Craig T. Owens

March 2026
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Don’t Stumble In The Homestretch

July 29, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

We’re up to Psalm 131. After this step, only three more steps to go until we reach the top! We’re almost there. We started in a dark valley surrounded by enemies that wanted to keep us in the valley, but we persevered, we matured, and now the end it almost in sight!

Notice that David wrote this Song of Ascent, and I think he may have had a particular instance from his history in mind when he did.

(Check out all of the verses in this post by clicking here.)

At the height of David’s success, the Bible says that, “David knew that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and that his kingdom had been highly exalted for the sake of His people Israel” (1 Chronicles 14:2). So David used his position to do something very noble: return the ark of the covenant of the Lord to Jerusalem. This was a popular decision that “seemed right to all the people” (13:3).

But it turned out disastrously!

One of the priests overseeing the transportation of the ark of the covenant was killed, and as a result David became angry at God and fearful of Him.

After a cooling off time, David humbled himself. He admitted that he hadn’t “inquired of the Lord” before undertaking this task and then he looked to the Scriptures to find out how to move the ark the correct way (15:12-15).

It’s quite possible David had this incident in mind when he wrote the Song of Ascent for people coming to worship God in the temple where the ark of the covenant of the Lord would be housed.

The opening words sound the tone of humility—“my heart is not proud” and “my eyes are not haughty.” I think in the context of this opening verse of Psalm 131, pride can be defined as:

trying to handle things on my own
concerning myself with things outside my control

That means that humility is trusting that God is in total control.

Verse 2 starts with an important word: But. Instead of the fretting of pride, David chooses the trusting of childlike humility. David says that he has “stilled and quieted my soul.” He has chosen childlike humility.

This is exactly what Jesus told us: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4).

Just look at the differences between childlike and childish!

The consistent message throughout Scripture—from Creation in Genesis 1 until the realization of our eternal reward in Heaven in Revelation 22—is childlike trust in our Heavenly Father.

We can trust God to handle…

…every care—1 Peter 5:7
…every step—Proverbs 3:5-6
…every reward—Luke 12:32

Don’t let pride cause you to stumble in the homestretch. The closer we get to the end of the journey, the more childlike we should become.

If you’ve missed any of the other messages on the Songs of Ascent, you can find them all here.

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Links & Quotes

July 27, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Leaders should be able to use mistakes as growth opportunities. Check out these wise words from the book Spiritual Leadership.

I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

T.M. Moore encourages Christian to be ready to help their neighbors answer their burning questions: “Christians, Charles Taylor insists, must not be guilty of crushing human flourishing by a too-small vision of God and an unloving or unenergetic approach to our neighbors. Instead, we must study and prepare to ‘respond most profoundly and convincingly to what are ultimately commonly felt dilemmas.’ We must be ready to guide our neighbors out of the dark woods of wrong belief into the radiant meadows of the Sun of Righteousness, risen with healing in His wings. But to do this, we must be ready guides. We must anticipate the questions our groping neighbors will ask and prepare to answer them clearly and intelligently (1 Peter 3:15).”

True strength and courage only come to the one who thinks God’s thoughts and does God’s deeds (see Joshua 1:7). The strong and courageous leader is never self-made, but unshakably God-dependent.

On the latest Craig and Greg Show podcast, this the quote from Andy Murray that I shared: “A great team begins to happen when you have the right people on the bus in the right seats and the bus breaks down…. They work through the crisis, they get back on the bus, they’re sweating and tired. All of the sudden something magical happens: They begin to talk to each other. Culture happens through crisis. Unfortunately, many team environments have structured the crisis out.”

Mabel Dean went to Egypt at 40 years old and stayed there for nearly 40 years without taking a single furlough! “All of Dean’s life, people did not expect her to amount to much. Despite what others said, Dean believed that she had a mandate from God for missions work in Africa. She later stated, ‘I was the only homely one in my family. Yet I was the one that He chose for His work.’”

One of the prayers in the Songs of Ascent calls us to mature (or ascend) in our prayers for those who have hurt us.

“There is always a better way of doing things, and either you or your competitor will find it.” —Brad Anderson

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Peter, Assembly of God, Bible study, competition, courage, Craig And Greg Show, Henry Blackaby, innovation, Joshua, leadership, maturity, missionary, mistake, prayer, quotes, stress, T.M. Moore, video. Leave a Comment »

Consistency

July 26, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

In my Bible reading plan that is taking me through the whole Bible in chronological order in a year, I’ve been in the Book of Isaiah for the past few days.

Something stood out to me quite clearly the other day as I highlighted several verses from Isaiah and was reminded of their complementary verses scattered throughout the New Testament. Always remember—

The Old Testament and the New Testament fit together. They enhance each other and show a complete picture that we would miss if we cling to only one of the Testaments.

Here’s just three quick examples I saw in one day’s reading:

Isaiah 30:10-11 and 2 Timothy 4:3 both talk about false prophets who trade speaking God’s Word to speaking a word popular with people.
Isaiah 30:21 and John 16:13 talk about the omnipresent help the Holy Spirit gives us for each step of life’s journey.
Isaiah 32:8 and Matthew 7:24 both tell us the key to security is a life built on the sure foundation of God’s Word.

Don’t just read the Bible—meditate on the words God has spoken to you and apply them to your life.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 2 Timothy, application, Bible study, false prophets, Gospel of John, Gospel of Matthew, Holy Spirit, Isaiah, meditation, New Testament, Old Testament. Leave a Comment »

Bites Hurt!

July 25, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

When people attack their leader—or when sheep bite—it hurts!

Our first best response is to acknowledge, “That hurt!” but then we need to pause. Our natural response to an attack is fight-or-flight, but healthy leaders take time to learn why that bite occurred.

This is an excerpt from an episode of The Craig and Greg Show where Greg interviewed me about my new book When Sheep Bite.

If you would like to watch the full episode of our leadership podcast, you can find that here.

I am getting ready to facilitate a cohort for pastors who have gone through painful sheep bites—or perhaps they are feeling them right now! If you are a pastor, or if you know of a pastor who has been bitten, please check out this cohort here.

And if you would like to pick up a copy of When Sheep Bite for yourself, you can get that here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: cohort, Craig And Greg Show, Greg Heeres, leadership, pain, pastors, personal attacks, video, When Sheep Bite. Leave a Comment »

Expanding Your Leadership Through Anatomy

July 24, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

I want to give you a leadership practice that is going to set you apart from the crowd. It’s all about leveraging an amazing feature God has designed in our brain.

Check out this episode of The Podcast.

The blog post I referenced in this episode is If only I would have thought that through….

I also talked about the power of our reticular activating system (RAS) to improve our attitude in the post and video Gratitude is a shield.

On our leadership podcast called The Craig and Greg Show, Greg and I discussed the added benefit of remembering and using details about people’s lives in our episode Be a noticer.

Keep up with everything else I have going on, including my newest book and the cohort I am facilitating by clicking here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: brain, leadership, memory, RAS, remember, reticular activating system, video. 1 Comment »

Turn Off The News!

July 23, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Anti-anxiety medications are prescribed at a higher rate than any other medication. As a nation, we have become—literally—a nervous wreck!

I think much of our handwringing and stomach churning is from our obsession with keeping up with “current events.” We have alerts endlessly dinging, screaming at us, “Look at this! Can you believe he said that?! Did you hear about this? We must do something about that!”

Christian, where is your hope? In what are you trusting for relief?

God says through Isaiah that sinners are terrified and godless people tremble at the news—

Sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling has seized the godless. “Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?” (Isaiah 33:14)

As these anxiety-plagued people are wondering how they can survive the latest deluge of terrible news, God answers the burning question of real security. He says it is…

…One who walks righteously and speaks with integrity, one who rejects unjust gain and shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; one who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking at evil; he will dwell on the heights, his refuge will be the impregnable rock; his bread will be given him, his water will be sure. (Isaiah 33:15-16)

Did you catch what was in the middle of that list? Stop listening to the reports of bloodshed and stop watching all the news reports of evil people doing evil things.

Instead, God says that we should be watching our own lives closely so that we are:

walking righteously
speaking with integrity
not falling for the latest fads
not being “bribed” by so-called influencers to see things their way

When we are focused on God and on living our lives according to His righteous standards, we won’t have any time or mental energy to give to the evil and bloodshed in the headlines. Rather, we will live securely—protected and blessed by our loving Savior and Lord!

Isaiah 33 goes on to describe what we will notice when we turn off the world’s news and gaze at God: “Your eyes will see the King in His beauty” (v. 17), you will no longer be shaken by “fierce people” (v. 19), but you will know that “the majestic One, the Lord, will be for us…and will save us” (vv. 21-22).

Turn off the world’s news and dive into God’s Good News instead. You will immediately feel God’s peace replacing any fearful trembling in your heart and mind.

You may also want to check out:

My blog post The Carbon Monoxide of Anxiety
A series of sermons called X-ing Out Anxiety

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: anxiety, bad news, emotional health, frustration, Good News, Isaiah, peace, righteousness, stress, worship. Leave a Comment »

Seeds Of Light

July 22, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Light is sown like seed for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. (Psalm 97:11)

Jesus used the parable of a farmer sowing seed as a picture of the seed God wants to sow in our hearts. The psalmist says that God’s seeds are light—driving out the shadows of darkness, and producing an abundant harvest of gladness in our hearts.

Jesus is the Light of the world. He wants His light to be seen in us. He wants us to be glad in Him.

If you don’t feel His gladness, ask the Holy Spirit to show you any weeds or rocks that need to be removed from your heart, so that the seeds of light can burst into a harvest of joy and gladness.

I like how the Amplified Bible renders this verse in Psalm 97—Light is sown for the uncompromisingly righteous and strewn along their pathway, and joy for the upright in heart—the irrepressible joy which comes from consciousness of His favor and protection.

Let’s live in a such a God-honoring way that His seeds of light bring forth an abundant harvest that gives Him all the glory and points others to Jesus the Savior.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: abundance, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, light, parable, Psalm. Leave a Comment »

Rise Above The Storm

July 21, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

My friend Tom Kaastra shared an encouraging message at Calvary Assembly of God on Sunday about handling life’s storms.

Just like the disciples of Jesus in a boat on a stormy sea…

…storms make us feel like we’re on water without any sure footing
…and the wind is against us (Mark 4:35-41)

In the Psalms, David used similar language:

the water is up to my neck and I cannot find a foothold (Psalm 69:1-2)
my God, my God, why have You forsaken me? (Psalm 22:1)

Even the well-known hymn The Solid Rock has the line that says, “When all around my soul gives way.”

Isaiah 40:27-30 gives us a helpful example from the eagle of how we can handle life’s storms.

Eagles have huge wingspans and can travel up to 125 miles in a single flight. When they see storms coming, they lock their wings in place and stop flapping on their own. Instead, they sense the warm currents of air and rides those up and over the storm.

So Tom gave us these steps:

Disengage from our own efforts—don’t try to handle the storm on our own.
Perceive the warmth of God’s promises.
Trust the everlasting God (Isaiah 40:28). “Everlasting” means that God is infinite, vigorous, strong, faithful, and capable.
Ride up and over the storm in God. When God says we mount up on wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31), it means we are braided together with God.
Live in the renewed strength that only God can give us.

Jesus went through the most unimaginable life storm that any human has ever had to endure, and He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). We need to trust our Heavenly Father just like Jesus did when we face storms!

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, eagle, God's promise, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Mark, Isaiah, Jesus Christ, psalms, sermon, storms, trials. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

July 20, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

You are more likely to act yourself into good feelings than you are to feel yourself into action. Leaders need to get moving and keep moving! Check out this full conversation from The Craig and Greg Show.

I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

In news that’s not surprising at all, many recent paleontological discoveries confirm to exactly what would be expected if we take the biblical account of Creation and a global Flood literally.

John Piper was asked to weigh-in on the value of repetitive phrases in worship songs. He said, “The issue’s not repetition per se but whether there is enough substance, enough rich content of truth about God woven into the repetitions to justify them, to warrant them. That’s the issue. There’s a difference between repetitions that are called forth by the repeated crescendo of new, glorious truth, and repetitions that serve as a kind of mantra without sufficient truth that is simply used to sustain or intensify a mood. Moods in worship should be awakened and sustained primarily by truth, assisted by music—not primarily by music with a little truth thrown in to justify the singing.”

Pastor John Piper used Psalm 136 as an example in the post above. T.M. Moore also shared this thought about Psalm 136: “The term most frequently used to describe this everywhere-present-and-always-at-work love of God is translated as ‘lovingkindness’ or, in some versions, ‘steadfast love.’ Especially Psalm 136, with its antiphonal arrangement of verses, insists that the cosmos is upheld, sustained, and pervaded by the lovingkindness of God. … It would improve our learning to pray without ceasing if we simply took some time out during the day to thank the Lord for the many ways His steadfast love surrounds, sustains, and swarms us at every moment!”

“When people refer to a man as a man of the Book, meaning the Bible, he’s generally found to be a man of multitudinous books, which simply isolates the one Book to its proper grandeur. The man who reads only the Bible does not as a rule know it or human life.” —Oswald Chambers

Men’s Health magazine shared an interview with Jeremy Renner, who was nearly killed in a tragic accident. I love his attitude about making today better than yesterday. His words remind me of a poem my grandma used to use to motivate me to keep “besting” what I had already done.

Christopher Ash writes about reading the Psalms through the lens of Jesus. He concludes this way: “I remember seeing on the wall of a church the words of Psalm 20:4: ‘May [the Lord] grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!’ How wonderful, you might think. The Bible promises me all that my heart desires. Until you read the psalm and realize that Psalm 20 is a prayer for the king in David’s line. Ultimately, it is a prayer that Jesus will have His heart’s desire granted and that His plans will be fulfilled. And they will! The Psalms are not all about me. If I think they are, I will end up disillusioned. But when I grasp that they are all about Christ, my heart lifts in joy that He is the blessed Man and I belong to Him.”