Fear: Which One?

Fear...we all have it. The question is, which one drives you. Take the test below.

1. Fear of missed opportunities
2. Fear of making a mistake

I would rather make a mistake than miss an opportunity. I would rather play offense than play defense. I would rather be proactive than reactive. Circumstances and Opportunities are all around us, we must take advantage of them. From Psalm 105.1-6, we see the following:

Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works; be alert for signs of his presence.

It's all about Holy Anticipation, Holy Expectation. Psalm 5.3 says, Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

But when we do see the opportunity, we must act. James 2.20 says, You foolish person! Must you be shown that faith that does nothing is worth nothing?

Faith not in use is worthless. Jesus laid down His Life so that we could live. I want to live my life for Him the way He fought for me.

His death was not passive. My life will not be passive.

Fractional Theorem of God's Will

Had a thought I wanted to follow up with from 1 Thessalonians 5.16-18 that I had made a reference to it in the last post. As I was commuting today around town, I heard Mark Batterson talk about this passage as I was listening to his podcast entitled "Prison: Good Deeds and Bad Mistakes." Cool thought he had on God's Will...

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Here is how Mark breaks The Scripture down, I like to think of it as "The Fractional Theorem Of God's Will"... God's Will is only 1/3 Circumstantial yet 2/3 Attitudinal.

Main idea is that if Jesus is our primary focus instead of our personal comfort, then our prayers and our joy (attitudes) will allow us to give thanks in all circumstances...therefore always being in God's Will.

Who or what is our primary focus? How is our attitude towards our circumstances? Is it Proactive or Reactive?

The Blessings Of God

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,

but fools despise wisdom and discipline. ~ Proverbs 1:7 ~

• Do we really want to receive The Blessings of God? The end of Psalm 111 says:

"He's so personal and holy, worthy of our respect. The good life begins in the fear of God— Do that and you'll know the blessing of God. His Hallelujah lasts forever! "

• All throughout The Bible, we are told that God fulfills our desires...but are we fearing/respecting God?

He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;

he hears their cry and saves them. ~ Psalm 145.19 ~

• It's funny how this world wants the Blessings of God, but the majority of the world does not fear God...we don't have a Holy Respect for Him. To Fear God is to Respect God. It is not to be afraid of God...it is to revere Him. Revere & Respect mean to have a deep admiration for God.

• When economic downturns and other problems occur in America and elsewhere, we are always quick to blame God. But when things are going great, are we quick to Praise God? We should give thanks in all circumstances...don't take my word for it, Look at 1 Thessalonians 5.16-18...by the way, this verse also tells us what God's Will is...

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

• Instead of blaming God for everything, let's take a look individually and collectively and ask ourselves where are we falling short of His Glory, then let's do our part to be involved in the solution instead of making matters worse. In the words of Michelangelo, "Let's criticize by creating." (See Batterson's evotional for a great read!)

*note: The above Scripture references have emphasis added.

Fear and Limits: A Solution

"Your Fears Determine Your Limits" ~ Erwin McManus ~

If we fear people, we will stay lonely.
If we fear going outside, we will stay inside.
If we fear heights, we will stay low.
If we fear of taking a shot, then we will never score.
etc, etc, etc

So what is Fear? Fear is phobia. A phobia is defined as an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something. And this irrational fear or extreme fear is perhaps the main thing that keeps us from living our lives to the fullest.

Christ died so that we could live. He has already won the victory for us...there is nothing to fear.
1 John 4.18 says "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (emphasis added).

So the question comes down to this: do we love? For example, think of someone you love. You love them so much that no fear on the planet would stop you from taking care of them...your love drives out any fear that may exist...

If fear is keeping you from living or achieving, it could be that you do not actually love that which you are trying to obtain, care for, achieve, etc...

Take Home Message: Instead of trying to overcome your fear, start LOVING more!

Let's live the God-Ordained lives that Christ gave His life for...

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." ~ Joshua 1.9 ~

God-Ordained = GO!

But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must GO to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD. ~ Jeremiah 1.7-8 ~ (Emphasis Added).

In the next post, we will talk about how we need to LOVE in order to get rid of all fear...but now we will see how what we LOVE will help us to "GO" and LIVE a God-Ordained life!

The word ordained, according to one source, is an order or decree prescribe; determine (something) such as "the path ordained by God."

...So when I say that LOVE can and will help us live a "GO" life, I'm not talking about a fuzzy-feel good cute and cuddly love...I'm talking about the kind of LOVE that moved Jesus to go the The Cross for you and for me...that is the kind of LOVE that drives out fear and allows us to live a God-Ordained Life!

Jesus lived a God-Ordained life...In John 17.15 we see how Jesus says the following:

I glorified you on earth By completing down to the last detail
What you assigned me to do.

Determining Our Assignment
There are many ways we can try and understand what our assignment to do is and how we can live a "God-Ordained Life...One way we can get a glimpse of it is by applying the "Philippians 4" Principle to our lives.

Philippians 4.8-9 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." (emphasis added)

Notice how the "whatever" is mentioned 7 times in the above passage...So living a God-Ordained life is "whatever" you do that is Noble, Right, Pure, etc..the important thing is that we don't just think or meditate upon these areas, but we that we actually put into practice what God teaches, tells, and shows us.

Final Thought: Jesus received an assignment. Jeremiah received a command. They received them because they had a relationship with God. We must do the same. If we do not 'hear' from God, it is probably because we are not seeking Him.

But If we do 'hear' from God and do not act, it may not be that we don't know what God is wanting us to do, it could be that we are too afraid to do it...

So let's think and then act on whatever is noble, right, pure, etc, and those qualities, just like LOVE, will help us to overcome our fear and 'GO!'

What is your assignment? What command do you need to GO and take action upon?

God's Desires

Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37.4

Isaiah 55. 8-9, 11 gives us a clue as to why we must first delight ourselves in The Lord, then we will be granted our heart's desires...take a look:

8"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I *desire *
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (emphasis added).

First, we delight ourselves in The Lord, then He will give us our hearts desire...When we delight ourselves in The Lord, we begin to desire what He desires...His thoughts...His ways. Our old desires are no longer sweet, instead, they become bitter...once we desire ourselves in The Lord, we crave new fruit!

Galatians 5.16 says, "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

Once we are living by The Spirit and not in the flesh or in culture, etc, our sinful nature is gone.

...we need a paradigm shift, a new way of seeing... we need to take off the selfish lens and put on The Lens of Christ so we can see clearly, seeing what Christ sees...we all read the second part of Psalm 37.4 yet totally blow off the first part...we should focus on Delighting ourselves in the Lord first...then the desires will be granted because our desires become new...they become what God desires...our standards will be raised...the old has gone, the new has come...

Influence and Leadership

Great thoughts on Leadership and Influence. Apply them to your life and to those in your circle of Influence:

The Following From Erwin McManus
You Can Know Who You Are By What Others Become Through You

God wants us to be proof and evidence of His Life, that through our lives, God's story would be written on the hearts of others

You can know who you are by the people around you, by watching the progress of their life

You are writing a story in their hearts that will effect the story in your heart

Rick Warren
Leadership is Stewardship, Not ownership.

Mark Batterson
Leaders Create more than they consume.

Max Lucado
Leaders can & should make their plans, but they must never forget that it is God who controls the future.

Proverbs 21:1 (New International Version)
The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD;
he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

Psalm 119.79-80 MSG
Let those who fear you turn to me
for evidence of your wise guidance.
And let me live whole and holy, soul and body,
so I can always walk with my head held high.

Edward Everett
"I am only one, but I am one; I cant do everything, but I can do something; what I can do, I ought to do, and by the grace of God, I will do."

Revealed

You're blessed when you stay on course,
walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
~ Psalm 119.1 ~

Wandering
Before I started seeking God, I wandered all over the place...I felt like the "blueprint" for Psalm 119.67 which says:

"Before I learned to answer you, I wandered all over the place,
but now I'm in step with your Word.

What I needed was to be in "step with His Word..." What I needed was a Revelation from God. I like how Third Day puts it in their hit song: "Revelation"

"Give me a revelation, Show me what to do, Cause I've been trying to find my way, I haven't got a clue... Tell me should I stay here, Or do I need to move, Give me a revelation I've got nothing without You...I've got nothing without You."

That was my problem...I did not know what to do or where to go because I got caught up following culture and the urgency of life. But once I started seeking God, everything started to flow. In fact, it was the "broken road" of seeking and searching for meaning and purpose that led me to dig into God's Word...another song to illustrate my point, from Jeremy Camp's, "Walk By Faith..."

"Because This Broken Road Prepares Your Will For Me..."

Bottom Line: Are you wandering? Are you traveling a broken road? It does not have to be that way. God wants you living in the Sweet Spot for your life. The reasons are not for selfish motives...you need to be in God's Sweet Spot for you life so that you can be a benefit to others...remember, from John 10.10, Jesus came to give you the abundant life, so if you are wandering, you must seek God...as you do, His Revelation becomes crystal clear...

You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him.

~ From Psalm 119.1-8 ~

Signs:Keep Your Eyes Open

In the last post about signs, we discussed how to go ahead and "jump in" and then signs will follow...now of course we need to make educated decisions and take calculated risks, but we must also understand that we can not always wait to have a sign from God before we take action. As Mark Batterson says, We must embrace "circumstantial uncertainty"...this builds our faith...this builds our relationship and trust in God! Sometimes we will only be 80% sure of anything, maybe only 40-70% certain...but if we wait until 100% certainty, we may miss our opportunity...

I like how Success magazine captures it from an interview with Colin Powell. It reads, "We do not have the luxury of collecting information indefinitely. At some point, before we can have every possible fact in hand, we have to decide," Powell writes, saying that he goes with his gut feeling when he has acquired 40 to 70 percent of the information about a situation."

Great ways to receive God's Confirmation, According to Scripture, will come through the following 3 ways:
1. Take a step
Go forth and seize the day knowing that The Lord is with us, then signs will follow. See Mark 16.20 and Joshua 3.14-17.

2. Keep Our Eyes Open
Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works;
be alert for signs of his presence. ~ Ps 105.1-6~ (emphasis added).

3. Record (post) The Signs We See
I choose the true road to Somewhere,
I post your road signs at every curve and corner. ~ Ps 119.30 ~

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”– Teddy Roosevelt

Signs

Awesome thought from Mark Batterson... The topic is about signs. We all want signs to help us take action and make decisions. But always having a sign probably means that our faith would not be very strong...there is a circumstantial uncertainty that strengthens our faith...That's what makes life so exciting...remember Hebrews 11:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

So instead of waiting for a sign to help you make a decision, go ahead and jump in. Batterson mentions the importance of signs after we jump instead of waiting on signs before we take action. Take a look at this account from The Gospel of Mark:

"And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen." ~ Mark 16.20 ~ (emphasis added).

Notice when God confirms...He confirms with "signs following."

After we get in the game, the signs will follow. It makes me think of the quote by Wayne Gretzky, which says, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take." We must take the shot!

All we need, as Malcolm Gladwell says, is a "Tipping Point." One move in the right direction can make everything come together...small things make a HUGE difference. But we must take that step.

Joshua had to take the step in the water before the Jordan River would dry up (Joshua 3.14-17). But here is the cool thing...as Christian taught me, They had the Ark of The Covenant (Presence of God) with them...Joshua was not alone...God was with him...but God still wanted Joshua to take the step...once he did, the rest was history!

Take your step. Downlaod your application. Write your manuscript. Ace your test. Make the call. Send the letter. Take your step...

Once you do, then God will confirm your moves with Signs Following!

Amazed! Great Faith!

In the last post, I talked about Persistent Prayer...with that you could also draw a parallel with persistent faith...

So another type of faith to go along with persistent faith would be a "Great Faith."

Jesus Is Amazed
In Luke 7.1-10, Jesus gets AMAZED! He gets amazed because He witnesses a "Great Faith."

The story is about an army officer who has a servant about to die and the officer knows that Jesus can heal him. The army officer sends his men to Jesus, because he thinks he is not worthy to be in the presence of The Lord...his men relay this message to Jesus, "Lord, don't trouble yourself, because I am not worthy to have you come into my house. That is why I did not come to you myself.

And then we see the climax of this passage where the army officer says, "But you only need to command it, and my servant will be healed."

The NIV says it like this, "But say the word, and my servant will be healed."

Say The Word
I love that! The soldier has so much faith that He believes Jesus does not even have to be in the same room with the dying servant, all Jesus has to do is "Say The Word" and the servant will be healed.

So here is what happens: "When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, "I tell you, this is the greatest faith I have found anywhere, even in Israel. Those who had been sent to Jesus went back to the house where they found the servant in good health."

Our Faith
So here is the take home message: Does our faith AMAZE Jesus?

We must possess a persistent faith, a great faith, with persistent prayer...I want to have such a great faith that my Lord and Savior is AMAZED by it! Make the following your prayer of great faith today:

"Say The Word Lord. Command It. I believe. Lord, Say The Word. Amen."

Persistent Prayer

So what makes you think God won't step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won't he stick up for them? I assure you, he will.
~ From Luke 18:1-8 ~

In Luke 18.1-8, we read how Jesus teaches a story on Persistent Prayer...a widow badgers a judge who cares nothing for God or people, but because of her consistency and her persistence, the judge finally grants the widow her desires.

From the quote above, Jesus tells us that if an unloving judge will give to this widow, how much more will our Heavenly Father give to us. We see the same type of teaching in Matthew 7.11, which says:

Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?

So we know God will do His part, the question is, will we do ours? Going back to the verse above, the rest of Luke 18.8 says,

But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?"

James 1:5-8 goes onto say,

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

Three things to ask ourselves about our Prayers:

1. Is our Faith in God Alone?
2. Do we really believe?
3. Are we persistent?

"The revelation of our spiritual standing is what we ask in Prayer; sometimes what we ask is an insult to God; we ask with our eyes on the possibilities or on ourselves, not on Jesus Christ.

~ Oswald Chambers ~

Leadership vs Management

From time to time, as in the last post, I will be posting some insights from Stephen R. Covey's book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." In this current post, I want to mention how Stephen describes the difference between Leadership and Management, and how we can think about them for 2009.

Leadership must come first...Top line focus. "What are the things I want to accomplish?"
Management is second...Bottom line focus. "How can I best accomplish certain things?"

As Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis have said, "Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things."

Where Is Your Ladder?
Have you ever worked and worked yet did not accomplish what you wanted to. It could be because you are "climbing the ladder of success but it's leaning against the wrong wall." So think of Management as "the efficiency in climbing the ladder of success, but Leadership as the determination of whether or not the ladder is leaning against the right wall."

Old Becomes New
Even though setting New Year's Resolutions are a bit cliché, they are still important. Like Mark Batterson says, and I paraphrase, there is a reason why God has blessed us with a new day every 24 hours and a new year every 365 days. It's so we can start over, learn from lessons past, and become new creations for the future.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"- 2 Corinthians 5:17

So as we venture our way into this awesome new year of 2009, lets think about our personal leadership and management.

Here is the game plan:

Personal Leadership = Develop your values first. Make sure your "ladder" is leaning up against the right wall.
Personal Management = Set your goals based on what you value. View your goals as "problems" to solve.

We must have Leadership to determine our vision, this will then allow us to achieve our goals in our families, in our community, professionally, and personally. And here is why:

Efficient management without effective leadership is, as an unknown source has said it, "like straightening deck chairs on the Titanic."

Jesus knew His values. He had His "ladder" leaning against the right wall. He saw the vision...Salvation of the world. Therefore, He knew he could trust the disciples to be His managers. We are His managers now...The time is now...Carpe diem...

Psalm 37 Gameplan

Psalm 37 gives us a great "Game Plan" for living and developing our and relationship with God & achieving our effectiveness in life:

In order to live the lives God calls us to we must do the following in and with The Lord:

Trust • Delight • Commit • Be still • Refrain • Be Meek • Hope • Be Just • Be Righteous • Be Faithful • Wait and Keep His Way.

How do we do this? We change our habits. Think about it...Our level of knowledge far exceeds our level of obedience. I think this is because we practice the wrong habits...It is just as easy to trust as it is not to trust...to worry instead of delight...to be lazy instead of committed, etc...It all comes down to what our habits are...

As Aristotle said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

So let's take advantage of our unique gift as humans, lets think about what we are thinking about...let's have a self-awareness so that we can truly delight our selves in The Lord, then, because we want what He wants, we will receive the desires of our heart!

Soli Deo gloria...Glory to God alone.

Be Proactive

"I am only one, but I am one; I can't do everything, but I can do something; what I can do, I ought to do, and by the grace of God, I will do." ~ Edward Everett ~

In his book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," Stephen R. Covey mentions how Being Proactive is the first habit to practice in order to be effective. Three things I have gathered on what it means to be proactive are:

1. Response-Ability: We have the ability to choose our response to external stimuli.
2. Value Driven instead of Feeling Driven: We do what we value, not what we feel like doing.
3. Inside-Out: We take the initiative to create changes from within.

Why a person would sit when he can soar, spectate when he can play, or atrophy when he can develop is beyond me - Bill Hybels