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The road to God’s blessing..

May 7, 2012 in Leadership, Life, Ministry with 11 Comments

How do I obtain the blessings of God? How can I know the road that I walk it a path he has set before me? How can I know the Lord will bless what I do? I would say these questions are great questions and worth pondering. In following Jesus I have been able to learn four critical lessons to obtaining his blessings or favor, such as joy, peace, love, prosperity, understanding and rest. Blessings of finance and health, yes this too can be added after we seek first his kingdom but they aren’t eternal, prosperity is a sign of his blessings, he promises prosperity, not to be confused with financial gain. (many people living the “American dream” can get confused financial gain with prosperity-just wanted to clarify)

Here are four roads that will lead to God’s blessing over our lives from what his word tells us.

1. Forgiveness- If you are carrying around bitterness or a grudge, you gotta let that stuff go, you gotta trust God with those things. I know people hurt, I know, I’ve been hurt plenty but too often, we never ask God to address these things and before you know it, they grow within us like bacteria deep in the soul and our spirit and attitude can become really gross. It is not God’s desire for us to walk around with bitterness, jealousy and unforgiveness towards others, ask God to reveal it, for God to deal with it so you can heal from it.

2. Humility- If you think you aren’t prideful…sorry to break it to you, you are prideful. In fact, unless you are asking God to help you with this, pride has likely blinded you to it. Christ came to serve not to be served, he assumed what ever task was necessary to demonstrate love, even on his last day with those closest to him, after a long walk down a dusty and dirty road, when they had all entered in to eat and feast, with filthy feet and no servants around…Jesus, placing others first, wrapped his waist, got a bowl of water and a cloth and kneeled down to clean the feet of his disciples. There should be no task “too low” for you because Jesus demonstrated this while on earth.

3. Submission- I struggled with this for some time because of how badly my father was treated in ministry, I felt I had to constantly stand up and defend myself, until God revealed the problem, I gave it to the Lord and he healed me from it. Here is the truth, Biblically, ALL authority is from God, yes, in his mysterious and sovereign power he has placed everyone in power, even the really bad leaders you know. God uses all of it. We don’t see the whole picture, sometimes he allows bad leaders to be in power to demonstrate what evil within them sometimes he allows them to be humbled. Never the less, ALL authority is from God and you must have a heart of submission to your leaders and to others who can help you remain accountable. No one is good or good enough to be outside of a submission, God uses this to keep us close to his heart and plan.

4. Purity- A life called to serve God must be consecrated and  separated from sinful activity. Not only that, the desire to be pure before God must exist. Although we cannot separate from our bodies and it’s sinful “nature” too often, we have leaders and ministers that aren’t repentant or practice repentance daily. Holiness, although humanly speaking is impossible, can be something we practice, something we seek with all our heart, God’s word says “be Holy for I am Holy”…What God is saying is, desire Holiness because Holiness comes from him and in all fairness, uh, we won’t get to practice this in Heaven, we get to start this process while here on earth to prepare us for Heaven.

If we can ask God, openly to reveal these areas in our lives so that these roads, these areas, a life that forgives, that walks humbly, a life submitted to authority and a life of purity can become part of us, we will remain under the mighty hand of God, in safety, with his blessing and favor over everything we do and everything we are.

Anchored

May 4, 2012 in Family, Life, Spiritual with 0 Comments

It’s interesting the shape of an anchor now that I look at it closely, the anchor in the early Christian years was a symbol of the cross, look at it closely, it sort of looks or has the shape of a cross. Well, it’s simple to understand the use of an anchor when your at sea, sometimes when you just want to be still out on the ocean, the water and the wind will simply begin to cause the boat, ship or craft to drift. So, in order to accomplish stillness at sea, you toss your anchor over, this will keep you grounded and still. Seem’s like an elemental concept, but I have to admit, my mind is bombarded I mean bombarded with thoughts everyday. I can testify to you that even in a season of seeking the Lord, taking time to fast, pray often, my mind can still begin to drift and be tested with doubts.

Why does this happen? I suffer from being a deep thinker, my mind tends to over think things most times, I tend to depend on my reasoning too often and try to make sense of things. The only thing I have found to help me endure the wind and waves of this life are the truth of God’s word. God’s word is never changing. Understanding occurs in the mind but believing takes place in the heart. Feelings, thoughts and emotions  ,they are all over the place sometimes, but what we believe guides our direction, I have had to remind myself of Gods word, that God is greater than my feelings, his truth is not based on my 5 senses. I don’t live or follow Christ based on feelings, I follow Christ because I believe what his word tells me about him and that’s how I have come to learn who he is. In my most spiritually violent moments, when the storm is the greatest, when the winds and waves of life come strong, I have had to sit and speak the truth of Gods word out loud, speak it over myself..

Scriptures I have memorized or bookmarked and highlighted, these words have kept me safe, still and anchored through the most difficult times, through the times I felt like God had left me alone, God’s word reminded me, he never leaves his children. Ever. King David said “bless the lord, o my soul”…HE was talking to himself, he was telling his soul what to do, probably because he was (feeling), (seeing) or (hearing) something that was contrary to his beliefs. So, he decided to remind his soul what to do, bless the LORD!

God’s word is living and real and what’s really amazing is it always talks to me regardless where it finds me, that confirms it’s power and truth time and time again. I’m not sure what waves are tossing you around today or what wind may be howling around your peace but get into God’s word, speak God’s word, believe IN Gods word because they are alive, God is alive, his word will keep you safe, anchored and still during the storm.

Elevating leaders

May 2, 2012 in Leadership, Life with 7 Comments

Leadership is one of those things I enjoy talking about and what really get’s me excited is helping others become better leaders. I am a firm believer of leading with humility, you have to have a heart to serve others and also vision, a great leader has clarity, communicates clearly and has confidence in the direction that they are going in. In combination for the books, podcasts and mission statements and strategies I have read and learned I think these four steps ultimately help elevate leaders.

1. Support- Going beyond delegation and definitely not choosing to direct, support the leaders around you. Support them with as much instruction as you can, be accessible to them. If they are missing something, allow them to try it but support where needed. The key difference for me here is that direction just tells them what to do, delegation allows them to do it, but support helps them rebound faster and find what works for them.

2. Coach- Give honest feedback that builds them up, stick to the facts here, be practical, show them how they missed it but also make them aware of the standard that is to be held and help them measure how far they are from reaching it.

3. Invest- Taking a leader out for lunch is a great way to invest in them, that personal time, those conversations, wow, I am so thankful for leaders that did this with me. Also, buy them a book that has impacted you personally. I love reading books and when someone makes a strong personal suggestion that could elevate my understanding of leadership it is greatly appreciated.

4. Risk- This is the biggie, ready? Take a chance on someone already! How can anyone learn unless someone takes the risk of letting them try. You gotta pull the trigger and let a person lead, give it a shot. Someone eventually has to believe in someone enough to give them a chance. If they fail, go back to the three listed above and repeat.

These are proven principles for me personally, I had support, coaching, someone invested in me and finally someone gave me chance. I continue seek these four principles in leaders around me and apply what they help me understand. I hope they can help you elevate other leaders too.

 

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