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Anxiety and worry work in opposition to inner peace. When you are worried or anxious about something, even something that must be faced and embraced as a process, you leave little room for God’s peace.
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Looking at yourself against the size of your dream can quickly become more than anyone can handle. The truth us, the plans God has for you are alwas bigger than you are, and they are never going to be something you can pull off easily and in your own strength.
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Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun.
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Around here we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
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We should never underestimate the power we have over one another, especially the power of our leadership decisions over those who look to us for direction or support.
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There are three ways to learn from our mistakes: the easy way, the hard way, and the tragic way. The easy way is learning from other people’s mistakes. The hard way is learning from our own. And the tragic way is not learning from either.
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To choose life with God is to choose a blessed life.
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Don't be fooled into thinking that you have the capacity to achieve your best on your own. A training partner in the gym is a great asset because when you think you have reached your limit, there is someone who can push you to go further.
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The strength of a good friendship that goes the distance will be unconditional love.
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The truth is, the plans God has for you are always bigger than you are, and they are never going to be something you can pull off easily and in your own strength.
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God gives each of us our own grace, a special measure of blessings that line up exactly with his purposes for our lives.
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He knew exactly what he had in mind for your future when he formed you.
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Through the power of his grace, God can turn around the most devastating sin or failure in our lives.
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Finally, as you walk the difficult path with others - as you lean into their strength - stay focused on forward motion. Learn from the past, yes, especially if there are choices you could have made differently - that's Wisdom 101. But you must also embrace the present and realize that you can't change the past. You must move forward with courage, not rushing things, but not staying fixated on whatever trauma has occurred.
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There are times in life when you just have to commit to your mountain.
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Sometimes I think we spend a lot of time fleeing from the devil, when we really need to stand our ground. The Bible doesn't teach us to flee from the devil; it teaches us to draw near to God, to resist the devil, so he will flee from you. We don't need to worry about running away from the devil and trying to hide from him. We simply need to focus on drawing near to God and his purpose for our lives. This is how we can best resist the devil. When he sees us drawing closer and closer to God, when he watches as our faith muscles grow bigger and stronger, he's forced to accept defeat.
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The starting point for building great relationships is making wise decisions about who we allow close to us. We need people who will build us up and take us forward, and good friends will do just that.
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God has not called you to be anyone else’s imitation.
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The moment we think we can is when we take our eyes off Jesus—and that’s when we begin to sink!
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Carefully choose your friends, your counsel, and your place of worship. Avoid those whose belief system is devoid of answers for life's everyday problems. Never accept the mindset that persecution and suffering are the will of God; they are the weapons of the devil who is hell-bent on distracting you from God's amazing plan for your life.
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Too many people try to reduce faith and miracles into quantities, and I don’t like trying to evaluate what God is doing by numbers alone. Faith can’t be measured in square feet, dollars, and attendance figures. In fact, we remind ourselves regularly that Hillsong Church isn’t about the crowd—it’s actually all about the one.
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The Bible tells us, “Do not despise the day of small beginnings” (see Zech. 4:10). I believe that whatever it is God has entrusted into your hand—your family, your career, your ministry—don’t count it as insignificant and don’t approach it with a lack of vision.
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Our trials are similar. Don't delay what should be addressed at the beginning of the process in hopes that you can avoid it or somehow minimize your suffering. As excruciating as it feels at the time, doing the right thing and being obedient to God allows you to move through the process faster and more aware of what is to come.
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Disappointment and hurt is an opportunity to be transparent, but don’t be pitiful—and there is a difference.