The Igniting Hope Blog

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 differen

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