If you intend to be successful in any area of life, sooner or later you are going to have to have to fight for it. I wish I could tell you that being intentional (a popular darling word) was enough. But it isn’t.
I wish I could prove to you that some simple formula – here a step, there a technique, everywhere a quick-and-easy procedure – would guarantee the fulfillment of your fondest hopes. Can’t do it.
I wish I could assure you that if it was really hard, or lonely, or dangerous, that the idea was certainly not God’s will. If that were true, the Almighty’s got some ‘slpainin’ to do with some people who are now in heaven.
But the truth is, sooner or later, you’re going to have to fight for your family. Or for your testimony. Or for your walk with God. Sooner or later you’re going to have to fight for answered prayer. Yes, answered prayer! Or the advancement of the gospel. Or the safety of one of the world’s most endangered species – American children.
Sometimes when you run to the battlefield you may discover that you are the only one standing there. You may find that you’re surrounded by taunting enemies, and for backup you have a bunch of gossips, critics and spectators – but nobody willing to draw a sword or raise a shield with you.
Still think that cause is worth the fight? David did.
In the familiar story of David and Goliath, the young man after God’s own heart – newly empowered and anointed by the Spirit of God – brought a giant to his knees while the army of the living God looked on in disbelief. What was the difference between David and the rest of the army of Israel? Didn’t they have the same power available to them? Yes. Didn’t they have the same God? Yes. So what did David have that they didn’t?
In the life of David, there was a difference in: [click to continue…]
Guided by a clear vision of what could be, and wisdom and skill known only to master craftsmen, the glass blower takes raw, shapeless material and goes about his work.
Molding.
Forming.
Bending.
Shaping.
A beautiful form begins taking shape, made possible by the searing flame. [click to continue…]
Cohen and Me on a Trash Run
It’s a familiar old friend, comfortable as a favorite pair of shoes. Brokenhearted parents cling to it, and eager young parents rise to it. It’s a friendly reminder to us all that there’s a higher purpose in the midst of our most frustrating and confusing days. And yet it can say so much more to us than we ever dreamed possible:
“Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
We all know what that means, right? It means when you have children, if you get them involved in church, discipline them properly, and teach them how to behave, then when they become adults, they will live consistently with the things you tried to teach them. If you teach them to have high moral values as children, they will have high moral values as adults.
Right?
Wait a minute. How do you respond to the mom or dad who doesn’t understand why their adult children don’t go to church like they do? What do you say to the parent whose children have rebelled against their high moral standards and have rejected their values?
I’m convinced that many of us have missed some exciting possibilities because of the limited way we have interpreted this verse. [click to continue…]
He was careless in the conflict, and a bit presumptuous in the battle. Unaware of the schemes or the true power of his enemies – unaware at times of who his enemies actually were – he went down, wounded in the battle.
This is not your typical military operation. This is a spiritual battlefield, known for its invisible armies and stealth weapons. Known also for its enormous array of spectators – some cheering you on from heaven, others just watching a battle they themselves should be engaged in.
Lying there, ashamed, in pain, and afraid, it’s easy for discouragement and fear to have the final word. But deep in his spirit another wounded soldier’s testimony from long ago begins to stir his broken courage and will: [click to continue…]
I once read that among those who run in marathon races, somewhere around the 18th mile to the 22nd mile of that 26-mile run, the runner hits “The Wall.”
(That’s about as close as I’ll ever get to a marathon, other than the three days I just hiked through the Disney jungle, but I digress…)
The Wall is a place so hard that the runner thinks he or she can’t possibly continue the race. It’s a little uncertain whether The Wall is physical or psychological, but it’s real. And the temptation to drop out of the race is greater at this point than at any time in the race. The runner feels he can’t make it. The lungs burn, the heart pounds, and the runner fights dizziness and nausea. A little voice begins to whisper (or scream), “Why torture yourself?”
You may not run 26-mile marathons, but if you are a follower of Christ, that fact alone means you are in an endurance race. And you can expect at times to encounter “The Wall.”
You will find The Wall when you have tried time after time to pray consistently, and have failed. [click to continue…]
Jason meant well. But his efforts to help the butterfly-to-be only ended in disaster. For days he had watched the cocoon and wondered what it would produce. Finally he noticed a tiny opening in the cocoon’s wall. On the other side, the new life form was struggling furiously – desperately – to be free of its self-designed prison. Feeling compassion for the little creature, the boy found a sharp knife and carefully cut the cocoon’s wall in order to relieve it from its struggle.
The butterfly soon died. Its wings were grossly deformed, and it was unable to fly. What appeared to be a struggle was actually the process by which the animal’s wings are formed. Jason had short-circuited the process, and the results, though unintentional, were tragic.
You and I are very much like the butterfly. We are often wrapped up in our own kinds of cocoons – alone, stifled, limited, longing to be free. Sometimes these are prisons of our own doing – addictions, bondage to sin, broken relationships, stupid decisions. At other times our cocoons are thrust upon us in the form of disappointments, losses of loved ones, extended illnesses, or the abuse of others. Either way, the results are the same. Why do we feel so alone? What in the world is God up to? Where will we ever find relief? When will we be “free to fly” again? How will we make it through another day? [click to continue…]
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed (2 Corinthians 9:8).
Regardless of the need or the deed that lurks in front of you, the choice that confronts you is a choice of scarcity or of abundance. I thought today it would be a good idea to remind you that whatever God does, He does it abundantly. Even when He’s dealing with you!
Regardless of what you may hear from the Republicans or the Democrats, the courts or the Congress, the economists or the educators, the preachers or the politicians, God is still wonderfully wealthy and lavishly generous. All you have to do to believe that is compare what you have with what you deserve.
God is measureless when it comes to the grace and provision he offers. [click to continue…]
Imagine a giant stadium, and you’re in it.
As in, on the field.
You’re engaged in a contest that will test every fiber of your strength, will, endurance, and confidence. Sometimes you’re on defense, and the task is to stand your ground against an opponent that has considerable resources. Sometimes you’re on offense, and the task is to recapture lost ground or gain new ground as you outwit, outmaneuver, or overpower your enemy.
Let’s just go ahead and dispense with the obvious. I like you and everything. But left to your own game plan or abilities, you’re cosmic road kill. Dead meat with all the trimmings.
You. Can’t. Win. This.
Heck, you won’t even make the uniforms look pretty.
Oh, and did I mention… this is no game. This is your life. The visible and the invisible. The temporal and the eternal. The private and the very public. The “spiritual” and the “secular” (as if there is any distinction).
Fortunately, you do have some weapons at your disposal that are mighty through God. And there is a pathway – a strategy that leads to prevailing strength and power. [click to continue…]
Grab a pen and a legal pad. You’ve got some writing to do, and you get one chance to get this right. Soon your number’s going to be called, and there’ll be no more letters, no more encouraging, no more leading…
…no more living.
Everything you have worked for on this side of eternity is hanging in the balance. And the guy you’ve picked as your successor – your standard bearer?
He’s AWOL.
Some people, when they burn out, act out. This guy burned out, and hid out.
And you have one chance to light a fire under him before somebody, well, lights a fire under you, so to speak. What would you say? How would you say it? Is this a time for force or finesse? Rah-rah or sob-sob? [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on August 24, 2011
in Ability, Consumers, Five LV Laws, Gamblers, Hoarders, Insight, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, Pleasers, Principle of Increase
Think fast! What’s the difference between a test and a temptation?
Fast answer: Nothing.
Slower answer: One comes from the devil and one comes from the Lord. But did you know that the same Greek word is used for both? Check out these familiar words: [click to continue…]
If you intend to be successful in any area of life, sooner or later you are going to have to have to fight for it. I wish I could tell you that being intentional (a popular darling word) was enough. But it isn’t.
