Spiritiually Leading Takes Responsibility

As the husband and father in my family, I am called by God to be the Spiritual Leader of my family. I see this extending even to my two son-in-law's as they in turn develop spiritual leadership in their new families.

I was reminded this morning in my quiet time how much responsibility that this entails. Just as Moses was the spiritual leader of the Isrealites during the forty years in the desert, I am to be a lead and guide to my family to constantly point them to God. My pastor said it well in church several weeks ago... He (God) is the Shepherd and spiritual leaders are the under-shepherds that help guide the flock.

As a Spiritual Leader, I must take responsibility when someone under my care falls. Where did I fall short and how can I change to become a better leader? How can I help to lift them back up and place them back on God's path for their life?

I was reminded of how I let distractions enter into my personal time with God. I have made some changes that will lessen these distractions. Before I start looking at the morning news stories, I will get my devotions and prayer with God done first. Sounds simple enough and I get up early to do just that but so many times, I let the morning news crowd out this time.

One other thing that I am doing is that my prayers will be deliberate and with purpose. Although it isn't a formula for prayer, a good format is known as ACTS. A is adoration, praising God for who He is. C is confession, looking back at yesterday and confessing the times that I have fallen short of His goals for me. T is thanksgiving, thanking Him that He is a God of second chances. Finally, S is for supplication. Not focusing on things that I want but things that I need to do His work. Lifting others in intercessory prayer. As the spiritual leader of my household, lifting my family in each of the activities going on in their lives.

I'm being deliberate in my prayers by writing them down and then kneeling in a submission to God, praying them out loud to Him. I'm doing this to keep distractions to a minimum. If I am voicing my prayers, my mind is not wandering on dozens of other things. I want to be focused totally... completely on Him.

Dissappointment or Success

The past several days have been ones of mixed emotions. I applied for a promotion with my company when my Director left for another job. I knew that I have the qualifications that my company is looking for and was encouraged by many in my industry to seek the position.

I did my homework and studied the issues. I burnt the midnight oil in making sure that I'm up on all the angles. I created one awesome resume (if I say so myself) and received numerous letters of recommendation. I was ready!

But there is one hiccup and that issue lead to my downfall in a promotion. My superiors wanted the position to be based out of a different city that is three hours away from where I presently live. I came up with what I felt was a reasonable compromise but in the end, I was passed over due to this issue.

I prayed often about making the move but God told me over and over again "no, you are where I want you to be right now". So, I am disappointed that I was not offered the promotion but I feel relief and successful that I am within God's will in this area of my life. I could have chased the increase in pay but in the long run, being outside of God's will is not where I want to be.

The past several days have been filled with mixed emotions.

Making the Most of Today

I’ll be finishing Kirk Nowery’s book, Make the Most of Your Life today. It is a very interesting book that is not like the time management and life management books that are on most bookstore shelves.

Kirk speaks of making the most of your life from an eternal perspective as a Christ follower. He stresses Jesus’ words about how we need to be viewing even the mundane daily activities from an eternal perspective.

I know that this is how I should live and it will be an interesting exercise as I look at my waking hours and the things that I think, say, and do. You see, I ‘know’ that I should operate in this manner but knowing and putting into practice are many times two different things.

This will involve commitment to give my life to God as I wake each morning then following through on my devotions and time to study the Bible and spend time in prayer (conversation) with God. If it is a weekday, I then will need to look at my schedule and my to-do list and ask God if I need to make changes that will better accommodate what He wants me to do. Then as I go through the day I must be open to His direction which may seem like detours to me. This will be hard at first as I tend to get ‘tunnel focus’ looking only at what I have before me. I must do a better job of not only expanding my vision but also expanding my audible senses to hear others and God.

Are you also trying to ‘Make the Most of Your Life’ using God’s perspective instead of your own? Tell me about your experiences. Maybe we can encourage each other along.

Blessings to you as you journey out today!

The Alamo

I had the unique opportunity to visit The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas today. It is the location where 185 brave men joined together in a single cause willingly giving their lives against an army of several thousand because they felt that freedom was worth fighting and dying for.

It is sacred ground. The building itself is now considered a shrine in honor of those that died as it well should be. The history was palatable as I walked around the place and on the grounds where the battle occurred.

Two things concerned me though as I was there. First was the tourist atmosphere that surrounded the grounds where The Alamo is located. One tourist shop after another, Ripley's Believe It or Not, on and on and on. Is this how we as a society view such a honorable and sacred location?

The second concern on my mind is how these men ... these ordinary men, from all walks of life, stood together for a single purpose and felt it worth dying for if need be. Certainly we have our young men and women in the military that make that stance and I am so grateful for them but they are indeed, military. What about you... what about me? Ordinary people doing ordinary things from day to day. If the time and the cause arose, would you ... would I lay down my day-to-day routine and be willing to die for a single cause? Is our society willing to do that or have we become to self-centered in our lives.

Chickens, Coffee, Arthritis and Sore Muscles

The past week has been consumed with building a chicken coop for Kay. I gave her six baby chicks for Christmas and they are presently 'living' in my workshop in a cage. "Peep, peep, peep" is what I constantly hear when I go into my shop and see them staring up at me with one eye. Little do they know that they are going to be moving into a Chicken Mansion soon.

It has been a solid week of designing in my head and trying to make that design a tangible piece of reality. I am amazed at people like my brother who can build just about anything without plans. I'm a planner though and the more detailed the better. I have thought of Noah often over this past week. There was Noah at a time when it had never rained and God told him to build an ark because the rains are coming. Build an ark with no plans. I can imagine that those years of building were filled with conversations with God on plan details.

Believe it or not, my chicken coop had some of the same conversations. I couldn't have done it on my own. I have asked God to guide me through something even as mundane as a chicken coop and He has come through.

It has been a good lesson for me in realizing just how much God wants to be part of our lives everyday.

I don't get carried away about resolutions as the new year comes around. I figure that if it is a good goal to work for, you can resolve on any day of the year to start working in that direction. Be that as it may though, I have resolved to take the lessons learned about including God in even the mundane parts of my life. The conversations have been good and they have provided me comfort, strength, guidance and assurance. That is good and I am thankful that I have a God that wants to spend time with me.

Christ Follower or "Christian"

I was catching up on Facebook this evening and ran across a post from an Associate Pastor of a United Methodist Church. His comment was "how sad" he was that the voters in Florida chose to limit marriage in the state to between only a man and a woman.

People, it is time to stand up and start to confront people like this! They are leading their flock to HELL by teaching false doctrine and picking and choosing what they wish to present as fact from the Bible.

I believe the WHOLE Bible from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation... every word... EVERY WORD is inspired by God. If I choose to throw out even one sentence, what gives me that right? If I pick and choose, why can't someone else? If we all did that, what good is the Bible to anyone?

Listen and listen up good. I'm angry and SICK AND TIRED of 'pastors' and 'ministers' that are tearing apart the Bible. Watch out for the label "Christian" as it means little in today's society. Lots and lots of churches have church members that use the term Christian very loosely yet have little interest in following Christ by believing the ENTIRE Bible.

If your church is not preaching the entire Bible from the pulpit, run away quickly! This sort of false teaching is rampant in our country and becoming more so by the day.

We are in the end times, time is short. Are you a Christ Follower or just a "Christian"?

Climbing Back Out of the Valley

This past week or so has personally been a rough one for me. There was not one event or thing that I can point my finger at but it has just been a spiritual valley.

The turning point though was what I heard from a message that I heard at church this past Wednesday evening.

• No matter where I am, on top of the mountain or in the midst of a valley, seek God with ALL of my heart. Don't let off!

I found that indeed I had let off. I was having this internal pity party in my head and looking at myself instead of looking up. What I learned in my Bible study from Luke 7 is

• My faith in God is what saves me. My faith is what should also guide me and protect me.
• Just because I do not 'feel' God's presence, it dosen't me that He is not there.
• Keep looking up, keep praising, keep pursuing God... NO MATTER HOW I FEEL.

I'm climbing back out of the valley. I see God's hand reaching down to me and I see the path before me. I walk forward today in faith.