It’s time to dream again.
And in doing so, I will not content myself with yesterday’s progress.
I have seen my share of victories; I’ve won some battles, and maybe even a war or two.
But there are new victories to be won, and yesterday’s dreams will never achieve them.
When my greatest challenges are boredom and fatigue, I will rest in the womb of a new vision, and call forth even greater measures of faith and courage.
It’s time to dream again.
And in doing so, I will see beyond the road blocks and crashes. [click to continue…]
Dear Foggy Little Brain,
As you start your day, I want to remind you of some very important truth to shape your thinking…
- You are no longer under condemnation (Romans 8:1).
- You are free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).
- Your flesh has been dealt with (Romans 8:3).
- The Holy Spirit will enable you to fulfill the requirements of God’s Law (Romans 8:4).
- The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:6).
- Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:8).
- You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit (Romans 8:9).
- Your body may be dying, your spirit is alive because of His righteousness (Romans 8:10).
- The Holy Spirit will also give life to your mortal body (Romans 8:11).
- You have no obligation to the flesh (Romans 8:12).
- You must put to death the deeds of the body (Romans 8:13).
- You are a child of God (Romans 8:14 16).
- You are no longer a slave to the world, the devil, and the flesh (Romans 8:15).
- You have received the spirit of adoption, so that you can go into God’s presence and say, “Daddy!” (Romans 8:15).
- You are an heir of God, and a joint heir of Christ (Romans 8:17).
- The present suffering you may be experiencing is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to you (Romans 8:18).
- Your body will be redeemed one day (Romans 8:23).
- You don’t pray alone. The Holy Spirit will is helping you (Romans 8:26).
- The Holy Spirit is interceding to the Father for you (Romans 8:27).
- God causes all things work together for good to those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
- You are predestined to be conformed into the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29).
- You have been called, justified, and glorified (Romans 8:30).
- God is for you – who can be against you (Romans 8:31)?
- No one can bring a charge against you, because you are God’s elect (Romans 8:33).
- In all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37).
- Nothing – nothing – can separate you from God’s love (Romans 8:35 39).
As you go about your day, remember the banner under which you live, and the grace on which you stand. I’ve read to the end of the Book… You win!
Imagine being one of the 5000 people who ate bread and fish at the hand of a miracle by Jesus Himself. Bet it tasted good! I’ll bet it was an amazing spectacle to behold.
The laughter between bites.
The wonder.
The amazement.
The satisfaction of your appetite.
Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if, after the miraculous feed, you had never hungered again? [click to continue…]
Remember the story Aesop told about the goose and the golden egg? The implications and applications are powerful, so let’s take another look.
The fable is about a poor farmer who one day discovered in the nest of his pet goose a glittering golden egg. At first, he thought it must be some kind of trick. But as he started to throw the egg aside, he had second thoughts and took it in to be appraised instead.
The egg was pure gold! The farmer couldn’t believe his good fortune. He became even more incredulous the following day when the experience was repeated. Day after day, he awakened to rush to the nest and find another golden egg. He became fabulously wealthy; it all seemed too good to be true.
But with his increasing wealth came greed and impatience. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on April 17, 2009
in Allocating Your Resources, Consumers, Enlarging Your Capacity, Executing Your Plan, Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, Following Your Passion, Gamblers, Hoarders, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Money, Pleasers, Principle of Abundance, Protecting Your Investment, Waiting
This week a friend sent me a poignant and compelling image that describes what it’s like to live in a climate or with a spirit of fear. But the image is so strong, I think it describes anybody who feels as though they are in a no-win situation.
I feel like a grasshopper on the ocean hanging onto a leaf. I cling to the leaf to keep from drowning. If I eat the leaf to keep from starving, I lose my life preserver, and drown.
I’ll tell you later what he learned in the process. But can you relate? [click to continue…]
I heard a funny story recently about a lady with certain-colored hair, who was in a desperate financial condition. The details are a little hazy, but here goes:
She knelt down beside her bed and prayed, “Oh God, please help me win the lottery. If I don’t win the lottery, they’re coming to cut my power off.” She didn’t win the lottery, and her power was cut off. She prayed again to win the lottery to avoid losing her car. She didn’t win the lottery, and her car was repossessed. A third time she prayed to win the lottery. This time, the bank foreclosed on her house. She prayed again, frustrated and angry. “If this is how you treat your children, I’ll never pray again.”
About that time, there was a knock at the door. She opened it to find a stranger. “I have a message from the Lord,” the stranger said. “Would you PLEASE buy a ticket”?
We serve a God who is capable of doing “far more abundantly above all we could ever ask or think” (Ephesians 3:30). But He insists that somehow we get involved in the process.
Two Candidates for a Miracle
This is illustrated in back-to-back stories in 2 Kings 3-4. Two different people summoned the prophet Elisha. The first was the king of Israel, whose army was dehydrated and facing sure defeat. The second was the widow of a prophet, who was facing the loss of her sons to slavery to pay off her creditor.
Elisha advised similar things. [click to continue…]
In the previous post I talked about the principle of planting abundantly. Today I want to tell you about somebody who did it.
I married an MK. That’s “missionary’s kid,” in case you’re uninitiated. It was enough of a culture shock to marry a Texan, but to say “I do” to somebody who could have repeated her vows in Thai if she wanted was really special. For 26 years I have heard the stories, met most of the major players, and lived vicariously through the memories, the loves, and the laughter of a family whose lives are invested to this day in Jesus’ mandate to take the gospel to the world.
All of that came calling the day after Christmas 2004. To this day Robin refers to the event as if it were a proper name – an evil killer who has somehow become an unwanted part of the family.
His name: Tsunami. [click to continue…]
“Our behavior, attitudes, and initiatives toward others are an act of sowing. The acts of others toward us, at least in a general sense, are an act of reaping. If others are being critical, judgmental, or hostile to us, before we write them off as uncaring jerks, it may be wise to examine what we’ve been sowing in our own attitudes and relationships. If we aren’t seeing generosity being returned, maybe we haven’t been giving.”
-from my journal, January 10, 2001
Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others – ignoring God! – harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8, The Message).
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Sometimes when the Lord wants to tell me something significant, he opens my eyes.
Sometimes he closes them. Literally. And speaks to me through a dream.
A few years ago I was on an airplane, reading about how God reveals himself through dreams, and I decided to see if the Lord had anything to say to me in that manner. That night in the hotel room, I asked him to speak to me through my dreams, and I “instructed” my brain to remember.
Remember I did. Clearly. Vividly. Unforgettably. [click to continue…]
God wants us to get it. We typically don’t.
We want to have it. We often won’t.
God says, if you don’t get it, you won’t have it. And you can’t have it just by going out and getting it. You have to… well, get it, first.
Get it?
I think I’ll start over.
Jesus told a variety of stories that present God as a wealthy landowner with servants. These include the laborers in the vineyard, the wheat and the tares, the talents, the landowner, and the vine-growers. The common theme that runs through each story is that humans fail to understand the heart of the One who owns it all. To God, the relationship always is more important than the “stuff.”
Get it?
The laborers in the vineyard didn’t. Our friend the hoarder didn’t. The vine-growers sure didn’t get it. And while we’re keeping score, neither did the Prodigal Son or his pouting older sibling.
They all missed it.
Somehow they all got it in their head that God was holding back, unfair, mean, scary, selfish, whatever. They became so hung up in the grapes and the goats, they missed it.
And lost it.
Because they didn’t get it. [click to continue…]
Help Wanted: Branches
Master of the Universe, a firm dedicated to establishing change agencies throughout the world and providing eternal dwelling places for an undisclosed number of people, is seeking branches on which to conduct its fruit-bearing strategy. Generous benefit package. Unlimited positions available to trusting and trustworthy candidates. No previous experience necessary. Will train the right candidate(s). (Please note: No advancement possible. This is an entry- and exit-level position. The other two positions – Vine and Gardener – have been permanently filled.)
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Stop doing God’s job. Not only is it unnecessary, it’s ridiculous. And believe me, when you try to solve God-sized problems with man-sized vision and wisdom, you will be ridiculed.
So, following up from the last post, how DO we approach situations, opportunities, challenges, and problems that are larger than we are?
You approach them like a branch would. [click to continue…]