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Listen, Can You Hear?

Every day God calls us by name and asks us to follow Him.  He offers all of Himself to us and is ready to give us everything we need to succeed that day.  Yet for most of us, we do not hear His voice.  We hear many voices everyday, they are calling for our attention.  The noise inside of us keeps us from hearing the one voice that can change everything.  Our minds can handle a lot of data, images and messages.  It’s like a supercomputer on steroids.  However, our minds can also stay so busy thinking about problems, fears, what if’s, ourselves and other people that we have no time for God.

Most people live pretty busy, hectic lives.  We try to balance Family and work and then squeeze God in when we can.  What if our mindset would change tomorrow morning, to waking up expecting to hear God’s voice.  What if we could quiet our minds and instead just focus on being with God to listen to His instruction and His guidance.  At first this may feel awkward and we may not hear anything and be easily distracted by all the stuff of the coming day.  But over time as we practice being silent and listening, God’s voice will start to come through clearer and more often.  His voice will begin to be louder than all the others that are trying to get and keep our attention.

Here are some practical ways we can listen and hear what God is telling us each day:

  • Start filling your mind with Scripture.  The more truth you fill your mind with the louder God’s voice becomes.  Several things we can do include:
  1. Devotional Reading – daily readings on practical application of Scripture.
  2. Study – Reading to discover what the words meant when they were written.  A good study Bible helps a lot.
  3. Memorization – This helps us to take to heart God’s word and these verses come back to us at important times.  We can all do this if we set our minds to it.  It helps to do it with someone.  I do this with a group of guys every month.  We have memorized 16 Verses over the last 8 months!
  4. Meditation – This is simply turning a Scripture over and over again in our minds.  This can be part of our memorization process.  The idea is to take God’s word and think about it and roll it around for a while, really letting it soak into every part of us.
  5. Hear the Word – Hopefully this happens at Church every Sunday, but we can also look for other ways of hearing the Word, through online messages, CD’s and radio.
  6. Doing the Word – Living out God’s word is one of the most powerful things we can do.  It can also be the hardest.  It’s one thing to hear it, memorize and think about it, it’s another to go do it every day.
  • Start planning times when you can slow down and switch gears.  Finding time for quiet reflection can be hard, but worth it.  When you get that time, ask God to speak and promise to listen.  This won’t happen unless you schedule it.
  • Trust God and Obey Him – When our minds start racing and we start worrying or being fearful, tell God you trust Him and will obey Him.  Trusting God starts with complete surrender and giving Him control of everything.
  • Get involved with a community of believers – We all need some people close enough to us to speak truth into our lives and to share at a deeper level.  God often speaks through other people, but we have to be careful what people we listen to.  Start praying now for God to bring the right people into your life.
  • Pray a lot – The more we talk with God the closer we get to Him.  Having conversations with God helps us to hear from Him.  Don’t do all the talking though.  Praise Him, Thank Him, Confess to Him, Ask Him and Intercede for others, but then stop and listen for what or who He brings to your mind.
  • Finally, when you ask God to speak and you have a thought, ask God if that is from Him or not. As we put more of God’s Word into our minds we get much better at filtering what is from God and what is from ourselves or the world.  We may even need to talk with someone else about what you think God is telling you.

Listening well means that your attention and focus is completely on that person.  It means that when someone speaks to you, you can repeat back what was said.  Listening well to God means that we are paying attention and can ask questions to clarify what we think He is saying.  It means that we are pursuing truth to the best of our ability and obeying what we hear by doing it.


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Blessed, Satisfied & Successful

Those are words that most people would want to say about their lives.  When we are feeling blessed, satisfied and successful, we are most likely going to be happy and content.  However in order to achieve those things in our lives there needs to be some other qualities in our lives.  Here are three thoughts about how to be blessed, satisfied and successful:

  1. You must be broken in order to be blessed.  In order to receive God’s blessing in our lives, we often must go through a period of brokenness.  When we go through difficult times, it often brings us to our knees and our pride is stripped away.  This is when we remove the distractions and desperately seek God for help.  When we allow God to break us, we can experience breakthroughs in our life.  When we stop pretending and get real with God by admitting our weakness and our dependence on Him, we can experience blessing on the other side.  Brokenness is painful yet that pain can bring about a transformation that leads to blessing if we stay on the path God has for us.
  2. You must Surrender in order to be satisfied. Satisfaction comes when we surrender to God and allow Him to have control.  When we can stop trusting in ourselves and start trusting in Him, our level of peace and satisfaction will increase.  Without surrender, we remain in control and we will continue to struggle, hurt and mess up if we are trying to control the world around us.  Surrender involves a decision to turn everything over to God.  Everything includes our finances, our marriages, our friendships, our children, our work, our free time, our ministry, our relationships, our hobbies, our possessions, our attitudes, our emotions and our minds.
  3. You need to sacrifice in order to succeed. John Maxwell has a saying that you have to give up in order to go up.  Sacrifice is necessary to succeed in any area of life.  In marriage, it takes sacrifice in order to love and serve your spouse.  Selfishness will destroy any relationship, so the person that is willing to sacrifice can find success and healthy relationships as a result.  To succeed in any area of life it takes sacrifice and hard work.  When we bring God into the picture, He can give us the strength we need to sacrifice and humble ourselves in order to bring success.   Success is not about performing better, it’s about being willing to sacrifice in the short-term in order to be successful in the long-term.

God desires to have a personal, growing relationship with all people.  He is the one that can bring blessing into our lives.  He is the one that can bring satisfaction and success.  Having a relationship with God does not mean we will have no problems, there will be problems and pain in our lives.  A relationship with God means that we have an all powerful, all knowing, loving heavenly father that will always be with us through every trial and triumph in our lives.  He equips us to make it through the storms of life and emerge blessed, satisfied and successful despite those storms.

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Six Questions about Spiritual Leadership

Spiritual leadership means giving up yourself for someone else.  Why would a leader do that?  Isn’t leadership about being out in front and getting people to follow you?  I believe leadership is more than that.  As a Spiritual Leader I have a responsibility to lead myself, my family, my friends, my employees, co-workers and my superiors.  This can be a challenging thing to do, because all of us tend to think more about ourselves and our own needs rather than the needs of others. It does not come naturally to give yourself up and think more about the other person.  Our natural response is to look out for ourselves.

In marriage we get upset and discouraged when our love language is not being spoken by our spouse.  At work we are concerned about our job, position on the org chart and how much we are making.  We focus on the things we are responsible for and can tend to protect our turf.  We think a lot about how we look physically and can spend a lot of time on ourselves in general.  We want our friends to listen to us and hang out when we want to hang out.

Here are six great questions every Spiritual Leader should ask on a regular basis.

  1. Do I give direction and take responsibility for my primary relationships?  This is about my initiative.
  2. Do I experience intimacy with God and others through open, honest conversations?  This is about my level of intimacy.
  3. Do I exercise Biblical influence by encouraging and developing others?  This is about my influence.
  4. Do I lead an honest life, unashamed of who I am when no one is looking?  This is about my integrity and character.
  5. Am I secure in who I am in Christ, or am I defensive?  This is about understanding my true identity.
  6. Do I exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in my life, including self-discipline?  This is about my heart and motives.

If you are a Christian, then you are a Spiritual Leader.  Take responsibility today to lead well no matter where you are or what you are doing.

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The Power Of Persistence

This morning is was reading in the book of 1 Samuel.  It starts off with a introduction of the family of Elkanah.  This guy had two wives, I guess that was normal back then, the one was Hannah and the other was Peninnah.  My first thought was that Hannah’s name has remained popular, but I don’t know any Peninnah’s.  That must mean that Hannah is the one we can learn something from.

The story continues by saying that Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not.  Elkanah supported Peninnah and her children, but he loved Hannah, even though she could give him no children.  Peninnah would often mock Hannah and remind her that she was able to have children.  Hannah refused to lash out at her rival, but instead took her sorrow and loss to God.  She prayed earnestly to her Lord, begging Him for a son.  She refused to believe that her difficult situation had to remain permanent.

Hannah continued to pray sincerely and specifically, not backing away from her request for a son.  That persistence paid off, when she eventually became pregnant and had a son, Samuel.  When she was praying for a son, she had promised God that she would give him to the service of the Lord.  After she had weaned him and he was old enough to take to the temple, she took her son and dedicated him to God.  In that day, that meant that he would live and serve in the Temple with the main Priest.  Eli was the Priest and so Samuel was raised by Eli and his mother Hannah would visit often.

Hannah went on to have three more sons and two daughters.  Prayer changed the course of Hannah’s life and impacted an entire nation.  God used her son Samuel in a key role as prophet during the lifetime of King David, and his influence remains today through the story of his life in the Bible.  Hannah’s prayers laid the foundation for Samuel to be used by God.  She put her son in an environment where God could develop him into a man of influence.  Later in chapter 7 we see that Samuel becomes the new Judge and Prophet of Israel.  He gained influence daily.  When the people listened to him and trusted him they where victorious and enjoyed peace in the land.  He became by far the most influential leader of his day.  Three qualities stand out in Samuel and these can also be found in his mother Hannah.

  1. Character – Samuel lived with integrity and honesty in every area of his life.  People trusted him because they knew he had the best interests of Israel in mind.  They also knew that he was close to God through the fruit that was evident in his life.  His mother Hannah was also a woman of great Character in how she did not lash out at her rival and stayed focused on God.  She was patient yet persistent in her pursuit of God.
  2. Surrendered – Samuel was gifted by God, because he was surrendered to God.  He was willing to completely trust God with every part of his life and God chose to use him to lead a Nation.  God gave him the gifts and abilities he needed to judge and lead a Nation.  Hannah laid that foundation by also being fully surrendered to God, even giving her first born son to God.  God takes full responsibility for a man or woman that is fully surrendered to God.
  3. Connected – Samuel knew how to connect with people and with God.  His heart was in tune with God’s heart and therefore he loved the people that God loved.  When the people knew how much he cared they were encouraged and trusted him even further.  Samuel was only able to connect this well with people because of his connection with God.  Hannah again laid that foundation for her son, by persisting in prayer and staying close to the heart of God.

All of us can be more like Hannah and Samuel.  No matter what our situation is, we can be persistent in our prayers and petitions to God.  That persistence will help us to build character, be completely surrendered and stay close and connected to God and other people.  Over time that will lead to greater influence with the people around us.  So whatever you are facing today, God wants you to persevere and continue to talk to Him about the situation.

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8 Characteristics of a Growing Christian

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As we head into a new year it is good to reflect and plan.  One area to reflect on and plan for is your spiritual life.

We are all in process, either growing or declining, and that includes our spiritual life.  The power to grow doesn’t come from within us, but from God.  On our own, we do not have what it takes to become what God desires for us to become.  When we absolutely surrender to God, He empowers us with everything we need to do what He calls us to do.  In 2 Peter 1:5-11 we see a ladder to climb that leads to maturity or the process we should be working on.  Spiritual growth happens daily, not in a day.

Peter tells us to diligently work on these eight characteristics:

  1. Faith – This is the foundation on which we build and grow.  Faith is having confidence and trusting in someone or something.  Determining who we put our faith in lays the foundation for our lives.
  2. Virtue – This is about developing a life of strong character and discipline.  Another word used in some translations is good.  This step is about being a good person, developing your character and integrity.
  3. Knowledge – This is when we start to understand what God thinks and values.  This is done by reading, studying and listening to God’s Word.
  4. Self-control – This is the ability to lead ourselves, to have self-control means having restraint with our actions, responses and emotions.
  5. Perseverance – This is the ability to patiently stick to what is right.  Hanging in there through the tough, difficult things of life.  It’s being patient with the process and trusting that God is at work in us and others.
  6. Godliness – This is a Spirit-filled lifestyle that shines brightly for all to see.  Living a holy, righteous life.  Not easily offended and not afraid to let others see how we live our lives.  This is not putting on a religious mask, but taking that mask off and really living for God.  It’s not being perfect, it’s pursuing God even when we are not perfect.
  7. Brotherly Kindness – This is all about living a lifestyle that is warm, relational, and caring.  Notice this actually comes after godliness, because this is about how we interact and relate to other people.  Deeply caring about people and treating other people well.
  8. Love – This is the highest quality that we can have.  It is about sacrificially giving to others.  Loving God and others well, deeply and sincerely.  In order to love the way God wants us to love we must go through the entire process first.  If we try to jump right to love, we will miss what God is trying to do in us and we won’t be able to sustain it.

These actions do not come automatically, they require actual hard work and effort.  These are not optional, but a continual part of our everyday lives.  We do not work on one master it and move on to the next, we work on them all together.  In this process, God enables us to grow in these areas, but He also gives us responsibility along the way to learn and grow.  When we agree with God and do our part, that is when life transformation happens.

So as you plan for the new year, include these characteristics in your planning.  Which of those areas do you need to most help with?  At the end of this next year will you still be in the same place spiritually or will you be more like Christ?

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We All Got Junk

One of the things I have come to realize is that everyone has some junk in their lives.  I am not talking about junk in our closets and storage rooms and garages, although we tend to accumulate junk in those areas as well.  What I am talking about is our past.  Each of us has a storage unit called our hearts.  That is where we put things that have hurt us.  That is where emotions get sent that we don’t know how to deal with.  We stuff things into this area that was not meant to hold junk.  When we do that over time it tends to slowly creep out in every area of our lives.  The older we get the more difficult it is to keep our junk in that safe place deep inside us.

What we choose to carry in our hearts can determine whether we take hold of the best life God has planned for us or struggle with the best always being just out of reach.  Jesus showed us the way to keep this from happening.  No matter what happened to him or around him, he forgave everyone of everything – immediately.  When we can do the same, that is when we can live without junk.  Just like the feathers that keep a duck from getting wet, forgiveness keeps us from accumulating junk.

First Corinthians 13:5 says that love does not take into account a wrong that has been done to it, or a wrong suffered.  When we stuff a wrong we have suffered it may sit there for a while and fester, or we keep picking it up and playing with.  Then we try to get other people to pick up our junk by telling them all about it.  They can end up adding to our junk by joining in the pity party or the bashing session.  Hopefully we can find someone that will point us toward forgiveness and God.

By letting things roll off of us like water off a duck, it allows us to keep going in life without getting stuck in all the junk.  It is actually possible to get to a place where nothing offends us.  If we decide beforehand, as Jesus did, that we are not going to stuff offenses into our hearts, it allows us to live with great peace.  Psalm 119:165 says “Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.”

When we are easily offended, we cannot have peace, but if we are not easily offended, we can live in great peace.  So here are the questions to ponder: Is your heart light or heavy?  Peaceful or troubled?  Are some of the contents of your heart crowding out the peace and joy that God has for you?  This is not an easy process and you may need some help to clean out the junk, but the freedom you experience is worth all the work.  Start letting go of yesterday, start working on humility and forgiveness and see what happens.

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Empowering Others

One of the phrases that I often pray is this “God pour into me, so that I can pour into others.”  I believe one of the things God calls us to do is to take what He has given us and give it to others.  Many times this comes through the experiences of life, the good ones and the bad ones.  God also gives gifts to His children that we can use to pour into others.  Finally he gives us skills and abilities that are unique to us, again in order to pour into others and make a difference for God in this world.  If we are open to God using us as His instruments, our influence will grow and our tribe will increase.  If we remain humble and meek, we will accelerate how God uses us to pour into others.

In 2 Corinthians 1:2-4 the Message Bible says this “All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah!  Father of all mercy!  God of all healing counsel!  He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.”

God promises to comfort us in our troubles, then asks us to share that comfort with others.  Remember, we can’t give away what we don’t possess.  We are to pass on what God gives to us.  We don’t receive only for our benefit, but for the benefit of others.  God calls us to empower others with the power that He gave us.  Here are some practical ways that we can pour into others:

  1. Help someone keep their commitments to God and other people (Accountability)
  2. Speak words of encouragement and support (Affirmation)
  3. Evaluate their progress and offer an objective perspective of their situation (Assessment)
  4. Offer words of wise counsel and direction (Advice)
  5. Share words of caution, rebuke, or correction as needed (Admonishment)
  6. Point them to resources that can help them reach their goals (Assets)
  7. Love them unconditionally, regardless of their past or current situation (Acceptance)
  8. Coach them on how to go put into practice what they have learned (Application)

God always gives us what we need to lead.  Our own baggage and insecurities often keep us from taking the step to pour into others.  It is easy to make excuses about not being ready or being too busy.  These excuses most often stem from our core fears.  Fear of failure, fear of not knowing the right answers and looking dumb, fear of rejection, fear of being misunderstood.  In 2 Timothy 1:7-8 it says “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  These three tools help us pour into others:

  • Love – The relational ingredient that enables us to attract and connect with others.
  • Power – The courage and competence to get the job done.
  • Sound Mind – The perspective and wisdom to grasp a vision and take the right steps.

God gave us everything we need to accomplish the job.  He empowers us before He ever expects from us.  He gives before He demands.  We receive His competence before we receive His commands.  So start asking God to pour into you, so that you can pour into others.

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Loving Well Part 2

With Valentines Day just around the corner, love is on most peoples mind right now.  Whether married or single, people are born with the need to be loved and to love.  If an infant does not receive love through touching and caring they do not develop properly.  I believe that does not change as we get older.  If we don’t experience unconditional love, we do not develop properly emotionally.  We also cannot love other people well if we do not feel loved ourselves.

Unfortunately we live in a broken world, where there is no perfect love.  As humans we all fall short in this area of life.  We may have our moments, but in the long run all of us struggle to love perfectly.  I cannot love my wife on my own, only with the help of God can I love her the way Christ loved the church.  In 1 John 4:17-21 we hear a clear message about love:

“God is love.  When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us.  This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day-our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s.  There is no room in love for fear.  Well-formed love banishes fear.  Since fear is crippling, a fearful life-fear of death, fear of judgment- is one not yet fully formed in love.  We, though, are going to love-love and be loved.  First we were loved, now we love.  He loved us first.  If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar.  If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see?  The command we have from Christ is blunt:  Loving God includes loving people.  You’ve got to love both.”

So God has shown us the way in which to love and has called us to now love other people that way.  When God is living in us, His love shines through us.  He gives us the strength to love someone that is unlovable.  The way in which we love is evidence of our relationship with God.

So what does loving well look like?  It is a daily challenge for us to love well.  We are tested constantly through difficult people and circumstances.  That is why it is so important for us to be growing closer to God each day.  I know for me, when I start to let my relationship with God slip, I start to fail many of the love tests that come my way.  I tend to have a shorter fuse and be less patient with the people around me.

To read about the way of love click here

Loving well takes a mindset and an attitude of humility and meekness.  Most people struggle with the idea of being humble and meek, but listen to what God has to say about those qualities:

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  Philippians 2:3-4

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”  Matthew 5:5

It takes great strength and courage to be a man or women of humility and meekness.  It is not a sign of weakness but of great strength.  To love well a person must be humble and meek.  Meek means to be gentle, patient and submissive.  Those qualities are rare these days, but in order to love well they are needed.  So here are my closing thoughts on Loving Well:

  • We can’t love other people, without God’s love living in us
  • Love begins with humility and meekness
  • Every day we go through love tests, which either increase our capacity to love or decrease our capacity to love, it’s our choice.
  • Fear cannot co-exist with love
  • Love is not an emotion, it is a choice and an attitude.  It is a way of life.

So here is the challenge – Choose to love well, Choose to love God, Choose to love people.

My heart is melting for you babe xx


Creative Commons License photo credit: Nina Matthews Photography(find me on FB

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Get Your Mind Right

While I was working out yesterday, the instructor in the DVD made this statement while I was bent over try to catch my breath: “Get your mind right!”.

I heard a similar message at our staff retreat on Monday. This idea of how powerful your mind is and how much the way we think affects our emotions, our physical well being and our relationships. The Bible says that we were created in God’s image. He is the one that gave us these incredible minds to use, not only to benefit ourselves but to glorify God.

For most of us our minds have been transformed into something other than what God intended. By the early age of six years old many of our basic beliefs are already in place. As we grow there are many lies we begin to believe because of the experiences we go through. Our mind filters each experience and that shapes our worldview.

Of course God knew this would happen in this fallen, evil world. This is not perfect heaven, so there are many lies and deceptions that we fall for. That is why Paul wrote in the book of Romans “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

When we get our minds right, our focus sharpens and clears. When our minds are racing, whether worrying about the future unknown or remembering the painful past, our focus is weak and foggy. When our minds are not living in the present, our emotions get out of control and actually begin to control us. When our minds are right, we can hear God better and know what His will is. When our minds are not right, we do not hear God and tend to do our own thing.

When I was working out, my body wanted to stop because I was getting tired. When I focused my mind on the exercise I was doing it gave me the energy I needed to finish and keep up. When we are tired, our mind tends to drift and negative thoughts can easily fill our minds.

So how do we get our minds right?

  • Examine what you are putting into your mind – Television shows, movies, books, magazines, conversations, music.
  • Replace harmful input with wholesome material.
  • Read God’s Word – The truth will set you free!
  • Pray – talking to God is one of the best ways to get your mind right
  • Meditate – This has become a popular practice, but the real power comes when you meditate on God’s Word. Emptying your mind can be a dangerous thing to do. Meditation is focused positive thinking – focusing on God brings incredible peace.
  • Put into practice what God tells you to do – real transformation happens when our mind is right and we then act on that by being obedient to God.
  • Slow down – we can either slow down on our own, or God will do it for us at some point.
  • Simplify your life – most people are doing too many things – busy people are not very effective. Say no some things and watch the stress level come way down.

So get your mind right!