Qualifications

In the recruiting business, qualifications are something I look at every day. Is this person under-qualified? Over-qualified? or well-qualified for the job I need to fill? However, jobs are not the only thing we seek to determine our qualifications for. Other areas are credit cards, loans, schools, relationships, and the list goes on. Whichever way you look at it, qualifications are part of our everyday life.

The world looks at our qualifications as a summation of things we have done in the past. However, I have recently come to realize that our qualifications are not found in our past, they are found in our Savior. We can look all we want to the jobs, papers, volunteer activities, and other accomplishments we have had during our life, but the greatest accomplishment we will ever have is accepting that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sins. That act, and our acceptance of it, is the simplest and greatest qualification we can have. Armed with this knowledge, there is nothing God brings our way that we are not qualified for.

So…are you qualified?

Leadership…God’s way

Leadership…it is something everyone talks about, something everyone thinks they understand, and something we can all improve on. People say that leadership come from a lot of different place like a position or title, social influence, or even money. The one place people often over look is God. On the surface, a position or title, social influence, or even money may seem to giving us the ability to lead, however, without God we would not have any of those.

One of the wisest men and greatest leaders of all time understood this. God gave him the opportunity of a life time. In 1 Kings 3:5, “…God said,’Ask for whatever you want me to give you.’” Wow! Can you imagine the creator of the universe asking you that? The obvious answers are money, longer life, guaranteed power, and so on. But, Solomon did not go with the obvious picks (does any God story ever go with the obvious pick?). In verse 9, Solomon simply responded, “So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

There are two leadership keys here. First, Solomon did not view himself as a leader, but as a servant. Second, he asked for discernment to handle the task God has placed in front of him. Because of this mindset and request, God blessed him with not only wisdom, but long life, wealth, and honor.

Leadership

There are many different ways to define leadership. One way that God has been showing me to define leadership is not by the age of the leader but by their level of reliance on Him. This is important for us as leaders as well as for whose leadership we put ourselves under. Brad Cooper said that as a leader our ceiling is the floor those under our leadership start from. This goes both ways. If we set a Godly example then those under us will be leveraged by that and able to accomplish so much more than we ever could. However, if we “do what is evil in the sight of the Lord” like so many of the kings in 1st and 2nd Kings, we will only be leveraging death, destruction, and rebellion from God. We must be good stewards of those God has allowed us to lead by only relying on Him and not our own abilities. One way to do this to always remember and celebrate all the things Jesus has done for us. This will give us perspective on who is really leading. For the same reasons we must rely on Him as a leader, we must be careful whose leadership we put ourselves under. We must find leaders who will leverage us toward God’s will. Full reliance on God by us as leaders and in the leaders we follow is the only path to take to maximized the glory we bring God on a daily basis. Like Perry said, “God is either Lord of all or not Lord at all.”

 

The choice is ours.

No Need for Plan B

One of the most important principles in business to be successful in the long run is to set up a succession plan. This principle applies in our spiritual life as well. God sent his CEO, Jesus Christ, to Earth to love, live, and lead by example to the point of dieing to advance the Kingdom. But, the company, or Church, did not come crumbling down. This is because God had, and has, a succession plan. His succession plan involves the empowerment of the masses through the Holy Spirit. Some call us Christ followers…disciples…or Jesus Freaks. But whatever you call us, we strive to love, live, and lead the sample principles that Christ died for. The best part is we are not alone. The Holy Spirit will prepare us for what lies ahead. What lies ahead will be a constant battle. We will be surrounded. We will win battles and we will lose battles. Yet, when it is all said and done, Jesus Christ, the Risen King, has conquered death and won the war!!! Now the question is, how will we manage the portion of the succession plan He has given us?

Just remember, we are God’s Plan A and because of His might and awesomeness He has no need for Plan B.

Oct 10 – Oct 16

Here is what God showed me last week through 1 Samuel 20 – 2 Samuel 7.

God wants us to do two major things in our lives: 1) know Him 2) bring Him glory. They only way for us to know Him is to spend time in His Word, in prayer with Him, and with His people. If we are obedient in this, He will place the right people in our lives to grow and shape us. Many time these people will be how He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit. What we are being told may not always make sense, but that is because we can only see our next few steps.  When it is clear that God has told us to do something, we must act. But, our responsibility does not finish with action. That action must be done in a manner that brings glory to God, not ourselves. If we are obedient, and if in that obedience we give glory to God, then He will reward us fully. He may still reward us otherwise, but without instant obedience and giving the glory to Him, then we will not be rewarded fully. He also places people in our lives to help us identify sin and flee from it. These are the people we are charging the gates of Hell with. These are the people we must move in bold defiance of Satan with. Our leader is out in front, leading the charge, with His nail scared hands because He has already died for us. He died so that we would be bold. God placed other bold people in our lives because where two or more are gathered, He is there also. And to be honest, I think he loves watching us kick Satan’s butt in the name of the Risen King Jesus Christ!!!

Dog Training 101

So I have had my dog, D-Bo, for just over 2 months now and I am loving it! He is a great companion, tons of fun to play with, and way to smart for his own good sometimes. He is a three year old Dalmatian and American Stafforshire Terrier Mix.  As with any dog, there is some adjustment time to the new home and some training that needs to be done. Luckily for me, D-Bo’s mom Kristen had done a great job of training him on all the basic command, house training him, and teaching him right from wrong. Even after only two months, he listens to me…most of the time, even when he is off leash.

In the time I have had him, God has really been using D-Bo to teach me some tough lessons.

Every day, D-Bo and I go for a walk at night with our neighbor. She has a mutt named Chance that D-Bo is best friends with. We have an area behind our apartments where go to let the dogs off the leash so they can run around. We tend to go once it is dark so we do not have to worry about anyone else out on the trail, but occasionally there is someone out walking or running. D-Bo, being extremely friendly and curious, always wants to go meet whoever is on the trail. I try and keep him away since some people are scared of dogs. He normally listens, but occasionally he will go say hi. One day God really pressed in on me about how D-Bo was listening. He was using D-Bo to show me how sometimes I only listen to His instructions when it is convenient to me, even if I hear Him loud and clear. How, even when walking with him, if I do not stay close and listen to His advice things of this world will distract me from His calling.

There is nothing in this life more important that listening to the call of our Lord Jesus Christ and spreading the good news of salvation. If we are not in the Word daily, praying, and in fellowship with other Christ followers it is easy to be distracted from the call God has on our life. The Bible never said that following Christ would be easy, but it will be interesting. It is our daily challenge to spread the good news and live John 3:30:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” (ESV)

My Future Decided

My Future Decided by Hillsong United is probably one of my favorite songs of theirs. As I was listening to it for the million time today one section of the lyrics really hit me as a perfect lyrical explanation as to how the Church and her people should live. Each one of these lines is telling me exactly how I should act. The section of lyrics is:

“Aren’t afraid, aren’t ashamed Lord we know who we are
We are your people and we won’t be silent
Unified hear us cry at the top of our lungs
You our God and we will not be shaken”

The first line tells me how to act in the representation of Christ in my life to believers and non-believers alike. They should see that, no matter what I am faced with, I am not afraid or ashamed of my love for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I should be this way not because of any strength or measure of my own, but because I have a personal relationship with Christ and He calls me one of His own. This is where the next line comes in. If I know that I have a personal relationship with Christ then I absolutely cannot be silent about what He has done for me. He knew all the screw ups I would have in my life and He still hung naked on a cross for me. Who else would do that? No one. That kind of love and the grace and salvation it brings cannot be bottled up, it must be shouted from the mountaintops! Any mountaintop you can! The next line is one of my biggest struggles within the Church. Being unified with other people at my home church, NewSpring Church, is easy. It is not always so easy to be unified with brothers and sisters in Christ who are from other churches. There is no excuse not to be thought, we are all on the same team. Once we can get past our denominational and church-to-church differences, then we will truly rock the world for His glory at the top of our lungs! Knowing all that He has done, and what He will do when the Church comes together, gives us the solid ground to not be shaken, like the last line says. Within God’s call and with Jesus Christ as the rock, the foundation, of anything and everything I do…I cannot be shaken!

55 – The Power Of Prayer By The Numbers

28, 28, 28, 30, 28, 42, 55.

Those are the numbers we have had each Wednesday on The L.O.T. Project bus to head to Fuse*. Almost seven weeks ago when we were at 28 kids we were blow away by what God was doing in the community, but we knew He had something bigger and better in store.  I don’t remember exactly when it was, but some time during our being stuck around 30 we started having prayer meetings before the kids showed up for the bus. Once we started those prayer meetings, we started seeing what we prayed for: salvations and better behavior on the bus. Heck, we even had several salvations on the bus. The one thing we were not seeing were numbers increasing like we had hoped for.

Last week we decided it was time to pray for a specific number. We chose 40. He picked 42. This week we chose 64, the bus capacity. He picked 55! That is an increase of 27 students in two weeks. That means we basically doubled in two weeks!!! The only thing we did different over the last two weeks was to pray for specific numbers that only God could provide. Where these numbers daunting at the time? Yes. Did God provide? Yes.

Some may say that prayer doesn’t work since we got 55 and not 64 this week. This is not true. God provided 13 new kids to hear the gospel tonight and is slowly preparing us for when He gives us 64. While we MUST pray ridiculously big prayers and believe with all our heart that God will answer them, we MUST also understand that He will answer them on HIS timeline, not ours. I know that once we are ready God will give us 64 kids, another bus, and then only God knows how many kids.

After seeing 55 kids and 6 leaders circled around our current bus praying for a second one, I know that God really has only started His movement in the Clemson/Central/Anderson area. With continued obedience, open hearts, and active pursuit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ only He knows the amazing things that will happen in the days, weeks, and months to follow. We are all just blessed to be along for the ride.

So pray big…pray small…and have the true faith to believe it all will happen. I double-dog dare ya!

Singing or Worshiping?

There is a huge difference. I never really thought about it much before but there is. I go to church every Sunday and there is music played for worship. Now, as a follower of Christ our worship should not be summed up by 30 minutes of singing every Sunday. It is a lifestyle. Our daily actions are a form of worship and a testament to His love. Living a life of worship will definitely lead to more genuine worship on Sunday. So, on Sundays, the question becomes how often are we actually worshiping, and not just singing? I see this problem in my life in two areas…new songs that I don’t know, and old songs that I do; so basically all of what we like to call Sunday worship.

I love hearing new songs during worship; especially if they are from a band I like (self-centered much?). New songs seem to break up the monotony of the same old set list and give me a new song to learn. But both of those reasons are more about singing than worshiping. I find that the times I am truly worshiping God that the set list doesn’t matter. It isn’t about the words or the music anymore; it is about a special connection with God that you only get when you drown out the distractions and focus.  The same can be said about getting a new song to learn. I am not the one on stage so it really doesn’t matter if I hit every note or know every word. What matters is that I’m focused on the one that gave me the voice to glorify His name. I always struggle to genuinely worship when a new song is played. It is a constant battle to focus on God and not the varied set list or the words I don’t know yet.

Now, when I say old song, I don’t mean something from the Hymnal from way back in the day. I am talking about any song you don’t need to look at the words to be able to sing along with. I find these songs just as hard as new ones. It is so easy to fall into the trap of just singing the words and not putting any meaning behind them. Yeah, being able to sing all the words without looking at the screen may boost your ego or make you think the people around you think you are real Godly. But does any of that matter? No. All that matters is what God thinks of the performance you are putting on for Him. I am absolutely terrible about this!!! But again it comes down to focus, being able to focus on the Creator and the meaning of every word and every sentence that comes out of my mouth. That is the only way I can truly worship with a song I know.

What it boils down to for me, new song or old, is focus. The best way I find to focus at church on Sunday is to focus outside of church the rest of the week. For me this entails being in the Word daily, praying daily, and fellowshipping with other believers. It is going to differ slightly for every person; that is just what works for me. So how do you stay focused so you can going beyond the singing and truly worship?

Stories

We all have stories we like to tell, from the dumb things we did as a kid to get in trouble to that one great moment you had where everything seemed so perfect. Personally, I know I have a million stories and that I am horrible about telling the same stories to people multiple times. What God is beginning to show me is that stories are not simply a way to remember the past, good or bad. They are ways to remember all the good times that He has graced us with or all the bad times that He has helped us through.

I have only been a follower of Christ since September of 2007. Since then, I have had many chances to see God’s amazing grace through what He has blessed me with. I have also experienced His wrath and mercy when I screw it up and He picks up all the pieces. It is in the times when I have screwed up that remembering the stories of His love and grace are so important in helping me through. However, recently God has shown me that falling back on my own stories is not always going to be enough. This is especially true since I can still be “categorized” as a relatively new believer and do not have a wealth of stories to fall back on. In the times when relying on the memories of what God has done in my life are not enough, I turn to my brothers and sisters in Christ. The stories they have shared with me of how God has moved or is moving in their lives always pumps me up. For that reason, I think it is important, now more than ever, for all of us to share our stories…the good, the bad, and the ugly. I am always amazed when I take a few minutes to stop focusing on myself and listen to what God is doing in the life of someone else!

In no way am I trying to say that what God has done for me in the past is not enough and that is why I need other people. He sent His only son to Earth to die on the cross for all of our sins, and that is way more than I could ever ask for. But, He also did not create us to be alone. We were created to be in fellowship with other believers. I believe through my own experiences, and stories from others, that the more we, as the big “C” Church, can share our stories of how God has moved in our lives and what He is doing now, the closer we will come together and the closer we can come to God.

So my advice for myself and anyone else is to share your stories. When God blesses you with good times in your life…share it! When God allows you to go through a rough time…share it! When God pulls you out of that rough time…SHARE IT!!! Our stories may seem like no big deal to us but you never know when it will be exactly what someone else needed to hear.