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

By Faith

What will you and I do "By Faith" in 2009?

In Hebrews 11, we see how the hero's of the Bible lived a life of purpose, a life of faith.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Hebrews 11.3. Emphasis Added.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family...Hebrews 11.7. Emphasis Added.

All in All, "By Faith..." is stated 24 times in the New International Version...

Faith is HUGE because it is more than just positive thinking or a belief factor, it is the ONLY way to please God...

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." ~ Hebrews 11.6 ~

So here is the homework...Take out a journal and write your "By Faith" statement...Use your name..."By Faith, John Doe......."

I Pray for each of you that you will live 2009 By Faith, pleasing God,coming to Him and believing that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for
and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11.1

Maintain A Natural Pace

If you are like me, you are always wondering if you are living the life God called you to live. Well I want to list a few ways that will hopefully shed some light on this great "mystery, especially as we approach a God-Ordained New Year!" It basically comes down to living a Natural Pace versus a Frantic Pace...

Living God's Plan: A Natural Pace
If we are living God's Plan then we will notice a few things in our lives.

1. A Natural Pace. During The Cold War, it has been said that the CIA developed a set of unwritten rules that the spies used while working in Moscow. These rules became known as The Moscow Rules. One of the rules for the spies was to, "Maintain a Natural Pace." Being too frantic and in a hurry or too deliberate and slow would set off warnings of suspicion. If we are living according to God's Plans instead of our plans, we will live in a natural rhythm, a Natural Pace.

For instance, The setting and rising of the sun, the flowing of streams, the flight of birds, all maintain a natural pace because they are operating as God intended...Check your pace to know whether or not You are living a God-Ordained life. The Lord tells us in Matthew 11:29-30 the following:

Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

2. Trust and "Danger." Living a life God calls us to live may seem "dangerous" at first...it's because God is calling us to jump out of our comfort zone and into the trust zone. To have a real relationship with God and to live a God-Ordained life means we will have to trust Him like never before...God does not call us to the status quo. Mediocrity and God-Ordained do not go together. Trust and "Danger" do go together... In fact, there are two different definitions of trust in the Bible. In the Old Testament the two Hebrew words translated “trust” mean to lean on, and to take refuge in. In the New Testament the Greek word translated “trust” means to have confidence in.

Living a God-Ordained life means we Lean on God and we have Confidence in God.

3.You will Make people excited. Living a God-Ordained life excites people because you are fulfilling a need(s) in the world.

4. You will Make people mad: Living a God-Ordained life will make some people mad because as a Christ Follower and living with a purpose, you will certainly challenge the status quo and rock some boats!

Living Your Plan: A Frantic Pace
I was watching "Christmas At Saddleback" on Fox News during the Christmas Eve program. He said there are 3 things (I will add a Fourth) that show up in your life if you are trying to live a life planned by you instead of a life planned by God...

1. Fatigue. You will always feel tired and uninspired
2. Frustration. Frustration will occur more than Celebration because you are going against the Natural Pace
3. Fear. A lack of confidence will dominate your mind
4. Frantic. Living our way instead of God's Way will cause us to be frantic and in a rush, angry, upset...trying too hard.

Summary
Is living in God's Will always going to be easy without fatigue, frustration, or fear? No. But you will feel ALIVE despite any circumstances or set backs you experience. Any fear we feel will be a fear that motivates instead of one that incapacitates. And 99% of the time, you will be able to "Maintain A Natural Pace."

Living God's Plan will not be easy, but it will be Natural...