Elevate Your Day with Andi and Brian Hale

Your Worldview (Am I Offended?) Day 4 of 5

From Am I Offended? by John Bevere on YouVersion
Where are you getting your worldview from?
When we filter everything through past hurts, rejections, and experiences, we find it impossible to believe God. We cannot believe He means what He says. We doubt His goodness and faithfulness since we judge Him by the standards set by man in our lives. But God is not a man! He cannot lie (Num. 23:19). His ways are not like ours, and His thoughts are not ours (Isa. 55:8–9).
Offended people can find Scripture passages to back their position, but it is not the correct division of God’s Word.
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. – 1 Corinthians 8:1-3
The knowledge of God’s Word without love is destructive because it puffs us up with pride and legalism. This causes us to justify ourselves rather than repent of our unforgiveness.
This creates an atmosphere in which we can be deceived because knowledge without the love of God will lead to deception. Jesus warns of false prophets immediately after His statement of many being offended: “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many” (Matt. 24:11). Who are the many they will deceive? The answer: the offended whose love has grown cold (Matt. 24:12).
Jesus calls false prophets “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matt. 7:15). They are self-seeking men who give the appearance of being Christians (sheep’s clothing) but have the inward nature of a wolf. Wolves like to hang around sheep. They can be found in the congregation as well as in the pulpit. The enemy sends them to infiltrate and deceive. They must be identified by their fruits, not by their teachings or prophecies. Often the teaching can appear sound, whereas the fruit in their lives and ministries is not. A minister or a Christian is what he lives, not what he preaches.
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be . . .unforgiving . . . having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!…For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth. —2 Timothy 3:1–5; 4:3–4
Notice that they will have a form of godliness or “Christianity,” but they will deny its power. How will they deny its power? They deny that Christianity can change them from being unforgiving to forgiving. They will boast of being followers of Jesus and proclaim their “new birth” experience, but what they boast of has not been allowed to pierce their hearts and bring forth the character of Christ.
And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. —Matthew 24:10

Take Down Offense (Am I Offended?) Day 3 of 5

From Am I Offended? by John Bevere on YouVersion
Offense is taken down when we see the world clearly. Jesus said our ability to see correctly is another key to freedom from deception. When we are offended, we often see ourselves as victims and blame those who have hurt us. We justify our bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, envy, and resentment as they surface. Sometimes we even resent those who remind us of others who have hurt us.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so  you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. – Revelation 3:18
For this reason, Jesus counseled, “Anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see”. See what? Your true condition! That’s the only way we can “be zealous and repent,” as Jesus commanded next. You will only repent when you stop blaming other people.
When we blame others and defend our own position, we are blind. We struggle to remove the speck from our brother’s eye while there is a log in ours. It is the revelation of truth that brings freedom to us. When the Spirit of God shows us our sin, He always does it so that it seems separate from us. This brings conviction, not condemnation.
Without God, we can only love with a selfish love—one that cannot be given if it is not received and returned. However, agape loves regardless of the response. This agape is the love Jesus shed when He forgave from the cross. So “the many” Jesus refers to are Christians whose agape has grown cold.
You need to realize that when you sow the love of God, you will reap the love of God. You need to develop faith in this spiritual law— even though you may not harvest it from the field in which you sowed or as quickly as you would like.
He explained, “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:8–9.
If more Christians recognized this, they wouldn’t give up and become offended. Usually, this is not the type of love we walk in. We walk in a selfish love that is easily disappointed when our expectations are unmet.
A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle. —Proverbs 18:19
We construct walls when we are hurt to safeguard our hearts and prevent any future wounds. We become selective, denying entry to all we fear will hurt us. We filter out anyone we think owes us something. We withhold access until these people have paid their debts in full. We open our lives only to those we believe are on our side.
The focus of offended Christians is inward and introspective. We guard our rights and personal relationships carefully. Our energy is consumed with making sure no future injuries will occur. If we don’t risk being hurt, we cannot give unconditional love. Unconditional love gives others the right to hurt us.
Love does not seek its own, but hurt people become more and more self-seeking and self-contained.

The Problem With Pride (Am I Offended?) Day 2 of 5

Pride keeps you from dealing with truth. It distorts your vision. You never change when you think everything is fine.
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. – 2 Timothy 2:24-26
Pride hardens your heart and dims the eyes of your understanding. It keeps you from the change of heart—repentance—that will set you free.
Pride causes you to view yourself as a victim. Your attitude becomes, “I was mistreated and misjudged; therefore, I am justified in my behavior.” You hold back forgiveness because you believe you are innocent and falsely accused. Though your true heart condition is hidden from you, it is not hidden from God. Just because you were mistreated, you do not have permission to hold on to an offense. Two wrongs do not make a right!
“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.  “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. – Revelation 3:14-20
In the Book of Revelation, Jesus addressed the church of Laodicea by first telling them how they saw themselves as rich, wealthy, and needing nothing, then by exposing their true condition—“wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked”. They had mistaken their financial strength for spiritual strength. Pride hid their true condition.
Jesus’ first instruction for breaking free from deception was to  buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. – Revelation 3:18
Refined gold is soft and pliable, free from corrosion or other substances. When gold is mixed with other metals (copper, iron, nickel, and so on), it becomes hard, less pliable, and more corrosive. This mixture is called an alloy. The higher the percentage of foreign metals, the harder the gold becomes. Conversely, the lower the percentage of alloy, the softer and more flexible the gold is.
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. – Hebrews 3:13
Immediately we see the parallel: A pure heart is like pure gold— soft, tender, and pliable. Hebrews 3:13 states that hearts are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin! If we do not deal with an offense, it will produce more fruit of sin, such as bitterness, anger, and resentment. This added substance hardens our hearts just as alloys harden gold. This reduces or removes tenderness, creating a loss of sensitivity. We are hindered in our ability to hear God’s voice. Our accuracy to see is darkened. This is a perfect setting for deception.
Now look at what God says:
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. —Isaiah 48:10
God refines with afflictions, trials, and tribulations, the heat of which separates impurities such as unforgiveness, strife, bitterness, anger, envy, and so forth from the character of God in our lives.

The Secret Trap (Am I Offended?) Day 1 of 5

The possibilities for offense are as endless as the list of relationships, no matter how complex or simple.
From Am I Offended? by John Bevere on YouVersion
As I travel across the United States ministering, I have observed one of the enemy’s most deadly and deceptive traps. It imprisons countless Christians, severs relationships, and widens our existing breaches. It is the trap of offense.
Many are unable to function properly in their calling because of the wounds and hurts that offenses have caused in their lives. They are handicapped and hindered from fulfilling their full potential. Most often, it is a fellow believer who has hurt them. This causes the offense to feel like a betrayal.
In Psalm 55:12–14, David laments, “For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.”
The home, meant to be a shelter of protection, provision, and growth where we learn to give and receive love, is often the very root of our pain. History shows that the bloodiest wars are civil—brother against brother, son against father, or father against son.
The possibilities for offense are as endless as the list of relationships, no matter how complex or simple. This truth remains: Only those you care about can hurt you. You expect more from them—after all, you’ve given more of yourself to them. The higher the expectations, the greater the fall.
Selfishness reigns in our society. Men and women today look out for themselves to the neglect and hurt of those around them. This should not surprise us. The Bible is very clear that in the last days, men will be “lovers of themselves”.
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, – 2 Timothy 3:2
We expect this in unbelievers, but Paul was not referring to those outside the church. He was talking about those within it. Many are wounded, hurt, and bitter. They are offended! But they do not realize that they have fallen into Satan’s trap.
Is it our fault? Jesus made it very clear that it is impossible to live in this world and not have the opportunity to become offended. Yet most believers are shocked, bewildered, and amazed when it happens. We believe we are the only ones who have been wronged. This response leaves us vulnerable to a root of bitterness. Therefore we must be prepared and armed for offenses because our response determines our future.
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. – 2 Timothy 2:24-26 ESV

The Faith Of Moses (Kingdom Heroes) Day 5 of 5

From Kingdom Heroes by Tony Evans on YouVersion
“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” (Hebrews 11:23)
Not afraid. Those two words sum up how Moses grew to express such greatness. The parents who gave him life were “not afraid.” They lived with faith over fear. The DNA passed down to their son through this genetic transfer was that of belief.
But even more than that, Moses’ parents’ lack of fear in the face of an evil culture and evil king spared his life. They chose to hide him so he would not be killed, as the king of Egypt had mandated for all male Hebrew newborns. Then, when Moses had grown too old to hide, they came up with an elaborate scheme to position him in a safe and secure place.
The strategy involved placing Moses in a basket in the Nile River near the place where Pharaoh’s daughter bathed, accompanied by her maids. Knowing he was a beautiful baby, they assumed the best of her feminine instincts. And they were right. With one look at this crying infant, she “had pity on him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children’ ” (Exodus 2:6).
Moses’ parents knew Pharaoh’s daughter would not be in a position to raise a child on her own. Those types of roles were for servants in that cultural time period. So they’d also placed Moses’ sister, Miriam, where she could keep an eye on the basket and present herself when it was retrieved.
The plan went according to their hopes, and when Miriam offered to find someone to help nurse the boy and care for him in the palace, Pharaoh’s daughter agreed. Miriam was more than willing to offer her mother to do just that.
As we near the end of the murals on the hallway walls, we see the baby being drawn from the basket, we hear the water dropping off the basket as it’s lifted from the river, and from a loudspeaker, we hear the Bible passage that describes the rest of the scene:
Pharaoh’s daughter said to [Moses’ mother], “Take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water” (Exodus 2:5-10).
Not only was Moses’ life spared from certain death in the violent culture he’d been born into, but his mother was paid to nurse him and raise him in the palace. This truth reminds us that we will never discover what God can do until we trust Him to do it. He can do things that blow our minds. Moses’ parents had decided they would not be controlled by the culture, so their decisions reflected alignment under the one, true God.
Living by faith means choosing God’s plan over the culture’s plan, then watching Him work it out for your good and others’ benefit.

The Faith Of Sarah (Kingdom Heroes) Day 4 of 5

“And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.” (Hebrews 11:11)
Our next exhibit in the Hall of Heroes illustrates this truth in a dramatic fashion. This hero’s name is Sarah. She started life as Sarai, and she married Abraham, who, again, began life as Abram.
God promised both Sarah and Abraham a son. God did this the same time he changed Sarah’s name:
As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her (Genesis 17:15-16).
Not only was Sarah 90, but she’d been barren her entire life. She’d never conceived or given birth to a child. Her physical capacity to do so was absent, and time was no longer on her side. So this promise from God simply didn’t fit the facts of her life. It wasn’t practical.
It’s possible that Sarah’s story resembles your own but in a different way. You could be barren in other forms. Your capacity to experience what God has for you just doesn’t seem to be there. You’re not producing what you thought you would be at this stage in your life. You’re not delivering on the destiny you believed to be yours. You’ve heard Jesus’ promise in John 10:10, when He declared, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” But you don’t see the results of that promise in your everyday life.
If that describes your current state of mind, know that Sarah was right where you are. Five times God had told her she was going to have a son. Not only that, but He’d gone on to tell Abraham and her that, through this son, a whole nation would be birthed.
Sarah had a vision for a great future. Yet the clock kept taunting her, tempting her to give up and doubt God. If we were to look closely, we’d see that many of our lives look like this—like our ability to be what God wants us to be, to do what God wants us to do, and to achieve what God wants us to achieve no longer exists.
Whatever the case, if you feel like too much time has passed to get to experience the fulfillment of Christ’s promise of an abundant and fulfilling life, I encourage you to never let the facts get in the way of your faith. Don’t deny the facts—facts are facts—but just know that faith is never limited to facts alone. Facts always involve what you see. Faith involves what you don’t see.

The Faith Of Abraham (Kingdom Heroes) Day 3 of 5

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8)
Your life of faith as a kingdom hero will also involve how you choose to live. We read in Hebrews 11:9 that “by faith [Abraham] lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.” Abraham made it to the area promised to him, but it was not yet his.
Perhaps no discipline in the kingdom hero’s toolbox of faith is greater than the discipline of waiting well. While you’re waiting, God is doing two things related to your life at once. First, He’s preparing the promise for you, and second, He’s preparing you for the promise. Most people delay the promise they’re waiting for because they choose not to cooperate with the learning of the lessons and the spiritual growth God has for them in the interim.
That’s what happened to Abraham. He ended up in the Hall of Heroes, but not every decision he made was heroic. He delayed his breakthrough to his first promise by some 25 years. Abraham wasn’t ready. He was still lying, cheating, and even sleeping with his wife’s handmaiden, resulting in a baby born outside God’s will. Before he got his inheritance, Abraham first needed to come to his senses, grow in his faith, and trust God fully—even when it didn’t look like anything was happening.
God never wants to give someone a destiny that will cause them to forget Him when they get it. When God delivers on those promises, we often praise Him and then just as quickly forget He did. We forget because we lack the kind of commitment that’s tied to more than what we see and what we get.
Like Abraham, we are also to live as foreigners in a strange land. 1 Peter 2:11-12 puts it like this:
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
God doesn’t want any of us to get too attached to the world we live in now. We aren’t to adopt the culture so much that our behavior begins to reflect the common behaviors of the culture. Not only that, but remaining mobile frees us to pursue His plan more fully. If you’re going to walk by faith, you better have on loafers or comfortable shoes, because God can take you on some long and winding paths. Staying tied too closely to your comfort zone will limit what God is able to do both in and through you.

The Faith Of Noah (Kingdom Heroes) Day 2 of 5

“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.” (Hebrews 11:7)
Many of us fail to live our lives as kingdom heroes simply because our faith has dried up. We go through the motions only to discover that our Christian walk has gone flat. We lack that which transforms the heart of faith to the next level of heroic fruition.
James explains this:
“What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself” (James 2:14-17).
James lets us know how to reactivate faith—by combining what we do with what we believe. The work of obedience ignites the reality of faith so we see the invisible spiritual power enter into the visible reality around us.
Noah arguably gives us the greatest illustration of faith at work in humanity. His story highlights a man of incredible conviction. He didn’t strive for popular acceptance. He knew God and chose to follow Him closely:
“Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.” Genesis 6:9b
Noah lived to please God. He walked with God, similar to the many others who also wound up in the Hall of Heroes. On top of that, Noah was a blameless man. He had integrity with both people and God. As a result, he found favor with God. And God’s favor can do more than bring blessing; it can bring peace.
Today, we’re facing an epidemic of indecisiveness in our culture. So many people are simply afraid to make a decision. And the concept of groupthink has become a chokehold. As a result, more often than ever, we as believers fail to move forward based on what God has directed us to do.
Just think about what would have happened if Noah had waited for consensus on building the ark. But thankfully, Noah’s faith had been activated. He had a living faith that showed up in what he did, not just in what he said. As a result, his legacy is on display in the Hall of Heroes. His impact has gone down in history as one of the bravest, most courageous to have ever been lived out.

God Is Telling The Truth (Kingdom Heroes) Day 1 of 5

From Kingdom Heroes by Tony Evans on YouVersion
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)
Before we look closely at the lives who modeled faith as told in Hebrews 11, I want to give you a simple definition of faith:
Faith is acting like God is telling the truth. It’s basing  actions on the belief that what He says is true.
Faith isn’t merely feeling like God is telling the truth. Nor is it saying God is telling the truth. It is acting like God is telling the truth.
“For we live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV)
This faith walk is to be done without the requirement of prior visible, empirical evidence to validate it. It is rather to be based on the integrity of God.
Faith always includes movement and actions aligned with what you believe to be true. Unless your faith makes it all the way down to your feet, it’s not faith. Rather, it’s an intellectual concept that hasn’t been mixed with action, and nothing concrete will show up in your life. Exercising faith takes God’s involvement in your life from a theory in your mind to a reality in your life.
A number of years ago, the church where I serve installed motion-detector lighting, where the lights come on only when motion is detected. Similarly, God will give you the power and light you need when you need it, but He’ll wait until He detects motion on your part. If there’s no movement in faith, there’s no power in your life.
God is real. He has great power. But He will not manifest that power in the ways you need Him to until He sees the motion of your life in faith. If there is no movement, His power lies dormant even though it’s there to be accessed at any time. It’s in living a life of faith that we gain God’s approval.
“This is what the ancients were commended for.” (Hebrews 11:2)
Here’s another way I define faith:
Faith is acting like it’s so even when it’s not so, in order that it might be so simply because God said so.
It is in living a life of faith, just like the kingdom heroes examined throughout this plan, that we gain God’s approval (Hebrews 11:2).

Turning Setbacks Into Comebacks (The Shift That Changes Everything) Day 5 of 5

From The Shift That Changes Everything by Ted Pagel Jr. on YouVersion
If there’s anything my life has taught me, it’s this: setbacks are not the end of your story. They often feel final, painful, or discouraging, but God has a way of turning what looks like defeat into the very soil where new beginnings grow. Some of the greatest breakthroughs in my life came right after seasons I thought would break me.
I’ve faced times when dreams died, relationships fractured, or opportunities slipped through my fingers. In those moments, I wondered if God had forgotten me. But as I look back, I can see how every setback became a setup for something better—not because the pain vanished instantly, but because God was quietly shaping me in the middle of it.
The apostle Paul understood this better than anyone. He faced beatings, imprisonment, persecution, betrayal, and constant danger, yet he wrote, “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed…struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9). His confidence didn’t come from his circumstances; it came from knowing God was working through them. He believed his struggles were producing a glory that far outweighed the pain.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. – Romans 8:18 NIV
I’ve found that to be true. When I’ve walked through adversity, God has used those seasons to refine me, redirect me, and rebuild parts of my life that had been neglected. Sometimes He closed doors I was never meant to walk through. Sometimes He strengthened my character in ways success never could. Sometimes He positioned me for assignments I would not have accepted without the struggle.
The world sees setbacks as evidence that you’ve failed. God sees them as opportunities to deepen your faith, strengthen your resilience, and prepare you for the next chapter. He’s not finished writing your story, and He hasn’t wasted anything you’ve walked through—not one tear, one disappointment, or one delay.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
If you’re in a setback season right now, take heart: God specializes in comebacks. Even when you can’t see the path forward, He is working behind the scenes. You might feel struck down, but you are not destroyed. You are being shaped for something greater than you can imagine.
Hold on. Keep trusting. Your comeback is already in motion.
Ready to take the next step?
In The Shift That Changes Everything, I share the full journey, including deeper teaching, more personal stories, and practical tools to help you walk with resilience in every season. Get the book and additional resources at TedPagelMinistries.org.