The Most Important Things

Nike didn’t invent that phrase and it’s not theirs to trademark. God’s the one who started it all. He created the earth and everything in it. He just did it. So, now it’s your turn. Act like God and just do it!

That’s right, stop procrastinating. Stop thinking about it. Stop caring what other people think. Just do it. Jesus picked up His cross, went ahead and did it. He lived a perfect, sinless life. He went through a brutal destruction of His body and then rose again! Paul, was totally blind and went to a strangers house. Scales fell of his eyes, then he went and preached the gospel to the world. He just did it. King David, a teenager, just went out and did it. He lopped the head off of a giant, against all odds and “wisdom.” You can do it, too. Don’t wait. Don’t fear. Don’t hesitate.

You could fail marvelously or you could succeed enormously. Either way, there’s only one way to find out…Just do it!

The righteous man fell 7x and picked himself up. That means he tried it 7x. Probably 7 more than you! Just do it already!

You must be fed up with your present situation, to change your future! Just do it. Get fed up with today and make tomorrow amazing. Lift your eyes and say, “if God is for me who can POSSIBLY be against me?” And then do it.

This little phrase has been rolling around in my spirit for a little while now, “willing to yield.” It comes from James 3:17. James is talking about the wisdom that comes from above or descends from heaven. He lists a number of different things that are important to remember. But James also drops “willing to yield” in there.

Probably most of our references to the word, “yield” come from our daily driving experiences. We see yield signs everywhere. Here, in Baton Rouge, it seems as if most driver’s ed courses skipped the definition of this sign. 99% of the drivers here in BR stop, when they see a yield sign. This ruins the flow of traffic and makes me want to yell, “it’s A YIELD SIGN!” (Full disclosure: I often yell, “it’s A YIELD SIGN, dear child loved by God!”)

Yield, according to the US DOT, means to proceed with caution. Not stop! In a spiritual context, willing to yield can easily be applied with the same definition. Wisdom that comes from above allows us to willingly proceed with caution, where necessary. It doesn’t mean that we stop moving forward or that we proceed cautiously everywhere. It means that when the Holy Spirit prompts us once (or more times as is often the case) that we willingly respond to Him and proceed with caution. It means that we are so submitted to His Lordship that we are prepared to move at the pace He defines. That pace can be fast and full of faith, it can also be proceeding with caution and walking by faith, not by sight.

Is there an area in your life where the Holy Spirit is prompting you to proceed with caution? Are you willing to yield?

I was reading the Gospel of Matthew the other day. I came across this verse: “You [Peter] are a dangerous trap to Me [Jesus]. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, and not from God’s.” I thought that was an interesting statement. Jesus was telling Peter that his point of view was a “dangerous trap.” But it wasn’t just Peter’s point of view, it was that his point of view was seeing things “merely” from a human perspective.

To paraphrase, Jesus was saying this to Peter: “Your human perspective of Me, the Will of God and the task at hand; is a dangerous trap. Stop thinking that way and start thinking like God.” This, of course, begs the question: how are you thinking today? Are you seeing life merely from a human point of view? Or are you setting your mind on things above? We must get out of the dangerous trap of thinking naturally and humanistic. Life is eternal and where you spend that eternity depends on how you think here on earth.

Make a deliberate effort today to think eternally and from God’s perspective. God’s perspective on everything can be found in His Word. So, if you want to know what God thinks so you can think that way…read the bible. It’s as easy as that. Stay away from the dangerous trap of earthly thinking, think like God.

You really can’t escape it right now. It doesn’t matter where you are or what’s going on. If you are connected to society in the slightest way, you will have heard those names before. Tebow was a massive trend for months during the football season. ESPN devoted hours of time talking about him and what he’s going to do next. Christians from all over would talk about him as the one who will change our nation. People all over the USA would simply tweet, “TEBOW!” after everything he did. But that was a month ago. We have moved onto another star, Jeremy Lin and his Linsanity. ESPN is devoting hours of time talking about him. Christians, again, are talking about how HE’S the one who is going to change our nation. And after everything he does, people simply tweet, “LINSANITY!” So, the mega trends roll on.

Let me say this, I like Tebow and Lin. They play sports, they inspire people, they love Jesus. That’s a great combo. But what I am more interested in talking about is the MEGA TREND. This is a trend that snowballs into critical mass so quickly that nobody can hide from it. Thanks to the proliferation and synergy of social and broadcast media, a trend can pop up and dominate everything, everywhere for a moment in time. This creates a Mega Trend. The problem with a mega trend is two fold: 1) Because of the mass exposure, everyone wants to be (or create) a mega trend. 2) Mega Trends will increase in size and amount, but decrease in length.

Problem #1: Everyone wants to be or create a mega trend. This pushes our desire (right or wrong) to be seen, to an all-time high. We already see people who have no character being thrust into the national spotlight and becoming a blaze of shame (think politicians to “reality stars”). Before, 15 minutes of fame came from getting TV exposure and that was the only outlet. Now you can become a mega trend through youtube, Facebook, twitter, instagram, etc. The worst part being: you may not intend on becoming a trend. But the people who want, so badly, to become a trend will get increasingly bold and that will lead to all sorts of debauchery. The sad part is that many christians will be swept up in this mentality, thinking that it will lead to a greater voice in the nation. It won’t. It will be as effective as a candle in tornado. Blown out as fast as it can be seen. Here’s a good example. I don’t know how many people have re-posted that video on Facebook, but it’s staggering. The craziest part is how many people who posted it, or liked it who (according to Facebook) are not really living a religious life or discipled life. That is a mega trend! The results of a mega trend are nil. They have no lasting effect. It’s just a massive snowball of confusion, catchphrases and images that leaves everyone craving a new mega trend.

By the time you finish reading this post, Linsanity will have faded and another mega trend will have risen up. In the meantime, stay focused on Jesus. He’s the author of the short-term and the long-term. Stay tuned for the OTHER PROBLEM WITH MEGA TRENDS…

“Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.” Acts 16:25

We are all prisoners. Whether we are enslaved to sin and unrighteousness or we are prisoners of the Lord and His righteousness. We are all bound to something. Through Jesus’ work on the cross and His resurrection, I have chosen to be bound to Him. I am His captive and I am captivated by Him.

Other people are listening and watching your life and mine. It’s with this knowledge that I go through life choosing to pray and sing and glorify God. I know that somewhere down the line another “prisoner” will see me glorifying God in a tribulation or in a blessing. They’ll see God’s miraculous hand rescue me or provide for me. And then they, and their whole household, will be saved.

So, fellow prisoner, make a choice today to pray and sing to God knowing that the other prisoners are listening.

Do work that matters. What does that mean? To each person it will be different. To me, since I am working for God as a disciple of Jesus, work that matters is work that builds the kingdom. Work that matters is work that pleases God. If you read Luke 12, you will see what kind of work matters to God. Here’s a couple samples:

Verse 14, “Life is not measured by how much you own.”

Verse 21, “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

Verse 33, “Store up treasure in heaven…And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes.”

Verse 42, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them.”

So, do work that matters…to God. That kind of work matters for eternity. Don’t just talk about it, do it. Do work that matters.

The other night I found myself thinking, after a particularly powerful service, that it [the service] was old school. I thought, “yea that was good and old school!” Only moments later did I catch myself recounting Jesus words about “old school” or rather “old vs. new.” More about that later.

It’s interesting to me to note that whenever we refer to a powerful or charismatic service that we typically rely on the phrase, “old school” or “classic” or “old time revival.” We rarely say, things along the line of, “that service was brand new” or “fresh.” Every now and again we talk about the “next level,” but that’s not a new thing so much as it is a replacement thing. No, our typical verbiage is about the “old.” Jesus had something to say about this in Luke 5:39, He says, “And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’”

We typically prefer the “old” for 2 reasons:

1. The old is familiar. We have experienced it already and we can relate to it. It’s far easier to remember what HAS happened than imagine what CAN happen.
2. The old is “better.” From what I have heard, old wine is typically less potent in flavor than the new. So, it’s something that is more palatable than the new wine. The new wine is sharp and biting. The old wine is smooth and mature.

Yes! Another holiday list blog, just what you’ve been waiting for. Well, this year I added one thing I hate just to spice it up! Here goes…

1. I am thankful for the things around me – Jesus, my wife, my family, my job/ministry, my church. These are the things that I am continually and daily thankful for. I thank God everyday for these. I talk about these things everyday of my life! I love them and cherish them.
2. I am thankful for the ability to pray, praise and worship wherever and whenever I want. Thank God for spiritual freedom, nationally and personally!
3. I am thankful for Coca-Cola Classic. It’s naturally gluten-free, can double as a toilet cleaner and can make you burp as loud as a 10,000 lb canary. Is there anything it can’t do?

Well, it took me longer than I anticipated to finish off this blog. Or rather, longer than I procrastinated. Anyway, here are the last 2 thoughts, to complete the 4 thoughts regarding seed faith! (Click here to read part 1.)

1. Continual Harvest - Many people overlook this simple principle. If you want to harvest all year long, you have to plant all year long. Every season yields a new harvest and a new fruit in your life. Each natural season yields its own special harvests and so it is in the spiritual. Sow consistently and you will get a consistent harvest. Sow occasionally and/or erratically and you will get an inconsistent harvest!
2. Due Season - In Galatians 6:9, Paul writes: “Do not grow weary…for in DUE SEASON you shall reap…” While there are 4 seasons to every year and many spiritual seasons to every lifetime. The Due Season is a spirit-ordained season, that can override the natural timing of seedtime and harvest. To put that into some natural terms, imagine the due season like this: It takes a tomato seed anywhere between 55-100 days to go from seed to fruit. (Tomato is a fruit, after all.) The Due Season for a tomato seed would work like this, you plant a tomato seed today and you reap tomato fruit tomorrow. The Due Season defies the logic of nature to produce a harvest immediately! Now imagine that in a spiritual context. You sow a seed of money today, you get a harvest tomorrow.

I have been reading and meditating on “seed” and “seed faith” for the last few months. It has been very rewarding and interesting. All of this has “evolved” from studying the broader topic of faith this past year. There are four really important points that I have learned, and want to share, about seed faith and planting spiritual seed in general. Ready? Ok, here we go!

1. Qualify the soil. In the parable of the sower, the sower throws seed onto 4 different types of soil. They are: the path, the rocky, the thorny and the good soil. 3 of the 4 soils result in no usable harvest! But the seed that fell on good soil produced a harvest of 30, 60, and 100-fold. It’s easy for us to do the math. Either you have no harvest or 30, 60, 100-fold harvest. So, qualify the soil! Make sure that you are putting your seed into good ground. Don’t just throw it everywhere, plant it in good soil. Choose the soil that you are sowing into very carefully.
2. Define the harvest. Oral Roberts once said, “we’ve taught people how to sow, but they don’t know how to receive their harvest.”(Full disclosure: I must admit that I am learning and growing in this second point.) His point being that, maybe, you have done a good job of sowing and qualifying the soil. But have you defined and identified your harvest? A farmer knows what kind of harvest he’s going to receive by the seed he planted. So, the conclusion is when you sow your seed, define what type of harvest you are believing for in return.

These two thoughts have been transforming my seed sowing life. (Remember, seed isn’t just money. It can be time, energy, love, or anything that can be “planted.”) God has put laws in place in the universe, like sowing and reaping, that anybody (even unbelievers) can comprehend and apply. However, when a person of faith learns these laws and applies them WITH FAITH the result is accelerated and exponential! So, learn them and apply them with faith.

Stay tuned for part 2…you will love the last 2 points!