"The walls we build around us to keep out the sadness also keep out the joy. " - Jim Rohn
This has to be one of the longest most stressful, hardest, just outright crappy weeks I have had in a long time. I have just had so many things happen and I have been trying really hard to push it all aside and to push it all away, but it just keeps building, it just keeps coming. I saw this quote and it made me think. Maybe I am not just pushing it away but building up walls around it and i am using all that is outside those walls to go on with another day, but i can't keep filling up myself until I break down those walls where i am frustrated and sad . . . i dont know if any of this is making sense but I am just being real and honest . . .
this week sucks . . . its hard . . . i cant do it . . . .
its God's . . . .
i'm done . . . .
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
The Journey Part 1/4
NEWSONG: Dirty and Left Out by The Almost off the CD Southern Weather
VERSE: Mark 1:17
“’Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’”
THOUGHTS:
We all want to go on journeys, we want to go to somewhere new, to see something new, believe something new, and do something new. This longing isn’t something that simply stems from our flesh and our earthly longing to see more of the world, but is a wonderful and perfect spiritual longing to go somewhere different with God. To grow closer to Him.
“I want to take a trip,” I said to my God. “I’ll take you there,” He says back to me.
The Christian life is one that is constantly developing. It is a journey. I love the way Kyle Stobel puts it in his book Metamorpha: “Merely doing church in a new way or deconstructing all of the structures that we think are hindering us will not help us get closer to God. There is room for those things, but our task has to be more fundamental: we have to be about becoming something new.” Becoming something new.
Maybe I have gone too fast at the start. You are probably asking yourself: A journey, why is my spiritual life a journey? What does that mean? And, how do I really go on this journey? The first question is the most basic and most important because it sets the foundation for the rest of your life, worldview, and whole self. Why is my spiritual life a journey? Well, bluntly, because Jesus said it was. Jesus came down to this earth in the business of changing lives, breaking down worldviews, and growing people closer to Him. “Jesus asks converts to count the cost, which includes having their story changed . . . if we affirm that the Christian life is developmental, we must be willing to walk the path for growth to which Jesus calls us,” says Strobel.
What does that mean? It means that Christ went on this journey, He loves us and wants us to follow Him. How amazing would it be to go on a journey through some remote wilderness, knowing that the person leading you has an intimate knowledge of everything around you. How much more safe would you feel knowing that even if there are rough times along the way, that you will make it and everything will be better as soon as you get through. This Christian life is a journey, called by Christ, to walk through a jungle. A journey to walk through some of the most dangerous, scary, and dark situations, but a journey not walked alone. We really have the fearless leader, the Indiana Jones, the Bear Grylls (the guy from Man v. Wild), the ultimate jungle guide to follow. What does that mean? It means we are to get up, and follow Him, period.
But how are we to go on this journey? I don’t think I can do it? I don’t think I am suited to do this journey thing well? Neither am I, neither were the disciples, neither is anyone else. In Mark we see an instance when Jesus calls out to Simon and his brother Andrew, he says to them “Come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” The next verse doesn’t say, “then Simon and Andrew thought about it, they packed up their nets and brought them along, just in case this Jesus thing didn’t work.” It simply says, “at once they left their nets and followed Him.” We don’t need to bring anything to go on this journey, nothing from our previous life. Strobel tells us, “this is the equipment you’ll need for the journey: the Bible, the Spirit, and a community of believers.” We go with Christ’s help, with His word, and with His Spirit in us. Not alone but with a great “cloud of witnesses” to walk with us along our journey.
If you are still feeling insufficient for the journey ahead let me leave you with this encouragement: “Journeying well doesn’t necessarily mean knowing the directions or understanding what it means to walk; it means being informed by the one who knows these things.”
We are all going to experience bumps, we are all going to step out of the footsteps of Him who leads us--but we all must end up somewhere new, somewhere that He is taking us. We don’t have to know the directions, we just have to be willing to follow His set of directions, fully knowing that we may not always think they are right.
Are you ready to have your way of seeing, believing, and being broken and destroyed along the way? Because that’s what he wants to do. But he also wants to build it back up into something new, something beautiful, something holy.
Are you ready to go on a journey? Are you really ready? Are you man enough? If so then lets go . . . lets take a journey.
VERSE: Mark 1:17
“’Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’”
THOUGHTS:
We all want to go on journeys, we want to go to somewhere new, to see something new, believe something new, and do something new. This longing isn’t something that simply stems from our flesh and our earthly longing to see more of the world, but is a wonderful and perfect spiritual longing to go somewhere different with God. To grow closer to Him.
“I want to take a trip,” I said to my God. “I’ll take you there,” He says back to me.
The Christian life is one that is constantly developing. It is a journey. I love the way Kyle Stobel puts it in his book Metamorpha: “Merely doing church in a new way or deconstructing all of the structures that we think are hindering us will not help us get closer to God. There is room for those things, but our task has to be more fundamental: we have to be about becoming something new.” Becoming something new.
Maybe I have gone too fast at the start. You are probably asking yourself: A journey, why is my spiritual life a journey? What does that mean? And, how do I really go on this journey? The first question is the most basic and most important because it sets the foundation for the rest of your life, worldview, and whole self. Why is my spiritual life a journey? Well, bluntly, because Jesus said it was. Jesus came down to this earth in the business of changing lives, breaking down worldviews, and growing people closer to Him. “Jesus asks converts to count the cost, which includes having their story changed . . . if we affirm that the Christian life is developmental, we must be willing to walk the path for growth to which Jesus calls us,” says Strobel.
What does that mean? It means that Christ went on this journey, He loves us and wants us to follow Him. How amazing would it be to go on a journey through some remote wilderness, knowing that the person leading you has an intimate knowledge of everything around you. How much more safe would you feel knowing that even if there are rough times along the way, that you will make it and everything will be better as soon as you get through. This Christian life is a journey, called by Christ, to walk through a jungle. A journey to walk through some of the most dangerous, scary, and dark situations, but a journey not walked alone. We really have the fearless leader, the Indiana Jones, the Bear Grylls (the guy from Man v. Wild), the ultimate jungle guide to follow. What does that mean? It means we are to get up, and follow Him, period.
But how are we to go on this journey? I don’t think I can do it? I don’t think I am suited to do this journey thing well? Neither am I, neither were the disciples, neither is anyone else. In Mark we see an instance when Jesus calls out to Simon and his brother Andrew, he says to them “Come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” The next verse doesn’t say, “then Simon and Andrew thought about it, they packed up their nets and brought them along, just in case this Jesus thing didn’t work.” It simply says, “at once they left their nets and followed Him.” We don’t need to bring anything to go on this journey, nothing from our previous life. Strobel tells us, “this is the equipment you’ll need for the journey: the Bible, the Spirit, and a community of believers.” We go with Christ’s help, with His word, and with His Spirit in us. Not alone but with a great “cloud of witnesses” to walk with us along our journey.
If you are still feeling insufficient for the journey ahead let me leave you with this encouragement: “Journeying well doesn’t necessarily mean knowing the directions or understanding what it means to walk; it means being informed by the one who knows these things.”
We are all going to experience bumps, we are all going to step out of the footsteps of Him who leads us--but we all must end up somewhere new, somewhere that He is taking us. We don’t have to know the directions, we just have to be willing to follow His set of directions, fully knowing that we may not always think they are right.
Are you ready to have your way of seeing, believing, and being broken and destroyed along the way? Because that’s what he wants to do. But he also wants to build it back up into something new, something beautiful, something holy.
Are you ready to go on a journey? Are you really ready? Are you man enough? If so then lets go . . . lets take a journey.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Lead Like Jesus Part 3/3
NEWSONG: Beautiful Lord by Leeland on the CD iWorship 24:7
VERSE: Phillipians 2:1-8
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even on a cross!
THOUGHTS: Am I a leader? Yes. Am I willing to follow Jesus as my leadership role model? That was up for you to decide, but in the words of Joshua “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” If you in fact have decided to follow Christ as your leadership role model, if you want to learn to lead in the footsteps of the only one who knows and sets the path than this is your question. How do I lead like Christ? As I continue to talk about this I once again go back to the book from Ken Blanchard. There are two aspects that we must grasp at first.
The first is that an understanding that learning to lead like Jesus is a transformational journey. I remember a conversation I had with a pastor at my parents church named Doug Whittlef, “ministry is a marathon not a sprint.” And so it is with our walk with Christ and our growth as leaders. We must understand that this journey (oh and wait till our next series of devotionals, life is a journey and maybe this will click more) that we take is a transformational one. We must expect, we must long, we must work to become different people through learning from Christ. Blanchard tells us “learning to lead like Christ is more than an announcement; it is a commitment to lead in a different way.”
The second aspect is that we must learn to understand, examine, and internalize the four domains on leadership. Leading like Jesus involves four different domains all of equal importance: heart, head, hands, and habits. There are two internal domains, the heart and the head, and two external domains, the hands and habits. Heart: leadership is at its most basic a spiritual matter of the heart, in simple word its the character. If you want to be a Godly Christ-like leader of integrity, of matter, have the character of Christ. That once again takes us back to the question of “am I a servant leader or self-serving leader?” If you want to know how to lead like Christ in the heart, lead as he did, lead to serve others in serving your God. Head: Once you get your heart into a place of leadership as Christ did, your head will follow suit. But the enemy, that one we call Satan, is smart. He is strong, and he works hard. We must be constantly examining our leadership and making sure that our persepectives on our leadership is as our heart is, that our persepective is that of servanthood. Mark 10:45, Christ says “For even I, the Son of Man, came to not to be served but to serve others.” Keep your perspectives on servanthood. Hands: Others will observe where you heart and head are at by the works of your hands. This is a struggle for me to constantly check what my hands are doing to ensure they are in the same place and mind that my heart and head are. I know it may be cliché but you are the only Jesus some people will see, are you going to show them an example of servant leadership, or an example of self-serving, self-motivated leadership? Habits: This is how you renew your daily commitment to serve as a leader to serve others.
I leave you with this. Christ, the King of Kings, Hosanna, Jehovah Jireh, Prince of Peace, the one who sits at the right hand of the Father, God the Son, came to this earth, not to be served, not to get what was his, but came to serve others! He came to give all of himself for the work of the Father. If you want to know how to lead like Christ just follow his example, serve and love others.
What will change about how you lead? How you look at leadership? What will change about you?
It’s not about what you know, its about what you do!
Next week: Taking a Journey: life and all that comes with it (and above it)
VERSE: Phillipians 2:1-8
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even on a cross!
THOUGHTS: Am I a leader? Yes. Am I willing to follow Jesus as my leadership role model? That was up for you to decide, but in the words of Joshua “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” If you in fact have decided to follow Christ as your leadership role model, if you want to learn to lead in the footsteps of the only one who knows and sets the path than this is your question. How do I lead like Christ? As I continue to talk about this I once again go back to the book from Ken Blanchard. There are two aspects that we must grasp at first.
The first is that an understanding that learning to lead like Jesus is a transformational journey. I remember a conversation I had with a pastor at my parents church named Doug Whittlef, “ministry is a marathon not a sprint.” And so it is with our walk with Christ and our growth as leaders. We must understand that this journey (oh and wait till our next series of devotionals, life is a journey and maybe this will click more) that we take is a transformational one. We must expect, we must long, we must work to become different people through learning from Christ. Blanchard tells us “learning to lead like Christ is more than an announcement; it is a commitment to lead in a different way.”
The second aspect is that we must learn to understand, examine, and internalize the four domains on leadership. Leading like Jesus involves four different domains all of equal importance: heart, head, hands, and habits. There are two internal domains, the heart and the head, and two external domains, the hands and habits. Heart: leadership is at its most basic a spiritual matter of the heart, in simple word its the character. If you want to be a Godly Christ-like leader of integrity, of matter, have the character of Christ. That once again takes us back to the question of “am I a servant leader or self-serving leader?” If you want to know how to lead like Christ in the heart, lead as he did, lead to serve others in serving your God. Head: Once you get your heart into a place of leadership as Christ did, your head will follow suit. But the enemy, that one we call Satan, is smart. He is strong, and he works hard. We must be constantly examining our leadership and making sure that our persepectives on our leadership is as our heart is, that our persepective is that of servanthood. Mark 10:45, Christ says “For even I, the Son of Man, came to not to be served but to serve others.” Keep your perspectives on servanthood. Hands: Others will observe where you heart and head are at by the works of your hands. This is a struggle for me to constantly check what my hands are doing to ensure they are in the same place and mind that my heart and head are. I know it may be cliché but you are the only Jesus some people will see, are you going to show them an example of servant leadership, or an example of self-serving, self-motivated leadership? Habits: This is how you renew your daily commitment to serve as a leader to serve others.
I leave you with this. Christ, the King of Kings, Hosanna, Jehovah Jireh, Prince of Peace, the one who sits at the right hand of the Father, God the Son, came to this earth, not to be served, not to get what was his, but came to serve others! He came to give all of himself for the work of the Father. If you want to know how to lead like Christ just follow his example, serve and love others.
What will change about how you lead? How you look at leadership? What will change about you?
It’s not about what you know, its about what you do!
Next week: Taking a Journey: life and all that comes with it (and above it)
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