Fuel

I love the spirit of victory that emanates from Romans 8:28-37…

It implies that we don’t have to settle for merely becoming survivors in the trek of life. With God’s power and goodness at work in our lives, we truly can become “more than conquerors” in every aspect of our lives. Here are some principles that can help us, like Paul, develop a “more than conqueror” attitude through Jesus Christ.

1. In ALL situations, meditate on the goodness of God.

Romans 8:28 affirms us that ALL things work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. In Psalm 27:13, David zeroed in on the goodness of God while finding himself in a seemingly hopeless situation. “I believe that I should look upon the goodness of God in the land of the living.” He wrote these words while being confined to a cave as a bounty was on his head. But he believed, despite his circumstances, that he would see God’s goodness, not just in a future heaven, but in the land of the living… In the not-so-distant future. God will turn things around in the hear and now!

2. Know that, with God, everything can have a redemptive purpose.

Have you ever had an “apparent” failure that turned into a redemptive experience? The truth is, no failure needs to remain unredeemed when God’s word promises otherwise. We need not shy away from taking necessary risks when ultimately we know that we cannot fail if we are following God wholeheartedly. Even if we “seem” to fail in the eyes of ourselves and others, God evaluates failure completely different from people. Knowing that everything has a redemptive purpose gives us great confidence to step out in faith and do things others are afraid to do because we know that ultimately God will grow us through setbacks and any “apparent” failure. Redemption is a powerful life-giving force that many will never experience because they are too afraid of failure. For the person fully following Christ, failure is never fatal; it always brings life-giving redemptive purpose that ultimately galvanizes even greater confidence in his or her estimation of God’s goodness.

3. Never exchange your TRUE identity for a victim mentality.

In verse 35, Paul reflected on all of his hardships and took note that others regarding him as being a sheep headed to the slaughterhouse… the Titanic just waiting to sink. But Paul refused to look at himself the way others looked at him. He said, “No,” in other words, “I don’t think so homey!” In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. And he goes on to declare that nothing can separate us from the power of God’s love at work in our lives. In times of hardship, it’s critical that we don’t develop a victim mentality. We need a “more than conqueror” mentality. Even when others have written you off, you must never exchange your TRUE identity for what your circumstances or people have declared over you. Know who you are and declare your identity over and over again. You are not a victim – you are a child of God with incredible redemptive purpose and limitless potential.

4. Be willing to learn endurance.

Hebrews 10:35-36 says, “Therefore do not throw away your CONFIDENCE, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” Confidence is something God wants all of his children to possess just like we would want our own children to be confident. But it’s hard to have confidence in times of distress. Yet we grow the most in times of adversity as opposed to prosperity. The generation that came out of the Great Depression also came to be known as “The Greatest Generation.” There is a correlation! Maintaining your confidence while waiting for God’s breakthrough in your life is where you will grow the most. If we begin to understand that our “waiting” is integral to our growing in Christ-likeness, imagine what our lives could look like if we learned to accept waiting with appreciation. Imagine the endurance it will produce in us…

5. Lastly, maintain your integrity while waiting on God’s goodness.

The word “integrity” stems from the Latin adjective integer, meaning “whole” or “complete”. In this context, integrity is the inner sense of “wholeness.” Erich Fromm said, “Integrity simple means not violating one’s own identity.” After Job lost everything in his life including the lives of his children, his wife questioned why he maintained his integrity and chided him to curse God and just get it over with. But Job maintained his integrity and it contributed to his great confidence in being able to declare, “though he slay me, yet will I TRUST him!” Job didn’t forfeit his TRUE identity. He held fast to his God. He retained his integrity. And his fortunes were restored. There is confidence and HOPE that is fortified in you when you maintain your integrity.

Hold to these five principles and watch God produce in you an unshakable inner confidence of who you REALLY are: MORE THAN A CONQUEROR!!!

“Just the very act of letting go of money, or some other treasure, does something within us. It destroys the demon ‘greed’.” – Richard Foster

Nothing speaks more loudly in a person’s life than generosity. When it comes from the heart, true generosity permeates every area of our lives, overflowing in obvious manifestations of benevolence toward others.

Giving has been attributed to the highest level of living.

Generous people have this abiding truth lodged at the core of their being – painted across the canvas hearts. They don’t focus the brunt of their time on what they can get from others but spend their precious time and valuable energy on what they can give to them.

This is the heart of generous people and influential leaders. It’s also the heart of the Gospel; “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 ESV)

Generosity isn’t restricted to monetary giving or charitable contributions, although that is important and perhaps the truest form of defeating personal greed, as Richard Foster admonishes. It may mean spending more time with your family, mentoring an at-risk young person, developing a prospective leader, writing an encouraging note to a co-worker, volunteering more in your community, or sacrificing your own desires for the good of the team.

Sir Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”

In his book, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, John Maxwell offers five great ways to cultivate generosity in your life:

1. Be grateful for whatever you have.

2. Put people first.

3. Don’t allow the desire for possessions to control you.

4. See money as a resource.

5. Develop the habit of giving.

In all of your doing today, take some time to think generously about how you can make a LIFE and not merely make a living. Your generosity is helping shape eternity. Don’t take it lightly – violently thrust yourself into generous living!

Are you struggling to find margin in your life?

Let me rephrase that: Are you struggling to find passion, creativity, and spiritual clarity in your life?

In his book Anam Cara, John O’Donohue tells a story about a European explorer in Africa who hired some native Africans to help carry his equipment through the jungle. They didn’t stop for three days. At the end of the third day, the hired hands stopped and refused to move on. The explorer asked why, and one of the African natives said, “We have moved too quickly to reach here, now we need to wait to give our spirits a chance to catch up with us.”

When you don’t have margin in your life, everything else suffers. It is hurried complexity that takes the life out of life. And yet it is the simplicity of abiding in Christ that puts the life back into life (John 15:1-11).

“Recovery of the Sabbath is the most crucial and most demanding covenant command (spiritual discipline) now to be faced in the technological society.” -Walter Brueggemann

God fills the empty spaces. Having margin in our lives brings renewed passion, creativity, clarity, and purpose.

That’s why God commanded us to take a Sabbath. The word Sabbath means “to rest from labor” and “to catch one’s breath.”

Are you struggling to find passion, creativity, clarity, and orientation of purpose? It may be time to slow down and carve out some margin in your life. It’s time to let your spirit “catch up” to you. That may mean taking a break from social media, internet, and technology.

In addition to practicing a weekly Sabbath day, we need to discover how to continually rest in Sabbath-moments by taking spiritual breaks a few minutes each day. By keeping the discipline of a Sabbath we can have our passions renewed and reoriented with Christ, a deep inner tranquility sustained by union with God and intimacy in prayer.

We need pauses… we need margin… we need renewed spirits. We don’t get that renewed passion by violating the covenant command to find rest. Find it, or burnout. There’s not another option.

In Rocky IV, Ivan Drago is the formidable Russian foe. But late in his bout with underdog Rocky Balboa, Drago begins to realize that Rocky has something the human iron curtain himself doesn’t have: Too much heart!

As the fight prolongs and Drago becomes increasingly convinced that you just can’t stop Rocky from coming, he turns to his trainer in a disheartening realization and says, “He’s not human. He’s like a piece of iron.”

Drago’s description of Rocky is more like that of a machine, not a human being.

That’s the picture I see of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. Though human, he didn’t appear human. He came across more like a subhuman machine… a machine that couldn’t be deterred in his faithfulness to the work of Jesus Christ.

This “piece of iron” says things like “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

In Ephesians 6 he says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

Paul knew what he was up against. He was constantly under attacks from the enemy. But he never swayed from his purpose and mission. He always had a way of turning the missiles of his adversaries into motivation to take the Gospel even further.

I love this in Philippians 1:12, Paul writes these words from a prison cell, “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.”

You know you have an iron will when you come to the place in life where you can face any kind of suffering and adversity with the determination that it will only serve to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ – even a prison cell!

How can you defeat a man of this kind of spirit? Rocky Balboa is inspiring, but I’ll follow the Paul-type into battle any day of the week. Sorry, Stallone, I love ya and all, but Paul was the real “piece of iron.”

How about you my friend… what are you facing right NOW? Can you face it with the iron determination that you will stand in the face of adversity and declare that it will only serve to advance the life-giving story of Jesus Christ through you and your life.

Determine today to stand in the face of adversity and let your “iron” will prevail. Be immovable in the Lord!!!

“No more Mister Nice Guy…” I think Alice Cooper had the right idea!

It is so easy to get caught up in making “pleasing people” our mission in life. Especially those of us who care about others so much. One of the defining marks of authentic Christianity is that followers of Jesus walk in love. But chew on this for a moment: Jesus loved people more than any other human entity in the history of the world, and yet the person, message, and mission of Jesus has “ticked off” more people in history than any other historical figure.

One of the reasons we get tripped up into “people-pleasing” is that we don’t want to be labeled as someone who doesn’t care. But as we learn from Jesus, we see that “people-pleasing” doesn’t mean we are more “loving” people… and contrariwise, it sometimes even means we are NOT loving at all – we are merely enabling people in their dysfunction.

Being labeled as the nice guy doesn’t translate to LOVE in the heavenlies. Sometimes it’s even translated into a much deeper reality of not caring at all (apathy and negligence) – though we try and dress it up as something altogether more spiritual sounding like “compassionate” or “empathetic.”

When in reality, it’s nothing short of social flattery that just wants to be deemed as getting along with everybody.

Healthy, functional parents understand this. If your sole agenda as a parent is to be the nice guy, I will one day be visiting your child in a juvenile detention center via Breakaway Outreach (product placement, lol). Parenting means I have a responsibility to rear my children into responsible adults which necessitates tough love at times which is not always popular with those we love most (our children). Love requires the discipline of doing what is RIGHT even when it makes others feel uncomfortable in the moment.

Jesus always had his Father’s approval at the forefront of his ambition and because of that focus, the man who loved more than anyone in history also offended more than anyone else. He didn’t massage people’s insecurities by placating them with nice words when the truth would set them free. He had their soul in mind, not their feelings.

Every family member, Pharisee (religious leaders), and political zealots in Jesus’ time had their own personal agenda for him. Even his own disciples had an agenda for Him. If Jesus’ goal was to be the “nice” guy, he would’ve appeased them all, consequently reducing his mission and his value to niente (nothing). But because he stuck to his mission, he carried out his love in a redemptive way that valued people more than just pleasing them.

Get this, our incessant need to please people devalues us and it devalues those we are trying to please. It shrinks our personal mission in life and robs others of God’s redemptive purposes in their lives. If Jesus tried to please everyone in his path he would’ve never made it to the cross. Redemption would not be available to us today if Jesus was merely trying to please people. Instead, he zeroed in on his MISSION and brought more value to humanity than he ever would’ve had he wanted to be remembered as the “nice” guy.

If you want to help shape eternity and bring value to people in the world, for heaven’s sake, stop trying to please everybody! Don’t devalue people or yourself by people-pleasing. Play to the audience of ONE. Aim to please your heavenly Father and you will bring more good to this earth than merely being seen as the “nice” guy.

Like Jesus, if you try to please everyone along your path, you will never reach your God-purposed destiny.

1 Thessalonians 2:4 - “On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.”

Galatians 1:10 - “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

“Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.” – Charles Spurgeon

I love that quote! You can’t separate yourself from His “mission” and call yourself His “follower.” The two are immutably wedded. To be about the mission of Jesus Christ IS to be his follower.

“The decision to grow always involves a choice between risk and comfort. This means that to be a follower of Jesus you must renounce comfort as the ultimate value of your life.” – John Ortberg

This quote from John Ortberg has been messing with me all morning. How much of our lives are spent in an endless pursuit to obtain comfort and security?

The essence of following Christ means that we are called out of comfort. It is no longer the driving force in our lives. Only when we move beyond this insatiable desire to have a comfortable life, and only then, are we able to fully and passionately embrace every risk and adventure that God has purposed for our lives. And only in that sweet spot of risk and adventure do we find ourselves to be everything we were made for.

If we are to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, we must come to the uncomfortable engagement with the cross, where we renounce comfort as the ultimate value of our lives.

Too many professing Christians want to take a new “middle road” today. But Francis Chan reminds us of the words of Jesus that describe our journey as a narrow road leading to life, while cautioning us that there is a broad road that leads to destruction (Matt. 7:13-14). Truth is, our middle roads have as many misguided agendas as the broad roads. They both end up at the same place, regardless of the “spiritual” labels we put on them.

Our WORDS tend to be the thing that gets us into trouble more than any other thing in our lives. Our WORDS have tremendous consequence don’t they?

Words can be our greatest source of inspiration… our greatest means of motivation… and our most effective tool in reconciliation. They are one of many different expressions of our worship. And yet words can also be the most destructive area of our lives.

James, in essence, says that if we can change our words – we can change our lives.

“For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life…” James 3:2-6

Most everything in our society is dictated by CULTURE, including our lives.

Every society, church, community, business, and people group has a “culture”. That culture is a conglomerate comprised of the collective culture of all its individuals. Companies succeed or fail based on the culture their leaders and employees cultivate. Presidents are elected or ousted due to political cultures and ideological climates that loom over the nation. Marriages rise or fall due to the kind of culture that is created in the home (Respect vs. Disrespect). Children grow up either socially functional or dysfunctional based upon the culture they are raised in. Churches either grow or die as a result of the culture they have fostered. Everything hinges on culture, and cultures dictate the course of society and the world at large.

Think about this: your words create a CULTURE that dictates the course of your life, and promotes a culture of either death or life for those around you. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

What is your culture?

• Do your words repel people from you, or do they attract people?
• Do your words build people up, or do they tear them down?
• Do your words point people to God, or do they push them away?
• Do your words make people feel blessed, or cursed, after they’ve been in your company?
• Do your words strengthen community, culture, and organization, or do they divide?
• Do your words create a culture of death, or do they create a culture of life?

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Can you imagine what every corporation, church, and social group would look like if we all applied this verse daily? Imagine the work that could be accomplished, the businesses that would blossom, the relationships that would be restored, the pain we would spare so many children growing up in dysfunctional homes, the churches that would rise up out of divisiveness and become a unified force of hope for ALL nations.

Our seemingly “little” words carry a powerful punch every day of our lives. And if you want to turn your life around, start with your words and the innermost thoughts that steer them.

Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words. Be careful of your words, for your words become your actions. Be careful of your actions, for your actions become your habits. Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character. Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny. – Anonymous

James reveals that our words reveal more than a tongue condition; they reveal a heart condition.

“From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.” (James 3:10-12)

Jesus said “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)

In other words, venomous words spring forth from venomous hearts. We need to ask God to take away the root of selfish ambition, pride, envy, jealousy, resentment, bitterness, rage, malice, gossip, deceit, and the spirit of unforgiveness in our hearts. And we need to ask Him to replace it with a heart of forgiveness, love, meekness, edification, kindness, and generous hearts that produce uplifting talk and positive energy through the right words spoken over our lives.

This is God’s covenantal promise to you over your words…

Psalm 34:12-13 “What man is there who desires life and loves MANY days, that he may see GOOD? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.” This passage is reiterated by the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 3:10. According to Scripture, our capacity to experience “many” “good” days here in this lifetime is contingent upon the use and control of our tongue. Is yours in check or is it more like a “little” spark about to set ablaze an entire forest?

Write down an EDIFICATION PLAN. Make a note to remind yourself how you will go about encouraging and building up other people this week. Then watch and see the course of your life slowly begin to change its direction.

I would love to hear your feedback on the action plan you develop!

Organizations, businesses, ministries, and churches today need more ‘Playmakers,’ not more critics! There is no shortage of the latter, but always a shortage of the former.

Playmakers change the game just by showing up and they do the little things that lead to big results. They add value to their teammates. Although they can make mistakes and drop the ball sometimes, they are resilient, dealing quickly and healthily with conflict by bringing resolution for the good of the team.

For playmakers, it’s more about winning rather than getting the credit. They are God’s difference-makers. They change the game and cause others to rise above mediocrity by motivating through example. They not only lead the way, but also speak words of encouragement to their teammates.

It’s one thing to be a critical thinker, but something very toxic to be a chronic critic.

Faith and mission are not spectator sports. They require intentionality. If you’re not in the battle you will have a clean uniform (a critic’s uniform is always clean). If you have too much time on your hands to criticize others you may be too bored with your life. This is a good indication you’re not anywhere near the battlefront. That’s where the opposition is at its greatest. Its folks who are doing the most for God that experience the most adversity at times. They are God’s difference-makers (their uniforms are invariably always dirty and stained). Troops at the front don’t have time to disparage one another with criticism. They have the real enemy in focus.

Critics vs. Warriors

The world is full of critics. The church has had its share of critics. And in every arena there are spectators and warriors. Warriors may be marred with scars from battles lost, but they fight on to accomplish remarkable feats. Spectators are clean and scar-free, yet typically do the most analyzing and criticizing of the warriors. They merely observe and disparage the warriors. Spectators watch and grade how the battle is being fought. Warriors go to the battlefront. They are the ones who matter in the end.

I love this quote that I taped on the inside cover of my Bible years ago:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt, “Man in the Arena” Speech given April 23, 1910
26th president of US (1858 – 1919)

A critic’s soul is usually cold and timid. A warrior’s soul is vibrant, passionate, and daring. Inspiration emanates from warriors. Disheartenment emanates from the overly critical and cynical soul.

Brian Houston said, “I’d rather be an ARTIST than art critic – FILM maker than film critic – MUSO than music critic – CHURCH BUILDER than church critic!”

Are you building toward, or tearing away from God’s kingdom agenda? Are you a warrior or a critic?