by Mike Adkins
It was a Saturday afternoon I'll never forget. I was 17 years old and hanging out at a friend's house when I found myself kneeling next to an old Jeep, my trembling hands clasped together as I cried out to God. It was more out of sheer exhaustion and desperation than any religious formality.
At that point I realized my life was killing me—from my very own choices. I was living from moment to moment, crisis to crisis, looking for the next experience—drinking, stealing, sex, anything—that would make me feel alive inside again. For years, I had been trying to escape from the pain of life's circumstances.
As I knelt there, alone, I didn't realize what I was doing and didn't really care. But I knew I was giving up—and that's all that mattered to God.
Before that afternoon in my friend's garage, I had felt so disconnected from God, from myself and from those around me that I had escaped into a world of distractions. Alcohol, stealing and promiscuity were not the problem; they were my feeble attempts to solve the problem.
The real dilemma? I didn't know who I was. I didn't know who God thought I was. In other words, I didn't understand grace.
The Distractions of Life
When I look back at that pivotal time in my life, I am amazed at how far God has brought me. I now understand more about grace than I did then—mostly from asking some soul-searching questions that I'd like to share with you now.
Do you really know who you are? Do you see yourself as God sees you? Are you living the dream that you and only you were meant to live? Do you imagine a future that releases you to be what He made you to be? Or are you too distracted by a sinful life or religious roles to even think about it at all?
Our attempts to clothe ourselves in the distractions of life—both the sinful and the spiritual—are open betrayals of the fact that we have forgotten we are sons and daughters created by almighty God. Stripped of our royal robes and noble purposes, we live our lives trying to clothe a cold and embarrassing nakedness with the skimpiness of possessions or position.
John Eldredge and the late Brent Curtis, in their book The Sacred Romance, put it this way: "Very seldom are we ever invited to live out of our heart. If we are wanted, we are often wanted for what we can offer functionally. If rich, we are honored for our wealth; if beautiful, for our looks; if intelligent, for our brains. So we learn to offer only those parts of us that are approved, living out a carefully crafted performance to gain acceptance from those who represent life to us."
The heart that truly understands grace relates to God not through obedience and duty as much as desire and gratefulness. But to move from mere obedience to gratefulness requires us to have our identity rooted in who Christ has made us to be.
The Power of Weakness
I recently counseled a married couple who began to argue loudly during the session, ignoring me in an angry exchange that revealed each spouse's exceptional skill at the art of wounding the other. As the verbal combat escalated, something strange happened. They suddenly became aware that I was still in the room. You could see the shock all over their faces. They were horrified that I, their pastor, had seen this side of them.
Immediately they became pleasant again, and even exchanged some mild compliments with each other. I addressed their obvious discomfort by asking them if they were more comfortable before or after they let me see the dark side of their marriage.
It was clear they regretted embarrassing themselves in front of me. It wasn't until I told them that I liked them better and could help them more when they weren't concerned with what I was thinking about them that they felt free to be themselves again.
But notice that, for them, to feel free wasn't the same as feeling good about their marriage—at least not for a long time. For them, freedom meant having the permission to feel bad about their marriage and about themselves, and to not be afraid to show it.
As Christians, we are not called to be without weakness. We are called to understand our weakness so we can exchange it for the strength of the cross—itself a picture of great power clothed in the ultimate weakness of death.
With His sacrifice, Jesus became the original Wounded Healer. Jesus calls all those who come after Him to heal His broken world, not through their own strength, but through the redemption of their broken lives.
God chose us because we were broken, not because we were whole. He picked us out of the crowd because we were falling apart, not because we had it together. He came to heal those of us who were sick, not those who have no need of a physician. As Paul wrote, "God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong" (1 Cor. 1:27, NIV).
So if God has chosen us not because of our strength but because of our weakness, why are we trying to hide our broken lives instead of being comfortable with who we really are?
Forgotten Beginnings
Why are so many of us uncomfortable with who we are or where we are in life? Because we are not firmly convinced that we bear the image of the One who made us.
Genesis paints an amazing picture of our creation: "God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Gen. 1:27, NKJV).
In this incredible passage, God has just finished creating the world. He looks at it and is pleased. He says that it is good. From God, this is high praise indeed. And yet, it is not complete. He sees nothing that is truly a reflection of Himself.
As He turns to make man, He creates him in a way that does not reflect any other part of creation. God doesn't model man after the most glorious mountain. He doesn't model him after the vast seas of the earth. He doesn't turn His attention to His creation but to Himself.
He paints a self-portrait. He designs us to be a likeness of Himself. We became the pinnacle of all creation. We became image-bearers of the Most High God. And for a while, it worked out great.
You know the story. Adam and Eve were given the choice to continue being exact likenesses of God or to roll the dice and choose their own image. They gambled and lost, big time. They traded the glory of God for the glory of man—earning for themselves the sin nature that we, as their descendants, still carry today.
In that instant, we became something less than what we were meant to be. Like a mirror that no longer reflects anything, we became altogether worthless. Our self-image, which was designed to grow from the image of God in us, withered in the tragic soil of the fall.
New Beginnings
It's no wonder so many of us struggle to know who we really are. Even though we know in our heads Christ died and rose again for us, our self-image is rooted in the fall and not the resurrection. We have accepted an image of loss instead of redemption. We will not recover our identity until we understand the true power of grace. So, what exactly is grace?
Grace is God's desire to be in relationship with you regardless of your circumstances. That includes everything you have done or had done to you in the past, present and future. God's love is not based upon how you relate to Him through mere obedience. God's love for you is based upon His inexhaustible desire to be close to you. His grace offers several benefits.
Grace allows the believer to live free. I can remember living apart from Christ, and it was anything but free. I was constantly plagued by a sense that I had to create a good life. "You only go around once," was my motto. It was up to me to make it a good trip.
I no longer believe it's up to me to make my own success or happiness. My responsibility is to respond to what God puts in front of me, and through my response, His Spirit will continue to unveil the person God has created me to be. As Paul says, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18). It's His job, not mine. I no longer have to perform for God or myself.
Grace allows us to move beyond the past. After counseling people for more than a decade, I can say with conviction that everyone I've ever met has a history he or she is running from. The good news of God's grace is that the past can remain where it is—in the past! We deny the power of the resurrection when we allow the past to decide who we are.
The idea conveyed in Scripture is that we are new creations. The old life has died and lives only to the degree that we give it life. The Bible says, "A new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining" (1 John 2:8).
Before grace, all we knew was darkness. Now it is our choice to let it pass and embrace the true light that is already shining in us.
Grace allows us to help redeem the world. We live in a time in which it is not enough to share the message of the gospel. We must share ourselves along with the words. In order for the world to be transformed it needs our stories of brokenness.
It was not a coincidence that Jesus came into this world as a helpless baby. It was no coincidence that He lived as a servant. If He wanted, Jesus could have lived like a king. But He knew that was not our experience. He knew that we were hurting and that we were confused and in need of someone who could identify with us. Jesus didn't come into this world to save us from brokenness but from the illusion of wholeness.
That's our mission in today's world. We aren't called to live as plaster saints. We are to live as wounded healers. Our stories, especially the ones filled with anguish, are the bridges God uses to walk into the lives of others. "They overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony" (Rev. 12:11).
True Grace vs. Tolerance
If grace is the tool God uses to transform the world, then tolerance is the tool Satan uses to usher in hell on earth.
Tolerance is certainly the buzzword of the day. And at first glance, it looks a lot like grace. It's nice. It seems forgiving, patient and kind. But tolerance is a road that leads to death.
Dorothy Sayers once said: "In this world it's called tolerance, but in hell it is called despair. The sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, enjoys nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing but remains alive because there is nothing which it would die for."
Despair is the natural conclusion of a life lived in tolerance. Grace finds its roots in the cross and the resurrection. Tolerance finds its roots in apathy and fear.
Christ's offer of grace to us through His death on the cross demonstrated His convictions, His belief that mankind needed a rescuer and His determination not to leave us to our own devices. He was bruised, He was cut, He was nailed, and He was pierced so that we could have a relationship with God.
Tolerance allows others to continue in sin because it is too afraid to offer help. Our world is full of people who are watching in silence as those around them perish apart from Christ because they value other people's freedom to choose their own way more than they value the people themselves.
When my son was a toddler, he darted out into the street in front of a car. I had a choice at that moment. I could sit in silence embracing my son's choice and allow him to be killed, or I could help him.
Obviously, I reached out and jerked him back to safety. It would have been monstrous for me to be apathetic in a moment like that. Nevertheless, the cardinal rule of tolerance is no interference even though interference is actually the most compassionate act.
What true grace offers us is the opportunity to be a friend of God, and we are closest to God when we are most aware of our need for grace—when we are most aware of our own brokenness. It is this brokenness that creates the space for God, and it is through the embracing of our weakness that His sacrifice is made real to us.
Showing posts with label SELF-IMAGE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SELF-IMAGE. Show all posts
Friday, February 11, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
YOUR POSITIONING
by Os Hillman
Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips. - Proverbs 27:2
Many years of owning and operating an ad agency taught me that positioning was defined as a place or position that a product, service, or person held in the mind of the audience. We knew that often perception was reality for people, regardless of the truth. For years, I spent time and money seeking to position our company in the minds of our prospective clients. Although it would seem that is a natural and logical marketing function, I later discovered there is a dangerous flaw when we attempt to position ourselves by promoting our own attributes. I discovered that positioning is a by-product of who we are and what we do, not an end in itself.
King David was my first biblical lesson in coming to understand the difference. Here was a man who had committed adultery and murder, and failed many times in his family life. Yet, God describes David as a "man after God's own heart." Isn't that interesting? Why would God describe someone who had obviously failed in many areas as one who was after God's own heart? Throughout David's life, we find frequent descriptions made by God: "So David's fame spread throughout every land..." (1 Chron. 14:17). Although David did make many mistakes, his heart was soft toward God and sought to praise Him. David wrote the majority of the Psalms. God honored what was in David's heart, not his perfection. I believe that God's strategic placement of David was so that we may learn from and be drawn to the attribute of David that God primarily wanted him known for -- a heart bent toward Him. His positioning was a by-product of who he was, not an end in itself. In our business and personal life, our positioning among those who will know us should be a by-product of our life and service, not an end itself.
What is your "position" today among your peers? I once asked my Bible study group to ask others, "What do you think of when someone mentions my name?" This exercise can bring some interesting revelations. It might motivate us to make some changes, or it might confirm that God is doing a great work in you.
Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips. - Proverbs 27:2
Many years of owning and operating an ad agency taught me that positioning was defined as a place or position that a product, service, or person held in the mind of the audience. We knew that often perception was reality for people, regardless of the truth. For years, I spent time and money seeking to position our company in the minds of our prospective clients. Although it would seem that is a natural and logical marketing function, I later discovered there is a dangerous flaw when we attempt to position ourselves by promoting our own attributes. I discovered that positioning is a by-product of who we are and what we do, not an end in itself.
King David was my first biblical lesson in coming to understand the difference. Here was a man who had committed adultery and murder, and failed many times in his family life. Yet, God describes David as a "man after God's own heart." Isn't that interesting? Why would God describe someone who had obviously failed in many areas as one who was after God's own heart? Throughout David's life, we find frequent descriptions made by God: "So David's fame spread throughout every land..." (1 Chron. 14:17). Although David did make many mistakes, his heart was soft toward God and sought to praise Him. David wrote the majority of the Psalms. God honored what was in David's heart, not his perfection. I believe that God's strategic placement of David was so that we may learn from and be drawn to the attribute of David that God primarily wanted him known for -- a heart bent toward Him. His positioning was a by-product of who he was, not an end in itself. In our business and personal life, our positioning among those who will know us should be a by-product of our life and service, not an end itself.
What is your "position" today among your peers? I once asked my Bible study group to ask others, "What do you think of when someone mentions my name?" This exercise can bring some interesting revelations. It might motivate us to make some changes, or it might confirm that God is doing a great work in you.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
SIX WOMEN LEADERS TO AVOID
by J.Lee Grady
A popular female evangelist arrived at an airport and was escorted to the baggage claim area. After she retrieved her luggage she was taken to the passenger pickup lounge where she met her hosts from a local church, who planned to take her in a comfortable van to a nearby hotel so she could rest before speaking at an evening service.
The members of the welcoming team were not prepared for this woman's icy response to their greeting. When they opened the door to the van, she told them bluntly: "I will not ride in that." Then she stormed back into the airport with her entourage. After making inquiries, one of the church staff was informed by the woman's assistant that Her Highness must be transported in a certain type of vehicle.
The stated choices were a Bentley, a Mercedes-Benz or a Lincoln Town Car! Nevermind that Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. This regal woman of God insisted on arriving in luxury.
When I heard this story I didn't know whether to start a petition drive or just vomit on the spot. I was outraged, bewildered and nauseated.
For the last seven years I have given my life to help empower and release women leaders in the church. I have dedicated my life to ending gender discrimination-especially when it limits women's spiritual gifts and callings.
Yet when I hear of poor examples of women pastors and preachers, I must confess I fight discouragement. Yes, we need many more trained women church leaders-but we don't need any more bad examples!
In my travels I have observed all kinds of women leaders, some who are stellar role models and others who would do us all a favor if they pursued different careers. If you have aspirations to pursue leadership in ministry at any level, I pray you will avoid becoming like the ones I am about to describe.
1. THE DIVA To this woman, ministry is all about her. She is the star. Surely she started out with genuine passion for God, but today her message is not defined by her unseen prayer life but by what people see on stage. Greed and pride have deceptively lured her into compromise.
She knows how to move a crowd. There is obviously a strong anointing on her life, but it has been subtly fused with a carnal agenda. She can inspire people to success and wow them with her own accomplishments, but there is nothing in her sermon that brings true repentance or brokenness. Her message may be loud, and it can elicit shouts at the altar. But the people don't realize they've been drugged with a spiritual form of cocaine that triggers a religious high but can't bring them closer to Jesus.
The diva is known for her demands. Someone must carry her Bible, her water bottle, her purse and her cell phone. Those who ask her to preach in their church soon learn that she is "high maintenance." She will require the priciest hotel rooms and the biggest offerings-which she will collect with plenty of manipulative arm-twisting.
Her Christian values were once admirable. But the holy fire that burned in her heart a few years ago has been quenched by greed and an addiction to the crowd's approval. She stopped studying the Bible and now focuses more on what she plans to wear at her conferences. She stopped spending time in God's presence and began craving the glow of television lights.
The diva loves grand entrances. She comes into the meeting late and is whisked off the stage as soon as she has delivered her sermon. She doesn't associate with common folks or spend too much time praying for them. A strange atmosphere surrounds her: A mixture of the Holy Spirit's irrevocable gifting and a disturbing aura of self-importance. Only those who are discerning can recognize the difference.
2. THE CONTROL FREAK If you saw the movie The Devil Wears Prada you know the type of leader I am talking about. Unfortunately the main character of that film, the fearsome fashion publisher Miranda Priestly, has a few counterparts in the religious world.
Beware of this woman if she is in any church leadership position. She rules with an iron fist and leaves a trail of wounded bodies behind her. Somehow she missed the elementary Leadership 101 class, which teaches that every Christian leader must learn to serve. To her, authority is about dominating people.
This woman does not know how to delegate. She is not a team player. The control freak believes she knows all the answers, and therefore she must sign off on all decisions, no matter how petty. People line up outside her door night and day to get her approval, and anyone who needs an appointment is first advised to obtain a "weather report" on her shifting moods.
Somehow this woman never took care of her anger issues when she was a young Christian. Now that she has a position of power, no one is brave enough to challenge her ungodly behavior. She surrounds herself with yes-men and yes-women who dislike her authoritarianism but are too intimidated to admit that her ruthless temper is a sin.
The control freak has no peers and doesn't have a relational style. She may claim to have an older mentor (who usually lives in a distant city) but she doesn't open up her life to those who work with her. They are her subjects, and she demands obedience and long hours of work to prove loyalty. Her employees usually resign on a regular basis because of her harsh criticism and abusive words.
3. THE FLIRT I recently took a pastor friend of mine to a conference to hear a visiting woman preacher from another state. Imagine my horror when this lady walked to the podium wearing a dress that looked like it had been sprayed on.
Every curve and crevice on this woman's body was visible to the ogling eyes in the audience. Some of the guys, to their credit, began looking at the floor toward the end of her sermon so they would not commit adultery in their thoughts. I wanted to run to the podium, grab one of those "modesty cloths" they use during prayer times and wrap it around Sister Shapely before anyone else stumbled.
This woman obviously missed the memo about adopting a "professional and sensible dress code" for ministry. Or perhaps she simply ignored the memo because of her own unresolved sexual issues. Somebody should have yanked her off the platform and sent her back to the new believer's class, where godly women teach other women why it's wrong to use their femininity as a sexual weapon.
The flirt disregards sexual boundaries. She hangs around with men alone in the church office, and might even counsel men alone. She may even use sexually charged language or veiled vulgarity in her sermons. (Note: Just because male leaders engage in this behavior does not make it acceptable.)
Women in ministry do not have to wear their hair in a bun or don ankle-length flannel dresses in order to be modest. There's nothing wrong with looking your best. My favorite women leaders usually wear smart pantsuits, tasteful jewelry and comfortable shoes when they preach. They dress like respectable businesswomen-and they command respect from their churches because of it.
4. THE FLAKE God knows we need leaders today who understand the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But whenever there are revivals of Pentecostal power, the devil always lures some people to unbalanced and unhealthy extremes. In the modern charismatic movement, leaders who misuse the gifts of prophecy or other supernatural phenomena have deceived or irreparably wounded many people.
The flake may have had a legitimate experience with God, but because of pride she begins to believe that her gift is unique. She may even claim special access to God and have frequent visions or dreams that bolster her claims. These experiences might be from God. But if she does not stay grounded in biblical truth and seek accountability in healthy ministry relationships, she may elevate herself to a point where no one can challenge her revelations.
No one who steps out in the supernatural is going to get it right 100 percent of the time. We prophesy in part, and those who use the gift of prophecy are likely to "miss it" from time to time. But the flake will rarely admit to missing it. She will stubbornly contend that she heard from God, even if all the evidence proves otherwise.
It's bad enough when flakes are in the pews because they can cause divisive splits in congregations. But when a flake is elevated to a leadership position, an even bigger disaster looms. That person may veer into extrabiblical methods or outright heresy because she cannot receive correction.
The flake usually has serious unresolved emotional issues. She may be prone to depression, and she might seek unusual spiritual experiences to soothe her damaged emotions. She is always in superspiritual mode and rarely enjoys the normal routines of life. My advice to the flake: Come down to earth!
5. THE FEMINIST I don't believe all forms of feminism are wrong. In the early years of the 20th century, many brave Christian men and women worked tirelessly to win women the right to vote. Gender equality is a human right, and it is something that God set down in the first chapters of Genesis. Because both male and female are created in His image, we should work to correct the injustices of gender inequality and abuse.
But there is another more sinister form of feminism that has no support in Scripture. It is a bitter, vengeful attitude that places women against men, and often elevates women to a superior position. Sadly, this worldly spirit has invaded the church.
The feminist church leader has a man-hating spirit. She may be a gifted communicator, but if you listen closely you will hear the sound of a grinding axe when she speaks. She has not forgiven the men who hurt her in the past, and she intends to punish those men who get in her way today. Her unresolved issues are transferred to her audience. Her poison is injected into everyone who hears her.
She may claim that she believes in gender equality, but she will often surround herself only with women and refuses to put men in certain positions. Oftentimes the feminist has experienced at least one failed marriage and does not have any healthy relationships with men. Because she is unhealed, she cannot be an effective healer.
6. THE VICTIM This is the most pitiful of all the bad examples I've listed. She is guaranteed to make you feel sorry for her. And she might use a full box of Kleenex to help you understand her pain.
What the victim lacks in leadership skills she will make up for in sob stories.
Everyone is against her. She is suspicious of her own congregation. Other churches, she says, are maligning her. The devil, she insists, has targeted her ministry for destruction. Every trial that comes her way confirms that she is the focus of a demonic conspiracy.
Chaos surrounds this woman. Her ministry is always in turmoil. The victim moves from crisis to crisis, always anticipating another tragedy around the next corner. True joy has been replaced by a constant religious anxiety that repels people-thus making sure that her ministry will always be composed of a small "remnant" of people who have similar emotional baggage.
Of course if you suggest that this woman's misfortune might be the result of her negative outlook on life, she won't listen. That's because the victim has found a bizarre form of pleasure in her dysfunction. She's become quite comfortable at the center of her painful universe.
DON'T SETTLE FOR LESS
All these bad examples are in the church today-and each has her male counterpart. But I am not giving up in my resolve to see an army of gifted, trained women who will serve as pastors, missionaries, evangelists, CEOs, government leaders and social reformers. This is the hour for women to arise.
Instead of divas, we need humble women who are willing to serve even if they receive no public recognition. Instead of control freaks, we need leaders who wash the feet of their disciples and push them to greatness while modeling sacrifice. Instead of flirts, we need mature, dignified mothers of faith who have crucified their adolescent fantasies.
Rather than flakes who are tossed around by spiritual fads, we need discerning women who love biblical truth more than charismatic goose bumps. Rather than feminists, we need women who have resolved their issues with men and are willing to partner with them on equal footing. Rather than victims, we need women in ministry who are emotionally healthy.
Don't be discouraged if you see yourself in any of these negative examples. There is probably a little bit of diva in all of us! And all of us have resisted the urge to become control freaks.
If you are called to leadership, God will guide the preparation process-and He will bring mentors and positive role models in your life to challenge and encourage you. If you allow the Holy Spirit to shape your character, you may end up being the good example the church is waiting for.
A popular female evangelist arrived at an airport and was escorted to the baggage claim area. After she retrieved her luggage she was taken to the passenger pickup lounge where she met her hosts from a local church, who planned to take her in a comfortable van to a nearby hotel so she could rest before speaking at an evening service.
The members of the welcoming team were not prepared for this woman's icy response to their greeting. When they opened the door to the van, she told them bluntly: "I will not ride in that." Then she stormed back into the airport with her entourage. After making inquiries, one of the church staff was informed by the woman's assistant that Her Highness must be transported in a certain type of vehicle.
The stated choices were a Bentley, a Mercedes-Benz or a Lincoln Town Car! Nevermind that Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. This regal woman of God insisted on arriving in luxury.
When I heard this story I didn't know whether to start a petition drive or just vomit on the spot. I was outraged, bewildered and nauseated.
For the last seven years I have given my life to help empower and release women leaders in the church. I have dedicated my life to ending gender discrimination-especially when it limits women's spiritual gifts and callings.
Yet when I hear of poor examples of women pastors and preachers, I must confess I fight discouragement. Yes, we need many more trained women church leaders-but we don't need any more bad examples!
In my travels I have observed all kinds of women leaders, some who are stellar role models and others who would do us all a favor if they pursued different careers. If you have aspirations to pursue leadership in ministry at any level, I pray you will avoid becoming like the ones I am about to describe.
1. THE DIVA To this woman, ministry is all about her. She is the star. Surely she started out with genuine passion for God, but today her message is not defined by her unseen prayer life but by what people see on stage. Greed and pride have deceptively lured her into compromise.
She knows how to move a crowd. There is obviously a strong anointing on her life, but it has been subtly fused with a carnal agenda. She can inspire people to success and wow them with her own accomplishments, but there is nothing in her sermon that brings true repentance or brokenness. Her message may be loud, and it can elicit shouts at the altar. But the people don't realize they've been drugged with a spiritual form of cocaine that triggers a religious high but can't bring them closer to Jesus.
The diva is known for her demands. Someone must carry her Bible, her water bottle, her purse and her cell phone. Those who ask her to preach in their church soon learn that she is "high maintenance." She will require the priciest hotel rooms and the biggest offerings-which she will collect with plenty of manipulative arm-twisting.
Her Christian values were once admirable. But the holy fire that burned in her heart a few years ago has been quenched by greed and an addiction to the crowd's approval. She stopped studying the Bible and now focuses more on what she plans to wear at her conferences. She stopped spending time in God's presence and began craving the glow of television lights.
The diva loves grand entrances. She comes into the meeting late and is whisked off the stage as soon as she has delivered her sermon. She doesn't associate with common folks or spend too much time praying for them. A strange atmosphere surrounds her: A mixture of the Holy Spirit's irrevocable gifting and a disturbing aura of self-importance. Only those who are discerning can recognize the difference.
2. THE CONTROL FREAK If you saw the movie The Devil Wears Prada you know the type of leader I am talking about. Unfortunately the main character of that film, the fearsome fashion publisher Miranda Priestly, has a few counterparts in the religious world.
Beware of this woman if she is in any church leadership position. She rules with an iron fist and leaves a trail of wounded bodies behind her. Somehow she missed the elementary Leadership 101 class, which teaches that every Christian leader must learn to serve. To her, authority is about dominating people.
This woman does not know how to delegate. She is not a team player. The control freak believes she knows all the answers, and therefore she must sign off on all decisions, no matter how petty. People line up outside her door night and day to get her approval, and anyone who needs an appointment is first advised to obtain a "weather report" on her shifting moods.
Somehow this woman never took care of her anger issues when she was a young Christian. Now that she has a position of power, no one is brave enough to challenge her ungodly behavior. She surrounds herself with yes-men and yes-women who dislike her authoritarianism but are too intimidated to admit that her ruthless temper is a sin.
The control freak has no peers and doesn't have a relational style. She may claim to have an older mentor (who usually lives in a distant city) but she doesn't open up her life to those who work with her. They are her subjects, and she demands obedience and long hours of work to prove loyalty. Her employees usually resign on a regular basis because of her harsh criticism and abusive words.
3. THE FLIRT I recently took a pastor friend of mine to a conference to hear a visiting woman preacher from another state. Imagine my horror when this lady walked to the podium wearing a dress that looked like it had been sprayed on.
Every curve and crevice on this woman's body was visible to the ogling eyes in the audience. Some of the guys, to their credit, began looking at the floor toward the end of her sermon so they would not commit adultery in their thoughts. I wanted to run to the podium, grab one of those "modesty cloths" they use during prayer times and wrap it around Sister Shapely before anyone else stumbled.
This woman obviously missed the memo about adopting a "professional and sensible dress code" for ministry. Or perhaps she simply ignored the memo because of her own unresolved sexual issues. Somebody should have yanked her off the platform and sent her back to the new believer's class, where godly women teach other women why it's wrong to use their femininity as a sexual weapon.
The flirt disregards sexual boundaries. She hangs around with men alone in the church office, and might even counsel men alone. She may even use sexually charged language or veiled vulgarity in her sermons. (Note: Just because male leaders engage in this behavior does not make it acceptable.)
Women in ministry do not have to wear their hair in a bun or don ankle-length flannel dresses in order to be modest. There's nothing wrong with looking your best. My favorite women leaders usually wear smart pantsuits, tasteful jewelry and comfortable shoes when they preach. They dress like respectable businesswomen-and they command respect from their churches because of it.
4. THE FLAKE God knows we need leaders today who understand the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But whenever there are revivals of Pentecostal power, the devil always lures some people to unbalanced and unhealthy extremes. In the modern charismatic movement, leaders who misuse the gifts of prophecy or other supernatural phenomena have deceived or irreparably wounded many people.
The flake may have had a legitimate experience with God, but because of pride she begins to believe that her gift is unique. She may even claim special access to God and have frequent visions or dreams that bolster her claims. These experiences might be from God. But if she does not stay grounded in biblical truth and seek accountability in healthy ministry relationships, she may elevate herself to a point where no one can challenge her revelations.
No one who steps out in the supernatural is going to get it right 100 percent of the time. We prophesy in part, and those who use the gift of prophecy are likely to "miss it" from time to time. But the flake will rarely admit to missing it. She will stubbornly contend that she heard from God, even if all the evidence proves otherwise.
It's bad enough when flakes are in the pews because they can cause divisive splits in congregations. But when a flake is elevated to a leadership position, an even bigger disaster looms. That person may veer into extrabiblical methods or outright heresy because she cannot receive correction.
The flake usually has serious unresolved emotional issues. She may be prone to depression, and she might seek unusual spiritual experiences to soothe her damaged emotions. She is always in superspiritual mode and rarely enjoys the normal routines of life. My advice to the flake: Come down to earth!
5. THE FEMINIST I don't believe all forms of feminism are wrong. In the early years of the 20th century, many brave Christian men and women worked tirelessly to win women the right to vote. Gender equality is a human right, and it is something that God set down in the first chapters of Genesis. Because both male and female are created in His image, we should work to correct the injustices of gender inequality and abuse.
But there is another more sinister form of feminism that has no support in Scripture. It is a bitter, vengeful attitude that places women against men, and often elevates women to a superior position. Sadly, this worldly spirit has invaded the church.
The feminist church leader has a man-hating spirit. She may be a gifted communicator, but if you listen closely you will hear the sound of a grinding axe when she speaks. She has not forgiven the men who hurt her in the past, and she intends to punish those men who get in her way today. Her unresolved issues are transferred to her audience. Her poison is injected into everyone who hears her.
She may claim that she believes in gender equality, but she will often surround herself only with women and refuses to put men in certain positions. Oftentimes the feminist has experienced at least one failed marriage and does not have any healthy relationships with men. Because she is unhealed, she cannot be an effective healer.
6. THE VICTIM This is the most pitiful of all the bad examples I've listed. She is guaranteed to make you feel sorry for her. And she might use a full box of Kleenex to help you understand her pain.
What the victim lacks in leadership skills she will make up for in sob stories.
Everyone is against her. She is suspicious of her own congregation. Other churches, she says, are maligning her. The devil, she insists, has targeted her ministry for destruction. Every trial that comes her way confirms that she is the focus of a demonic conspiracy.
Chaos surrounds this woman. Her ministry is always in turmoil. The victim moves from crisis to crisis, always anticipating another tragedy around the next corner. True joy has been replaced by a constant religious anxiety that repels people-thus making sure that her ministry will always be composed of a small "remnant" of people who have similar emotional baggage.
Of course if you suggest that this woman's misfortune might be the result of her negative outlook on life, she won't listen. That's because the victim has found a bizarre form of pleasure in her dysfunction. She's become quite comfortable at the center of her painful universe.
DON'T SETTLE FOR LESS
All these bad examples are in the church today-and each has her male counterpart. But I am not giving up in my resolve to see an army of gifted, trained women who will serve as pastors, missionaries, evangelists, CEOs, government leaders and social reformers. This is the hour for women to arise.
Instead of divas, we need humble women who are willing to serve even if they receive no public recognition. Instead of control freaks, we need leaders who wash the feet of their disciples and push them to greatness while modeling sacrifice. Instead of flirts, we need mature, dignified mothers of faith who have crucified their adolescent fantasies.
Rather than flakes who are tossed around by spiritual fads, we need discerning women who love biblical truth more than charismatic goose bumps. Rather than feminists, we need women who have resolved their issues with men and are willing to partner with them on equal footing. Rather than victims, we need women in ministry who are emotionally healthy.
Don't be discouraged if you see yourself in any of these negative examples. There is probably a little bit of diva in all of us! And all of us have resisted the urge to become control freaks.
If you are called to leadership, God will guide the preparation process-and He will bring mentors and positive role models in your life to challenge and encourage you. If you allow the Holy Spirit to shape your character, you may end up being the good example the church is waiting for.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
GOD CARES FOR YOU
by Joseph Prince
Do you know why there are many believers today who don't cast
their cares upon the Lord? It is because they don't have a
revelation that He cares for them. Look
at what His Word says:
"[Cast] all your care upon Him, for He cares for you" (1 Pet. 5:7, NKJV). Unless you have absolute confidence that Jesus cares for you, you will not cast your cares upon Him.
Just think: Would you call upon the help of a relative or friend in your time of need if you were not confident that the person would respond to your call? Jesus cares for you! When you call upon Him, you can know that you have His fullest attention with all of heaven's resources backing you up.
Maybe you are thinking right now, "Well, I am sure that Jesus has more important things to do than to bother with my problems." Hang on! By saying that, you have just shown that you don't really believe that Jesus cares for you. Now, let's see what the Bible says: "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Matt. 10:30).
I love and care for my sweet daughter, Jessica. But as much as I adore her and care for her well-being, I have never, not once, counted the number of strands of hair on her head! She does not know how great a blessing she has been to me. I love to kiss her, smell her hair and hug her tightly. Yet, in all my great love for her, I have never taken the time to count the hairs on her head.
But do you know that your heavenly Father numbers the hairs on your head? That's how much He cares for you! Not one strand can fall to the ground without His being aware of it.
I really hope you are beginning to catch the heart of Jesus and have stopped putting limits on His love. His love for you is all-encompassing. If He cares enough to keep track of the hairs on your head, is there anything so small or insignificant that you cannot talk to Him about it?
God's love for you is infinitely detailed. Jesus said that not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father's will. Are you not of more value than a sparrow?
Is God a God who winds the clock and then leaves it alone to tick until Jesus comes back? Is He involved only with major events in the world? Is He involved only in significant events in our lives—such as our salvation—or is He vitally and intensely involved in the day-to-day minute details?
What do you think? The Bible says that He calls His own sheep by name (see John 10:3). My friend, His love for you is personal, detailed and in-depth!
Knowing this, you can begin to see the Lord in the midst of every situation and concern in your life. When you learn to bring Him into the picture, He makes everything beautiful.
I'm sure your life hasn't been perfect. The scars of yesterday may still be throbbing in your memory. Perhaps you were sexually abused as a child or emotionally hurt by someone you trusted.
As you look back now, you may still feel angry, frustrated and disappointed all at the same time, and the hurt may still pierce your heart. But in the midst of your pain, I want to challenge you to start involving Jesus. See the Lord holding you, gently healing your wounds. Jesus is right there restoring you, putting courage into your heart and taking away all sense of shame and guilt.
Beloved, He wants you to know that your past will not determine the future that He has for you. Once you involve the Lord and put Him into your bitter waters, He will turn the bitterness into sweetness.
That is what the Lord did for the children of Israel. When they came to a place called Marah, they could not drink its waters because they were bitter. Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree, which Moses cast into the waters. When he did that, the Bible says that "the waters were made sweet" (Ex. 15:25).
Why did the foul-tasting, undrinkable waters become refreshing and sweet? The answer lies in the tree that was cast into them. The tree is a picture of the cross on which our Lord Jesus hung, bearing every broken heart and every sting of betrayal. When you bring Jesus into your situation, He can cause every bitter experience to become sweet! Cast your cares on Him and allow His presence to restore you today!
About the author: Joseph Prince is the senior pastor of New Creation Church (newcreation.org.sg), a vibrant, dynamic and fast-growing church in Singapore, which has a congregation of more than 19,000 members. He separately heads Joseph Prince Ministries, Inc. (josephprince.org), an international, non-profit organization that seeks to build, encourage and inspire people with the gospel of Jesus Christ through television broadcasting as well as new media technology. Prince is the author of several books, including his most recent, Unmerited Favor (Charisma House), from which this message is adapted. For information about resources by Joseph Prince, log on to destined2reign.com.
Do you know why there are many believers today who don't cast
their cares upon the Lord? It is because they don't have a
revelation that He cares for them. Look
at what His Word says: "[Cast] all your care upon Him, for He cares for you" (1 Pet. 5:7, NKJV). Unless you have absolute confidence that Jesus cares for you, you will not cast your cares upon Him.
Just think: Would you call upon the help of a relative or friend in your time of need if you were not confident that the person would respond to your call? Jesus cares for you! When you call upon Him, you can know that you have His fullest attention with all of heaven's resources backing you up.
Maybe you are thinking right now, "Well, I am sure that Jesus has more important things to do than to bother with my problems." Hang on! By saying that, you have just shown that you don't really believe that Jesus cares for you. Now, let's see what the Bible says: "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Matt. 10:30).
I love and care for my sweet daughter, Jessica. But as much as I adore her and care for her well-being, I have never, not once, counted the number of strands of hair on her head! She does not know how great a blessing she has been to me. I love to kiss her, smell her hair and hug her tightly. Yet, in all my great love for her, I have never taken the time to count the hairs on her head.
But do you know that your heavenly Father numbers the hairs on your head? That's how much He cares for you! Not one strand can fall to the ground without His being aware of it.
I really hope you are beginning to catch the heart of Jesus and have stopped putting limits on His love. His love for you is all-encompassing. If He cares enough to keep track of the hairs on your head, is there anything so small or insignificant that you cannot talk to Him about it?
God's love for you is infinitely detailed. Jesus said that not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father's will. Are you not of more value than a sparrow?
Is God a God who winds the clock and then leaves it alone to tick until Jesus comes back? Is He involved only with major events in the world? Is He involved only in significant events in our lives—such as our salvation—or is He vitally and intensely involved in the day-to-day minute details?
What do you think? The Bible says that He calls His own sheep by name (see John 10:3). My friend, His love for you is personal, detailed and in-depth!
Knowing this, you can begin to see the Lord in the midst of every situation and concern in your life. When you learn to bring Him into the picture, He makes everything beautiful.
I'm sure your life hasn't been perfect. The scars of yesterday may still be throbbing in your memory. Perhaps you were sexually abused as a child or emotionally hurt by someone you trusted.
As you look back now, you may still feel angry, frustrated and disappointed all at the same time, and the hurt may still pierce your heart. But in the midst of your pain, I want to challenge you to start involving Jesus. See the Lord holding you, gently healing your wounds. Jesus is right there restoring you, putting courage into your heart and taking away all sense of shame and guilt.
Beloved, He wants you to know that your past will not determine the future that He has for you. Once you involve the Lord and put Him into your bitter waters, He will turn the bitterness into sweetness.
That is what the Lord did for the children of Israel. When they came to a place called Marah, they could not drink its waters because they were bitter. Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree, which Moses cast into the waters. When he did that, the Bible says that "the waters were made sweet" (Ex. 15:25).
Why did the foul-tasting, undrinkable waters become refreshing and sweet? The answer lies in the tree that was cast into them. The tree is a picture of the cross on which our Lord Jesus hung, bearing every broken heart and every sting of betrayal. When you bring Jesus into your situation, He can cause every bitter experience to become sweet! Cast your cares on Him and allow His presence to restore you today!
About the author: Joseph Prince is the senior pastor of New Creation Church (newcreation.org.sg), a vibrant, dynamic and fast-growing church in Singapore, which has a congregation of more than 19,000 members. He separately heads Joseph Prince Ministries, Inc. (josephprince.org), an international, non-profit organization that seeks to build, encourage and inspire people with the gospel of Jesus Christ through television broadcasting as well as new media technology. Prince is the author of several books, including his most recent, Unmerited Favor (Charisma House), from which this message is adapted. For information about resources by Joseph Prince, log on to destined2reign.com.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
OVERCOMING OUR PAST
by Os Hillman
"Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah." - Judges 11:29a
We've all heard stories of individuals who have overcome extreme hardship during their childhood years. Children of alcoholics, orphans who never have parents, loss of parents to a fatal crash, childhood disease - these are all difficult circumstances to overcome.
Jephthah was a man who overcame his obstacles and refused to allow his circumstances to prevent him from becoming great in God's sight. He was born to Gilead, a result of his father's adulterous encounter with a prostitute. Jephthah's half-brothers decided to reject Jephthah, and drove him away from their home saying, "You are not going to get any inheritance in our family because you are the son of another woman." Imagine the rejection this young man felt as he was cast away from his own family.
This experience taught Jephthah to become a hardened warrior. Today he probably would have been part of a street gang. As he got older, his reputation as a warrior became known to those in his country, so much so that when the Ammonites made war on Israel, the elders of Gilead went to Jephthah and asked him to be their commander. Jephthah had to fight off those feelings of rejection from previous years.
"Didn't you hate me and drive me from my father's house?" he responded. He overcame his hurt and pain, and responded to the call God had on his life.
It is said that if we were to help the butterfly remove itself from the cocoon, the butterfly would not be strong enough to survive. It is the struggle that prepares the butterfly to become strong enough to fly. Without the struggle in the cocoon, it could not survive as a butterfly.
The Lord prepares each of us in similar ways. Some of our childhoods seem to have been harsh and born from a seemingly unloving God. However, the Lord knows our struggle and will make our life an instrument in His hand if we will follow Him with an upright heart. He does make all things beautiful in His time if we are willing to be patient.
"Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah." - Judges 11:29a
We've all heard stories of individuals who have overcome extreme hardship during their childhood years. Children of alcoholics, orphans who never have parents, loss of parents to a fatal crash, childhood disease - these are all difficult circumstances to overcome.
Jephthah was a man who overcame his obstacles and refused to allow his circumstances to prevent him from becoming great in God's sight. He was born to Gilead, a result of his father's adulterous encounter with a prostitute. Jephthah's half-brothers decided to reject Jephthah, and drove him away from their home saying, "You are not going to get any inheritance in our family because you are the son of another woman." Imagine the rejection this young man felt as he was cast away from his own family.
This experience taught Jephthah to become a hardened warrior. Today he probably would have been part of a street gang. As he got older, his reputation as a warrior became known to those in his country, so much so that when the Ammonites made war on Israel, the elders of Gilead went to Jephthah and asked him to be their commander. Jephthah had to fight off those feelings of rejection from previous years.
"Didn't you hate me and drive me from my father's house?" he responded. He overcame his hurt and pain, and responded to the call God had on his life.
It is said that if we were to help the butterfly remove itself from the cocoon, the butterfly would not be strong enough to survive. It is the struggle that prepares the butterfly to become strong enough to fly. Without the struggle in the cocoon, it could not survive as a butterfly.
The Lord prepares each of us in similar ways. Some of our childhoods seem to have been harsh and born from a seemingly unloving God. However, the Lord knows our struggle and will make our life an instrument in His hand if we will follow Him with an upright heart. He does make all things beautiful in His time if we are willing to be patient.
Monday, April 26, 2010
GOD LIKES YOUR COMPANY
By R.T. Kendall
Evangelist J. John told me about a trip he made to India a few years ago. Shortly after he arrived, he heard about a saintly woman called Sister Theresa (not Mother Teresa) who had a powerful gift of the word of knowledge. J. John was able to meet her, and he said to her, "If you have a word for me, I would be so grateful."
He said she turned around and left. He feared he had offended her. But she came back to him an hour or so later with a list of 13 items (some of which almost bowled him over they were so accurate), ending with these words, which he will never forget: "God likes your company and asks that you give Him two hours of your time every day. That's all. Goodbye." Wow!
J. John took her seriously, and he has told me more than once that he was never to be the same again.
What does prayer do for God? For one thing, He likes your company. I can't imagine a greater motivation for me to pray than knowing that God enjoys having me in His presence. He enjoys my company. He delights in listening to me! He doesn't get bored with my repeated requests. He doesn't moralize me if I get it wrong with what I ask for. He doesn't laugh at me if I put out silly, even impertinent requests. He never makes me feel stupid. There is no rejection, only total acceptance.
It doesn't get better than that. David said: "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you" (Ps. 139:17-18, NIV).
When God speaks to us face-to-face as He did with Moses, it is impossible to say who enjoys it most—God or us. I am moved to know that God spoke to Moses face to face, "as a man speaks with his friend" (Ex. 33:11). God loved Moses' company. He loved Abraham's company, also calling him His friend (see Is. 41:8; James 2:23). What a compliment to the disciples that Jesus would say, "I have called you friends" (John 15:15). Spending time with another person develops friendship.
The thought that God likes my company thrills me more than I can explain to you. And if He likes my company, He likes yours too—He is no respecter of persons (see Acts 10:34; 1 Pet. 1:17). The same blood that purchased Peter's and Paul's salvation bought yours and mine. Moreover, it is the blood that gives all of us equal access into God's presence (see Heb. 10:19). Therefore, I can put out of my mind the thought that some people are more acceptable to God than others. One's profile in church has nothing to do with being accepted by Him—or loved or enjoyed. We are all on level ground. No one is at the head of the line just because she has a higher profile in the church, has been a Christian a longer time, has been on a 40-day fast, or has fame in the world. Being a head of state gives you no leverage. As St. Augustine put it, "God loves every person as if there were no one else to love."
I hate the thought of being a bore. I hate wasting people's time. I can sometimes tell by the look on their faces if they are not happy to see me. I fear rejection. And if I'm not careful, I can carry this fear of rejection right into the presence of God, assuming I am boring to Him too. Why should God care about me? Why should He listen to what I have to say? And why should He like my company?
It is such a dazzling thought, that the same God who has countless billions of angels worshiping Him 60 seconds a minute, day and night, to whom the nations are but a drop in the bucket and who knows all about every leaf on every tree in the world, also welcomes my company—because I am important to Him.
Indeed, I can think of no more amazing thought than this: "God loves me as much as He loves Jesus." That's right! You and I are co-heirs with Jesus (see Rom. 8:17). Jesus even prayed that we would grasp the fact that the Father loves us just as much as He loves Jesus (see John 17:26).
If there's anything that will make us blush in heaven, it will be the realization of how much we were loved on this earth—but didn't appreciate it. And if we knew how much God welcomes us when we turn to Him, we would almost certainly pray more than we do. God loves our company.
Evangelist J. John told me about a trip he made to India a few years ago. Shortly after he arrived, he heard about a saintly woman called Sister Theresa (not Mother Teresa) who had a powerful gift of the word of knowledge. J. John was able to meet her, and he said to her, "If you have a word for me, I would be so grateful."
He said she turned around and left. He feared he had offended her. But she came back to him an hour or so later with a list of 13 items (some of which almost bowled him over they were so accurate), ending with these words, which he will never forget: "God likes your company and asks that you give Him two hours of your time every day. That's all. Goodbye." Wow!
J. John took her seriously, and he has told me more than once that he was never to be the same again.
What does prayer do for God? For one thing, He likes your company. I can't imagine a greater motivation for me to pray than knowing that God enjoys having me in His presence. He enjoys my company. He delights in listening to me! He doesn't get bored with my repeated requests. He doesn't moralize me if I get it wrong with what I ask for. He doesn't laugh at me if I put out silly, even impertinent requests. He never makes me feel stupid. There is no rejection, only total acceptance.
It doesn't get better than that. David said: "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you" (Ps. 139:17-18, NIV).
When God speaks to us face-to-face as He did with Moses, it is impossible to say who enjoys it most—God or us. I am moved to know that God spoke to Moses face to face, "as a man speaks with his friend" (Ex. 33:11). God loved Moses' company. He loved Abraham's company, also calling him His friend (see Is. 41:8; James 2:23). What a compliment to the disciples that Jesus would say, "I have called you friends" (John 15:15). Spending time with another person develops friendship.
The thought that God likes my company thrills me more than I can explain to you. And if He likes my company, He likes yours too—He is no respecter of persons (see Acts 10:34; 1 Pet. 1:17). The same blood that purchased Peter's and Paul's salvation bought yours and mine. Moreover, it is the blood that gives all of us equal access into God's presence (see Heb. 10:19). Therefore, I can put out of my mind the thought that some people are more acceptable to God than others. One's profile in church has nothing to do with being accepted by Him—or loved or enjoyed. We are all on level ground. No one is at the head of the line just because she has a higher profile in the church, has been a Christian a longer time, has been on a 40-day fast, or has fame in the world. Being a head of state gives you no leverage. As St. Augustine put it, "God loves every person as if there were no one else to love."
I hate the thought of being a bore. I hate wasting people's time. I can sometimes tell by the look on their faces if they are not happy to see me. I fear rejection. And if I'm not careful, I can carry this fear of rejection right into the presence of God, assuming I am boring to Him too. Why should God care about me? Why should He listen to what I have to say? And why should He like my company?
It is such a dazzling thought, that the same God who has countless billions of angels worshiping Him 60 seconds a minute, day and night, to whom the nations are but a drop in the bucket and who knows all about every leaf on every tree in the world, also welcomes my company—because I am important to Him.
Indeed, I can think of no more amazing thought than this: "God loves me as much as He loves Jesus." That's right! You and I are co-heirs with Jesus (see Rom. 8:17). Jesus even prayed that we would grasp the fact that the Father loves us just as much as He loves Jesus (see John 17:26).
If there's anything that will make us blush in heaven, it will be the realization of how much we were loved on this earth—but didn't appreciate it. And if we knew how much God welcomes us when we turn to Him, we would almost certainly pray more than we do. God loves our company.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
LIMITING LABELS
by anthony fernando
Jacob sat in his chair quietly next to his mom and dad as his grade 3 teacher Mrs. Carter gave them an update on his progress at school.
Jacob held his breath and sank a little lower into his chair. He looked up at his dad to see if he was in trouble. His father glanced down, smiled and gave him a quick wink.
In the car on the way home from the Parent-Teacher night, Jacob thought about what Mrs. Carter had called him – ‘Slow Learner’. Deep down Jacob knew that what she really meant was that he was dumb.
Later that evening, Jacob’s dad came into his room carrying a piece of paper and a pen.
He sat down on the side of the bed and said, “Hey Jake, I wanted to talk to you about what Mrs. Carter said today.”
Jacob thought he might still be in trouble for being a slow learner so he didn’t say anything.
“Mrs. Carter called you something today Jake, do you know what it was?”
“A Slow Learner” replied Jake who had already taken the words to heart.
“That’s right” said his dad as he wrote the words ‘Slow Learner’ on the piece of paper.
“Do you know what this says?”
“Slow Learner” replied Jacob nodding sadly.
Jacob’s dad then held up the piece of paper in front of his son and purposefully tore it into two.
Jacob’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Mrs. Carter was wrong Jake” said Jacob’s dad as he continued to tear the paper into smaller and smaller pieces.
“You’re not a slow learner.”
“I’m not?”
“No, and starting tomorrow, you and I are going to show that Mrs. Carter she was wrong, OK?”
“OK” Jacob hugged his dad, snuggled down into his pillow and fell asleep with a smile on his face and a warm glow in his heart.
From that day on, Jacob’s dad spent one hour per day helping Jacob with his reading and writing. By the end of the year, Jacob was doing much better at school and interestingly no-one ever labeled him a ‘Slow Learner’ again.
Jacob’s dad knew that when a child receives a label from a person in authority such as a teacher or parent, they often take that label to heart and it becomes a part of their self identity for the rest of their lives.
To avoid this from happening to his son, Jacob’s dad created a tangible representation of the ‘Slow Learner’ label and tore it up it in front of Jacob so that the label would not become a part of his child’s self concept.
Today I’d like to invite you to do the same exercise. To begin, find a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed and think about the labels that people have given to you in the past.
Perhaps you were given a label by one of your parents, your teacher or your spouse. What is the label that resonates in your mind? Is there a label that has become part of your self identity because it was given to you by a person in a position of authority?
If so, write this label down on a blank sheet of paper and hold it up to see it for what it really is – A Label.
It is a label – nothing more. It is not part of you and you do not have to accept it as part of your self identity any longer.
As you begin to see the label for what it really is – Rip it in half and enjoy the feeling of destroying the label once and for all.
When you do this exercise you will feel a surge of motivation to take action to ensure that no one attempts to give you this label again in the future.
Just as Jacob’s dad took action and helped his son with his school work, make sure you follow through and do whatever you need to do to eliminate the remnants of the label from your life forever.
Until next time,
Dare To Dream
Anthony
www.anthonyfernando.com
Jacob sat in his chair quietly next to his mom and dad as his grade 3 teacher Mrs. Carter gave them an update on his progress at school.
Jacob held his breath and sank a little lower into his chair. He looked up at his dad to see if he was in trouble. His father glanced down, smiled and gave him a quick wink.
In the car on the way home from the Parent-Teacher night, Jacob thought about what Mrs. Carter had called him – ‘Slow Learner’. Deep down Jacob knew that what she really meant was that he was dumb.
Later that evening, Jacob’s dad came into his room carrying a piece of paper and a pen.
He sat down on the side of the bed and said, “Hey Jake, I wanted to talk to you about what Mrs. Carter said today.”
Jacob thought he might still be in trouble for being a slow learner so he didn’t say anything.
“Mrs. Carter called you something today Jake, do you know what it was?”
“A Slow Learner” replied Jake who had already taken the words to heart.
“That’s right” said his dad as he wrote the words ‘Slow Learner’ on the piece of paper.
“Do you know what this says?”
“Slow Learner” replied Jacob nodding sadly.
Jacob’s dad then held up the piece of paper in front of his son and purposefully tore it into two.
Jacob’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Mrs. Carter was wrong Jake” said Jacob’s dad as he continued to tear the paper into smaller and smaller pieces.
“You’re not a slow learner.”
“I’m not?”
“No, and starting tomorrow, you and I are going to show that Mrs. Carter she was wrong, OK?”
“OK” Jacob hugged his dad, snuggled down into his pillow and fell asleep with a smile on his face and a warm glow in his heart.
From that day on, Jacob’s dad spent one hour per day helping Jacob with his reading and writing. By the end of the year, Jacob was doing much better at school and interestingly no-one ever labeled him a ‘Slow Learner’ again.
Jacob’s dad knew that when a child receives a label from a person in authority such as a teacher or parent, they often take that label to heart and it becomes a part of their self identity for the rest of their lives.
To avoid this from happening to his son, Jacob’s dad created a tangible representation of the ‘Slow Learner’ label and tore it up it in front of Jacob so that the label would not become a part of his child’s self concept.
Today I’d like to invite you to do the same exercise. To begin, find a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed and think about the labels that people have given to you in the past.
Perhaps you were given a label by one of your parents, your teacher or your spouse. What is the label that resonates in your mind? Is there a label that has become part of your self identity because it was given to you by a person in a position of authority?
If so, write this label down on a blank sheet of paper and hold it up to see it for what it really is – A Label.
It is a label – nothing more. It is not part of you and you do not have to accept it as part of your self identity any longer.
As you begin to see the label for what it really is – Rip it in half and enjoy the feeling of destroying the label once and for all.
When you do this exercise you will feel a surge of motivation to take action to ensure that no one attempts to give you this label again in the future.
Just as Jacob’s dad took action and helped his son with his school work, make sure you follow through and do whatever you need to do to eliminate the remnants of the label from your life forever.
Until next time,
Dare To Dream
Anthony
www.anthonyfernando.com
Sunday, February 28, 2010
GOD'S GIFTS AND CALLINGS ARE IRREVOCABLE
by R.T. Kendall
For God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. —Romans 11:29
Because the gifts and calling of God are "irrevocable," a person who had a tremendous anointing yesterday can continue to see the momentum of that anointing continuing to manifest itself. He or she may hastily conclude that "the anointing is still with me" when it is but the momentum of yesterday's anointing.
This is sobering. I could be a hypocrite in my personal life, and yet my gift could continue to function. I could even deceive myself by telling myself, I must be right with God, or I couldn't preach. The truth is, God's calling and gifts are irrevocable. That means that God will not withdraw my preaching gift simply because I have not been a loyal, obedient son. He gave me certain abilities when He made me and called me into the ministry. By study and hard work I can improve upon those gifts—without a fresh anointing that comes only from continued intimacy with God. And when people say, "That was a good word," or "God spoke to me through you today," I could assume that God is very pleased with me indeed. One of the worst things we can do is to take compliments too seriously.
It is possible that there are those who sincerely don't know better. They are well equipped, high powered, eloquent, and charismatic; people are blessed by their ministries. These people who are thus used by God may sincerely believe they are pleasing God because their anointing is functioning so well. "I am under God's anointing," they may well say. True. But it could be yesterday's anointing. There may be nothing fresh about it.
The fresh anointing is the essential thing. It is what replenishes the irrevocable. If our irrevocable anointing is not replenished by a fresh touch of God, we are depending on yesterday's anointing.
Excerpted from The Anointing: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (Charisma House, 2003).
Monday, January 25, 2010
THE SUPERNATURAL YOU
By Brenda Kunneman
"What a mess!" my husband and I both kept saying again and again as we threw our hands in the air. We spent the entire day going through old boxes of things we had collected over the years. We had set aside several days to clean out closets and storage spaces. We found countless things we forgot we owned. Do you have some boxes like that—the ones where you sort of know what is in them, but then again, not really?
Most of us have scores of them.In those boxes we found old magazines, yearbooks, old cassette tapes, pictures and keepsakes. Many had developed a musty smell that comes from years of storage. Then we came to the boxes of things we had saved from our early years together of marriage and ministry. After hours of sorting, I found it. It was a piece of paper from a time in our lives when it seemed that our dreams for the future were crumbling one by one.
It was a prayer list we had made, much of which seemed so far-fetched. Some of the items on the list were immediate needs that existed at the time, while others were larger dreams and things we were asking God to do in the years to come, much of which would take an absolute miracle to accomplish.The day we wrote it out years before, we had hung that long list of seemingly impossible requests on our refrigerator. Every day we walked by it, and we would place our hands on it and pray. We spoke aloud each time, reminding the Lord we were expecting miracles. We quoted the Scripture verses we were trusting in regard to it. We declared that each item would come to pass and we would see the hand of God move. We spoke over the list believing for God's intervention, even when it felt like we weren't seeing it.
Shortly thereafter, we moved to a different house and, along with the rest of our household items, packed up that list of prayer requests. Well, you know how it goes. You don't always unpack all those boxes. Actually, a few moves later and nearly two decades of marriage later, the number of unpacked boxes in the garage and basement grew.
Then finally on a clean-out day, I read that list again written almost 20 years ago. My eyes filled with tears as I read it. I suddenly realized that God has not only answered the seemingly small things, but over the years He had also answered every item on the list, way beyond even what we wrote down. He even answered the things that seemed impossible. Again, in a flash, I was reminded of all the miracles that we had seen during the last several years. We had seen the power of God revealed from heaven again and again. The things we had seen God do were nothing short of miraculous and it was mostly all related to what was on the list!
At that moment, we were not only reminded of God's enduring faithfulness (and we apologized to the Lord for not acknowledging His answers to these prayers sooner), but we also realized something else. It was that every time we were putting our hand on the list taped to the fridge we were releasing the power of God to work on our behalf. The supernatural God inside us was releasing miracles; a river was flowing and bringing the answer, and it didn't stop flowing until every request was answered, even though we didn't realize it was happening at the time.
I have learned from this experience not only that God lives in us, but also that the supernatural God lives in us. He wants His supernatural power to flow through us to accomplish the miraculous and do the impossible in our circumstances.
I was talking with a woman who was struggling through a series of trials in her life. Her take on her situation was that she was powerless to do anything but wait and see what God would do. I knew she was committed to trust God, even if the outcome was not what she hoped; however, let's face it, she wanted the same outcome we all want—the same outcome we wanted when we made our prayer list. She wanted her trial to result in a miracle. She wanted a supernatural intervention of God to turn her situation around.
If we are honest with ourselves, that is really what we all want when we come to God, isn't it? We want the power of God to rescue us from the pain today so we can rise up and be a new person tomorrow. Maybe what we have yet to realize is that the power of God is already there. It's in you in the person of the Holy Spirit ready to work and ready to flow (see Acts 1:8). When the fullness of God's Spirit is in you, there is power, and it's the same power that performed the miracle of raising Jesus Christ from the dead (see Rom. 8:11). Tap into that power and watch Him do the miraculous for and through you.
Adapted from The Supernatural You by Brenda Kunneman, copyright 2009, published by Charisma House. This book will show you how to tap into the river of the Holy Spirit within you to experience the supernatural power of God working in and through you. To order a copy click on this link:
"What a mess!" my husband and I both kept saying again and again as we threw our hands in the air. We spent the entire day going through old boxes of things we had collected over the years. We had set aside several days to clean out closets and storage spaces. We found countless things we forgot we owned. Do you have some boxes like that—the ones where you sort of know what is in them, but then again, not really?
Most of us have scores of them.In those boxes we found old magazines, yearbooks, old cassette tapes, pictures and keepsakes. Many had developed a musty smell that comes from years of storage. Then we came to the boxes of things we had saved from our early years together of marriage and ministry. After hours of sorting, I found it. It was a piece of paper from a time in our lives when it seemed that our dreams for the future were crumbling one by one.
It was a prayer list we had made, much of which seemed so far-fetched. Some of the items on the list were immediate needs that existed at the time, while others were larger dreams and things we were asking God to do in the years to come, much of which would take an absolute miracle to accomplish.The day we wrote it out years before, we had hung that long list of seemingly impossible requests on our refrigerator. Every day we walked by it, and we would place our hands on it and pray. We spoke aloud each time, reminding the Lord we were expecting miracles. We quoted the Scripture verses we were trusting in regard to it. We declared that each item would come to pass and we would see the hand of God move. We spoke over the list believing for God's intervention, even when it felt like we weren't seeing it.
Shortly thereafter, we moved to a different house and, along with the rest of our household items, packed up that list of prayer requests. Well, you know how it goes. You don't always unpack all those boxes. Actually, a few moves later and nearly two decades of marriage later, the number of unpacked boxes in the garage and basement grew.
Then finally on a clean-out day, I read that list again written almost 20 years ago. My eyes filled with tears as I read it. I suddenly realized that God has not only answered the seemingly small things, but over the years He had also answered every item on the list, way beyond even what we wrote down. He even answered the things that seemed impossible. Again, in a flash, I was reminded of all the miracles that we had seen during the last several years. We had seen the power of God revealed from heaven again and again. The things we had seen God do were nothing short of miraculous and it was mostly all related to what was on the list!
At that moment, we were not only reminded of God's enduring faithfulness (and we apologized to the Lord for not acknowledging His answers to these prayers sooner), but we also realized something else. It was that every time we were putting our hand on the list taped to the fridge we were releasing the power of God to work on our behalf. The supernatural God inside us was releasing miracles; a river was flowing and bringing the answer, and it didn't stop flowing until every request was answered, even though we didn't realize it was happening at the time.
I have learned from this experience not only that God lives in us, but also that the supernatural God lives in us. He wants His supernatural power to flow through us to accomplish the miraculous and do the impossible in our circumstances.
I was talking with a woman who was struggling through a series of trials in her life. Her take on her situation was that she was powerless to do anything but wait and see what God would do. I knew she was committed to trust God, even if the outcome was not what she hoped; however, let's face it, she wanted the same outcome we all want—the same outcome we wanted when we made our prayer list. She wanted her trial to result in a miracle. She wanted a supernatural intervention of God to turn her situation around.
If we are honest with ourselves, that is really what we all want when we come to God, isn't it? We want the power of God to rescue us from the pain today so we can rise up and be a new person tomorrow. Maybe what we have yet to realize is that the power of God is already there. It's in you in the person of the Holy Spirit ready to work and ready to flow (see Acts 1:8). When the fullness of God's Spirit is in you, there is power, and it's the same power that performed the miracle of raising Jesus Christ from the dead (see Rom. 8:11). Tap into that power and watch Him do the miraculous for and through you.
Adapted from The Supernatural You by Brenda Kunneman, copyright 2009, published by Charisma House. This book will show you how to tap into the river of the Holy Spirit within you to experience the supernatural power of God working in and through you. To order a copy click on this link:
Monday, January 18, 2010
THE GREATEST GIANT IN THE LAND
If you want to be used—really picked up and significantly utilized—by the living God, you're going to have to fight the giants. If you think that sounds simplistic, you're right. It is simple. But it is also the truth.
Joshua and Caleb were used by God. They didn't squander or waste their lives. They were used, made a difference, contributed, gave more than they took, and, consequently, their lives are remembered and valued to this day. Why?
Because they were willing to fight the giants.
You probably know the story. Joshua and Caleb were part of a 12-man team sent out by Moses to do some advance reconnaissance work in the land of Canaan. The children of Israel had just left behind hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt and were headed to the Promised Land, the land of Canaan. In Numbers 13, God told Moses to pick a leader from each of the 12 tribes to do special ops in Canaan.
The 12 completed the mission and returned to give their report to Moses and the people of Israel. They reported that it was a fabulous land of "milk and honey." They even brought back a cluster of grapes with them—a bunch so heavy it took two men to carry it.
But then they got down to the nitty-gritty. They told Moses and the Israelites that the people in the land were strong, and their cities were fortified and very large. This news evidently created a stir among the people because Caleb had to quiet them before he could say to Moses, "‘Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it’" (v. 30, NKJV).
Then the men (except for Caleb) who had gone with him to recon the land said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are" (v. 31). These 10 spies are quaking in their boots. All those different people-groups they saw have given them the heebie-jeebies. The battle hasn't even begun, and these guys are already looking for the locker room.
But they hadn't finished with their cowardly report. The King James Version does the best job of capturing the trembling in their hearts and the shaking of their voices:
"But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight" (vv. 31–33).
Did these 10 men go on to be used by God? Did they ever inspire anyone with their example? Did they ever lead men into battle? Were they remembered as men of honor and courage?
Are you kidding me?
These men were scared of the giants in the land. But what type of giants do we face today? Heart attack, loss of job, a wife with cancer, a son in jail, fighting off a foreclosure—those all are legitimate giants.
But what is the greatest giant of all?
I teach a men's study in Dallas on Wednesday evenings, and I recently asked that question of the men: "What is the greatest giant of them all?"
When I asked for verbal feedback, it came fast and furious. The answers ricocheted from every corner of the room:
"Pride!"
"Pornography!"
"Lust!"
"Guilt!"
"Regret!"
"Failure!"
"Betrayal!"
I interrupted the responses and said: "Those are very good answers—very wise answers—but they are all wrong. What else have you got? What is the greatest giant of them all?"
"Selfish ambition!"
"Greed!"
"The love of money!"
"Multiple divorces!"
"Growing up without a father!"
"An ex-wife who degrades you before the children!"
"Failing as a father!"
"Lying!"
"Breaking a trust!"
"Fear!"
I broke in and said: "I want to commend you for those answers. They aren't superficial, and they are gut-level honest. And those are all big giants. But once again they're all wrong. Let me give you the answer. The biggest giant of them all is … God."
And just that quickly, the room of several hundred men grew very quiet. In fact, you could have heard a pin drop as the reality of the answer penetrated the mind of every man in the room.
Every man has fought—and is fighting—giants. And make no mistake, these giants are huge. Sometimes, however, in the process of grappling with these intimidating, overwhelming giants, we forget the greatest giant. God is the greatest of all the giants.
Joshua and Caleb knew that, and that's why they stood up and spoke against the panic of the other 10 spies. In our own history, colonial leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock knew it as well, and that's why they stood and spoke against tyranny in the name of almighty God.
God is the trump card of your life. It doesn't matter what giant you may be facing—booze, porn, guilt, lying, cocaine, failure, invading armies, whatever—God trumps your giant. He will always trump the giants—every single one of them. But we can so quickly forget that He is there.
Taken from Battle Ready by Steve Farrar, copyright 2009 David C. Cook.
Joshua and Caleb were used by God. They didn't squander or waste their lives. They were used, made a difference, contributed, gave more than they took, and, consequently, their lives are remembered and valued to this day. Why?
Because they were willing to fight the giants.
You probably know the story. Joshua and Caleb were part of a 12-man team sent out by Moses to do some advance reconnaissance work in the land of Canaan. The children of Israel had just left behind hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt and were headed to the Promised Land, the land of Canaan. In Numbers 13, God told Moses to pick a leader from each of the 12 tribes to do special ops in Canaan.
The 12 completed the mission and returned to give their report to Moses and the people of Israel. They reported that it was a fabulous land of "milk and honey." They even brought back a cluster of grapes with them—a bunch so heavy it took two men to carry it.
But then they got down to the nitty-gritty. They told Moses and the Israelites that the people in the land were strong, and their cities were fortified and very large. This news evidently created a stir among the people because Caleb had to quiet them before he could say to Moses, "‘Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it’" (v. 30, NKJV).
Then the men (except for Caleb) who had gone with him to recon the land said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are" (v. 31). These 10 spies are quaking in their boots. All those different people-groups they saw have given them the heebie-jeebies. The battle hasn't even begun, and these guys are already looking for the locker room.
But they hadn't finished with their cowardly report. The King James Version does the best job of capturing the trembling in their hearts and the shaking of their voices:
"But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight" (vv. 31–33).
Did these 10 men go on to be used by God? Did they ever inspire anyone with their example? Did they ever lead men into battle? Were they remembered as men of honor and courage?
Are you kidding me?
These men were scared of the giants in the land. But what type of giants do we face today? Heart attack, loss of job, a wife with cancer, a son in jail, fighting off a foreclosure—those all are legitimate giants.
But what is the greatest giant of all?
I teach a men's study in Dallas on Wednesday evenings, and I recently asked that question of the men: "What is the greatest giant of them all?"
When I asked for verbal feedback, it came fast and furious. The answers ricocheted from every corner of the room:
"Pride!"
"Pornography!"
"Lust!"
"Guilt!"
"Regret!"
"Failure!"
"Betrayal!"
I interrupted the responses and said: "Those are very good answers—very wise answers—but they are all wrong. What else have you got? What is the greatest giant of them all?"
"Selfish ambition!"
"Greed!"
"The love of money!"
"Multiple divorces!"
"Growing up without a father!"
"An ex-wife who degrades you before the children!"
"Failing as a father!"
"Lying!"
"Breaking a trust!"
"Fear!"
I broke in and said: "I want to commend you for those answers. They aren't superficial, and they are gut-level honest. And those are all big giants. But once again they're all wrong. Let me give you the answer. The biggest giant of them all is … God."
And just that quickly, the room of several hundred men grew very quiet. In fact, you could have heard a pin drop as the reality of the answer penetrated the mind of every man in the room.
Every man has fought—and is fighting—giants. And make no mistake, these giants are huge. Sometimes, however, in the process of grappling with these intimidating, overwhelming giants, we forget the greatest giant. God is the greatest of all the giants.
Joshua and Caleb knew that, and that's why they stood up and spoke against the panic of the other 10 spies. In our own history, colonial leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock knew it as well, and that's why they stood and spoke against tyranny in the name of almighty God.
God is the trump card of your life. It doesn't matter what giant you may be facing—booze, porn, guilt, lying, cocaine, failure, invading armies, whatever—God trumps your giant. He will always trump the giants—every single one of them. But we can so quickly forget that He is there.
Taken from Battle Ready by Steve Farrar, copyright 2009 David C. Cook.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
THE DEEP LONGING
by John Bevere
Why have so many Christians embraced the idea that following Christ means losing individuality, creativity, ingenuity, and the passion for excellence in all spheres of life? Too many believers are trapped in "the ordinary" when God promised an extraordinary life!
It's time we lay hold of our core faith! Within each person is an innate desire to rise above the norm.
It's no surprise we're captivated by those who do remarkable feats or possess super powers: Superman, Spiderman, Batman, to mention just a few. Did you know that 17 of the top 25 blockbuster films of all time tell of extraordinary feats and superheroes? Strength and bravery capture our imagination and encourage us to believe in a life greater than we've known.
How intriguing that the bulk of the most popular movies of all time are not love stories, murder mysteries, espionage thrillers, war movies, sports flicks, westerns or dramas. No, the top box office draws are films that center on extraordinary characters doing remarkable feats. Why? Because "extraordinary" is how we were created to live. It was God's plan from the beginning.
This extraordinary life is more than a fairytale, it's available through Christ. You see, more than a need to escape or be entertained, there is a God-inspired longing in everyone for the extraordinary! Within every believer is a hero waiting to be unveiled!
"My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!" (Ephesians 3:9-10, The Message)
Sunday, December 20, 2009
HIS THOUGHTS TOWARDS ME
Psalm 139:1-24 This psalm declares clearly how much God is thinking about us. We have an expression in the Christian community we use when we are concerned about someone. We say, "You have really been on my heart." We are on God's heart every day of our lives. Listen quietly and You can hear Him say, "Today, My child, you are on My heart, and I am praying for you." This psalm says, "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with You" (vv. 17-18).
Not only is God thinking about you today, His thoughts were absorbed with you even before you were born. This psalm tells us that God was watching us when we were formed in our mother's womb, and He wrote down the members of our body.
If you feel today, that God has somehow abandoned you or forgotten that you exist, read this psalm. After you read it, you can then praise and give thanks to the Lord because you are fearfully and wonderfully made. He loves you, and you are in His thoughts today. Jesus is making effective intercession for you right now at this very moment.
Thank You, Lord, for thinking about me today. I know in Your thoughts is a plan for me today. Father, let what is in Your mind and heart for me today be accomplished according to Your will. I submit myself to Your way, which is much higher than my own way. Help me by Your Holy Spirit to tap into what Jesus is praying for me today and to what You have planned for me each minute of this day.
READ: Haggai 1:1-2:23; Revelation 11:1-19; Psalm 139:1-24; Proverbs 30:15-16
Thursday, August 13, 2009
WISE WORDS - REBECCA ST. JAMES
How do we find true beauty?
Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. 1 Peter 3:3-4
The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.1 Samuel 16:7
Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised.Proverbs 31:30
I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes.1 Timothy 2:9
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.Psalm 139:13-14
A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.Proverbs 11:22
God has made everything beautiful for its own time.Ecclesiastes 3:11
Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. 1 Peter 3:3-4
The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.1 Samuel 16:7
Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised.Proverbs 31:30
I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes.1 Timothy 2:9
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.Psalm 139:13-14
A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.Proverbs 11:22
God has made everything beautiful for its own time.Ecclesiastes 3:11
REBECCA ST. JAMES: TRUE BEAUTY
By Rebecca St. James
CBN.com – Follow these secrets for health and beauty that won’t wrinkle or go out of style!
Rebecca Says: Since you were a little girl, the quest to be beautiful has bombarded you at every turn. From children’s stories such as “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Ugly Duckling” that you read to the Barbie dolls that you played with to the comments such as “She’s darling” or “What a pretty little girl you are” that you heard—face it, beauty has become an all-consuming priority! Now that you are a teen, you are under even more pressure to be beautiful. TV, movies, and music tell you that if you want to be beautiful you have to look a certain way, dress a certain way, and have a certain type of body.
I have played the comparison game too. This is an embarrassing confession, but once I recall tearing out a magazine ad that pictured a girl standing beside a car. She looked like what I thought I wanted to look like. She had toned arms, a slim figure, and beautiful, full hair. I kept this picture with me to supposedly help me achieve my goal. But I realized pretty quickly that this was only negative, that it was making me feel even more discontented with the unique way God created me. Basically, I was coveting what someone else had—which amounts to breaking one of the Ten Commandments. The other problem with comparing ourselves to other people—especially people in magazines—is that often these images aren’t even realistic. With today’s technology, most pictures are doctored to erase flaws or even shave off inches. And most models weigh less than what is considered healthy for their height.
Beauty Jail
We’ve all looked in the mirror only to see a face that didn’t measure up to the current standards of beauty, and we’ve ended up feeling discouraged.
Can you think of anything or any THINGS to fill in this blank?“I hate my _____________!”
Sometimes you need to take a closer look to see just how extreme your discontent and dislike of your physical body has become.
Are you obsessing about your looks? Take our Beauty Quiz and find out.
Beauty by the Book
The Bible was way ahead of us in exposing the beauty myth for what it is. It points out the vanity, danger, and temporary quality of mere personal attractions and instead calls attention to the higher and more permanent beauties of mind, character, and personality.
It’s called outward versus inward beauty. The Book puts it this way:
Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within. 1 Peter 3:3-4
Yeah, But . . .
• I won’t be accepted for who I am.
• I will still be compared to others and not measure up.
• People judge me by how I look before they get to know me.
• Other: ________________________
We know you’ve heard this talk about the inside package versus the outside package before. But our guess is that none of it has yet to change your beauty response. And we know you’re probably thinking, Inside beauty? Try telling that to the guys. They avoid describing us on the outside by saying we’ve “got a great personality” or we’re “really nice.”
The Bible is not saying that the outer appearance doesn’t matter. It’s saying:
Don’t be concerned about the outer beauty.
Don’t let it define you. Don’t let it cause you undue stress. Don’t make it your most important priority. Don’t let it replace the more important parts of your life. Outer beauty is nothing more than packaging. And unless the inner content is good, too, the outer display won’t make any lasting difference.
Do be known for the inner beauty.
Outer beauty is the first impression someone gets of you; inner beauty is the second and lasting impression. We call it holistic beauty, and it’s real, honest, and lasting. It reveals the contents on the inside of the package that enhance the outer. You can’t fake holistic beauty—it’s the way women look, feel, think, and act. It’s the whole beauty shebang!
Get Personal
Yesterday, approximately how many minutes did you spend on your appearance (outer beauty)?
Yesterday, approximately how many minutes did you spend on your relationship with God and with other people (inner beauty)?
Rebecca Says: I once read this article in an Australian devotional, which says a lot about real beauty:
A beauty product company once asked people in a large city to send pictures, along with brief letters, describing the most beautiful woman they knew. Within weeks, thousands of letters came in.
One letter caught the attention of the employees and was soon passed on to the company president. It was written by a boy from a broken home, who lived in a run-down neighborhood. With lots of spelling corrections, an excerpt from his letter read: “A beautiful woman lives down the street from me. I visit her every day. She makes me feel like the most important kid in the world. We play checkers and she listens to my problems. She understands me. When I leave she always yells out the door that she’s proud of me.” The boy ended his letter saying, “This picture shows you that she is the most beautiful woman in the world, and one day I hope I have a wife as pretty as her.”
Intrigued by the letter, the president asked to see the woman’s picture. His secretary handed him the photograph of a smiling, toothless woman, well advanced in years, sitting in a wheelchair. Sparse gray hair was pulled back in a bun. The wrinkles that formed deep furrows on her face were somehow diminished by the twinkle in her eyes.
“We can’t use this woman,” exclaimed this president, smiling. “She would show the world that our products aren’t necessary to be beautiful.”
The Lie: If you’re not supermodel beautiful, then you don’t measure up—you are not enough.
The Truth: You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
God’s Temple
The problem with trying to measure up to the images we see on TV and in movies is that often girls do harmful things to their body. Too many young women are starving themselves or making themselves throw up to try to achieve the look they want. Others cut themselves to get attention, express hurt, or just to feel something. If you or someone you know is dealing with any of these issues, remember that if you are a Christian, your body belongs to God—it is not your own (see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). When you hurt yourself, you hurt him too. During those times when you’re feeling particularly low about your self-image, remind myself that you should be focusing on your God-worth, not your self-worth. You are his treasure, his princes!
SHEism: A truly beautiful SHE is a girl who sees her value as the whole package—through her inward as well as her outward beauty.
CBN.com – Follow these secrets for health and beauty that won’t wrinkle or go out of style!
Rebecca Says: Since you were a little girl, the quest to be beautiful has bombarded you at every turn. From children’s stories such as “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Ugly Duckling” that you read to the Barbie dolls that you played with to the comments such as “She’s darling” or “What a pretty little girl you are” that you heard—face it, beauty has become an all-consuming priority! Now that you are a teen, you are under even more pressure to be beautiful. TV, movies, and music tell you that if you want to be beautiful you have to look a certain way, dress a certain way, and have a certain type of body.
I have played the comparison game too. This is an embarrassing confession, but once I recall tearing out a magazine ad that pictured a girl standing beside a car. She looked like what I thought I wanted to look like. She had toned arms, a slim figure, and beautiful, full hair. I kept this picture with me to supposedly help me achieve my goal. But I realized pretty quickly that this was only negative, that it was making me feel even more discontented with the unique way God created me. Basically, I was coveting what someone else had—which amounts to breaking one of the Ten Commandments. The other problem with comparing ourselves to other people—especially people in magazines—is that often these images aren’t even realistic. With today’s technology, most pictures are doctored to erase flaws or even shave off inches. And most models weigh less than what is considered healthy for their height.
Beauty Jail
We’ve all looked in the mirror only to see a face that didn’t measure up to the current standards of beauty, and we’ve ended up feeling discouraged.
Can you think of anything or any THINGS to fill in this blank?“I hate my _____________!”
Sometimes you need to take a closer look to see just how extreme your discontent and dislike of your physical body has become.
Are you obsessing about your looks? Take our Beauty Quiz and find out.
Beauty by the Book
The Bible was way ahead of us in exposing the beauty myth for what it is. It points out the vanity, danger, and temporary quality of mere personal attractions and instead calls attention to the higher and more permanent beauties of mind, character, and personality.
It’s called outward versus inward beauty. The Book puts it this way:
Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within. 1 Peter 3:3-4
Yeah, But . . .
• I won’t be accepted for who I am.
• I will still be compared to others and not measure up.
• People judge me by how I look before they get to know me.
• Other: ________________________
We know you’ve heard this talk about the inside package versus the outside package before. But our guess is that none of it has yet to change your beauty response. And we know you’re probably thinking, Inside beauty? Try telling that to the guys. They avoid describing us on the outside by saying we’ve “got a great personality” or we’re “really nice.”
The Bible is not saying that the outer appearance doesn’t matter. It’s saying:
Don’t be concerned about the outer beauty.
Don’t let it define you. Don’t let it cause you undue stress. Don’t make it your most important priority. Don’t let it replace the more important parts of your life. Outer beauty is nothing more than packaging. And unless the inner content is good, too, the outer display won’t make any lasting difference.
Do be known for the inner beauty.
Outer beauty is the first impression someone gets of you; inner beauty is the second and lasting impression. We call it holistic beauty, and it’s real, honest, and lasting. It reveals the contents on the inside of the package that enhance the outer. You can’t fake holistic beauty—it’s the way women look, feel, think, and act. It’s the whole beauty shebang!
Get Personal
Yesterday, approximately how many minutes did you spend on your appearance (outer beauty)?
Yesterday, approximately how many minutes did you spend on your relationship with God and with other people (inner beauty)?
Rebecca Says: I once read this article in an Australian devotional, which says a lot about real beauty:
A beauty product company once asked people in a large city to send pictures, along with brief letters, describing the most beautiful woman they knew. Within weeks, thousands of letters came in.
One letter caught the attention of the employees and was soon passed on to the company president. It was written by a boy from a broken home, who lived in a run-down neighborhood. With lots of spelling corrections, an excerpt from his letter read: “A beautiful woman lives down the street from me. I visit her every day. She makes me feel like the most important kid in the world. We play checkers and she listens to my problems. She understands me. When I leave she always yells out the door that she’s proud of me.” The boy ended his letter saying, “This picture shows you that she is the most beautiful woman in the world, and one day I hope I have a wife as pretty as her.”
Intrigued by the letter, the president asked to see the woman’s picture. His secretary handed him the photograph of a smiling, toothless woman, well advanced in years, sitting in a wheelchair. Sparse gray hair was pulled back in a bun. The wrinkles that formed deep furrows on her face were somehow diminished by the twinkle in her eyes.
“We can’t use this woman,” exclaimed this president, smiling. “She would show the world that our products aren’t necessary to be beautiful.”
The Lie: If you’re not supermodel beautiful, then you don’t measure up—you are not enough.
The Truth: You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
God’s Temple
The problem with trying to measure up to the images we see on TV and in movies is that often girls do harmful things to their body. Too many young women are starving themselves or making themselves throw up to try to achieve the look they want. Others cut themselves to get attention, express hurt, or just to feel something. If you or someone you know is dealing with any of these issues, remember that if you are a Christian, your body belongs to God—it is not your own (see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). When you hurt yourself, you hurt him too. During those times when you’re feeling particularly low about your self-image, remind myself that you should be focusing on your God-worth, not your self-worth. You are his treasure, his princes!
SHEism: A truly beautiful SHE is a girl who sees her value as the whole package—through her inward as well as her outward beauty.
GOD'S GLAMOUR GIRL
By Jacqueline J. Overpeck Guest Columnist
CBN.com – A few weeks ago, I was at the supermarket picking up doughnuts for work when Glamour magazine caught my eye. Renee Zellweger was the cover girl. She had on the softest pink dress. Her fair skin melted into the satin. The look was iridescent. She was radiant. I wish I glowed like a star, I whined to myself.
In addition to a feature story on Zellweger, Glamour promised a list of the 50 most glamorous women of 2009. Very interesting, I thought to myself. Who are the 50 most glamorous women of 2009 and how did they qualify? I couldn’t resist, so I bought a copy.
Later that day, I gobbled up my new magazine. I chewed every meaty-morsel from cover to cover. The 50 most glamorous women of 2009 included Reese Witherspoon for her likeability and legs, Jennifer Aniston for her Cali-girl style, Beyonce Knowles for oozing glamour, Gywneth Paltrow for her natural fashion ease, Katie Holmes for being both sophisticated and cool, and 45 other women for being femme fatales.
After reading the article, I closed the magazine and threw it on the floor. I felt empty. I had just feasted on a five-course meal that served up the best of Hollywood, yet I was still starving. Even with all the cream cheese couture, there wasn’t enough ruffley substance to satisfy my appetite. I needed some real food, something that would stick to my ribs.
Reaching for my Bible, I flipped to Matthew 5:6.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be filled. (King James Version)
“Lord,” I prayed. “I want to be filled with the kind of beauty you admire.”
The Qualities of God’s Glamour Girl
Who is God’s glamour girl and what are her admirable qualities?
According to Scripture, she is:
G – Gorgeous inside and outShe fears the Lord knowing He is the source of all good things.
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30
L – Laughter
She’s isn’t afraid to laugh out loud and she looks for ways to encourage others.
…the joy of the LORD is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10
A – All about adoration
She’s got a heart for applauding her King. She loves to praise and worship her God.
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness;come before him with joyful songs. Psalm 100:1-2
M – Mercy
Her heart is full of compassion and her hands are ready to serve.
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14
O – Original
She’s uniquely herself. She places her whole life in God’s hands--knowing as His creation she already shines like a star.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made… Psalm 139:13-14
U – Understanding
She has a ravenous appetite for wisdom and she loves to read the Bible. She’s thirsty for truth and delights in understanding the mysteries of God.
By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. Proverbs 24:3-4
R – Righteousness
She keeps herself pure. She desires to be an untarnished vessel for God’s anointing to flow through. Nothing is more important to God’s Glamour Girl than establishing heaven’s kingdom on earth.
But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long. Psalm 71:14-15
TRUE GLAMOUR
God’s glamour girl is gorgeous inside and out. She’s filled with laughter. She has a song in her heart. Mercy springs from her spirit. She’s totally original. Her Bible is handy. She uses her unique gifts and talents to share the saving message of Jesus with the world.
The Confident Christian Woman
Be encouraged glamour girl! You belong to the Most High God. As His daughter you live by another standard than one Hollywood and the fashion magazines portray. Heaven is your eternal home and you are astounding in unearthly beauty. With your life surrendered to Jesus you sparkle with radiance that Rodeo Drive wishes it had! You are spiritually savvy and God has created you to be exquisite in Him.
The more you sit at His feet, the more His image will be seen in you. He is love. How does anything else compare to that? Seriously, what could be more attractive than love?
The next time you look in the mirror, please don’t compromise your heart by comparing yourself to anyone else. There’s no one like you. Be confident in Christ. He created you to be beautiful beyond Beverly Hills and Sunset Boulevard.
How about a deal? If you stop longing for the life of Anne Hathaway and let heradmire the princess in you, I’ll forget reasoning how I might be like Renee Zellweger and let her admire God’s radiance in me! Agreed?
CBN.com – A few weeks ago, I was at the supermarket picking up doughnuts for work when Glamour magazine caught my eye. Renee Zellweger was the cover girl. She had on the softest pink dress. Her fair skin melted into the satin. The look was iridescent. She was radiant. I wish I glowed like a star, I whined to myself.
In addition to a feature story on Zellweger, Glamour promised a list of the 50 most glamorous women of 2009. Very interesting, I thought to myself. Who are the 50 most glamorous women of 2009 and how did they qualify? I couldn’t resist, so I bought a copy.
Later that day, I gobbled up my new magazine. I chewed every meaty-morsel from cover to cover. The 50 most glamorous women of 2009 included Reese Witherspoon for her likeability and legs, Jennifer Aniston for her Cali-girl style, Beyonce Knowles for oozing glamour, Gywneth Paltrow for her natural fashion ease, Katie Holmes for being both sophisticated and cool, and 45 other women for being femme fatales.
After reading the article, I closed the magazine and threw it on the floor. I felt empty. I had just feasted on a five-course meal that served up the best of Hollywood, yet I was still starving. Even with all the cream cheese couture, there wasn’t enough ruffley substance to satisfy my appetite. I needed some real food, something that would stick to my ribs.
Reaching for my Bible, I flipped to Matthew 5:6.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be filled. (King James Version)
“Lord,” I prayed. “I want to be filled with the kind of beauty you admire.”
The Qualities of God’s Glamour Girl
Who is God’s glamour girl and what are her admirable qualities?
According to Scripture, she is:
G – Gorgeous inside and outShe fears the Lord knowing He is the source of all good things.
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30
L – Laughter
She’s isn’t afraid to laugh out loud and she looks for ways to encourage others.
…the joy of the LORD is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10
A – All about adoration
She’s got a heart for applauding her King. She loves to praise and worship her God.
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness;come before him with joyful songs. Psalm 100:1-2
M – Mercy
Her heart is full of compassion and her hands are ready to serve.
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14
O – Original
She’s uniquely herself. She places her whole life in God’s hands--knowing as His creation she already shines like a star.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made… Psalm 139:13-14
U – Understanding
She has a ravenous appetite for wisdom and she loves to read the Bible. She’s thirsty for truth and delights in understanding the mysteries of God.
By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. Proverbs 24:3-4
R – Righteousness
She keeps herself pure. She desires to be an untarnished vessel for God’s anointing to flow through. Nothing is more important to God’s Glamour Girl than establishing heaven’s kingdom on earth.
But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long. Psalm 71:14-15
TRUE GLAMOUR
God’s glamour girl is gorgeous inside and out. She’s filled with laughter. She has a song in her heart. Mercy springs from her spirit. She’s totally original. Her Bible is handy. She uses her unique gifts and talents to share the saving message of Jesus with the world.
The Confident Christian Woman
Be encouraged glamour girl! You belong to the Most High God. As His daughter you live by another standard than one Hollywood and the fashion magazines portray. Heaven is your eternal home and you are astounding in unearthly beauty. With your life surrendered to Jesus you sparkle with radiance that Rodeo Drive wishes it had! You are spiritually savvy and God has created you to be exquisite in Him.
The more you sit at His feet, the more His image will be seen in you. He is love. How does anything else compare to that? Seriously, what could be more attractive than love?
The next time you look in the mirror, please don’t compromise your heart by comparing yourself to anyone else. There’s no one like you. Be confident in Christ. He created you to be beautiful beyond Beverly Hills and Sunset Boulevard.
How about a deal? If you stop longing for the life of Anne Hathaway and let heradmire the princess in you, I’ll forget reasoning how I might be like Renee Zellweger and let her admire God’s radiance in me! Agreed?
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