Encouragement, Leadership

You Are the Man

Have you ever been told…”You’re the man?”  I’ve even said that to women on occasion (with love and admiration of course).  King David had sinned and God sent a prophet to him named Nathan.  Nathan shares a story with David recorded in II Samuel 12 which is in reality a word picture of the sin that David had committed with Bathsheba and her husband, Uriah.  As the story goes, David “burned with anger” against the man Nathan was referencing in his story and even concluded that this man who did such awful things deserves to die.

And then Nathan looks squarely at the King, eye to eye and nose to nose, without hesitation or weakness in his voice and says, “You are the man!”  “David, you’re the sheep stealer, the murderer.”  Can you imagine the scene as David gets flush from the neck up, his heart pumps wildly and his ears turn red-hot with embarrassment? Nathan also gave this word from the Lord, “You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.”  Caught and nailed to the wall with front page newspaper coverage, King David.

When we get caught up into thinking that we’re the man, we are setting ourselves up for a fall.  If there are secret, sinful things in your life, listen to the Holy Spirit and deal with them today.  Expose them to the light and seek help and accountability before your sin is exposed by a loving Father and you find yourself facing your own “Nathan.”

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Encouragement, Leadership, Singles, Small Groups

God Knows Where You Live

God knows where you live.  Do you know how I know that?  He placed you there.  Look at Acts 17: 26 with me, “From one man he [God] made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”  Not only does He know where you live, He chose the time within the course of all time when you should live.  Why did He do this?  “God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”  (Acts 17:27)

Inescapable how God is after mankind to love and serve Him.  If God cares about where you live and when you exist on the earth, then He cares about all the details of your life.  He cares about where you work, who you marry, when you have children and what you name them.  He cares about your finances, what local church you attend and how you care for your neighbors.  He cares about what you think through the day, how much time you spend with Him in devotions and whether or not you obey the traffic laws.  And He cares about what you care about because He created you to live in these days, in the town, state and nation you reside in.  Fully and without compromise live for Him today…”For in him we live and move and have our being.”  (Acts 17: 28)

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Encouragement, Leadership

It’s a New Year and I’m in a Hurry

Welcome to 2012!  How abbreviated did 2011 seem to you?  I mean, was it a full year…12 months…365 days?  I wonder sometimes.  The faster the years, months and days go by, the faster I feel like I live life.  I can be speeding in my car and really don’t know why because I am not running late.  I can tend to always walk fast or be in a rush to finish a project I am working on at home and really do not need to feel any anxiety to complete it.  Some years ago the group Alabama wrote a song about being in a hurry and not knowing why.  I’ve copied it below for you.

I’m in a hurry to get things done Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun All I really gotta do is live and die But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why
Don’t know why I have to drive so fast My car has nothing to prove It’s not new But it’ll do zero to sixty in five point two
I’m in a hurry to get things done Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun All I really gotta do is live and die But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why
Can’t be late, I leave in plenty of time Shakin’ hands with the clock I can’t stop I’m on a roll and I’m ready to rock
I’m in a hurry to get things done Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun All I really gotta do is live and die But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why
Oh, I hear a voice That says I’m running behind Better pick up my pace It’s a race and there ain’t no room for someone in second place
I’m in a hurry to get things done Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun All I really gotta do is live and die But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.

Can you identify with those words as I do?  If so, check out these words: Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything…  (Ephesians 5: 19,20)   You gotta slow down to accomplish what God encourages us to do in those verses.  Let’s determine to be more intentional in this brand new year to slow down, listen to God and speak life to others, because… we can tend to be in a hurry and not know why.

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Encouragement, Leadership, Small Groups

It Has Been An Interesting Year

It has been an interesting year with earthquakes, floods, early snow storms and extended power outages.  We have seen very little recovery in the USA economic situation and the same in most other nations of the world.  As the Berlin wall fell, we are seeing Middle Eastern long-term leaders fall and witnessing an unprecedented prophetic call to the Muslim world for salvation.  Twice the Lord’s return was predicted and twice faithful followers of this false prophet were left wondering, losing confidence in their leader.  We have weathered the “no hell” storm and the “universal salvation” debate.  It’s been a wild and unpredictable year.

But, you know what?  Jesus is still Lord and we are still saved, that we know for sure.  Perhaps you have weathered storms of your own.  Jesus is still Lord and you are still saved.  In fact, as you persevered, your faith was strengthened and your resolve was one of spiritual tenacity.  As you now look back over 2011, it is time to evaluate.  Where did you see direct answers to prayer?  What testimony do you carry in your heart due to God’s faithfulness?  Where did you struggle?  What seemed impossible to you at the time and how has God worked in you through this “impossibility?”  As you take a critical look backwards, what life lessons have you learned?  Can you now see why you had to go through certain challenging situations?  Do you realize a present benefit of perseverance and patience?  What scriptures carried you through the year?  What words spoken by God’s messengers became life-giving seeds of hope?  Hold these in your heart as you press forward.

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.  (Matthew 24: 13, 14)

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Children, Encouragement

Christmas Reflections at O’Hare

“It’s an icy winter night, and O’Hare International Airport is in bedlam.  All flights are canceled.  Visibility is poor to fog, frost and freezing rain.  Thousands of people are clustered at the ticket counters; some clamoring for redress, others wrapped in stoic silence.  Children are crying, the PA system is blaring, and the defeated are bellying up to the bar.  I’m in mild turmoil.  How can the Good News be proclaimed in Dallas if the weather won’t shape up in Chicago?

Across the aisle sits a middle-aged black woman cradling a child.  It’s more than a serene smile playing at the corners of her mouth.  She’s laughing.  She’s actually laughing?  Intrigued I cross the aisle and find myself staring at the woman.  She looks up.  “Ma’am, you’re the only person in this place who seems to be together.  Would you mind telling me why you’re so happy?”  “Sho,” she said.  “Christmas is coming and dat Jesus – He makes me laugh!”  (From: Souvenirs of Solitude by Brennan Manning)

Dat Jesus – He makes me laugh.  What a great phrase.  We need to see beyond all the disappointing news from around the world; news that lends itself more to fear than to laughter.  Can we actually be not so serious and more child-like in this season so that we might find laughter?  Let’s rejoice and laugh over “glad tidings of great joy.”  Christmas is coming…allow God’s laughter given to us through His Son to fill you with comfort and joy.

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Children, Encouragement

The Best MultipurposeToy Ever

Did you know there is a National Toy Hall of fame in Rochester, NY?  I didn’t.  Every year a new member is inducted into this toy hall of fame.  In 2005, the cardboard box was inducted.  What kid doesn’t love to play in a cardboard box?  But, one of my favorites was the toy that was inducted in 2008 – a plain old stick.  The stick was picked because of its “all-purpose, no-cost, recreational qualities.”  It is portable and versatile and “fosters learning creativity through play and imagination.”  It’s the perfect price; it’s all-natural; there are no rules or complicated instructions for use.  It can be a horse, a gun, a sword, a slingshot, a fishing rod or a snowman’s arms.

Many years ago when my two sons were very young, daily they brought home sticks.  With the many toy options they had, sticks were one of their favorites.  Most times, while playing outside, they each had a stick in hand.  All around the world I have observed children playing with this universal toy.  A single stick and a little boy or girls imagination can provide hours of incredible fun.  From my own childhood, I remember playing ice hockey with a stick and a smashed can for a puck.

I do not suspect your children want you to wrap up a stick for Christmas.  I could only imagine the disappointment on their faces.  There is, however, one Gift (the Creator of those sticks) that is greater than any other, our Heavenly Father’s Gift of gifts – His Son, Jesus.  It’s what Christmas is all about.

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Encouragement, Small Groups

Remember

I love God’s word and the many principles we can derive from it.  I could not live life without this book, the Bible.  It is an amazing, wonderful, up to date and, as well, revealing the future kind of book.  There is no other earthly volume like it.  To have the privilege and freedom to take time with this book on a daily basis is so life-giving and life-altering.  Such was the case from a passage I read recently.  It was actually, of all things, Levitical guidelines that were so striking to me and answered a long-term question concerning enabling the poor among us.

God told Israel that when they were harvesting a field and they “overlook a sheaf,” they were not to go back to harvest it.  When they beat the olives from their trees, they were told to not go back over the tree a second time.  They were to do the same with the grape harvest. Why?  God said to, “…leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.”  (Deuteronomy 24: 19-22)  Again, why?  Was it a welfare program?  Weren’t they enabling the poor and needy to continue to be poor and needy?  Actually, quite the opposite was true.  It was done as a reminder that they were once slaves in Egypt.

Why help the immigrant, the fatherless or the widow in your community?  Don’t some of them choose not to work?  God desires to remind us that we were once a “slave” to foreign beliefs and systems.  We once walked in darkness, were also poor and needy (at least spiritually) and resided as foreigners outside God’s kingdom.  As the Lord calls us to serve someone or give money to help them, remember this verse so that we are reminded of where we came from.

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Encouragement, Leadership, Singles, Small Groups

True Success

Some years ago I wrote the words “True success” in my Bible beside Jeremiah 9: 23 & 24 which reads, “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord.”  Does God give us wisdom, strength and riches?  Yes He does, but He does not delight in them and neither does He desires us to boast in them.  What then does our heavenly Father “delight” in?

He delights in the one who knows and understands Him.  He delights in the one who knows that their Father is the One who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on the earth today.  Success is not found in a higher degree of education, in business or profession, in money, in the number of Facebook friends we have amassed or in how we perceive others perceive us.  Success is knowing and obeying God.  Mother Teresa once commented to the American press that she was never trying to be successful by this worlds standards, only obedient to her Savior’s call.  Powerful words from someone who impacted thousands; someone who was truly “successful.”

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Encouragement

Thankful

Thankfulness is easily caught; it’s contagious. Spend a few minutes around someone who speaks from a thankful heart about what God is doing in their life and you’ll find yourself feeling thankful as well. Spend that same amount of time around someone caught up in themselves and speaking disappointment with what God hasn’t done and you’ll find feelings of disappointment and despair.

Thankfulness is less stressful. Having a thankful heart is experiencing a lighter heart. Being thankful resonates with our souls and brings relief to our physical beings. If laughter is a “good medicine” think about what medicine thankfulness provides to your spirit.

Thankfulness is an absence of contention. It’s hard to be angry and causing friction when you are practicing a spirit of thankfulness. Expressing thankfulness for the normal everyday things of life is seeing those things as important too. For those who are involved in generating those “normal, everyday and routine” acts of service that effect you, it is amazing what a word of thanks will do to encourage them. Who cleans your office at work? Thank them. Who does your wash each week? Thank them. Who washes and maintains your car? Thank them. Thankfulness is the spirit of Christ Himself. When we are thankful, we are actually worshipping God. “…Let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably…” (Hebrews 12: 28)

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace…his peace will guard your hearts and minds…” (Philippians 4:6)

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Premarital, Singles

Boy Meets Girl

In 1947, for every 100 female college students there were 245 male students on campus.  Now for every 100 women on college campuses there are 74 male students.  In the book, Premarital Sex in America authors Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker found that three-fourths of 18 to 23 year-old women are in dating relationships and that 94% of those are sexually involved.  Girls who are involved with multiple sexual relationships through their dating years are 11 times more likely to have elevated depression symptoms than virgins.  Those involved in “one night stands” also feel disrespected.  Guys are in control of when the dating relationship begins and the girls are in control of when sex begins.  Regnerus and Uecker found that when women compete for men, men win and the price of sex goes down.  (World Magazine June 2011)

Wake up single men of God.  Your heavenly Father’s daughters do not desire sex outside of marriage, but what they do desire is your attention, your commitment, your care, your encouragement, your emotional and spiritual connection, your godly manhood and your pure love.  Take a lesson from an Old Testament saint who was tried and found righteous, “I made a covenant with my eyes to not look lustfully at a girl.”  (Job 31:1)  And from Paul, “For the grace of God…teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” (Titus 2: 11, 12)

Wake up single women of God, you are worth the wait.  Do not lower yourselves to todays desperate standards and lack of boundaries.  You are far more attractive to a godly man when you walk in confidence, security, sexual purity, the fear of the Lord and maintain biblical boundaries for yourself.  “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”  (Proverbs 31:30)

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