The Igniting Hope Blog

The Most Overlooked Leadership Skill By Steve Backlund If someone asked us to name the greatest leadership qualities, we might think of vision, wisdom, communication, or integrity. Those are all important. Yet I believe that after love, hope is the most influential leadership quality we can possess. The Greek word for hope in the New Testament means “the confident, joyful expectation that good is coming.” Hope is far more than optimism. It is a conviction rooted in the goodne

Invest Now or Pay More Later By Steve Backlund Every day we are either borrowing from our future or investing in it. Many years ago, AAMCO Transmissions had a memorable slogan: "Pay now or pay later." Their message was simple. Spend a little money on maintenance today or spend much more repairing major problems later. That phrase has stayed with me because it describes one of the great principles of God's Kingdom. We all face moments when we can embrace a small amount of disc

Believe and Manage By Steve Backlund One of the greatest areas where we are tempted to be frustrated in our Christian life is believing for something that hasn't happened yet. We have all experienced it. We are believing God for healing, but our bodies are still hurting. We are believing for a stronger marriage, but challenges remain. We are believing for financial breakthrough, yet we're still battling debt. We believe for emotional freedom while continuing to renew our mind

Believing the Best in Your Spouse Guest Blog by Pieter & Melinda Lagaay We are honored to have Melinda and Pieter Lagaay share on the topic of marriage. They bring authentic wisdom, contagious hope, and a testimony of God's restoring power that will strengthen and inspire you. Wendy and I highly recommend their ministry. When Pieter and I began the process of restoring our marriage, I discovered that the real battle was not in his choices anymore — it was in my beliefs. I had

Decide and He Will Provide By Steve Backlund One temptation we all face is the desire to have complete certainty in details before we move forward. We want to know how everything is going to work out. We want confirmation that the resources will be there. We want assurance we won't fail. Yet God often works differently than we expect. This is a word for many of you today: Decide, and He will provide. While wisdom tells us to pray, seek counsel, and count the cost, faith event

Big or Small on the Inside? By Steve Backlund One of the hidden tests in life and leadership is what happens inside us when someone else succeeds, and we are not. Most of us enjoy our own victories. The greater challenge is often learning how to respond when someone else receives the promotion, favor, influence, opportunity, or breakthrough we were hoping for ourselves. James 3:13-18 describes two kinds of wisdom. One is characterized by bitter envy and selfish ambition. The

It Is Already Happening (Part 2) By Steve Backlund Looking for Gold, Not Dirt Wendy and I were senior leaders in Central Nevada in the 1990s. We lived in a town that had a massive open-pit gold mine. Hundreds of tons of dirt were moved every day, but the workers were not fixated on dirt. Their focus was the gold hidden within it. As we observed this, we realized it was a powerful picture for leadership and relationships. We made a decision that we would become gold finders, n

It Is Already Happening (Part 1) By Steve Backlund What if God is already doing far more than we realize? In John 4:35, Jesus confronted a mindset that still affects many believers today: “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest.” The disciples were saying, “It’s not happening yet.” Jesus was saying, “It already is happening. You just are no

The Manna Ceased By Steve Backlund “Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land…” (Joshua 5:12). What a fascinating and emotional verse. For forty years, the Israelites experienced miraculous daily provision. Every morning manna appeared on the ground. It was dependable, supernatural, and familiar. An entire generation had built their lives around it. Then suddenly it stopped. At first glance, that sounds disappointing. Why would God remove

Declarations: The Science Behind It By Steve Backlund Declarations are one of the most practical ways we renew our minds and experience transformation (Romans 12:2). It is speaking life (Proverbs 18:21) and “calling those things that do not exist as though they did" (Romans 4:17). I have written books about it, taught it extensively, and experienced the benefits of it. What we believe greatly impacts what we feel and will experience. And what we say is a main contributor to

Fasting More or Feasting More? By Steve Backlund Fasting is biblical and important. Jesus fasted, and the early church fasted. Fasting helps us detach from unhealthy appetites and increase focus on the Lord. However, I believe many people lack victory not because they fast too little, but because they are not feasting enough. Too often we are: underfed on hope, underfed on testimonies, underfed on identity, underfed on the goodness of God, underfed on worship, underfed on Scr

Improve It By Steve Backlund Most of us love new beginnings, but we often underestimate what comes next. Whether it is a new job, a home, a marriage, a ministry role, or a leadership responsibility, these feel like open doors, answered prayers, and fulfilled desires. And they are. But every new “possession” also carries something we don’t always consider at first: Responsibility. What we receive, we get to steward. Possessing Is Just the Beginning It is easy to focus on getti

Testimonies — The 4th Source of Healthy & Fruitful Mind Renewal By Steve Backlund One of the great secrets to healthy and fruitful mind renewal is learning how to feed on testimonies. Most believers understand the importance of renewing the mind, but many underestimate the power of testimonies in that process. Testimonies are not just encouraging stories, spiritual entertainment, or simply reports of what God once did. Testimonies are one of God’s key tools for helping us th

What True Revelation Produces By Steve Backlund What comes to mind when you hear the word revelation? For many, it means: something deep something new something we’ve never heard before a fresh insight that feels profound And while those things can be part of it, I’ve been rethinking how we define revelation. There is a tendency to measure revelation by how impressive it sounds or how different it is from what we’ve heard before. But in Scripture, revelation is not validated

Trying To Stop Something? Replace It Instead By Steve Backlund Many of us are trying to stop negative behaviors. We focus on what we don’t want to do anymore: “I need to stop this… I shouldn’t be doing that… Why do I keep struggling with this?” But here’s a powerful truth: The best way to stop a negative behavior is not just to remove it—it is to replace it. When we focus too much on what we’re trying to stop, we often give it more attention than it deserves. But when we focu

The Art of a Faster Comeback By Steve Backlund I don’t live in constant emotional euphoria. My goal is this to make my low places higher and not stay there as long. I want to bounce back quicker than I used to. It is called resilience. Resilience is the ability to withstand, adapt to, and recover quickly from adversity, trauma, or significant change. People of hope bounce back faster, not because they avoid difficulty, but because they interpret and respond to life different

Increasing the Likelihood By Steve Backlund “This is going to be the best day of my life yet!” I frequently say that after I wake up. It does not guarantee it to happen, but the moment I say it, the likelihood of it happening increases. It is a great belief. I do focus much on beliefs—and rightly so—because what we believe is ultimately more important than what we do, but today if we truly believe, our beliefs will propel us into action. Hope-filled people do not just believ

Identity-Based Bible Reading By Steve Backlund One of the biggest reasons people struggle to obey the Bible is this: we cannot consistently do what we do not believe we are. If we do not believe we are loved, forgiven, righteous, empowered, and in Christ, then many of the commands in Scripture will feel like pressure instead of invitation. They will feel like demands instead of pathways into freedom. This is one reason many sincere Christians feel tired when they read the Bib

Being a Prophetic Person By Steve Backlund I used to think prophetic ministry was only about giving a prophetic word to a person, but I have come to realize the greater invitation is to become a prophetic person—someone who consistently sees and speaks through Heaven’s perspective. Many believers experience moments where they feel inspired to encourage someone or share something they sense from God. Those moments are wonderful, but prophetic living goes deeper than occasional

Identifying Your Metrons By Steve Backlund We are tempted as believers to just know God’s promises, but not live in them. God didn’t give promises for occasional encouragement. He gave promises to abide in them (to occupy them). “If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32). Romans 12:3 says God has dealt to each one “a measure of faith.” The word “measure” comes from the Greek word metron,