Saturday, July 31, 2010

The Healthy Balanced Life -- Relational Leadership

Here's an excerpt from my book titled Relational Leadership and published in 2009 by Beacon Hill Press. I pray it will bring freedom to your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

My dad is a commercial fisherman. He makes most of his living as a shrimp boat captain on and around the Atlantic Ocean. Working on the water is a hard life. It is more a calling than a career.

Dealing with bad weather is one of the most uncertain challenges associated with life on the sea. One nine-letter weather word can wipe out everything a shrimp boat captain owns: Hurricane! A few years back, a hurricane named Emily was bearing down on Harkers Island, North Carolina, where my dad lives and harbors his shrimp boat. A newspaper reporter from Columbia, South Carolina, photographed my dad readying his vessel for the storm. When the photo came out in the newspaper, there was Dad swimming with ropes in the harbor, securing his boat as best he could. The boat was separated from the dock at four points. One anchor in each direction held the boat through the hurricane. The balancing hold of the anchors secured the boat against the storm.
 
Whenever I think about my dad preparing his shrimp boat for a hurricane, I think about the balance I want before, during, and after the life-threatening hurricanes bear down on me and my loved ones. My earthly father knows how to get a hurricane-balanced boat. My heavenly Father knows how to give a healthy-balanced life. So, I go to God for the four anchors that will give to me a balanced life and a balanced work ethic.

FOUR ANCHORS FOR BALANCE
As I continuously seek my Abba Father for balance, the same four anchors keep offering me balance in all types of weather. If I desire the healthy-balanced life, I must give equal attention to all four ropes and the anchors they are tied to. I find health in my life and balance in my work ethic as I simultaneously look after adoration, occupation, recreation, and restoration. More simply, if I want health in my life, I must seek God to help me maintain balance between worship, work, play, and rest. The precious Holy Spirit, my life Counselor, will give me without interruption this healthy balance.

The Anchor of Adoration
If we are ever to be true spiritual leaders, we must be people after God’s own heart. We must be worshipers. Worship is more about knowing God than knowing about God. Worship is more about spending time with Him than spinning our wheels for Him. Worship matters to God. Worship is a priority on His agenda, and we will never know balanced lives or balanced work ethics until we embrace Him in worship. Worship is not something we just speed through. It is not a destination thing; worship is a journey thing. Worship is a 24/7 thing, an unending attitude of adoration of the Almighty.
My mentor in life, James Spruill, taught me not to compartmentalize life with secular and sacred labels. God is omnipresent, so whether we’re in the sandbox with the little kids, shooting hoops with the teens, or standing behind the pulpit on Sunday morning, all seasons of life are equally sacred. Jesus said, “Surely I am with you always” (Matt. 28:20); worship is an “all day, every day/all night, every night” way of life. Make sure the anchor of adoration is not dragging the bottom in your life or your balance will be out of whack. The anchor of adoration must be set deep in the Rock at all times.

The Anchor of Occupation
Adoration is worship, and occupation is worship, too. However, we need to practically incorporate both worship and work in our lives. Without worship, we become workaholics. Without work, we become “lazybones.” Neither alone offers the balance that helps us or pleases God. Work is what we do in obedience to God’s agenda for our lives. Worship is how we go about doing what we do in obedience to God’s agenda for our lives. Work is about action. Worship is about attitude. Work done in a worshipful way pleases God and balances us.

When I am looking for leaders to partner alongside me in ministry, I ask the question, “How many hours will your work each week?” It’s a loaded question. If their lips start moving quickly, I know we are in trouble. Some blurt out, “Seventy or eighty hours--that’s my style.” I pause and then reply, “Well, you won’t be working here with that style because you’ll cramp my style, and I’m not looking for more false guilt to carry.” When it comes to work, the words “realistic expectations” are very, very important. God wants us to work, but He’s not a one-anchor God. There are three other anchors that need tending so that our lives will be inwardly balanced and outwardly beautiful. All work and no worship, no play, and no rest make an unbalanced person and an unsuccessful leader.

The Anchor of Recreation
Worship and work are enhanced when we take time to play. Yes, adoration, occupation, and recreation really do go together. Talk about false guilt. Why is it that leaders feel guilty when they take time to play? I’m convinced the enemy spends more time cutting the anchor rope that leads to recreation in the life of the leader than any of the other four ropes. Why? Because playing, taking time for recreation, is the breeding ground for joy and lightheartedness in our lives. We all know that misery loves company. The devil doesn’t want us having what he doesn’t have. Fun! When we play and have fun, we become like little children, and you know what Jesus said about little children: “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom” (Matt. 18:3).

Starting to make sense, isn’t it? If we don’t tend to the anchor of recreation, we will miss out on re-creation. Schedule some fun time, some playtime, into your life, and being driven will begin to make way for being balanced. I promise. If you will begin to schedule in recreation, eventually, it will become spontaneous, a holy habit you will refuse to live without. That’s a good thing and a God thing too. If you really want to upset the disciples in a good way, just be like Jesus. Take time to play with the children. And don’t let that little boy or little girl inside of you die. If that child already has, cheer up, because our God specializes in resurrections. Ask Him to resurrect recreation in your life. Let the child in you live and laugh again. Ask God to re-create childlike wonder in your life now.

The Anchor of Restoration
Finally, do not forget to set the anchor of rest on solid ground. Remember, we need all four anchors for healthy balance in our lives and our work ethics--adoration, occupation, recreation, and, finally, restoration. I’m convinced that many Christians, and especially Christian leaders, do not need another sermon. They just need to take a nap. Jesus wants us to rest. He offers it to us in Matthew 11:28: “Then Jesus said, ‘come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (NLT).
Is it possible that the four anchors we are talking about are simply and profoundly about giving gifts? Stick with me, now. Is it possible that worship and work are both gifts we give to God, play is a gift we give to ourselves, and rest is a gift Jesus gives to us? I think it’s possible, indeed. Perhaps the reason we have no rest in our lives is we don’t, or won’t, come to Jesus to receive His rest as our gift.

The anchor of resting is connected to the rope of trusting. In his journals, Oswald Chambers was once up against some seemingly impossible circumstances. He went to the Lord in prayer and sensed the Lord saying, “Trust me and do the next thing you can do.” After some contemplation, Oswald concluded that he would do just that. So he simply trusted God and did the next thing he could do. He took a nap!
Resting is a gift the Lord gives to us so we can learn to trust Him more. Talk about the healthy-balanced life. That’s the kind of life I want to live. That’s the kind of work ethic I embrace. A work ethic that is beautifully balanced with four faithful anchors—adoration, occupation, recreation, and restoration--will help keep the boat crew from being upset by bad weather reports and unruffled by God’s divine interruptions as well. Come hail, high water, or hurricane, these anchors will hold us steady and keep us strong because they are lodged into the Rock of Ages!


IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Magazine Article: In Celebration of God's Yet

The link pasted below will lead you to an article I was requested to write for "Holiness Today". I pray it's helpful in making your faith more devoted and desperate.

http://www.holinesstoday.org/nphweb/html/ht/article.jsp?sid=10005084&id=10009401

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Why Rest Awhile?

In a poem by Mrs. Chas. Cowman, these words hint at one wonderful reason why workers in the Lord's harvest, should take time for sabbath rest?

To cease awhile from all the joy of service,
To find a deeper joy with Him to share.

And Jesus said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves. -- Mark 6:31-32 (NKJV)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Friday, July 30, 2010

Possess Your Possession

Lord, my prayer today is:
"I am not my own, I belong to You."

Therefore, please Lord:
"Let Your Holy Presence Wholly Possess What You Presently Possess!"

Yes, Spirit of the Living God:
"Possess Your Possession. Thee in me. Amen."

Jesus, let the final seven words of Your prayer to the Father in John 17:26 be reality in my life right now: "...that I Myself may be in them." Yes, Lord, I need what You want! I want what You want! In Your name I claim my inheritance! "Christ in me, the hope of glory! Amen."

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Consecration Simply Defined

Consecration is simply a matter of letting God have what He has paid for, or returning stolen property. -- Mrs. Chas. Cowman

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV) -- (19) Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; (20) you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Jesus, You paid it all. All to You I owe. Let me live my life not only claiming "You are mine" but also declaring "I am Yours". In Your wonderful name, Jesus. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Live Careful Lives. Prayerful, too.

It was a Tuesday when I visited a hero of the faith in my life. Yes, Brother Charlie is now 74-years-old and lives in an assisted care home. A man of God and a church leader for most of his life, he now spends his days encouraging the residents and the caregivers within his seemingly smaller circle of influence.

I made the trip with Brother Charlie's grandson, who is now a ministry partner alongside me, and my own son also rode along with us for the fellowship. As we shared together, Brother Charlie kept holding his old Bible up and saying to us, This is a wonderful book. I wish everyone would read it. He also said that the one piece of counsel he would give to people today is: Live careful lives because people are looking to us as the Lord's witnesses.

Before leaving, I asked Brother Charlie if he would lead us in prayer. He said, Whenever I hear the word prayer, I come to a halt. Then he prayed the most beautiful prayer I have heard in a long, long time. With pin-point clarity he cried out to Jesus, offering splendid praises and specific petitions. In a way it was a Transfiguration-type moment, in that, his grandson, my son, and I were keenly aware that the moment was exceptionally holy and Jesus was indeed glorifying Himself through Brother Charlie's life.

Lord, help us to live careful and prayerful lives that glorify You. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

"At One" or Aloof?

Lord, give me a desire to be always "at one" with You, and never aloof from You. Let me be aligned with Your blessed words recorded in Matthew 5:6, yes "hungry and thirsty" for a right relationship with You at all times. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Monday, July 26, 2010

When We Pray, Do We Mean It?

God’s there, listening for all who pray,
for all who pray and mean it.

-- Psalm 145:18 (MSG)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Sunday, July 25, 2010

...We Will Never Pray.

If we wait until we know how to pray, to pray, we will never pray.

Lord, teach me TO PRAY! Lord, when I pray let my prayers be personal, intimate, and effective, not powerless, imitations, and ineffective. When I pray, let my foundation be a right relationship with You. In the Name of Jesus. Amen

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. -- James 5:16b (NLT)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL! I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Saturday, July 24, 2010

All Together in Prayer All The Time

They all joined together constantly in prayer... -- Acts 1:14 (NIV)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Thursday, July 22, 2010

When We Rest...

It has been suggested:
"When we rest, God works!
When we work, God rests!"

Matthew 11:28-30 may hint to us that this is a very true suggestion.
Psalm 46:10 reinforces the hint.
What do you believe?

My Lord Jesus, please help me to live my life as if I believe wholeheartedly that Your Blood works so very much more effectively than my sweat. Help me to place Holy Trusting above human trying. In Your name, I pray. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Healing in His Wings

But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings...
-- Malachi 4:2 (NKJV)


IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

If We Harbor Unforgiveness?

If we harbor unforgiveness in our hearts against others, the Lord will not listen to our cries for His mercy.

If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
--Psalm 66:18 (NIV)

Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.
-- Matthew 5:7 (NIV)

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
-- Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Monday, July 19, 2010

A Child of Faith, A Man of God

At a wedding rehearsal, the father of the groom stood to affirm his son who was about to be married. It has been all joy to raise Adam -- our child of faith became a man of God.

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.

-- Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Friday, July 16, 2010

Enter The Mystery

Psalm 40, verses 1-4, from the Message Paraphrase is a testimony and an invitation that touches the depths of the soul:

I waited and waited and waited for God.
At last He looked; finally He listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
to make sure I wouldn’t slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:
they enter the mystery,
abandoning themselves to God.
Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
turn your backs on the world’s "sure thing,"
ignore what the world worships.


IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Thursday, July 15, 2010

"Does It Hurt God?"

Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God.
-- Oswald Chambers

1 Thess. 5:19 -- Do not quench the Spirit...

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Bury the Wrongs. Press On.

I am pressing on... forgetting everything which is past.
Phil. 3:12-13 (Weymouth Translation)

In the very depths of yourself, dig a grave. Let it be like some forgotten spot to which no path leads; and there, in the eternal silence, bury the wrongs that you have suffered. Your heart will feel as if a weight has fallen from it, and a Divine Peace will come to abide with you. -- Charles Wagner

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Behold! He Is Praying!

Acts 9:11 (NLT) -- The Lord said (to Ananias), "Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you arrive, ask for Saul of Tarsus. He is praying to me right now!"

Acts 9:11 (NKJV) -- "...Behold! He is praying!"

It seems to me that perhaps the first greatest wonder (what's most atonishing) in all of the universe to Holy God might really be a person praying. Could it be that the second greatest wonder (what's also most atonishing) to Holy God is to think that we as humans realize this and yet neglect praying?

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Monday, July 12, 2010

Quietness Quenches

In The 23rd Psalm, verse 23:2b (MSG), The Shepherd Psalmist penned these words of thanks to His Lord, The Good Shepherd, pertaining to the way He cares for His sheep: You find me quiet pools to drink from.

Lord, indeed you lead me beside still waters. Let Your Sacred School of Silence be in uninterrupted session within my soul. Surely, in quietness, You prove to be the Living Water that quenches my soul's thirst. In the name of the Good Shepherd, I give thanks today and will continue to give thanks all of my days. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Double Portion

My God, I hunger and thirst for a right relationship with You. Don't let me settle for Your minimum presence, but let me inherit Your Maximum Presence in my life. I pray the words of Elisha recorded in 2 Kings 2:9 (NIV): "Let me inherit a double portion of Your Spirit." Yes, I ask for the double blessing, indeed I request a double portion of Your Anointing, Your Oil, Your Spirit, and Your Fire within me. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Saturday, July 10, 2010

No Such Thing

Do we belong exclusively to God? If so, let us be encouraged, in that, "there is no such thing as prayer unanswered or prayer unnoticed by our God." -- H. Bonar

2 Corinthians 4:13-18 (NIV) -- (13) It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, (14) because we know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence. (15) All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. (16) Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (17) For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. (18) So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Friday, July 9, 2010

Mercies For Miseries

Lord, thank You for the glorious exchange -- Your new and never-ending mercies for my old and temporary miseries. In Your Name, my Beloved Jesus, I am speechless with gratitude. Amen.

Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day.
-- Lamentations 3:23 (NIV)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Subsitute For Joy?

Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy.
-- Leonard Ravenhill

You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of Your presence
and the pleasures of living with you forever.

-- Psalm 16:11 (NLT)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Learn To Pray -- Not How, But Now!

There is no way to learn to pray but by praying.
-- Samuel Chadwick

And continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy Spirit.
-- Jude 1:20b (NLT)

Lord, teach us TO pray! Lord, teach us not merely how to pray, but mainly TO now pray!


Lord forbid it and Lord forgive us if we avoid praying not primarily because we don't know how to pray, but because we simply and sadly won't take time to pray. Even a child knows how to pray. Help us to become as children and to pray now. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Fragrance Cannot Be Hidden

Psalm 45:7 (NLT) says the fragrance of joy is to be the unhidden fragrance of our lives, poured on us, even in us, as an anointing from the Lord:

You love what is right and hate what is wrong.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you,
pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.


John 12:3 (NLT) is proof that fragrance cannot be hidden: Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with fragrance.

Dear Lord, Your Spirit of Truth is the Oil of Joy in us, yes the Holy Anointing that you have filled our lives with. Your Holy Spirit's fragrance cannot be hidden. Make our lives a living sacrifice, poured out at Your feet for Your glory and for the good of eternal souls. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Monday, July 5, 2010

"Consecration" Simply Defined...

The word "consecration" may most simply be defined in this four-word declaration of devotion: "I am my Beloved's!"

Who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the Lord?
-- 1 Chronicles 29:5b (NKJV)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Free Indeed: A Place in The Family

John 8:34-36 (NIV) -- (34) Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. (35) Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. (36) So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

Lord, thanks for the price You paid to give me a permanent place in Your Family. Yes, thanks for shedding Your innocent blood, not to give me freedom to sin, but to give me freedom from sin. I owe my life, my all to You, my Jesus, The Elder Brother of The Family. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Freedom From Sin

My Jesus, I am so grateful to You for the total price You paid to offer to the world and to me freedom from sin. Amen.

John 3:16-17 still amazes me.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful