The Drive - A Daily Devotional by Pastor Mike Sternad

Send us Fan Mail To be in line with the Lord, you have to be in line with Scripture.  God will never lead you to do something that is contradictory to Scripture. Ever. There are some things that you don’t have to pray about, especially if the Bible disagrees with them. There are gray areas where you must seek the Lord on what direction to go, what to do or what not to do. But the Lord will never c...

Send us Fan Mail Living out God’s calling for your life leads to abundant joy and true contentment.  You’ll know what God wants you to do if you are seeking Him through prayer and through His Word. The result of focusing on the Lord and following Him is a heart that is truly happy. It sounds so simple, but I think we often make it too complicated. If you are being obe- dient to the Lord, then you...

Send us Fan Mail May you abandon self-trust and embrace God’s plan. Trust Him. He has you.  Sometimes you live as if you don’t need the Lord. I promise you I’m not trying to make you feel bad, but the fact is that we sometimes think we can do it ourselves. Independence becomes a regular occurrence and then there ceases to be room for the Lord. Faith can’t be activated if you are constantly walking...

Send us Fan Mail It takes daily surrender to be in step with God’s will. Let Him take control.  You may be a person who wants to be in control all the time. If that’s you, then it is not easy to give up control to God and trust Him for everyday life. Yet, it is the best action you can take especially knowing that God is sovereign and knows exactly what He is doing! I want to be in step with the Lo...

Send us Fan Mail  Order of priorities in life. God first. Others next. You last.  With the world it is actually the exact opposite. You first, others next, God last. What a sad state this world is in, but remember this world does not dictate who you are or what actions you take. Let God lead you and know that He honors your daily decision to put Him first, others next and yourself last. In no way...

Send us Fan Mail Surrendering to God will crowd out your fear and refill you with faith.  To give up your whole life to the Lord is the beginning of freedom and victory. Freedom from fear and victory over timidity. Surren- dering will activate your faith to such a degree that you’ll follow the Lord wholeheartedly. It’s not easy to surrender your life on a daily basis, but it is necessary if you wa...

Send us Fan Mail Don’t let storms bring stress.  Your Creator can keep you calm through any conflict. If the weather of life seems to be darkening around you, look up! The only way to sincerely smile through a storm is to look to the Lord and obtain your joy from Him. When chaos arises, make sure your grip is on the eternal and not on the earthly. Storms are not meant to bring stress. They are mea...

Send us Fan Mail To relieve uneasiness and alleviate anxiety, depend upon the Lord.  When you try and take on the burdens and pressures of life, you’ll be left stressed out and burnt out. You were not created to carry every difficulty that comes your way. To trust in the Lord means to let Him carry your burdens and cares. Independence is a worldly concept that pro- motes needing no one. As believe...

Send us Fan Mail  May generosity be a habit that you emulate from the Lord. God is a giver.  In our selfish American culture, there is a tendency to believe that the more a person has, the better off he is. Not true! The amount of stuff you have doesn’t equate to what kind of person you are! God calls you to not hoard, but to help out by giving yourself to those who are in need. You have the privi...

Send us Fan Mail Don’t let worry wreck you.  Trust God and let your worry be eradicated. I’ve never seen anything built and thrive due to worry and anxiety. Worry, if left unchecked, will completely ruin your countenance and lead to major stress and depression. Some people think it’s their job to worry. It’s not. The way to eradicate and sideline worry is to trust in God on a day-to-day basis. Som...

Send us Fan Mail  You are a work in progress.  Praise God for His grace. If you are reading this, you are alive and if you are alive, God wants to continue to refine you. The Lord is not done with you no matter where you came from and how old or young you are. There is no point where God ceases to work on your heart. You are a work in progress and that means there are always more areas and more wa...

Send us Fan Mail Difficulties do not deplete you of the Lord’s blessings.  Sometimes it may seem like your problems are overshadowing God’s mercies and the result is depression and defeat. The way to get out of this self-inflicted rut is to not let your difficulties overtake your life or guide your decisions. To focus only on your perceived problems will leave you doubt- ing and drained of any and...

Send us Fan Mail  God is your active refuge in this misaligned world.  You may have run until you’ve fallen over and lost your breath in exhaustion. Instead of find- ing your shelter and refuge in the Lord, you have kept going falsely believing that you are unstoppable. This world may commend you for working eighty hours a week with no sleep. It may seem like you are better than others because you...

Send us Fan Mail Keep the faith and forge ahead knowing God is with you. At times, it may feel like you cannot take one more step forward. It may feel like you are hitting a wall, that God is silent, that circumstances never seem to be good or pleasant. Trust God. You may be in a season of storms right now. But to forge ahead through the thickest storms, you need to keep on the forefront of your h...

Send us Fan Mail  You’re passing through this temporary world heralding a permanent hope.  Your life on earth will not last forever. Sometimes we live like this earth is our permanent and everlasting home. The truth is life is fleeting and we are not here forever. You and I were not created to settle down on earth and build our little kingdoms here. We were made for more. This earth is our tempora...

Send us Fan Mail  It’s so freeing when you make God’s Word the groundwork for your life.  Many times we think we have to figure life out on our own with no help from anyone. The truth is that you have the Word of God as the blueprint for building your life on Christ. I’m not to be burdened with attempting to be strategic and clever in order to navigate through life. I have the manual! Following Go...

Send us Fan Mail May you not take God’s Word for granted. Stand strong in the Scriptures.  Make sure the church you’re going to is based and founded upon the Word of God, rather than on man’s opinion. Read the Bible more than you read any other book. Stay open to how God wants to speak to you, correct you and encourage you from His Word. Sometimes we just go through the motions and read God’s Word...

Send us Fan Mail In following God, have patience in the waiting and passion in the working.  You may have lost your patience a few times this past week and your pas- sion for the things of God may have lessened. So how do we remain patient and live with godly passion? I believe we do this by consistently being in God’s Word and staying plugged into a local church. Don’t church hop thinking you’d f...

Send us Fan Mail  The power of the Lord never rests on the vessel.  It flows through you, and glorifies Him. Everything you do can actually glorify God. You and I never have the right to claim any power over anything. God is the source and fountainhead of power. Being a vessel and allowing the Lord to fill you, and then for you to pour out His attributes to a world that needs hope—that’s humility....

Send us Fan Mail  Get off the self-led path and onto the God- led path. It’s worth every step.  When you attempt to control your own destiny, it can lead to major destruction. Sounds dramatic, right? But the fact is that the Lord wants to lead you as a believer and when you are in the middle of His mission for you, you’ll realize that God’s ways are so much better than your ways. It’s a simple tru...

Send us Fan Mail Your priorities will be in line when you are aligned with the Lord.  As you get on the road of God’s will through obedience to Him, your priori- ties will be on point. When you do your own thing and close your ears and eyes off to what God is doing, you’ll go astray. I don’t know about you, but I want to be in the dead center of God’s mission for me. The avenue to get to that plac...

Send us Fan Mail Don’t seek worldly affirmation from people. Seek the Lord for heavenly confirmation.  Don’t live to get a pat on the back from man; live to please the Lord! People are faulty and they will fail you. You are faulty and you will fail people. We are all imperfect human beings. So abandon expectations from people and forget worldly affirmation. Instead, seek God daily for confirmation...

Send us Fan Mail Active faith will crowd out fear and destroy doubt.  Sitting on the sidelines while watching others in the game of God’s will is the avenue to let- ting doubt and unbelief overtake you. If you are not active for the Lord, your faith will flounder. If you are active for the Lord, your faith will flourish. The question is, are you in or out of the game? Are you going to be bold and...

Send us Fan Mail When it comes to evangelism, you don’t control the outcome.  You are simply called to get out there and share God’s unending love unconditionally. You plant and you water, like the Bible says, but God gives the increase. You are not working on commission, but on salary. In other words, God is not expecting you to change anyone’s heart; He is expecting you to relay the reality of t...

Send us Fan Mail Even in difficult times, there is so much for us to be thankful for.  I would seriously recommend making a list of everything you are grateful for. God has blessed His children in so many ways that it is hard to keep track of all of them! We innately take things for granted which is why we must remind ourselves of all that God has done in our lives. There will be difficult times,...