Sabotage

There is no doubt that scripture teaches that we all have incredible potential. God tells us that he has plans to prosper us, to give a great hope and a future. It is in the heart of God to bless us, to give us purpose, and to light a flame of hope in us that even our darkest day can not extinguish.

The reason that most us never reach it is because we sabotage our potential. We do and think things that hold us back from living what God has for us. We are our greatest threat to living the life that God has for us.

Let me give you some of the most common ways we sabotage our potential:

1. We believe God is out to get us than out to bless us. We tend to think that God is watching us in order to "get us" for any little bad thing we do. However, God in scripture presents himself as a one who is passionate about helping us reach our potential. When we view that God is focused on "getting us" we are less likely to trust him, follow if the risks are high, and seek him passionately. So we sabotage our future.

2. We leave him out. I believe that God desires to speak but most of the time we are not interested in listening. We don't have time. It is hard to be blessed by God if we do not hear him. When we make our life without him, we will never discover the awesome life that he has written just for us.

3. We are too concern how others perceive us. This is huge. You will not look vertical in your life if your focus on the horizontal. Too many of us rarely hear God, rarely give to God, rarely experience God because we are consumed with what others think about us. This is a tramp that will consume you and leave you empty. Oddly, the more money you spend on your self, the less satisfied you become with the things that money provides. You sabotage your potential.

Today choose to believe that God wants to bless you and live looking for it. It doesn't mean that bad things won't come for sometime the greatest blessings are born in heartache. It just means looking in every situation for God's hand, and looking with an expectation that he is going to do something good.

Live Blessed.

The Best Christmas Present Ever - You will not believe this!

This morning after the kids opened their presents, the phone rang. It was a call from two detectives with the Wichita Falls Texas Police Department. That is where we lived before we moved to Georgia. While living there, I became the Wichita Falls Police Chaplain Commander. On many occasions, Jana would cook dinner and some of the guys on the 2nd Shift (3 pm - 12 am) would come to eat on their dinner break. I would often ride "shotgun" with several of the 2nd shift guys. The call was from two guys who use to be on second shift but now are detectives.

I enjoyed talking with them and catching up with what was happening in their lives. One of the guys is named Steve. He was one of the funniest people I have ever known. We have spent hours in a patrol car talking, laughing, and even fighting a few guys. Steve had a Catholic background, had given up on that, and didn't have a personal relationship with Christ. Steve was living with his then girlfriend, had a mouth like a sailor, and thought that God was out to get him on most days. Needless to say, he was not the kind of guy who normally would be friends with a pastor...I guess you could say that we were an odd couple.

Despite all that, we were friends. I often thought, however, that my friendship was not having any spiritual impact on him. I would pray for him a lot, and invested myself in him the best I knew how. He was always good to me, treated Jana with great respect, and I really enjoyed being with him more than many "Christians" I knew at the time.

That all ended when we moved away from Wichita Falls four years ago. We moved on in our lives, and I assumed that Steve did as well. I thought of him often but just lost touch. This morning's call from him and another guy named Brian (another great guy) was a great treat.

THE BEST PART was that Steve told us that a few weeks ago that he had accepted Christ and last Sunday he had been baptized. He said that his journey to the cross was influenced by the relationship that we had, that God used all those hours together to help get him to where he now is with Christ. AWESOME!

I know that I say all the time that you have to invest in people and invite them to come with you to Piedmont Church, and never give up on investing in them. It may take years, but I hope you will get a great call one day like the one I got today. It was the best Christmas present that I could have opened.

Thanks Steve for making my Christmas a very merry one.

Blessed

Isn't it amazing how we seem, with laser focus, to have clarity on seeing what we do not have. It matters not how much we have, accomplish, obtain, consume, amass, collect, experience, we are still experts at seeing what we do not have. I was talking with a guy who hates going home because he feels like he has to monitor what he wears, drives, buys, and the way he looks because everyone is trying to keep up or outdo each other...this should not be. Yet, to be honest I feel the pressure to play the same game.

So, in effort to swim against the tide. I am going to spend a moment celebrating what I have.

I have...
A great wife that truly is my best friend. Through the years we have fought hard, but have loved even harder, and thus our marriage has done more than survived, it has thrived.

I am blessed with a group of people who believe in me. I hope that I inspire people to believe in Christ, but it is so good to know that people believe in me as well. I am fortunate to have around me people who actively communicate to me that they believe in me. That is very sweet!

I love my kids. It is hard to add to that. I really love laughing, playing, teaching, and leading them. They are my greatest love and my greatest fear. I love them for who they are and occasionally fear all that is thrown at them everyday that is not Godly. God, I need your wisdom to father them well.

I am thankful for our new home. It is nice to settle in.

I am thankful for grace and the opportunity to give it away.

Though tomorrow I will have to fight not to get caught up in the game of "a little more," but for tonight...I just am thankful.

Personal Pursuit -Part six of how to spiritually mature

This is one that I am very passionate and tick-off about. I have been around church for a long time and I will tell you that the most mature and immature Christians I know at in the same age group...Senior Adults. They both have gone equal number of days to church, often both have served in church, and both know some facts about Christ that are true. One has matured through the years and one has just gained more knowledge but hasn't really matured. Well, what is the difference? Why does one mature and one not if exposed to the same things?

The answer is simple and yet very powerful. The one that matures takes ownership of their spiritual relationship with Christ and makes their pursuit of him personal. The church helps them but they do not rely on it to grow them. On the other hand, the one that doesn't mature goes to church and relies on that church and the information they learn there to mature them. Their responsibility is to just show up and the church is responsible for the rest. I can study about deer hunting and learn a lot of helpful facts, but it is not until I personally get in the deer stand and do some hunting will I really mature in my hunting skills. The same is true in your relationship with Christ.

I am pro-church, obviously for I am a pastor. However, I am passionate that the church is a tool in your development and should be teaching you to be a self-feeder. For you to know Him, really know Him and have a mature relationship with Him...it has to be a personal pursuit!