV. Making the right choices, on the other hand, will both benefit us and positively impact many others. Also, God is honored in this world as we make good, right, honest choices. In order to make do this, we need wisdom.

So, how do we get wise? Start by looking at the life of Jesus. Throughout his life, He asked Himself four questions that enabled Him to make amazingly wise choices. For instance, after spending 40 days in the wilderness fasting and praying, Satan showed up and tested Jesus - sort of a multiple choice test. Jesus’ response to each of the devil’s temptations was, “It is written…” Satan tried to get Jesus to take the easy door, but Jesus knew the Word.

Whenever a choice is presented to us in life, the first question we should ask about it is, “Is it written?” We can’t make good choices if we don’t know the Word of God. The Word of God is the will of God. If you want to make Godly choices, you have to get the Word inside of you.

Now, there are a lot of things that just aren’t specifically addressed in scripture. When that’s the case, the next question we have to ask is, “Is it love?”  We need to evaluate every choice on the basis of love. Jesus said that the world will know that we are His disciples by the way we love each other. What does that look like? 1 Corinthians 13 is an excellent description. Among other things, it says that love is patient, not self-seeking and not easily angered. So, if one of the choices isn’t love, don’t go though that door.

If the issue is still kind of grey after asking the first two questions, then ask: “Is it on the agenda?” God has a plan, a purpose, a hope and a future for every person, family, relationship, city and nation. Jesus knew God’s agenda for His life was to seek and save that which was lost. If we’re going to follow Him, we need to know God’s agenda for our lives, just as Jesus knew His and evaluated His decisions by that.

So, what is God’s agenda for your life? If you’re not sure yet, or if you don’t have anything more specific, you can fall back on this one from Mark 16: “Go into all the world preach the good news…” The cool thing is that after that, it says that all these miraculous signs will accompany you. That means, when we are walking in this calling, the power of God goes with us.

Finally, if the choice still isn’t clear, ask “What does God have to say about it?” That means we have to pray about the choice, and listen. We have to keep our spirits open to hear His voice. Look at the example of Paul. Acts 16:6-10 describes him and his companions going from one place to another because they were prevented by the Holy Spirit from taking the gospel to Asia, and then Bythinia. Then, after heading to Troas, Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia begging him to come over there. That is where God wanted them to go.

This passage is so cool. It shows me that Paul had no idea what he was doing. It really seems like he had no clue where they were supposed to go. But, he was listening. In every choice we make, it is absolutely vital to keep our eyes and ears on God. The thing is, we just can’t see down the road, past the doors of decision. If we could only see clearly what lay on the other side of our choices, they would be so much easier to make. But we can’t. There is Someone, however, who can - His name is Jehovah.

So many people refuse God’s help. They don’t know or don’t believe that He can see what they can’t. They insist on doing things themselves. They’re just like my little boy insisting on pushing his stroller even though he can’t see over the handle and refusing to let me keep even one hand on it to help. No, just like him, they have to run into a few curbs and smash their faces a few times before realizing they need to ask for help. That’s the key: we need to ask God for help. We need His hand on our life. He can see what we can’t.

God has laid out a plan for our lives, but it isn’t usually through the easy door. Choosing the Door of Wisdom isn’t easy. But, when we stop and evaluate the choices life brings us by asking these four questions, the result is godly wisdom. And that makes for an amazing life!

This week, it was a joy to have Rolando Gonzalez, our 212° Youth Pastor, speak about the Door of Encounter. I encourage you to take a moment and think about what he said:

Encounter means experiencing God. We were created, designed for experiences. God designed us to have experiences with Himself. Our eyes were created to see God and our ears to hear Him. We serve a God who is alive and ready to come down and experience life with us. God wants to be with us, to talk with us, to listen to us and to work with us. If you want to live a meaningful life, you need to know that the greatest meaning is to encounter God and make Him known.

But what is it like when we encounter God? If the Creator of the universe shows up, things will change, things must change. God loves us so much that He wants to spend time with us, to hang out with us, but He is so strong, so powerful, so amazing that we cannot remain unchanged. It doesn’t matter who you are, when you have an encounter God, you will not stay the same. The Bible is full of all sorts of encounters with God, from Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses and the prophets to Jesus’ life on earth and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In every instance, people were changed, usually dramatically.

We can experience God in many ways, through the Bible, worship, visions, dreams, etc. Although God lives in the supernatural realm and we live in the natural, He goes out of his way to talk with us, to encounter us. It’s not our job to make Him show up. Yes, we’ve got to do what we know to do, but it’s God’s job to show up…and He does.

Encountering God will fuel your lifestyle as a believer. Everything that we know we’re “supposed” to do as a believer becomes alive, meaningful and almost effortless when we encounter God. It fuels us to read the Bible more, and also to do the Bible more. Encountering God will also thrust us into things that we wouldn’t do before, giving us boldness. No, encountering God isn’t always designed the way we think it should be – God makes the rules – but it is always good! God wants our spiritual life to be filled with encounters with Him – large and small; in the big things as well as in the little mundane things.

Today, I’d like to challenge you about encountering God. Yes, we need to do the discipline stuff; we need to have biblical character, but we can’t get all religious about it. Encountering God will empower us in those things and make them come alive. The point is encountering God. You were created to experience a real, living, creative, God right now, today.

Position yourself to be able to encounter God. Read His word, not like a car manual, but from the perspective that it reveals His heart towards us – to be with us, to spend time with us. Spend time in prayer with the understanding that this whole life, this walk as believers, is about experiencing the Lord’s love, experiencing who He is. When it’s all said and done, He’s not going to ask how your ministry went, but rather, “Didn’t we have a good time together?!” “Wasn’t that the adventure of a lifetime, that you, as a person, and Me, as God, did something together?!”

God wants to spend time with us. It’s the language of His heart. Won’t you open the door of encounter with Him today?

This weekend, I was pleased to have my good friend, Pastor Troy Maxwell, bring the opening message of our new series, DOORS. He had some great points, so let me recap his message here.

Life is full of doors - doors that influence us. Doors are points of entry, access points to something in our life. They can also be an exit point. Yes, there are physical doors - those we walk through every day. But there are also spiritual doors such as the door of our heart, as in Revelation 3:20, “Behold I stand at the door and knock…”; relational doors, such as marriage - moving us from independence to interdependence; life-changing doors - like becoming a believer; and defining-moment doors - those moments in your life that define you, when everything changes - your perception, your hearing, your heart.

Doors can restrict you, like when you see a door that says, “DO NOT ENTER.” Doors can also restore you. Think of being alone with God behind the closed door of your prayer closet.  And, doors can release you - into something new or out of the confinement of being alone or trapped. Life is full of doors.

Today, God is calling us to walk through the Door of Courage. Webster’s says that “courage is to act in accordance with one’s beliefs in spite of criticism, persecution and the possibility of failure.” Life throws seemingly insurmountable things at us constantly. It takes courage to go against them. Think about David facing Goliath, or Esther approaching the king unsummoned. It takes courage to stand in a pulpit and declare, “I have a dream…” as Martin Luther King Jr. did. It took courage to do what Joshua did, leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land.

In Joshua1:1-9, God commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous. We can learn three things about courage from this exchange. First, courage is standing up in who you are. God wanted Joshua to stand up in who he was. He wants the same for us. Let go of the past and stand up in who God created you to be. God has called you to a job that only you can do, and there are people that you are supposed to lead into an inheritance. Someone is waiting on the other side of your obedience, so stand up and discover who you are. The more you have the courage to stand up in who you are the more God can use you.

Next, courage is standing for something. We have to stay focused. Too often, we have weak convictions about strong issues and strong convictions about weak issues. Will you fight for your conviction about the power of the blood of Jesus, or for your family, or for your witness? You see, courage is standing for Christ and your convictions when it’s not popular. We have to talk it, think it and do it so that our life becomes the message.

Finally, courage is standing through fear and discouragement. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the presence of God that overcomes and outlasts fear. Courage is knowing that God will be with you no matter what, that He will never leave you or forsake you. It’s okay to have fear, but it’s not okay to have that fear motivate you. Stand through the fear. Stand through the difficulty. God is there. He’s close. Trust that He knows what you’re going through, that He cares and that He is definitely at work.

Don’t let the enemy “dis your courage.” This is one of his greatest weapons. God has given us a much greater weapon to overcome discouragement. Isaiah says, “Put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” Praise is powerful. It is the gate to God’s presence. When we focus on the greatness of God, our problems look so small. You can praise your way right through the door of courage. Today, I encourage you to decide that you’re going to allow God to take you through your fears and discouragement and walk through the door of courage!

It was such a blessing to have Lisa Bevere speak about God’s calling for women this last weekend, Mother’s Day weekend. Not surprisingly, her message was encouraging, challenging, and right on. Several of the points she made really stood out in my mind, so I’d like to highlight them here.

God created us, both men and women, for dominion, not domination. Dominion is when a person uses their influence to cause those under them to flourish. Domination is when a person forces their will upon another. While God intended us to exercise dominion, the fall twisted that purpose into a struggle for domination. But in Christ, we can recapture the truth. Men and women are not enemies, we’re allies – stronger together than we are separately. Male and female, exercising dominion together is what truly captures the image of God.

God created women, especially mothers, to fulfill a specific role in His kingdom – to create an environment in which the seeds He is planting can flourish. You are called to nurture – to be strong, to care and to give. Despite the time of difficulty that seems to be upon us, this is not the season to start hoarding and stop giving out of fear. It is the season for women to give. Remember, it is in the hard times that God’s people flourish…unless they fear.

So, women, if you will go forward, trusting God, you will have the opportunity in the next decade to address the problem of the widowed, the orphaned and the poor; to unite together and say,”That’s enough!” to social injustices. It’s time that the church be known for caring, not judging. That’s where the heart of a mother comes in.

Mothers, this ministry begins at home. You need to have the house everybody wants to come to, the marriage that everybody wants to have. Nurture your husband, nurture your home. Start by understanding that most men hear love through words of affirmation and affectionate touch. I’m sure you would agree that everybody deserves to be loved in the way they hear it. Realize that you are not called to train your husband and serve your kids, as is commonly thought in our culture, but to serve your husband and train your kids.

Let your kids see the love you share. Every child needs to know that mommy and daddy are in love, and that they, the children, are loved, looked for and watched out for. Nurture your children and the gift of God in them. Don’t use your strengths to point out your children’s weaknesses, but rather to identify and nurture their strengths. You always strengthen strengths to displace weaknesses. God is looking for an army of fathers and mothers to position their children to inherit God’s promises – not our fears.

If we are ever going to rise above the petty and destructive struggle for domination and exercise true dominion in this earth, both men and women need to understand that this is what God created women for. I want to challenge you, women, to pursue this calling whole-heartedly. And, I want to challenge you, men, to love and give of yourselves to your wives in this endeavor. Together, you will have a tremendous impact on your children, your communities and the world for Christ!

It was such a delight to have John Bevere with us this weekend. He always brings a word that is fresh, timely and prophetic, and this weekend was no different. If you were here, you know what I’m talking about. The message John brought is so crucial for the church to get a hold of in this day and age that I’d like to recap it here. 

The Apostle John encourages us to live in such a way that we will receive the full reward. From this, we can conclude that if there is a full reward, there is also the potential for a partial reward, or no reward at all. We see this throughout the Gospels as different people interact with Jesus. Mark 6:5 says that Jesus “could do no mighty works” in His hometown of Nazareth. It doesn’t say He wouldn’t do them, but rather, he couldn’t – he was restrained. What could possibly have restrained Him? The same thing that restrains us: a lack of honor. Because they dishonored Him, Jesus’ friends and family members received a very small, partial reward – only a few minor healings.  

On and on, throughout the New Testament, those who honored Jesus – like the Roman centurion of Matthew 8 – received a full reward. Those who honored Him in part – like the people of Nazareth – only received a partial reward. And, those who dishonored him – even if only in thought, like the teachers and preachers of the law – received no reward. Honoring Jesus was the key.

So what is honor? In Greek, honor means ‘a valuing.” Other meanings include, “appreciation, esteem, favorable regard and respect.” It’s opposite, dishonor, means “to treat as common.” Honor is communicated on three levels: in words, in actions and in the attitude of our hearts. Of these three levels of communication, the lowest form is words, then actions and finally, the highest is the heart-level, the level of love. True honor originates from the heart and is an outflow of the fear of the Lord. 

Today, one of the main ways we show honor to Jesus is by honoring those around us. In fact, we are urged to honor people in three categories: 1) Those in authority over us – not because their behavior warrants it, but because we recognize that their authority is from God; 2) Our peers – even if they are dishonoring to us; and 3) Those entrusted to our authority – such as wives, children and employees. Remember, we do NOT honor others to get a reward, but because we value them just as God does. However, we can keep the reward in mind.

This week, I urge you to cry out to God, asking Him to fill your heart with honor for others. He will answer your prayer, and your life will be changed as you return to the virtue of honor and experience Honor’s Reward!