It’s one of the most amazing transformation stories in history.
From dufus to discerner.
Pathetic to prophetic.
Simon, the wishy-washy to Peter, the Rock.
This fisher became a fisher of men. And the guy who was nearly always getting it wrong ended up writing two books of the New Testament under the most powerful level of inspiration there is.
“He who has ears, let him hear,” Jesus said (Matthew 13:9). Peter learned to listen to God. And if that guy did, you can, too.
I want to show you three ways Peter learned to hear God’s voice. [click to continue…]
I owe Peter an apology. And if the Lord will let me, when we link up in Heaven, I plan on delivering it. I ragged on the man for many years. Laughed at him. Mercilessly dissed him for being the guy who was always making a verbal fool of himself.
But a couple of years ago, I made peace with Pete. And I promised I’d never criticize or mock him again. Why? Because Peter was the one who was willing to make a mistake if it meant learning. Or leading. He was the one who got out of the boat to at least try walking on the water. He was the one who was willing to say what everybody else was thinking. And he, Christianity’s biggest failure, was the one who looked Jesus in the eye after denying Him and said, “Yes, Lord. You know I love you” (John 21:17).
In Matthew 16, this fisherman/disciple speaks out twice. The first time, Jesus responds by saying, “Peter, only God could have revealed this to you.” The next time, Jesus is in his face, saying, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s” (Matthew 16:23).
One minute, Peter is hearing something that is doubtless a revelation from God Himself. The next, he is hearing from Satan.
Uh oh.
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If you believe that God never speaks to individuals any more because He has given us the Bible, you’re a practical atheist. If you’re waiting on the Holy Spirit to tell you whether to order fish or chicken (He’d never lead you to red meat, of course), then you have just elevated lunch to a cosmic event. But if you can learn to turn and tune your heart and allow the Holy Spirit to apply the truth of God’s word to your specific situation, you can experience God in life- and world-changing ways.
I tell men all the time, “Dude, when it comes to marriage, you out-punted your coverage.” Another way of saying, most guys I know anything about out-married themselves. I am certainly no exception. My wife is an amazing partner and discerner. I call her “Elijah” sometimes because of how she can shred proud, lazy, or disrespectful people. All in Christian love, of course. I also envy the way she can tune in to the voice of God at times.
That said, we have this recurring argument. Well, it’s not really an argument because all I do is laugh, and all she does is get exasperated. So far all the sharp knives are still in the drawer and my bruised ribs are healing nicely, thank you.
The argument (I’m laughing even as I say this) is over the Holy Spirit salad. [click to continue…]
(Note: I’m starting a new category today I call “tense truths.” Truth because it’s, well, true! Tense because it’s often misunderstood or has other balancing truths that need to be considered.)
Tense Truth: God still speaks to those who will listen. True, people sometimes misunderstand, misuse, or manipulate others with “messages from God.” Regardless, God is willingly and faithfully engaged in the pursuit of communicating with His people.
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I may as well be dead.
That’s the way David put it.
Ask anybody on the street about getting messages from God; nine out of ten of them will assume you’re joking or clinically nuts.
Ask George Strait about messages from God, and he’ll sing to you about seeing flowers growing in the sidewalk at just the right time, or in the miracle of seeing his baby girl born.
Ask theologians, pastors, and writers about hearing from God, at least in somewhat-Evangelical circles, and you’ll get two kinds of responses. One is something of a mystical free-for-all – sort of like a friend of mine I’ll call Weird Wally. [click to continue…]
Have you ever felt trapped beyond escape by someone or something completely beyond your control? Ever felt locked in by a disease or an addiction, the traffic or a relationship, a really stupid choice or a really stupid world? Instead of raging or retreating, try calling the Gate Crasher.
Here’s what the psalmist said about Him:
There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death,
Prisoners in misery and chains,
Because they had rebelled against the words of God
And spurned the counsel of the Most High.
Therefore He humbled their heart with labor;
They stumbled and there was none to help.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death
And broke their bands apart.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness,
And for His wonders to the sons of men!
For He has shattered gates of bronze
And cut bars of iron asunder.
(Psalm 107:10-17)
Today I celebrate my God, the Gate Crasher!
Iron Breaker!
Chain Buster!
He’s mighty to save the least of us who call on Him from the pits of our despair and bondage.
What iron, you ask?
What gates?
[click to continue…]
Okay, so the guys at SynerJACK are talking about stress this week, and I just vomited out of my journal from a couple of years ago. (It’s ugly… you probably don’t want to read it.)
But I found a real stress reliever video. Supposedly it’s from an old Girl Scout song, but it made its way into a Discovery Channel commercial. If you need a happy reminder that God and life and the world are good, watch this.
If you want to irritate somebody by putting a happy little song in their head that’s hard to get rid of, forward this to somebody else.
And the next time you’re pumping gas, remember… [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on April 23, 2008
in Allocating Your Resources, Consumers, Enlarging Your Capacity, Executing Your Plan, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Money, Principle of Increase, Time
I mentioned in my previous post that it’s possible to live in such a way that laughs at the future. Just so we’re clear, we’re in “life hack” territory. We’re talking about what to do with your money, your time, your relationships, your attitudes, and your spirit.
Look at this biblical description:
“She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.” (Proverbs 31:25)
What is it about this woman that put her in a place where she wasn’t wringing her hands every time somebody predicted the end of life as we know it?
1. Establish trust in those who know you best.
“Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm,all the days of her life” (v. 11-12, NLT).
For years I assumed that her husband trusted her in a moral sense, but this is much deeper. This man trusted her with his business, his family, and his money. She had earned his trust. How? By adding value to his life.
By doing a little more, being faithful to tasks assigned, or by keeping the trust of those who know you best, you create a compelling future. Take it from somebody who has both earned and betrayed trust: it takes months and years to earn trust, and you can destroy it – and your confidence in the future – in a matter of minutes.
2. Buy like an investor, not like a consumer.
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I guess it was the first face-off between parent and teacher in Carrie’s life. She was a little freaked in first grade about some impending disaster reported as fact in her science class – global warming, the death of the ozone layer, or something. We were riding in the car, and she asked me what I thought (in first-grade language, of course) about the certain impending doom of planet.
I found myself speaking from the depths of my soul – using words I’d never put together in the same sentence before.
“Carrie,” I said, “never, never, never believe anyone who would make you afraid of the future.”
I came by that honestly. I remember asking my dad at about the same age, “Did you know that the Russians have enough bombs to destroy every American?” He replied, “Yes, and we have enough bombs to blow up every Russian.” That more or less ended the Cold War for me. (By the way, you just haven’t lived until you’ve heard “Shout to the Lord” sung in Russian. Those American Idol contestants got nothin’ on our brothers and sisters in the former Soviet Union.)
This all came back to me last week. I was shopping with my wife at Walmart and passed a display of some sort of DVD series or books or something. The basic idea was, “spend your money on this to learn about how we’re all going to hell in a handbasket.” I passed.
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“The winter is over. The rain and snow have gone. Come away with me, my love, come away.
“I miss our time together. How long has it been since I heard the sound of your voice in the morning? Come away with me, my love, come away.
“I have seen you struggling, and I’ve heard your cries in the night. I have been with you, even when you felt alone. I have been faithful, even when you were losing faith in Me. I have been patient, even when you were impatient with Me. Now the flowers are budding, and the time of singing has come. Come away with me, my love, come away!
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The question was relevant and greatly needed. A wife in couples counseling once asked, “How do I deal with resentment so that I don’t explode at my husband and say things I’ll regret?”
“You toss the Oreo,” I replied.
To their honestly-delighted quizzical looks (she loved Oreos), I explained:
Here’s a communication technique that can help you communicate your feelings and ask for your partner’s help. I call it “tossing the Oreo.” And no, I don’t mean getting mad and hurling cookies at your spouse!
[click to continue…]
