Plan and Execute

Sounds military, doesn't it? But we got our military structure from God, didn't we? We also got our Judicial system from God, just look at the old testament. The strategy of planning and executing also applies to our individual lives, right here in the 21st century. Here's an excerpt from Wide Awake by Erwin McManus.

"If you're going to create the life of your dreams, eventually you have to stop thinking about it, dreaming about it, imagining it, hoping, scheming, planning, or even praying, and you have to actually do something. You have to act. You have to execute. You have to step into the real world and bring the change that you can only see through the eyes of faith."

"Do whatever you must to be prepared for the future you desire. This requires not only foresight but also discipline.

If you begin to capture a picture of the life you dream of but do not prepare for the challenges you will face to make them reality, you will not see it happen. Your future will haunt you like a restless ghost of the dreams whose death you caused through neglect. I see this all the time: people who have huge dreams but are unwilling to pay the price to see them through."

I think Erwin is speaking mainly of those folks in the entertainment industry. They come to L.A (where Erwin is located) and want to be movie stars or singers or dancers or actors on stage. He gets a lot of those in his church. But those of us in the Central Valley can have big dreams too, and that's all they ever end up being. Please don't confuse a dream with a call. I believe dreams are sometimes planted in our hearts by God, giving us a passion for something that we want to pursue. Sometimes, however, they're of the flesh. Something we want for ourselves, like becoming a millionaire. We have to seek God to see what His will is for our lives. He usually reveals a passion, then gives a call to go do something with it. A passion is what drives us. It gives us energy to pursue something when our flesh says, "I'm exhausted!" It encourages us to pick ourselves up when we've been knocked down.

What is your passion? If you could do anything for God and knew you couldn't fail and you had all the money, resources, time, and freedom to pursue it, what would it be? I'd love to read your comments on this. Blessings on this warm, sunny Thursday.

Prayer Drive and Holy Discontent

Yesterday Greg and I went for a prayer drive partly because we've been trying to go for a prayer walk for a month, but due to us being sick and also because we didn't have much time and the weather was threatening and starting to rain, we drove. We went to a school on the west side and parked and prayed. I have to say I didn't hear anything from God like I did on the prayer walks, but it was good.

I've also been reading Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels and absolutely resonate with this book. I think I've said that before. Here's what I've loved recently about this book.

Bill talks about Moses and the frustration he felt at the mistreatment of his people.
"Because God couldn't stand the Israelistes' mistreatment either, he used what I call a "firestorm of frustration" that was brewing in Moses' soul to launch this unlikely leader into a prominent role that resulted in the nation of Israel eventually inhabiting the Promised Land.

I believe the motivating reason why millions of people choose to do good in the world around them is because there is something wrong in that world. In fact, there is something so wrong that they just can't stand it. Like Popeye, they too experience a firestorm-of-frustration mement when when they grow so completely incensed by the present state of affairs that they throw their hands up in the air and shout, "That's all I can stands, and I can't stands no more!"

The point is, the irresistible attraction to a specific cause that compelled these people to invest joyfully of their time, their money, and their energies always linked back to a single spark of frustration that fueled what is now a raging fire in their souls."

Have you ever felt frustrated by the things you see around you? By the attitudes of people or the way things are done sometimes? Is there a group of people you see are not being served by the local church? Do you see a need that if you had all the resources, you would gladly meet? How about trusting God to meet that need with the resources He'll provide? They question then becomes, are you frustrated enough to be willing to do something about it? To research the situation, to plan, to jump in and go for it? What is brewing in your soul, your purpose, that you can pray to God, the all-capable, to help you do? Think about that. What bugs you?

Nuggets #19

An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus
Chapter Nine: Re-Formation

Redefining Church
Many who hear the prophetic call to return and restore the purpose of God for the church are inspired to new levels of obedience and faith. For them, the process of examining every program and expression of the church against the biblical mandate to make disciples of all nations becomes necessary for church health and renewal. Yet for others, this is not true. (For me this is VERY true. It's my passion!)
Known by the Scars
People need to know that the purpose of God burns in your heart, that people not only matter to God but also genuinely matter to you. The people you hope to lead need to see that your life has been reoriented around the very purposes that you advocate.

Yet I was reminded from the encouragement of spiritual men that what's important is not that everything goes right, but that what you're doing is right. If you are to lead God's people in the way of God, then you must prepare yourself for spiritual warfare ahead. If your motivation is the approval of men or being measured as successful in this world, then this journey may not be for you. But if you can live and die on the knowledge that you have given your life for the purpose of God, then you can move to the next step in the process of spiritual re-formation.

I'm going to make my comments in italics from now on, a suggestion from my husband so people know when Erwin stops and I start. Not that anyone would mistake my babble for a genius like Erwin, but I'll do it to make things simple.

So, there's the break between those who do right and those who focus on the outcome. I think this goes back to fear. The other day I wrote about those who wouldn't be caught dead doing something wrong. This is out of fear. But there is so much freedom and peace of mind when you're doing what you know God has mandated in his Word and you leave the desire for the approval of men in the dust. Being a soldier for God is referred to many times in the Bible. I believe that our spiritual walk is often a battle, and our faith, freedom in Christ, and the salvation of others is something to fight for.

Isaiah 41:9-14 (NIV)
"I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
All who rage against you
will surely be ashamed and disgraced;
those who oppose you
will be as nothing and perish.
Though you search for your enemies,
you will not find them.
Those who wage war against you
will be as nothing at all.
For I am the Lord, you God,
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you.
Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob,
O little Israel,
for I myself will help you," declares the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."

Nuggets #15

An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus
A Future of Optimism
People are looking for something worth believing in, somewhere to belong, and something to become.

Effective ministry is not the elimination of failure but the ability to thrive in the midst of failure. They mystery is that there are some churches that just can't be stopped. It doesn't matter how many times they fail. There's no problem too great for them to overcome.

Hope Never Gives Up
. . . there are three crucial dimensions to our ability to engage failure in a positive way. They are all related to how we understand failure and explain it to ourselves.

One style views failure as pervasive, another sees failure as personal, and the third understands failure as permanent.

Faith, hope, and love are the fuel that ignited the first-century church. They are the very essence of the apostolic ethos. They are the promise that the church of Jesus Christ is unstoppable and that even the gates of hell will not prevail against her.

I know this blog has statements that skip around a little. Let's talk about purpose, ministry, and failure.

It's no coincidence that as I was starting to type this blog, that my husband came up to me and read what he was reading in the book, In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson. In it, Mark cites Gordon Mackenzie's book "Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace". It struck his heart and supports the first statement above that people are looking for something worth believing in, somewhere to belong, and something to become. It says,
"My guess is that there was a time - perhaps when you were very young - when you had at least a fleeting notion of your own genius and were just waiting for some authority figure to come along and validate it for you. But none ever came."
How extremely sad is that? Everyone wants to have a purpose to thier life, to leave a legacy, to make a difference in at least one person's life, if not on society as a whole. I pray every church has a clearly communicated method of training up these future leaders.

Let's talk about failure for a minute. I think everyone has a different view of failure. I know those who wouldn't want to be caught dead doing anything wrong, less the sky would fall on them. I know those who have a slightly less dramatic view, but still avoid it at all costs, and in addition make sure others around them avoid it by manuevering situations within their control, less others' failures reflect on them. I think both these views are unhealthy. Having worked for a large corporation for 17 years (picture Dilbert), I discovered that failure was not something to be feared. The first few years I spent a lot of energy, calories, and sweat fearing failure. Then I came to a point when I realized that failure was bound to happen. I would always try and do my best, but noticed that worrying about it had absolutely no bearing on whether it happened or not. The odds were that sometimes it would happen. Sometimes it was my fault, sometimes it was a co-worker's fault, sometimes a boss's fault, or a subordinate's fault. And you know what? It was always okay. The healthy thing about that corporate environment was that everyone else knew things would crash from time to time, and when they did, no one pointed fingers (except one person, but that's another blog) but instead just pitched in to fix the problem. No big deal! It happens, move on! It's not the end of the world. Trust others will have the grace to not make you feel horrible about yourself, and if they don't, that's between them and God. We're all human, we blow it sometimes! Every experience is worth it, as long as you learn from it.

Once again I have to repeat one of my favorite mottos:
Don't use people to do ministry. Use ministry to do people.