The Days of Middle-Age Have Come

I dare glance at the bookcase, I fear
My old friends, many more to be read, I tear.

Days gone by, enthralled, empassioned, I read
A heap of work, a mountain to climb, I dread.

The days of middle-age, have come
The brain forgetful, coming more quickly, for some.

The desire still remains, to read, to write
The days sift through my fingers, and too, the night.

A New Book

Well, I finished The Shack by William P. Young, recommended by friends who own A Lovely Place, the place we go for our anniversary and to recharge our batteries when needed. They warned me correctly. It is a great fictional story, but theologically inaccurate. Knowing this going in, I read it with the intent of just enjoying the story. With that in mind, I didn't catch all the inaccuracies, as I wasn't looking for them, or it may have made me frustrated. Once I read it, I looked for reliable reviews to point out the inaccuracies, and found this one on Chuck Swindoll's website. I agree with most of the review. Anyway, bottom line, it's a great story if you read it as a story. If you're looking for truth, you will be disappointed.

All that to say that I started a new book, Just Walk Across the Room by Bill Hybels. I'm about 30% into it and like it very much. It is stirring ideas in me for reaching out the the westside and others who don't yet know God. It's kind of a personal evangelism book, but not a 'these are the steps' kind of book. It's more of a 'these are the experiences I've had when I made the effort to share the greatest gift I've ever been given' kind of book. The stories are very encouraging, whether they ended with Bill leading the person to Christ or not.

Sometimes we're just to play the role of the seed planter. Sometimes the waterer. And sometimes, we get to harvest. I think often we have a belief that the whole harvesting process is just harvesting and it's all up to us. If we don't lead someone to Christ we feel like a failure as a Christ follower and that's just not the case. We're called to do our part, to share the gospel, not seal every deal. Once we get that cemented in our brains, the pressure is off and we can just love people by sharing our own experiences. SO MUCH EASIER!

I'll blog more on that as I go through the book. I probably won't finish the Old Testament Survey lessons I was doing unless I get comments that someone is wanting them. It's a lot of work!

We have to work a few hours in Modesto this morning after Greg meets with one of our worship team members. Then it's off to his mom's in Escalon to do some pruning. Then we'll be home to prepare for a 3-hour leadership catch-up session with the Hicks, since they joined us post-launch. We're looking forward to spending more time with them, they're a very fun couple.

Have a blessed, joyful hot Friday!

Fresh Faith (cont.)

Face the reality of your spiritual situation, and go after anything God has shown you to be stolen property that Satan has cleverly taken from you. The zeal and love for Christ you once had can be recovered. The calling on your life to serve the Lord in a particular ministry can still be fulfilled.

It's not too late, either, for God to reach that son and daughter, no matter where they are or how they seem to be doing. The family that is falling apart right now is not too hard a case for Jesus Christ if you will just stand and begin to ask in faith that he restore what the thief has tried to steal. God will do it, and you will praise him in a new way.

Two very different thoughts here. The first is a reminder to me that our battles are not against flesh and blood. The enemy is the one who is behind the things that we often mistake man for doing. Greg has asked me to write a Crisis Care class for our leadership team to go through on one or two Sunday mornings. I'm 2/3 of the way through it. As I was wrapping up my notes Monday night, I was studying loss and the many types of loss there are. Several times the question was asked, "Are there any losses in your life that you haven't fully grieved over?" I could feel the Lord minister to my heart as there are some that I haven't fully grieved over. I've gone through a range of emotions, like anger, disgust, disappointment in others and myself, disbelief, amazement (in a bad way), and appreciation for how things are now. But I can't say I ever fully grieved over the situations. I need to find the time to be alone and deal with this important question.

The second thought above reminds me of what I'm working on saying at our Easter service this Sunday. I don't want to tip my hand too much, but I've written a 10-12 week parenting class that will start next week and that's part of it. God is a god of redemption. Nothing stolen is ever out of God's reach or will to restore.

Blessings on this breezy Wednesday.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (cont.)

This chapter is titled In Search of Ordinary Heroes.
We need men and women who will step ou to turn back today's slide toward godlessness, prayerless churches, family breakup, and waning evangelistic fervor. They may not have been to seminary, but they have been schooled and trained by God for hand-to-hand warfare in the spiritual realm.

When it comes to spiritual matters, you and I will never know our potential under God until we step out and take risks on the front line of battle. We will never see what power and anointing are possible until we bond with our King and go out in his name to establish his kingdom. Sitting safely in the shelter of Bible discussions among ourselves, or complaining to one another about the horrible state of today's society, does nothing to unleash the power of God. He meets us in the moment of battle. He energizes us when there is an enemy t be pushed back.

Who is doing exploits for God today? Where is the enemy being driven back? That is the great yearning of all spiritually minded people. They are not enchanted with polished sermons and slick organizational technique. Where are the mighty men and women anointed by God to truly make a difference?

Look at the story of David in 1 Chr. 11 and how David selected Joab to be his leading general for years to come.

That is not how we select leaders in the church today, is it? We go by resumes, seniority, image, education, and a half-dozen other human criteria. By contrast, David looked for bravery and boldness in the real world of battle.

If we are courageous enough to go on the spiritual attack, to be mighty men and women of prayer and faith, there is no limit to what God can accomplish through us. Some of us will turn out to be famous like King David and Catherine Booth and Charles Finney; the rest will remain obscure like Eleazar and Daniel Nash and Rina Gatdula. That doesn't matter. What counts is bringing God's power and light into a dark world, seeing local communities touched by God as churches turn back from perilous apathy to become Holy Spirit centers of divine activity.

The heroes of church history whom we now revere were not known for their cleverness; they were warriors for God. Moody was never ordained to the ministry. Finney never went to seminary. Yet whole cities were visited by God as a result of their anointed work.

When I read this passage, I immediately thought of Greg. This is who he is. He didn't go to seminary, he's not polished, he won't be ordained, but he has been schooled and trained by God for hand-to-hand warfare in the spiritual realm. He fears nothing and no one. Several godly men have told him that they would follow him anywhere, because God is with him. He has a gentle style of leadership that makes you trust him no matter where the battle is, who it is against, or what is at stake. I think that's why I have so much peace about going to the west side. Not all my faith is in Greg, of course, I have a lot in God right off the bat. But you can just tell by being around Greg that he has a direct, open, clear line of communication with God and a confidence and assurance of where we're going is absolutely right.

This also reminds me of Jesus. He had a confidence. He spoke with authority. He got in your face when it was necessary, which upset some people and made them feel uncomfortable, but he was always going about his father's business. That's Greg.

I'm very excited about Easter. We've got some great stuff planned. If you can make it to your church on Saturday night and this service on Sunday, I pray you will have an awesome encounter with God. 10:30 a.m. I'd love to see you there.

Blessings to you on this beautiful Tuesday.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (cont.)

Regarding gossip in the church
One Sunday about 20 years ago, back in our days in the YWCA, I said something impromptu while receiving new members into the church that has stuck with us ever since. People were standing in a row across the front before me, and as I spoke, the Holy Spirit seemed to prompt me to add, "And now, I charge you, as pastor of this church, that if you ever hear another member speak an unkind word of criticism or slander against anyone-myself, another pastor, an usher, a choir member, or anyone else - you have authority to stop that person in mid sentence and say, 'Excuse me-who hurt you? Who ignored you? Who slighted you? Was it Pastor Cymbala? Let's go to his office right now. He will get on his knees and apologize to you, and then we'll pray together, so God can restore peace to this body. But we will not let you talk critically about people who are not present to defend themselves.'

"New members, please understand that I am entirely serious about this. I want you to help resolve this kind of thing immediately. And meanwhile, know this: If you are ever the one doing the loose talking, we will confront you."

To this very day, every time we receive new members, I say much the same thing. It is always a solemn moment. That is because I know what most easily destroys churches. It is not crack cocaine. It is not government oppression. It is not even lack of funds. Rather, it is gossip and slander that grieves the Holy Spirit.

As I highlighted this passage, I read it to Greg and he had me put a special mark on that page. He wanted to say something like that at our first membership class, "maybe without the 'I charge you' part. As he got to this part of the class, he said pretty much the same thing, with the 'I charge you'! It was a solemn moment indeed. Every head nodded in agreement, that this was something we didn't want in our church.

Check out what the Bible says in Matthew 18 about how to resolve conflicts. It's the dictate our church will stand on as things arise.

Blessings on this windy, sunny Lord's day.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (cont.)

On sermon prep I have met preachers who have punched up a computer file and proudly showed me what they would be preaching for nearly the next year. Everything was cut-and-dried. The pressure of having to seek God week by week had been removed. What if God has a different idea? What if the spiritual temperature of the congregation changes by next October? Without an anointing and prophetic edge to declare something fresh from God's Word church life can be reduced to little more than a lecture series.

On worship Satan's tendency is always to push us toward one extreme or the other: deadness or fanaticism.

Gordon D. Fee, a New Testament scholar whose heritage is Pentecostal, has said about corporate worship, "You really should have this incredible sense of unworthiness - 'I don't really belong here' - coupled with the opposing sense of total joy - 'It is all of grace, so I do belong here.' What bothers me about some within the Pentecostal and charismatic tradition is the joy without reverence, without awe." But in too many mainstream evangelical churches, Fee adds, there is neither "reverence nor joy."

I used to read the blog of a pastor back east who did a whole year's sermons at once. I think he said that God gave him the year in advance. Maybe that's true. God can certainly do that as he knows what the congregation is going to need. I also know that when we plan for something in the flesh the Holy Spirit will sometimes have us change it at the last minute, and we better not be so full of ourselves that we're unwilling to put our plan aside and follow the Spirit's leading. God won't always do that however, sometimes we continue with what we have planned, and see that it was a total flop because we did it without the spirit's leading. If we don't learn that lesson the first time, we have the joy of remedial classes!

On the text on worship, I've been in services where I could tell there was no reverence and no joy. No reverence because people were looking around, whispering, reading text messages on their cell phones, eating, digging for things in their purses, reading the Bible, and a host of other things during worship. No joy because there were no tears, no hands raised, to prayer hands, no hushed praying during worship, or any other signs in the majority of the congregation to indicate a desire to enter in. You may be thinking, well, to notice all this, you must not have entered in yourself! Yep, you're right. I chose to observe, to take a spiritual temperature of the room. Sometimes it's good to do that.

How do we create an atmosphere of reverence and joy during worship? I'm no expert and I've never led worship or designed a service. I can't even sing! But I imagine that it would take careful teaching on the subject, more than a few sentences from the worship leader, but in depth teaching on worship and the character of God. It takes helping people develop their relationship with God to the point that they know him, who he is, and what he's like. Then they will have a sense of reverence, awe, joy, and humility in his presence.

Church shouldn't just be a fun place to go hang out and be with people you like on Sunday morning. It's a place to worship God, receive from him, minister to the body, and of course, fellowship.

Blessings on this sunny Friday.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (cont.)

Regarding church services, the chapter titled The Lure of Marketing. People have lowered the standards in a vain attempt to make churches look more successful than they really are. The sermons have to be uniformly positive, and the services can't go longer than 60 minutes. Even then, church is inconvenient for some, especially during football season. Showing up at church is such a burden that soon people will be faxing in their worship!

The truth is that "user-friendly" can be a cover-up word for carnality. The same people who want sixty-minute worship services rent two-hour videos and watch NBA and NFL games that run even longer. The issue is not length, but appetite. Why the misplaced desire?

Seriously, what will our children and grandchildren grow up experiencing in church? Extended times of waiting on the Lord will be totally foreign to their experience. There will be no memory bank of seeing people reach out to God. All they will recall are professionally polished, closely timed productions.

According to 1 Corinthians 14, if meetings are governed by the Holy Spirit, the result for the visitor will be that "the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God exclaiming, 'God is really among you!'" (v.25). This should be our goal. When a visitor comes in, there should be such a mixture of God's truth and God's presence that the person's heart is x-rayed, the futility of his life is exposed, and he crumbles in repentance.

I know I've blogged on marketing issues in the past. I just hate to see the the presentation of the gospel watered down to a form of entertainment, rather than a real-life encounter with the one and only living God. I think if the majority of preparation time on a sermon is spent googling the internet for movie clips, newspaper stories and other forms of cultural information to support the scripture of a message, rather than in reading commentaries, pouring over scripture, and praying, then something may be out of balance. Do cultural quips and clips prepare someones heart to receive the message? Perhaps, if they're an unbeliever.

Should every message be geared to the unbeliever? Definitely not. God intended for souls to be won outside of church by the body of Christ, and then brought to church for building up and equipping by the pastor and the body. The purpose of church services is not to win souls. That is not to say that alter calls shouldn't happen. I believe we should always give an opportunity for anyone to come to know the Lord.

If the purpose of church is to win souls and therefore every service was seeker-sensitive, how would the body then become equipped? I think if every service were seeker-sensitive, then you end up with babies being fed on spiritual milk forever, or at least until they realize they need to grow spiritually and repeated messages geared toward the seeker no longer satisfies.

But what for the new believer then? A church should have a prayerfully designed, well thought-out, strategically planned method of discipleship. A new believer's class and small group is a great way to get these folks started. Other classes and small groups and one-on-one discipleship is also needed as someone moves along to maturity.

Can God call some churches to be birthing centers and incubators while others are called to handle higher levels of teaching? He could, but I don't see that in scripture. I see God balancing the gifts of the spirit with the diversity of the body. I see balance in everything he created, from seasons, to lightness and darkness, to land and sea, to work and rest, etc. I see that he would also call every church to balance when it comes to taking someone from infanthood to maturity. Every church should be able to nurture all the levels of growth.

You can see I'm passionate about this topic. I'll get off my soapbox for now. Blessings on this very windy Thursday.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (cont.)

On Confrontation
Did John Wesley, preaching to hardened miners in the open fields of England in the 1700's, ever say to himself, "I had better not tell them they're sinners; they might leave?"

Today we have an anti-authority spirit in America that says,"Nobody can tell me I need to change. Don't you dare." Both in the pulpit and in pastoral counseling we have too often given in to this mentality and are afraid to speak he truth about sin. We keep appealing to Paul's line about becoming "all things to all men" (1 Cor. 9:22), not noticing that in the very next paragraph he says, "Run i such a way as to get the prize" (v.24). Adapting our style to get a hearing is one thing, but the message can never change without leaving us empty-handed before the Lord.

Do we still believe th truth of Proverbs 28:23, where it says, "He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue"?

Jesus was confrontational. When Peter told him to avoid the cross, Jesus didn't reply, "You know, Peter, I'm really trying to understand where you're coming from I appreciate how you car about me and don't me to get hurt." Rather, he said to h is number-one disciple, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men" (Matt. 16:23).

What do we have in mind?

I personally think we need to say what the Holy Spirit is prompting us to say. So often our flesh talks us out of being truthful so we can keep a friend. There have been times this last year when a friend and I have been in a conversation and I said something that has either pierced their heart and focused their calling, or has given them freedom to accept the calling the enemy was trying to rob from them because of past situations. This was feedback I got from them and I'm so glad they had the courage to tell me this. When they were truthful with me, it encouraged me to continue giving advice or correcting wrongful thinking. That's how the body of Christ is built up. If we keep everything to ourselves, no one benefits, really. Taking risks is not risky at all. It's needed. It's expected.

Romans 15:14-16says, "I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit." We shouldn't be under-confident that we can't do that. We are full of goodness (right motives), complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

Even when sharing our past or current struggles with someone else, we should NEVER be ashamed of where we've been, as God can always use all of it to encourage, enlighten, rebuke, and/or convict another. Be open and transparent. Truth is truth, and there's no changing it. To hide it or sugar-coat it is to short-change another of the blessings of God and to show a lack of faith in the other person's ability to handle the truth like an adult.

Blessings on this beautiful Lord's day.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (cont.)

Have you noticed that whenever you ask a fellow Christian these days about his or her church, the subject invariably goes to attendance?
Question: "Tell me about your church. How is the Lord's work coming along there?"
Answer: "Well, we have about three hundred on Sunday, I'd say."
When I ask fellow pastors the same question, I get the same answer - plus two others: "Membership is at five-fifty, we've just finished a new education wing, and our gross income this year will top out at about for hundred thousand."

Attendance, buildings, and cash. A-B-C: The new holy trinity.

No church, including the one I pastor, should be measured by its attendance.

The apostles weren't trying to finesse people. They had not the faintest intention of asking, "What do people want to hear? How can we draw more people to church on Sunday?"

God nowhere asks anyone to have a large church. He only calls us to do his work, proclaiming his Word to people he loves under the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit to produce results that only he can bring about.

I've got to say that I've been guilty of answering questions about my church with the A. It seems pretty natural to describe to someone who isn't familiar with your church, the attendance, so they get a feel for the size. I haven't talked about the income, but maybe sometimes I've mentioned building upgrades. It's quite a paradigm shift to talk about changed individuals instead of talking about church in a corporate sense. Paul talked about the number of people added to their numbers, but that's an incremental number of saved souls, not actual attendance of the church.

Food for thought.

How do you describe your church? By the size, ministry events, buildings or something else? Do you ever witness about a transformed life? Isn't that where the proof of the pudding is? Isn't that the thing that will grab a hold of someones heart and make them want to come to your church? Wouldn't that give them hope that God could do the same thing for them? Help them overcome?

Blessings on this lovely Saturday.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (cont.)

Here are some independent quotes from the book.
It is totally unbiblical to insinuate that people must travel to a particular church anywhere to receive what God has for them.

As a minister I firmly believe that I am not allowed to preach what is not in the Bible. It is an exciting enough book as it stands.

No one has the right to adjust the gospel or revise God's plan for his church.

Leonard Ravenhill, the revival-minded preacher and author from Britain, told me shortly before he died, "People say the church today is 'growing and expanding.' Yes, it's ten miles wide now - and about a quarter-inch deep."

(Regarding taking responsibility for our own situations)Just as our culture in general is taken up with a victim mentality, where everything is somebody else's fault, to be relieved by psychotherapy, government handouts, or litigation, so in the church people are saying, "It's the devil's fault. Don't blame me." No wonder there is little brokenness of spirit among us. Why pray and confess if your main problem is oppression (or possession) by an evil spirit that someone else needs to get off your back? Few Christians or sermons use the word "sin" anymore. Few sense the need to repent of their own wrongdoing. Rather, they look to the outside for a scapegoat.

I often reply, "Yes, those things are real - but God is greater. one of us can afford to blame the past indefinitely."

We as God's people have all the equipment we need. It has been around for two thousand years. He has given us everything necessary to put points on the scoreboard and win victories in his name. So let us move forward with full confidence in what we have received.

Nothing about God will change Tomorrow he will be no more anxious to help our lives, our families, and our churches then than he is right now. If we simply avail ourselves of his promises, we will see him do things we could never ask or think, just as he did in the New Testament. It is time to press on.

I just love this book! You've got to pick it up and read it! It's full of great insight.

Oh yeah. It appears I've sprained my ankle. Fortunately, it's the opposite leg as the shin that got banged up last week. Joy! Blessings on this beautiful Thursday.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (cont.)

What a tragedy that the quality of ministry is too often measured by numbers and building size rather than by true spiritual results.

As a preacher myself, let me be blunt here. Preaching itself can easily become just a subtle form of entertainment. When I stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ, he is not going to ask me if I was a clever orator. He is not going to ask me how many books I wrote. He is only going to ask whether I continued in the line of men and women, starting way back in the time of Adam's grandchildren, who led others to call upon God.

When we sincerely turn to God, we will find that his church always moves forward, not backward. We can never back up and accommodate ourselves to what the world wants or expects. Our stance must remain militant, aggressive, bold.

(Talking about David's life) David's weaponry was ridiculous: a sling and five stones. It didn't matter. God still uses foolish tools in the hands of weak people to build his kingdom. Backed by prayer and his power, we can accomplish the unthinkable.

[Kenneth Ware, this] godly, gray-haired African American started all-night prayer meetings on Friday nights in the church. Then he organized a Prayer Band-a group of people committed to calling on the Lord at the church on a continuing schedule.

Soon the members of the Prayer Band were praying five nights a week, from 11 P.M. to 6 A.M. Today they are in the church seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, praying in three-hour shifts or longer. Every request we receive is written on a little card and lifted to the Lord for the next thirty days.

...he [Pastor Ware] has twenty or so people closed in a room to pray during each of the fourth meetings-a total of eighty intercessors each Sunday. They start by praying with the pastors fifteen minutes before the meeting and keep going even after everything ends. Sometimes, in leaving the building at ten or ten-thirty at night, I have heard them still praying.

I don't know about you, but that really encourages me. That's the kind of church I want to be a part of. How would you feel if your prayer request was covered in prayer like that? Wow. Blessings on this beautiful Wednesday.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (cont.)

I must confess I've believed a lie for the years I've been blogging. I've believed that you should only have one post per day. Where did I get that silly idea? Sometimes I don't have a blog idea for days or weeks. Sometimes I have several in one day and actually have the time to type them out. So, if that is the case, check my blog carefully, as there may be several with the same date in a row. I also learned that if you write one and save it as a draft to come back to later, then post it, it gets put in the order of the original date, not the date you posted it. Cutting, pasting, and deleting fixes that, or you would never have found my last post. Anyway, back to this great book, which I finished Fresh Faith today!

"Lord, I have no idea how to be a successful pastor," I prayed softly out there on the water. "I haven't been trained."...

Then quietly but forcefully, in words heard not with my ear but deep within my spirit, I sensed God speaking. "If you and your wife will lead my people to pray and call upon my name, you will never lack for something fresh to preach. I will supply all the money that's needed, both for the church and for your family, and you will never have a building large enough to contain the crowds I will send in response."

(The pastor addressed his congregation) "From this day on, the prayer meeting will be the barometer of our church. What happens on Tuesday night will be the gauge by which we will judge success or failure because that will be the measure by which God blesses us."

(After the congregation had been prompted to pray for weeks) We were not there to hear one another give voice to eloquent prayers; we were too desperate for that. We focused vertically, on God, rather than horizontally on one another. Much of the time we called out to the Lord as a group, all praying aloud in concert, a practice that continues to this day.

I also began to ease up in the Sunday meetings and not control them so tightly with a microphone. The usual format - two songs, then announcements, special music by the choir the offering, then the sermon, finally a benediction-was gradually laid aside as God began to loosen me up. I didn't have to be so nervous or uptight - or phony. I had only been protecting myself out of fear.

I've got to reiterate that EQUIP's first value is to have an upward focus.

1. Called to keep the focus on God
Acts 4: 24, “When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.”

Prayer will be a primary focus, keeping the first things always first. Our posture will be to worship, seek, wait and respond. Quality time will be made for this priority.

We have prayer walks, we have prayer concerts and will continue to do so as we launch. We have seen many lives transformed on the westside this last year and are amazed and delighted to rejoice in the heart changes God has allowed us to witness. If you're interested in joining us on a prayer walk or prayer concert, let me know and I'll give you the details.

How am I doing? I'm battered. I slammed my shin into the trailer hitch last Thursday and have a lovely green bruise and tenderness. The tendon in my elbow is doing better. I've had a wonderful intestinal virus for about 10 days and can't have dairy because of it. I hope it goes away soon! On a good note, my blood pressure was down in the doctor's office last week. Yeah! Kristen has a lead on some gigs for playing the drums. The next two months are pretty busy with many EQUIP meetings and things scheduled. I'm taking a deep breath and heading into the wind. Blessings on this gorgeous sunny, clear Tuesday!

New Books

I got a few books for Christmas and one I picked up this week. I thought I would share something about each one.

The first is by my favorite author, Erwin McManus. It's called Stand Against the Wind. It's a small book of 119 pages and I read it last night in one sitting. It's 12 chapters of wisdom. Written in journal form, but packed full of great explanations of many of our Christian Terms. It covers things like freedom in Christ vs. freedom from Christ, Integrity, Wisdom, Potential vs. Potency, Love, Faithfulness, Gratefulness, Humility, Fear, Courage, and many others. Here are a few of my favorite passages:

On Integrity:
Integrity, or the lack of it, has everything to do with how we use power. When our character is defined by integrity, we can be trusted with power. Power does not become a corrosive agent but a creative energy. When we lack integrity, we use power to control. When we lead with integrity, we use power to bless.

Instead of hoarding His power, Jesus unleashes His power. For Him, neither love nor power is a limited commodity. Just like love, the nature of power expands when it is given away. Power is a tool. It allows us the freedom to be who we truly are. This is why it is critical to pursue integrity rather than power. When you are promoted on your abilities, without regard to the content of your character, it is a disservice both to your subordinates and to you. We do no one a favor when we put abilities over integrity.

Integrity cannot be gained by power and authority. Integrity must be gained long before these have been placed in or hands. Jesus lived an obscure life for thirty years preparing for a public ministry that lasted for only three. Integrity requires that you decide what kind of person you want to become. Integrity not only harnesses our passions but focuses our intentions.

The real measure of our power is the freedom and opportunity we create for others. Men and women who are marked by integrity point the way to freedom.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about integrity is when you still choose to do what's right when you're all alone, no one sees you, and no one will know what you do. It's wonderful when you look inside your own heart and like what you see.

On Courage and Obedience:
You cannot walk by faith and live in fear.

The history of God's people is not a record of God searching for courageous men and women who could handle the tasks but of God transforming the hearts of cowards and calling them to live courageous lives. Adam and Eve hid; Abraham lied; Moses ran; David deceived; Esther wavered; Elijah contemplated suicide; John the Baptist doubted; Pete denied; Judas betrayed. And those are just some of the leading characters.

What is the point of having God's power if you lack the courage to actually use it? Only when you embrace God's calling on your life will you need God-inspired courage. We often ask for God's power to accomplish our small dreams; instead we should cry out for God's courage to step out on His bold adventure.

Without courage we cannot live the life we choose - instead we choose to relinquish life. We conform to the path of least resistance and abdicate our freedom. So in the end a life without courage is a life without virtue!

There's something God wants you to do - not to it back and watch Him do it or passively wait for Him to do, but a calling that God waits for you to embrace, pursue, and fulfill. God chooses to entrust His most sacred work to people just like you and me.

The key to the future s not revelation, but obedience. When we submit our lives to what God has made known, the future becomes clearer to us.

When God speaks, it requires immediate attention. If you respond to God's call, you will be tested to the very core of your being. God will not save you from the fire but will in fact throw you into it. The promise that He will be with you and never forsake you is both a promise and a warning. A divine journey cannot be completed without divine intervention. Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the absence of self. Courage is the highest expression of humility. Courage moves us to risk ourselves for others or for a higher cause.

On Generosity:
Generosity isn't about how much we give but about how much it costs us. Generosity creates an environment for emotional health.

On Wisdom:
Proverbs 1:20-23
While many of us long for God to give us a map so that we can simply follow it, He instead gives us a compass that points the way. What we continually ask for is to know God's will for our lives; what God continually offers us is His wisdom for our lives. So critical is wisdom to the journey that God offers it as a gift to all who would desire it (James 1:5).

From the vantage point of the fool, the world appears to exist in isolated units. The connection between the absentee father and the promiscuous daughter remains undetected. The relationship between bitterness toward your parents and coldness toward your children is unperceived. The repercussions of extramarital infidelity are never linked to premarital promiscuity. Debt remains unconnected to greed; violence remains unconnected to hate; the loss of hope remains disconnected from the loss of faith.

Wisdom frees us from superstitions that constrain us and broken relationships that cripple us.

On the Fear of the Lord:
The Scriptures remind us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. Then what exactly does this mean? When we fear God, we fear nothing else. It is only in the fear of God that we find ourselves free from the fear of death, of failure, and all the other fears that bind us.

When the fear of God is absent from our lives, we become slaves to lesser fears, and your fears define the boundaries of your life. When you fear God, you are subject only to Him. You align yourself to love and truth. You are never afraid to love or forgive when you fear God. You are never afraid to do good when you fear God. You are never afraid to face the truth or speak the truth when you fear God. You live with a calm assurance that in all these things God finds great pleasure.

The ultimate end of character transformation is not freedom from sin, but freedom to once again be all that God designed for us to be. When we fear God, we find the freedom and the courage to pursue dreams far too big for ourselves, yet courage is the only hope for great dreams.

Well, that was more than I expected to write! Don't you just love the wisdom of this man? The other books:

The Bravehearted Gospel by Eric Ludy. I haven't read but 19 pages of this one, but I can tell I like it. This might be good for our leadership team after we finish An Unstoppable Force. To give you a gist of what this book is about, here's what the back cover says:
Once upon a time, Christianity was the stuff of legends and Christ's loyalists were spiritual and moral revolutionaries, the kind of men and women who turned the world upside down. But over time, something has happened to that once fervent and bravehearted band who dared to be called Christians.

Many today have inherited a faith that has no real life or power. Instead of zeal there is apathy. Instead of courage there is timidity. And instead of confidence there is paralyzing doubt.

Something has to change.

For all those hungering for a spiritual revolution, there is an ancient blood-stained trail, trod by the greatest men and women in history, beckoning us to once again explore it's epic and grand terrain. For all those hungry for a Christianity that actually works, a faith that reforms the human life an possesses the power to rescue this dying world, this trail mustn't be ignored. For it is the path of heroes and of real-world change - it's the path of The Bravehearted Gospel.

The other book is called Following God with All Your Heart by Elizabeth George. Believe it or not, I don't just read books on taking the world for Christ. A 'chick flick' book once in a while is a good diversion! This may be a good book for our women's Bible study after we complete the one we're starting this week. It covers 5 areas:

1. Grow in Joy and Contentment
2. Grow in Devotion and Obedience
3. Grow in Confidence
4. Grow in Courage
5. Grow in Humility

Can't wait to absorb these books!

Thanks for sticking through this very long blog today. Many blessings to you on this cold, windy, gray Friday.

New Books

Greg asked me to order a book for him last week called Found Faithful. It's about great Christian throughout history, that despite the huge obstacles in their lives, have been found faithful. It's a book that gives so much hope and encouragement. I can't wait to read it.

The I felt that I needed to read the book Oprah keeps promoting, A New Earth. I feel a need to know what it says, so I can accurately respond to it. Kind of like when the Da Vinci Code came out. Greg said okay, but as long as I read Hank Hanegraaff's book written in response to Eckhart Tolle's book called Paradise Still Lost in a New Earth at the same time. It can be ordered here.

Fun Summer Reading. I'm still reading Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado. I'm learning more and more about the life of David. I was at our local Bible bookstore yesterday and there is even a yearly flip daybrightener (like a devotional) on the book with excerpts from the book. Cool.

Anyway, time to get ready for our prayer walk. We look forward to anticipation of what God will speak to us today! Have a blessed weekend!