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Why did God command Joshua, to be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged."Answer: Because he was afraid and discouraged. God sent Moses into Egypt to end 400 years of slavery and to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to the promised land of Canaan, modern day Israel. After a 40-year journey, the Israelites were finally prepared to enter Canaan. Just days prior to entering Canaan, Joshua replaced Moses as the leader of Israel. To settle the land in peace, the I …

Excerpts from “The Right Fight: How to Live a Loving Life” by John Kennedy Vaughan“Being truthful means more than just telling the truth as we see it. It means having the courage to look for the real truth.“Love doesn’t just respond to what people do. Love seeks to understand the thought behind the action because that’s where the truth is hidden. Fear will speak its mind without regard for the truth, or how the words wound, or how they might be received; and without asking the question of why s …

Excerpts from “The Right Fight: How to Live a Loving Life” by John Kennedy Vaughan“I have rarely met anyone who isn’t kind to those who are kind to them.“Only those whose lives are totally ruled by fear might choose to be unkind to those who are kind to them.“But if we want love ruling our lives, we must be kind no matter how others treat us. Being kind when we don’t feel like it can mean a couple different things. Sometimes it just means what it sounds like: being kind and doing the right thin …

"Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." Colossians 3:13 Fear is one of the most destructive forces in relationships. It never motivates us to do the right thing. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Unhealthy fear is not from God. Unhealthy fear includes, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear from envy, fe …

Excerpts from “The Right Fight: How to Live a Loving Life” by John Kennedy Vaughan“I remember that when I was in elementary school, junior high school, and the first years of high school, I had a lot of friends—until all the kids in my age group grew taller and I didn’t. That’s when I went from my classmates scrambling to save me a chair at lunch tables to spending my lunch breaks eating by myself.“For two years, no one wanted to sit with me because I was shorter than my classmates, and it didn …

Excerpts from “The Right Fight: How to Live a Loving Life” by John Kennedy Vaughan“The first thing we want to stop doing when we get hurt or [we lose something or someone] is stop trusting—both God and the person [or thing that] has hurt us.“We want to put up fences and draw boundaries to protect ourselves, but we can’t put up fences and draw boundaries and love at the same time. If we love, we trust; and if we don’t trust, we don’t love.“When we put up fences and boundaries, we are seizing con …

Excerpts from “The Right Fight: How to Live a Loving Life” by John Kennedy VaughanWe Are Not Locked in Our Fearful Choices“Every time we make a choice to act, either in fear or in love, our actions define us at that moment.“If we choose to act in anger, then our anger defines us in that moment. If we feel angry but do not act on that anger, then our anger does not have to define us at that moment.“If we choose to act in love and show kindness, no matter how we feel, we are defined as kind in th …

Excerpts from “The Right Fight: How to Live a Loving Life” by John Kennedy Vaughan“Our love or our selfishness has its greatest impact upon our children. There is no one we have more influence over than our own children. From birth, they hang on every word we say. I don’t think we normally think about this. We are busy and have so much on our minds that we do what feels right at any one time without realizing how deep our kindness or rudeness can touch our children.“One time, I had decided to r …

Excerpts from “The Right Fight: How to Live a Loving Life” by John Kennedy Vaughan“I’ve observed that before people will follow you, they will need to believe three things about you.“First, they need to believe that you have some knowledge of where you are going. Second, they need to know you won’t sacrifice them for the mission. Finally, they need to believe you won’t sacrifice them for yourself. Note that I am not talking about a boss.“The boss is the opposite of a leader. A boss drives peopl …

Excerpts from “The Right Fight: How to Live a Loving Life” by John Kennedy Vaughan“I have heard it said that winners never quit and quitters never win, but so many winners have quit so many times along the way.“The greatest memories in any victory are the times we got back up after quitting. In my fifteen-year journey chasing my dream [of a national water-ski jump championship], the moment it came true may have been the best moment in the journey, but it was only a moment.“The journey was where …