Principle of Freedom

The Language of Surrender… and Freedom

by Andy Wood on December 1, 2008

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, Hoarders, Insight, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, LV Stories, Principle of Freedom, Principle of Legacy

I don’t have to win.

I don’t have to lead.

I don’t have to debt.

I don’t have to worry.

I don’t have to be first.

I don’t have to survive.

I don’t have to give up.

I don’t have to overeat.

I don’t have to be right.

I don’t have to succeed.

I don’t have to be afraid.

I don’t have to get angry.

I don’t have to be served.

I don’t have to look good.

I don’t have to be noticed.

I don’t have to cradle pain.

I don’t have to have things.

I don’t have to be offended.

I don’t have to be stressed.

I don’t have to feel rejected.

I don’t have to procrastinate.

I don’t have to resist change.

I don’t have to be depressed.

I don’t have to defend myself.

I don’t have to always say yes.

I don’t have to spend all I earn.

I don’t have to hide my failures.

I don’t have to control outcomes.

I don’t have to get instant results.

I don’t have to hide from the truth.

I don’t have to hide from intimacy.

I don’t have to harbor resentment.

I don’t have to feel sorry for myself.

I don’t have to judge others’ motives.

I don’t have to blame myself or others.

I don’t have to be thanked for what I do.

I don’t have to take counsel of my fears.

I don’t have to crave words of affirmation.

I don’t have to repeat destructive behavior.

I don’t have to compare myself with others.

I don’t have to criticize weakness in others.

I don’t have to envy the blessings of others.

I don’t have to live in the shadow of my past.

I don’t have to spend money to impress others.

I don’t have to see every (or any) expectation fulfilled.

(I’m sure there’s plenty more I’ll discover.  How about you?  What does your language of surrender/freedom sound like?)

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Three Questions You Can’t Ignore

by Andy Wood on October 15, 2008

in Ability, Executing Your Plan, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Principle of Freedom

So you want to design a life, not just make a living?  You want to experience the sensation of victory, or spiritual power?  You want to build something, not just take up space on the planet?  You want to say you’ve run your race, won your prize, fulfilled your calling or purpose?

If that doesn’t describe you, don’t waste your time reading any further.  Go back to the Food Network or CNN or something.

But if that does describe you, and you believe you were put on this earth to do more than recycle gases and other organic stuff, read on.

In any meaningful endeavor, but particularly in one that involves the fulfillment of a spiritual vision, people (and leaders in particular) are faced with three inescapable questions.

1.  Do your actions demonstrate a commitment to that which is most important?

2.  Will you continue to move forward, even when surrounded by a hostile or apathetic majority?

3.  Where will you look for the internal power to finish the job? [click to continue…]

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Seven Keys to Standing When the Nations are Shaking

by Andy Wood on September 25, 2008

in Consumers, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, Money, Principle of Abundance, Principle of Freedom

This site is nearly a year old, and I have never written a post I am more serious or urgent about.

There are times when our spirits and/or minds are unusually drawn in certain directions.  Ideas and concepts leap off the pages of the Bible.  Words or names get planted in our consciousness and never seem to go away.  These times, I believe, are no coincidence.  They are times in which the Holy Spirit is bringing grounded biblical truth to bear on current experience.

Simply put, He’s speaking.

I don’t have experiences like this tremendously often, which makes the times I do have them all the more compelling.  What I am about to share grew out of such a time.

As I mentioned earlier , I believe we are entering a season that for many people will be a season of restoration and change worldwide.

We are also living in tense, fearful days.  I called a banker friend yesterday and asked him, in the words of an old Randy Stonehill song, if we should go back to trading seashells and just admit we’re broke.  (He was encouraging.  But then, he’s a banker.)

I also spoke about this Sunday (Listen Here) that these are days in which anything that can be shaken will be.  God is shaking the wealth of the nations.  People are afraid.

How do we stand strong when we’re living somewhere between the faith and the fear?  How can we be in a place where we see the joy beyond what we endure?  How can we allow the Holy Spirit to shake the barnacles off of us and prepare us for a “latter glory” that will come?  How can we be lights in a world of confusion and darkness?

Sparing you the details of how I got there, there are seven things we must do, and do quickly: [click to continue…]

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The Day of the Second House

by Andy Wood on September 23, 2008

in Five LV Laws, LV Cycle, Principle of Freedom, Principle of Legacy, Waiting

I have a friend who’s living in-between.  He once had a position of ministry and fulfilled calling, and believes he’ll have another one again.  In between, he waits – preparing for the day of the Second House.

I have another friend who was blindsided by an unwanted divorce.  He has suffered the loss of a family, a vision, and a sense of being at home.  Still, he waits – convinced that he will see, in some measure, the day of the Second House.

I can relate to both, but for different reasons.  More than 10 years ago, I began a Second-House journey of my own – explainable only by the stunning grace of God.  I have watched in awe as dreams I had given up on, callings I had once felt, and opportunities I once squandered began to be fulfilled.  More than a God of second chances (which He is), He has shown me that He is a God of second seasons, second lives, sometimes second families, and even second callings.

He’s the God of the Second House. [click to continue…]

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The Name You’ll Never Hear in Heaven

by Andy Wood on September 18, 2008

in Five LV Laws, Principle of Freedom

Imagine you’re through the pearly gates, roaming the streets of gold getting the lay of the land.  It’s heaven, baby!  Not a concept or a wish, but the real deal.

There are people there – some you know, many more you’re still meeting.  Famous people and unknowns.  A few claims to fame; myriads upon myriads of testimonies of God’s grace and love.  Names from every tongue and tribe known to man.

Let me tell about an introduction you’ll never hear:

“Hi!  I’m the woman caught in adultery.”

On this side, that’s all we know to call her.

On this side, that or something like it may be all somebody may be able to say about you.

Reputations and memories can be brutal, unforgiving things.  But the one thing more relentless than a disgraceful legacy is the scandalous grace of God.

This nameless woman had a name her parents had given her.  Maybe it was Ruth or Mary, Joanna or Phoebe.  But she had one, and used it.

She’ll also have a new name written down in glory.  One known only to her, fresh from the whisper of God.

This was a woman whose world was rocked and life was changed by five words: [click to continue…]

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What’s Your B.S.?

by Andy Wood on September 12, 2008

in Five LV Laws, Hoarders, LV Alter-egos, Principle of Freedom, Principle of Legacy

Imagine for a minute that you lived in a world where you were the only one who ever told the truth.  A world of random mirrors where you never knew whether someone else’s “yes” meant “yes” or “no.”  How would you get a loan at the bank?  How would you get directions to the nearest gas station?  How would you fall in love or have meaningful family relationships?  How could you ever function, much less be happy?

Imagine getting up every day and telling yourself and everybody around you how badly your life is going.  Have a cough?  It’s probably pneumonia.  Surprise bill in the mail?  You’re going broke.  Get a compliment on your appearance?  You mumble something about needing new clothes or not feeling well lately.  Receive a major blessing?  It’s just a matter of time until the other shoe drops.

By now I’m sure you have an image of somebody in mind (certainly not you, of course).  I’m thinking of a girl I once knew named Kim.  She was a twin; her sister Kay was pretty much an optimist.  Kim?  Winnie the Pooh’s friend Eeyore had nothing on her.  The only seventh grade girl I’ve ever met who was completely dreary.

I made an amazing discovery the other day.  Kim (and whoever you’re thinking about) has a soul mate in the Bible.  [click to continue…]

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A Few New Things to Worry About

by Andy Wood on September 11, 2008

in Five LV Laws, Principle of Freedom

Soon we’ll be electing a new president, and get all those changes we’ve been hoping for.  Gas prices are coming down.  Congress will soon have – I mean, give us – some more of our money to spend.  The economy is going up, or down, depending on who you listen to.  The Iraq war is getting better, and troops are coming home.  The Dallas Cowboys (plus Jessica) are America’s Team again.  I guess there’s nothing left to worry about, right?

Wrong.

Not long ago I was in a public restroom that still had one of those pull-down linen hand towels.  Somebody left the front panel off, and there for all to see were these emboldened words:

FAILURE TO LOAD PROPERLY COULD RESULT IN INJURY OR DEATH!

I dried my hands on my jeans.  I mean, you never know!  I could just see my tombstone now:

“Here the body of Andy lies,
He pulled on a towel, and found a surprise.
He lived life well, and we’ll never forget –
Now his soul’s with God, but his hands are still wet.”

I was eating at a world-famous restaurant that will go unnamed.  As I walked beneath its arches (oops!) and ordered a burger, I grabbed a few napkins.  There in beautiful print were these words: [click to continue…]

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Does God Like to Have Fun?

by Andy Wood on August 21, 2008

in Five LV Laws, Following Your Passion, LV Cycle, Principle of Freedom

Photo by Dolinski

Pastors get lots of interesting questions.  You be the pastor for a minute and answer this one I once received:

Does God like to have fun?  What does God do for fun?

What would you say?  To me, it’s a sad commentary on our Christianity when someone even has to ask the first question.  But both questions deserve an answer, or at least a thought.  Here, for what it’s worth, is mine.  Click on the comments link below and share yours.

Does God like to have fun?  You bet he does!  Have you ever seen a platypus?  Or a puppy?  Or a picture of me?

Does God like to have fun?  Of course!  Why else would he put two sisters in the same family, and give one straight blonde hair and the other one curly dark hair?  In fact, why else would He create everybody so differently? [click to continue…]

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Don’t Go Gently: How an Alcoholic Friend’s Death Taught Me How to Live

by Andy Wood on August 19, 2008

in Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, Principle of Freedom, Principle of Legacy, Turning Points

(A Turning Point Story)

“Hi, I’m Butch, and I’m an alcoholic.”

He didn’t say it exactly like that the first time I talked to him.  But two minutes into my first conversation with Butch Lowrey, I knew he had been visiting my church, he was a recovering alcoholic, and that he liked what I was preaching.  Butch introduced me to a spiritual program that had changed his life and stopped his drinking forever.  I attended his second A.A. birthday party, and eventually became his sponsor.  No doubt about it, though.  I learned more from him than he ever learned from me.

“Nothing in God’s world happens by mistake.”

Butch believed that, and said it often.  As part of his recovery, there were many other spiritual truths he stood on, and repeated.  Truths such as:  “If all your problems could solved by money, you don’t have a problem,” and, “You’ve just got to let go and let God.”

He also learned a rare and refreshing kind of honesty.  On one occasion he said, “People in [this] county are committed to making everyone else just as miserable as they are.”  Later he told me, “Andy, you preach long because you like to hear yourself talk.  You’re just on an ego trip.”  He was smiling, of course. [click to continue…]

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The One Question that Determines Your Freedom or Bondage

by Andy Wood on August 13, 2008

in Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Money, Principle of Freedom

So how’d the reaping go yesterday?  How many times did you find yourself “serving” or servicing a decision you had made days, weeks or months earlier?  OR, how many times did you find yourself being served by the good consequences of a decision?

I just got an email about yet another family that has been ripped apart because of a series of addictive choices by a husband/father.  That makes five I’ve dealt with the last couple of weeks.  The hopeful news is, this man’s past does not dictate his future.  But it certainly has determined his present.

Meanwhile, in “Finantasy Land,” you don’t hear much talk about financial freedom these days.  Other than economic politics, about the only thing you hear is, “Hey, good news!  They’re having a sale at the gas station.  Unleaded is down to $3.56 a gallon!”  But I digress….

Wouldn’t it be good to know that you could simply, decisively establish a course that will add value to your future, either here, there, or in the air?  What if there was a way to cut through the clutter and confusion, the knee-jerk pleasure seeking and sidewalk philosophy, and find a True North – a pathway that actually leads to a future of freedom?

There may be.
[click to continue…]

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