Includes...
In Matthew 10:16 Jesus told his disciples... I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
To be innocent as doves makes me think of being gentle and kind, but this must be balanced with discernment, which comes from God.
In Luke 16 Jesus told the parable of the shrewd manager who cut a deal with his masters customers in order to build relationships with them. Then Jesus said the following... The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
There are 2 kinds of shrewdness. One kind is shrewd in order to deceive others and tear them down. The other is shrewd in order to make other people great and build them up. In these...
Hebrews 11:6 says... And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
God is a rewarder and one of the keys to our faith is the belief that he wants to do good for us. We don't seek him for the rewards, we seek him for him, but he is a rewarder, it is part of who he is. He can't help it, because it gives him joy to see his people thriving.
Psalm 35:27 AMP says... Let them say continually, “Let the LORD be magnified, who delights and takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”
God takes pleasure and delights in seeing his people do well and it magnifies his name. But this means learning to do things a different way. If you are the source of your own success then it doesn't magnify God. There are two different systems that we can live under. We can stress and strive to make ourselves great and put our hope and trust...
How do you gain serious traction toward your goals or vision?
Several years ago I was feeling overwhelmed with trying to keep up with everything...Business, family, eating well, exercise, etc.
Finally one day I asked God how he keeps everything in order.
The answer I received was... "Look to the pattern of my Sabbaths."
In the Old Testament temple there were certain activities that needed to be done every...
This was the rhythm of the temple and served to keep everything in order. Our bodies are the temple now and for several years I have worked to implement this rhythm into every area of life. One of the most important ways I implement this rhythm is with communion.
Recently I have been working on redesigning the process we use for examining ourselves during communion. This process when done daily, weekly, monthly, and on the Yearly Cycle can help...
God is the source of every good and perfect gift. But, gifts have to be received and valued if they are to have an effect in our lives.
The other day I was reading in Genesis 30 about Leah having children in verses 19-20 it says... Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. Then Leah said, “God has presented me with a precious gift.” So she named him Zebulun.
The word for precious in Hebrew is towb which means good, precious, beautiful, pleasing, or perfect. When God gives gifts they are good, precious, perfect, and beautiful. There is a difference between gifts God gives and ones that come from the world.
Jesus said in Matthew 7 and Luke 11...
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or...
We all go through times when we need some refreshing. To refresh means to give new strength or energy, and to reinvigorate.
These times of refreshing can come from the presence of the Lord, because he does not grow tired or weary. He has an unlimited inexhaustible supply of strength and energy. The apostle Paul said he worked harder than anyone, but it wasn't him, it was God's power that so powerfully worked within him.
Acts 3:19-20 says...Repent, then, and turn (be converted) to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.
Isaiah 40:28-31 says... The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their...
If you are in a totally dark room it can cause you to trip or run into things and it can be hard to know which way to go. Being in the dark can lead to feelings of confusion, hopelessness, powerlessness, and darkness can also feel very heavy. However, when we are in the light it is easy to see things that were causing us to stumble and which way to go.
In Isaiah 61, Jesus said that part of what he came to do was proclaim freedom for captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.
Colossians 1:12-14 says... giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus has released us from the darkness and transferred us into the light because of the forgiveness of sins. But, part of living in the light is...
In 2 John it says...It gives me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
I believe it gives God great joy when we walk in the truth. Notice that walking in the truth and walking in love are one and the same. To walk means that we are actively putting into practice the things we know to do.
In John 17:17 Jesus prays for his disciples to be sanctified by the truth, and he says God's word is truth.
And in John 8:31-32 Jesus says "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
As we take communion today let it be a reminder to walk in the truth and love. When we...
The other day one of our partners in the Abundant Life Blueprint sent me a YouTube video of the Brooklyn Tabernacle singing Psalms 34. As I was watching the video the words..."Magnify the Lord and exalt his name," seemed to stand out. After this I researched the word magnify. To magnify is to make something bigger, but in the Hebrew the word for magnify is...Gadal.
Gadal means to make great. It can also mean to praise. We can magnify God and make him bigger than all of the troubles of life. But, I think there is more. In the Abundant Life Blueprint we talk about making other people great, and this is supposed to include God. God is already great but our lives can magnify him and make his name great. As he works through us and we give him the praise it magnifies his name.
Thinking of the word magnify reminded me of when I was a kid. Every time I got a new baseball glove by dad would engrave my name or initials onto the glove with a magnifying...
What's your pattern when challenges come your way? Do you get discouraged, quit, and/or shy away from them? Or do you embrace them and persist through them?
July is a reminder of God's favor on our lives. His favor produces opportunities, but these new opportunities often come with some work and challenges on the other side. When God's favor opens a door it means you are ready for these new challenges. Whatever is on the other side he has more than likely already trained and prepared you for. We can meet these challenges with confidence because God is more than enough.
God made us to be overcomers and more than conquerors but this means there are going to be some challenges to overcome. God often puts us in situations that are disordered or challenging with the expectation that we can overcome by his power working within us.
In July some challenges may come your way. This may be new opportunities that require learning or doing something new or it may...
God has a plan for each of our lives but he gives us the choice to do our own thing or to walk out his plan. His plan is designed to be walked out in partnership with him, which means it may look impossible. As we walk out his plan it won't always take the path we expected and this is where it's important to trust in the plan.
God is leading us to a spacious beautiful place but the path is often curved. It may seem like it is going the wrong direction for a while, but it is the better path. The curved path is gentler and gives us time to prepare for where God is leading us. The curved path also accelerates up very quickly when we get close to the goal. But, when you are in the middle of the curve it's important to keep trusting.
Confidence is one of the highest expression of trust. Confidence and boldness is the state where all doubt is removed. Often as we execute the things we know to do there are some doubts that are holding us back. The goal is to...
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