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For years I ambitiously built my sense of self - as a Christian - in the flesh: a Christian businessman who did well and employed lots of resources for ministry, a young pastor with a growing organization, and a teacher who was thought highly of and sought after by those he taught.
Of course, this is more the norm than the exception. In just the last few days... > I had a conference with church leadership out of state. Their ministry is in transition and - as often is the case - the spiritual wanderings of the leadership has made for spiritual wanderings for the local church. No one knows where they're headed or for how long because a leader isn't sure who he is or what he's called to...
> I got to teach with a ministry that is having an authority struggle around who gets to make which decisions and under what conditions, not for what logistically helps the ministry, but what rights the leaders have to be making the decisions. Not surprisingly, the pie they are fighting over seems to be shrinking...
> I began coaching a leader who has the gifting to teach but is struggling to embrace the opportunities to use that gifting under the authority of those who might not be quite as gifted... Now, I understand the sovereignty of God is bringing about His desire for His people and will even use our flesh as necessary to bring it about. And I realize that all of us as believers in Christ are on the same path as God brings us - through every circumstance - into deeper intimacy and revelation with Him. I even realize that the performance measurements of the world are much too often applied to the Church (attendance, buildings, and finances are NOT the determinants of spiritual success). Nevertheless, my prayer is that we as leaders of His Body will be quick to embrace the Truth of His life as it applies to every area of our circumstances.
Here's what I mean: Where God would reveal my flesh as an obstacle to experiencing His grace is not punitive - it's actually FOR me. And He will go to great lengths and any expense (proven by the Cross), to bring me into deeper intimacy and dependence.
For example, if I am seeking identity in my role as a pastor, God is certainly willing to sacrifice any organization, any program, any budget, or any employee that I would come to recognize the work of my flesh in that role. Our Father doesn't do this as punishment, but rather to keep a grace-based leader from actively (and "successfully") pursuing identity in the very role through which I might proclaim His grace.
So - elders who may find identity in authority, teachers who may find identity in knowledge or presentation, leaders who may find identity in the affirmation or loyalty of their followers, and administrators who find identity in the effectiveness of their stewardship... we are each in great jeopardy of losing the fleshly source of our identity as God - who would not spare His own Son that we might find Life in Him alone as our Source - will surely be willing to allow our struggle in losing credibility, lacking knowledge, floundering followship, or financial foibles so that we might come to a greater dependence on Him for Life and identity.
Is it necessary that we should lose all things for our Life in Christ? Yes and no.
We cannot cling to any of these for life or to define ourselves, so in a sense we must lose all things as Paul proclaims in Philippians 3, "...that [we] may know Christ" alone. But can we quickly and even eagerly release these fleshly sources of faux identity instead of having God remove them from our hands? Can we bring them to the altar excited about Christ as our Source without Him pruning each from us by cutting shears? Can we run to dependence without being brought to desperation?
Absolutely!!
The question is, "Will we?" Will you run to dependence instead of defining yourself in your role, your circumstances, your position, your resources, or your worldly successes? Will you give up the right to have or to get that you might revel in all you have and are in Christ?
By being willing to receive the revelation of where we are living in the flesh ("good flesh") and pursuing Him alone as the chief goal of our life - deeper intimacy, understanding, fellowship, and participation with Christ - He will not just be our Source (which He is), but will give us abounding experience and expression of His grace for His glory.
My prayer for you is that you will be quick to embrace the revelation of the flesh that may be IN you but is NOT YOU! ...that you will be quick to pursue revelation of Christ Himself as he wants to - AS God, prove Himself to BE God in your circumstance ...and that you will quickly and increasingly experience run to dependence without being brought to desperation in the very circumstances in which He wants to prove His grace sufficient for you.
So - I was reading a blog I wrote almost a decade ago on then-current debates of displaying the ten commandments at government facilities. The Christian community was up in arms. Militant atheists were organizing and on a rampage. It was ugly.
Worse still was my response via blog as a very former version of myself. I waxed eloquent and persuasive about the virtue of posting the ten commandments (mostly that it was an invaluable resource for morality!) Ha!) while encouraging a different kind of Christian response of love and selflessness that was otherworldly compared to the atheist regime bringing the attack.
At the time I thought - let's encourage people to live out of love toward the world while encouraging an otherworldly morality. Praise God I no longer think that!
Don't get me wrong... in itself, the ten commandments are good. A supernatural righteousness is good. A loving response to a lost world - good. But to think that the law of the Old Covenant would in any way correlate to a moral life - supernatural or otherwise - is LUDICROUS! The believer doesn't need reminded of the Law, but of our sonship of God by the finished work of Christ. Like the prodigal son, we forget who we are as a saint, are reluctant to reconnect because of our false expectations of performance, and inhibit the glory of the Father by His finished work to bring us fully into perfect relationship with Himself by our identity as His child by grace alone.
The law was never intended to bring about righteous behavior, but to bring proof of our inherent UNrighteousness, driving us back to dependence on God as our Source. As Jesus proved to the pharisees of His day, those who think they have any chance of maintaining any of the law become a stumbling block to those who are truly seeking God, and their SELF righteousness is an abomination to the very heart of the Father.
All that is to say - I was shocked at my legalism of even just a few years back. I was disappointed in my encouragement of Christians trying to keep the law, as if we should live in ANY relationship to it as believers who are saved and have a righteousness from God by Grace - who IS Jesus Christ.
More than shocked and disappointed though, I was thankful.
Thankful for His revelation of a new economy of grace in the New Covenant. Thankful for Christ who is our Life, whom I didn't understand that I fully possess. Thankful for a relational paradigm of living with God, not a performance standard for gaining from God.
...And I am thankful for not only my evolutionary journey in grace - far from complete - but for the opportunity to be a part of your journey, as we increasingly discover the Life we have in Christ, the glory that is God's through His grace to us, and empowerment of that grace to live in relational righteousness - the very character of God - by His merit not ours.
I hope you are already celebrating the reality of the advent of Christ - that He came not only to give His life for you, but TO you that He might live His Life THROUGH you for His renown as you rest in Christ who is our Life and Peace and Righteousness by grace.
ridiculously graced... -mike.
http://StoneLife.org
I'll be posting some Thanksgiving thoughts in a little while, but wanted to let everyone know that The Stone is gathering with CBC-Alamo Heights, led by Ken Hicks, this Sunday at 5p. Ken and/or team have asked me to teach this weekend ad I'll be sharing a message similar to that taught when at Harvest a couple weeks back. Justin Graves will be leading worship, and their growing, grace-based community will be excited to meet our folks as well. Ken and I have been talking about bringing our groups together for quite some time, so I hope you can join us and be praying for what God will do! Get info about & a map to 'Heights Community at http://HeightsCC.com/ & I'll see you Sunday!
-mike.
Howdy Gang!
If you have an iPhone, you can get all the Stone Ministries updates - videos, twitter, blog posts, event calendars, facebook posts and more - on the StoneLife App from iTunes FOR FREE!
Check it out HERE! (or connect from the home page at http://StoneLife.org)
If you have content suggestions - let me know!
ridiculously graced... -mike.
Sorry Gang! I posted the video and notes online earlier in the week, but failed to get 'em posted to the blog! Enjoy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What does it look like for the Bride of Christ to have an identity crisis? How do we "ID the Body"? :)
Join Mike as he shares a brief video overview of the FOURTH discussion from the Stone Gathering series "SAINTED - Know Who You Are", and for those in San Antonio, we'll see you at the Stone Gathering this Sunday evening!
Priestly You
"SAINTED" - part 4 Overview
What does it look like for the Bride of Christ to have an identity crisis? How do we "ID the Body"? :)
Join Mike as he shares a brief video overview of the THIRD discussion from the Stone Gathering series "SAINTED - Know Who You Are", and for those in San Antonio, we'll see you at the Stone Gathering next Sunday evening!
Love Affair
"SAINTED" - part 3 Overview
Because of the freakish thunderstorms coming out of nowhere (12% chance of precipitation? Really?), I'm not going to be able to finish the video overview of this weeks message tonight or get the study questions uploaded now. Will have them up tomorrow if aliens don't abduct us or something. :) look late Tuesday or early Wednesday for this weeks recap and study questions. You are loved!
ridiculously graced...
-mike.
What does it look like for the Bride of Christ to have an identity crisis? How do we "ID the Body"? :)
Join Mike as he shares a brief video overview of the SECOND discussion from the Stone Gathering series "SAINTED - Know Who You Are", and for those in San Antonio, we'll see you at the Stone Gathering next Sunday evening!
God's Child
"SAINTED" - part 2 Overview
What does it look like for the Bride of Christ to have an identity crisis? How so we "ID the Body"? :)
Join Mike as he shares a brief video overview of the first discussion from the Stone Gathering series "SAINTED - Know Who You Are", and for those in San Antonio, we'll see you at the Stone Gathering next Sunday evening!
ID Check
""SAINTED" - part 1 Overview"
Had a great time with the launch of our new series on our identity in Christ: " SAINTED"
Because of some delays in getting new blog settings modified this evening (AKA: "technical difficulties"), this week's devotional/homework will be posted tomorrow evening (Monday) as will the video overview of our discussion tonight.
Check back mañana for the study questions and for the video, and - if you're in San Antonio - we'll see you next week at the Stone Gathering!
ridiculously graced... -mike.
I posted a comment to a friend's blog today, and before the blog would submit my comment, I had to type in a random word to prove I'm not some kind of maliciously minded spam robot. The word I had to type was "t-o-n-e-f". Now - life sometimes feels just like that - having to do something seemingly nonsensical when what we are wanting to do seems perfectly reasonable. Yet, life doesn't seem to make sense. Can you relate? - work that doesn't make sense?
- relationships that don't make sense?
- health crises that don't make sense?
- financial conditions that don't make sense?
- behavior, woundedness, silence, and pain... ?
Our life makes sense to us only on our terms. God, of course calls us to live not by sight - by what makes sense from what WE see - but by faith. What do the nonsensical things of life look like when seen through Christ confidence? - God working on us, when we are consumed with circumstance?
- His bringing revelation to how we try to meet our own needs instead of relying on Him as our Source?
- relationships in which He wants us to be His instrument instead of using someone else for our benefit?
- A Father's discipline of a child who knows much more about what we want than what we need (cake for breakfast!)?
Today, as God calls you to depend on Him - whether circumstances are desperate or not, whether you feel lacking or not, whether you have a plan or not - what would it look like to walk in faith? What would it be to move forward anticipating His grace for where He leads? How might you reorient your expectations from circumstance to Christ confidence? ...and then - through that wonderful act of worship known as submission - He can bring clarity to the nonsense and shed light amidst darkness. And in that growing radiance of revelation, in that place where we start to see His love and sufficiency more clearly by the light of His grace, we find ourselves. So - to all the nonsensical moments of tomorrow, I place my trust in the otherworldly sovereignty of a loving Father, and yell... " T O N E F ! ! ! ! "
I went to a meeting at Starbucks this morning and hadn't had breakfast. Trying to get back into a little bit of shape these days, so I stared warily but wantingly at the goodies in the case of baked goods as the barista pulled my drink. Then my eyes crossed the wraps and breakfast sandwiches. I selected a breakfast wrap that looked part healthy-ish (hey - it had egg whites AND spinach, so it can't be TOO bad, right?), and took my seat.
In a minute they handed me the wrap and my drink, and I read through email as I ate. The wrap was piping hot, so I stuck one end out of the sack, wrapped it in a napkin, and kicked back. Gotta say, wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible, either. Hot, high-protein, healthy stuff... Okay, I'll deal with it.
After a minute I looked over at what was left of my wrap and realized I'd eaten part of the sack! ...I even took a bite of the NAPKIN! Talk about getting your fiber!
I laughed and looked around a little embarrassed. Then it hit me - how BLAND does it have to be for a meal to be indistinguishable from a paper bag and a recycled-paper napkin!? Well, that pretty much ended breakfast :)
Let me ask you a question: when someone sees your life, is it distinguishable from the world enough to seem remotely desirable? Is the Christ Life represented as being no more appealing that a diet-version of the worldly life - tasteless but good for you?
The Bible says we are to taste and see that the Lord is good. We as believers should never be curmudgeons - living with a scowl - because even what is sour in this life is made sweet in light of the sovereignty and graciousness of God's goodness.
Scripture also says our conversation - how we taste to OTHERS - should be full of grace and seasoned with salt, so we know how to give an answer to everyone. I'm not a formula kinda guy, but that's an awesome prescription for how we are to respond to others: "Full of grace... Seasoned with salt". When others speak with us, they should taste the goodness of God, but also notice the difference - the contrast of preservation and seasoning that Christ provides.
So, life with Christ should taste GREAT to believers, distinguishable from the world, and interaction with Christians should make that contrast - goodness and uniqueness - obvious and appealing and challenging.
But there is another taste we need to be able to distinguish according to God's love letter to His kids. Jesus told the Church that if we are neither hot nor cold - we aren't on fire for Him or even struggling with our life with Him - but just neutral, luke-warm believers, He finds us pretty distasteful. In fact, the word in Scripture often translated as "spews us out" in this passage is more like "vomits with velocity". How's that for a word picture for tastelessness?
"Hey, JC - how does luke warm Christianity taste?"
"Y'know - it makes me wanna vomit with velocity, actually."
Can you think of a more distasteful phrase? I can't.
Does your life seem tasteless? Is your day-to-day experience distinguishable from others who do not have or know Christ as Life?
What would it look like for you to live a life full of grace and seasoned with salt?
When Jesus Christ is your Source, when you realize you already have everything you need for daily life and for spiritual triumph and your persistent experience (2 Peter 1:3) true freedom, radical availability, and unforeseen adventure and joy are the result.
Today, let's join in prayer that our Father's ridiculous grace will overwhelm our senses, that the sweet aroma of Christ and the incredible taste of the goodness of God will be the appeal and challenge of believers and unbelievers alike to experience a life much less ordinary, full of divine flavor, and erupting with something otherworldly for His renown.
...to the praise of His ridiculous grace!
Father God - I give myself completely. I will pray with fervency, seek you wholeheartedly, love with your love, have a broken heart for the hurting, rejoice in all that makes you smile, flee from all that entangles, and turn from all that distracts - EXCEPT.... I cannot raise my voice to You but by your grace. I haven't the will to pursue You nor the love to give others. I cannot notice the hurting but for Your revelation, or know Your joy but from Your direction. What entangles is my own desire to be good, and what distracts is my means to meet my needs and obligations. I cannot so much as climb the mountain to place my life on Your altar, much less make my life a worthy sacrifice for Your worship. Holy Father, all I can do is receive from You. You have made me a vessel for You to fill with Yourself. Fill me to overflowing so I might know You, and share Your Life. Give me grace to pray and seek, to love and mourn, to celebrate authentically with You, and seek life only in You. Do all You call me to. I am willing, but You alone are able. I cannot, but You can. So speak through me, love through me, help through me, rejoice through me, lead me from within and draw me into You who are within me... ...That You would bring glory to Your Name, that You would increase Your fame, that You would expand Your renown by Your ridiculous grace.
God finished His work in creation and rested, telling us to recognize His finished work by resting with Him. Jesus finished His work FOR creation - redeeming us from our striving in performance, and prescribed we rest as recognition of His finished work on the cross. When we strive to be more, to have more, to do more, we are denying His sufficiency and rejecting His finished work on our behalf. But when we choose to trust His work in and through us we begin to enter His rest and experience His sufficiency, becoming available for His revelation of His finished work for others. Today, serve Him by trusting His work in and through and for you. Strive to enter His rest. Depend on His sufficient grace not your ability to produce for Him or obligate a reaction from Him. Then the Life of Christ as your Source will overflow from you to fill those around you ready to receive from the Spring of Living Water instead of digging broken wells for themselves. Enter into His rest by faith to the praise of His glorious grace.
What is God NOT letting you do?
Recently, upon hearing a little about my current book-writing adventure, a friend asked how long I'd been thinking of writing a book.
"Oh, since about 5th grade," was my snarky reply.
It's been something God showed me early in my Christian life. I love words, love the power of using them artistically - it's a kind of mental architecture, putting phrases together to build an idea in someone else that previously only existed in yourself.
God's dream, God's equipping, God's leading.
...but I am convinced He's not going to let me do it.
See, God is not interested in my writing. He wants my heart. He's not interested in what I can do for Him, but in the intimacy built between us as I let Him "do" through me.
Moses had a God-given desire for Israel's freedom, but God didn't let him do it. Abraham had a God-given desire for Isaac's future, but God did not let him bring it about.
Instead, both these godly men - and countless others from David to Paul, Gideon to Peter, and you to me - God asks NOT do what He wants to do as we give up the very thing God calls us to so that He might work miraculously, graciously, and for His renown and not ours to bring about the desires of our heart.
Abraham had an altar placed between Isaac and his future. Moses had a desert between the Israelites and freedom (twice). And my book? Well, it remains to be seen if and when God will bring that about, and how He will ultimately do it.
Maybe the question for you today is, "What has God called you to, equipped you for, and seemingly deprived you of so that He would become the desire of your heart even as He begins to take what you put down and produce the fruit you no longer need to be responsible for, take credit for, or have ownership or identity in?
What might you be wanting FROM Him, instead of being satisfied solely in Him? How might He move if you and I weren't trying to move with His blessing and endorsement on our effort?
How might He be glorified in His dream, His equipping, and His Life in us if we were content in His grace?
ridiculously graced...
-mike.
http://StoneLife.org
210-646-GRACE (4722)
"...and we rejoice in our suffering because we know the easy answers that allow us to forego tough times and get right to a maturity and abundance and excitement that transcends the process of growth" ...okay, maybe that's not quite how the verse goes, but I'd like it a lot better my way! (compare to Romans 5:3-5)As the rain is pouring down this morning, I realize it lands on two people today: those it refreshes and those it depresses. My own strife - of stolen credit cards, lacking finances, strained relationships, and a hurting body - pail in comparison to others I care about this week. It's almost impossible for me right now to share the grief with you on this page... I'm broken hearted for the broken hearted! People I'm close to feel rejected, insignificant, anxious, unsupported, listless, lonely, hopeless, unheard, isolated, and just plain blah. Some have given up on Christ as Life because life doesn't look any easier that way. Another runs from friends in the Church because she anticipates their rejection. Another seeks out the advice she wants to hear and rejects everyone else's intervention so she might feel justified in her decisions. Another feels he's irrevocably recked his life by his behavior and may not see it disentangled again. Most recently, a dear friend struggles with an unidentifiable melancholy, wanting everything to be what it ought to be, but not sure what that even means right now. So - people I love are hurting, lonely, lost and desperate. ...and I am not the solution. Not even a little. My friends, if you are flailing, I love you dearly, but God is your Source. I might be available for Him to use (as I hope you are for others in your life), but it cannot be mine to fix. I would love to help, but He is your help. Maybe He will use me, and maybe He won't, but I'm not the solution, and - most likely - the problem isn't what you think it is, either. Here's a little prescription for reorienting things when nothing seems to be as it should in your world, but you're not going to like it ( at first): 1) You probably feel like you're missing something or being hurt by someone. The problem, however is not what someone has done, what you lack, or what you need done. The problem is the flesh. Once we realize that the only obstacle to the fullness of Life God promises is my trying to meet my own needs, justify my behavior, justify how others should behave differently, or somehow create change in my circumstance - once I embrace the reality of the flesh in me - I can begin to understand what God's up to in my time of suffering and struggle. As long as I am trying to be my own source, the flesh and all it's twisted and deceptive desires will reign and I will be experiencing death. So there it is - regardless how you feel, the problem is the flesh. His joy and abundance is not based on circumstance, behavior, or perception, but dependence on God as your Source. 2) Then naturally the solution to your flesh is not always what we want to hear either. Getting the date, the job, the recognition, the change, the finances, the marriage, the furniture, or the opportunity will not meet your need. Getting married, getting divorced, eating more, eating less, working harder, not working at all - all these are powerless to produce what you're needing in your life... Not even a little. The solution is trusting God as your Source. Don't perform. Don't bargain. Don't persuade. Just receive. The problem is we want what we want like a druggie needs another hit - our flesh craves more of what it needs to justify itself. We don't just want what we want, but we want to be right to want it! That's the self-justifying work of the flesh. Trusting Christ instead of trying to achieve or justify is the only path to experiencing Life. That's life with a capital "L". Everything else is a knockoff and will fall apart in the rain.There's a passage that's dear to me, one I turn to frequently to be reminded of the sufficiency of Christ as my Life. In fact, it's so personal, so intimate a voice Father uses to speak these words to my heart, it is challenging to share, but they are too powerful NOT to share. Jeremiah was having a really tough time. He was doing what God asked, and life was getting harder and harder. It didn't seem fair and it was emotionally exhausting. He was speaking to folks having a really tough time, too - Israelites cast under the shadow of their enemies, feeling rejected by God, the mockery of their peers, having what little they had taken from them, and generally lacking any hope in life at all. And into Jeremiah's heart and the Israelites ears, God spoke... "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. He will be like a bush in the wastelands. He will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. (Can anyone relate to that? Feel like your life is that of a scraggly bush in the desert? Listen to your Father's desire for you in the next verse...)"...But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends it's roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Don't be condemned, my friends, and don't feel rebuked... Be refreshed! Be renewed in the power of His love. Be energized by the sufficiency of the Spring of Life that will flow out from you as you imbibe His Life. Come to Him now even more completely and receive rest for your weary soul. Seek Him alone today and watch His life flow through your members. Determine to need and know nothing but Christ and see the fruit - for you and for others around you - that He alone can and will produce. What will He withhold who gave completely of Himself? What do you lack that compares to what He wants to provide for you? Let Him uproot you from the lacking strife of the flesh, and He will replant you by the Stream of Living Water anew that you may drink deeply from His sufficient grace today.
As a leader, you've no doubt learned that those who look to you for leadership don't always know what good leadership looks like, but they never miss the lack of it! Here are five critical elements you contribute to the security and credibility of your leadership: 1) Give CONTEXT - define the environment in terms of the roles of your team member. If her role is management then define the environment in terms of efficiencies and inefficiencies. When they look at a task or a project, do they see a thousand unrelated variables, or a thousand potential efficiency improvements they might readily effect? If her role is teaching, then give context specifically for communication. What does she need to say or do to communicate the solutions people need. One of the greatest gifts you can give your team member is seeing and speaking from their perspective, putting things into the terms they will operate with. Without this step, they must translate your ambiguous or emotional input into useful terms, and will often misinterpret your feedback. So if you tell a greeter that people are feeling frenetic and lost, that's not nearly as useful as telling them to immediately suggest where they might take their kids or wave them in the direction they should go with a smile. Vision is critical, but it's the job of leadership to translate vision into practical reality of how followers contribute to the vision to avoid peresonal disconnects. 2) Give DIRECTION - the most critical element of leadership is not vision, but direction. Vision paints the picture of where we want to be, but direction points a team in a unified way to accomplish that vision. Without direction, vision is just a great idea no one can connect with, contribute to, or get excited about. If your vision is for ministry to have a specific measurable impact in 3 years, what will be in place in 6 months, who's managing that project, and what will it cost? What will the impact be on 18 months and what is the shift in resources as it grows? Vision without strategy or direction is poison to your organization. If we disconnect our goals from our resources and priorities, we disconnect people from the vision, because there is nothing they can do to make the leap from where you are, to where you want to be... People need the "how we'll get there", too. By the way - the best direction is personal and relational. It speaks to "who we are" TODAY, and how that will bring about the vision we've set long term. 3) Give OWNERSHIP - if you're the lead that sets the vision, be the lead that gives it away. How will each of your team members contribute to that vision with their unique skills and expertise? ASK THEM! As soon as your team is working on making their ideas for bringing about the vision work, it's become theirs and not yours... and that's a really good thing. Your vision and your ideas translated into tasks for others makes them feel like their just working on your project for your success. But their ideas for what they can do to bring about a shared vision makes them feel like their accomplishment is the team's success. If your team nods assent to the vision of your organization, the very next thing you say should be a question about what they can do individually, with their unique role, gifting, skills, andopportunites to impact that vision being a reality. At that point your job as a leader shifts from vision casting to resource allocation, because the vision is now theirs,based on the success of their ideas and investments. 4) Give EQUIPPING - Casting the vision, giving context, and giving ownership make it a shared vision, but the authroaty and resources to act still have to be given away for vision to become a reality. Your goal can now become the success of your team. What do they need to be successful? Do each of them have what they need - both internally (skills) and externally (resources) - to make the contributions they want to make to the vision they've taken ownership of? If tasks, schedules, resources, or ideologies conflict among team members are the priorities clear enough - based on the direction and strategy you've set - for clear decision making? Obviously you as a leader are a limited resource. Finances, facilities, equipment, other personnel, and any centralized resources are limited in quantity as well. Without clear strategy, priorites seem arbitrary, but once strategy and direction are set, priorities become clear as well, since some things need to move forward before others. Today's priorities aren't necessarily "forever priorities" or pet projects, but necessary steps in a specific order to agreed upon goals everyone is invested in. In is way, a lot of "no's" become clearly understood and even embraced "not now's" becAuse when a task takes priority is based on it's urgency within your strategy. 5) Give YOURSELF- Once the vision is shared, the strategy is clear, and the priorities are set, the "doing" of ministry is in the hands of the practitioners - the experts (or those becoming experts) for each area within your organization. Your focus now shifts from the vision (though ever in front of you and consistently re-articulated) to your team. Equipping them, resourcing them, empowering them, running interference for them, removing obstacles for them, and Dvocating for them in any other way possible becomes your primary job as a leaders. This doesn't mean pulling the rug out from under one team member for another, but facilitating the necessary communication for priorities to be clarified and strategy to be implemented BY THE TEAM. When your job becomes your team, and the team's job is the vision, expect incredible personal and organizational growth! In fhe final analysis, your leadership will be evident not in the greatness of your vision, but in the success of the individuals on your team. Giving direction, equipping, context, ownership, and ultimately yourself for the success of those team members redeems your vision by developing a unified, motivated, consistent, and empowered organization. And isn't that what you want to see happen when you lead?
October 17, 1869 "I feel as though the first glimmer of the dawn of a glorious day had arisen upon me. I hail it with trembling, yet with trust- as to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult; but the weight and strain are all gone. The last month has been perhaps the happiest of my life; and I long to tell you a little of what the Lord has done for my soul- Perhaps I shall make myself more clear if I go back a little- My mind has been greatly exercised for six or eight months past, feeling the need, personally, and for the mission, of more holiness, life, power, in our souls. But personal need stood first and was the greatest. I felt the ingratitude, the danger, the sin of not living near to God. I prayed, agonized, strove, fasted, made resolutions, read the Word of God more diligently, sought more time for meditation and prayer - but all was with effect. Every day, almost every hour, the consciousness of sin oppressed me- each day brought its register of sin and failure, of lack of power- then came the question Is there no rescue? Must it be thus to the end - constant conflict and instead of victory too often defeat? How, too, could I preach with sincerity that to those who receive Jesus, to them gave He that power to become the sons of God (i.e. God-like) when it was not so on my own experience?
I hated myself. I hated my sin; and yet, I gained no strength against it. I felt I was a child of God: His Spirit in my heart would cry: 'Abba Father'; but to rise to my privileges as a child, I was utterly powerless."
"All the time I felt assured there was in Christ all I needed, but the practical question was how was I to get it out?- I knew full well that there was in the Root abundant fatness; but how to get it into my puny little branch was the question. As the light, gradually dawned on me, I saw that faith was the only prerequisite, was the hand to lay hold on His fullness and make it my own. But I had not this faith! I strove for it but it would not come; tried to exercise it, but in vain. Seeing more and more the wondrous supply laid up in Jesus, the fullness of our precious Savior-my helplessness and guilt seemed to increase. Sins committed seemed but as trifles compared with the sin of unbelief, which was their cause, which could not, or would not, take God at His Word, but rather made Him a liar. Unbelief was, I felt, the damning sin of the world-yet, I indulged in it.
"When my agony of soul was at its height, a sentence in letter from dear McCarthy was used to remove the scales from my eyes, and the Spirit of God revealed the truth of our oneness with Jesus as I had never know it before. McCarthy, who had been exercised by the same sense of failure, but saw the light before I did, wrote: 'But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.'
As I read I saw it all, 'If we believe not, He abideth faithful' (2Tim 2:13). I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how joy flowed!) that He had said: 'I will never leave you.' (Heb 13:5) Ah, there is rest I thought! I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I'll strive no more. For has He not promised to abide with me?
"But this was not all He showed me, nor one-half. As I thought of the vine and branches, what light the blessed Spirit poured direct into my soul- I saw not only that Jesus would never leave me, but that I was a member of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. The Vine, now I see, is not the root merely, but all- root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit; and Jesus is not only that: He is soil and sunshine, air and shower, and ten thousand times more than we have every dreamed, wished for, or needed. Oh, the joy of seeing this truth! I do pray that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened, that you may know and enjoy the riches freely given us in Christ."
"Oh, my dear sister, it is a wonderful thing to be really one with a risen and exalted Savior; to be a member of Christ! Think what it involves. Can Christ be rich and I poor? Can your right hand be rich and the left poor? Or your head be well-fed while your body starves? Again, think of its bearing on prayer. Could a bank clerk say to a customer: 'It was only your hand wrote that check, not you,' or 'I cannot pay this sum to your hand, but only to yourself?' No more can your prayers or mine be discredited if offered in the name of Jesus (i.e. not in your own name, or for the sake of Jesus merely, but on the ground that we are His members) so long as we keep within the extent of Christ's credit - a tolerably wide limit"...
Dr. Hudson Taylor
Founder of China Inland Mission
...blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
Well, I don't know about you, but today is a day of heavy hearts. I find dear friends in crisis and it's nearly impossible for me to see the world independently of their hurting.
The above Scripture from Jeremiah 17:7-8 always speaks volumes to me. Trusting God means experiencing His provision. Depending upon Him is a constant flow of Christ-confidence building and spiritual reality checks.
There are still days of drought. There will continue to be seasons when life overheats with the sun beating the rocks into which we are trying to drive our roots. There will always be times of drought.
If you or someone you love is hurting this week, my encouragement is not that God prevents the world from being a fallen, hurtful place, but that in the midst of trial, your trust in His sufficiency - despite times of trial - will see peace in the midst of blistering days, growth in the midst of embittering climate, peace in the midst of dry seasons, and even fruitfulness in the harsh deserts of life.
May He be your strength in moments of weakness. May He be your peace in times of fear. May He be your sufficient grace when you are lacking. And may He be Love embracing you in your loneliest moment.
Let your roots reach out to Him instead of down into rocky soil. You are not alone. You are not without hope. You are not averting His will, or missing His plan. You are chosen and blameless. You have been planted by the Spring of Life, who will be your Supply and who is working out His glory in you right now.
I pray you will rest in your confidence in Him, not just hoping for calmness in the world you find yourself in, and see His sufficiency carry you through calamity.
You are loved.
ridiculously graced... -mike.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Okay - Colossians 3 is one of those challenging passages of Scripture that compels us to know who we are, whose we are, where we draw our life, and what that should look like. Here, Paul is giving a command that requires submission: "Let..."
So - it's like when my daughter was little and had a splinter. She wouldn't stop screaming and holding her finger until I physically would sit her down, lift her chin to look at me, and say, "Honey, let me look at it." It's a command, but it's not a demand. Paul's giving an order, but it's for us... and it's up to us. What is it he wants us to "let"?
"...The peace of Christ rule in your hearts."
Sounds nice, doesn't it?
But let me ask you a question: When you look back at the day passed, what did rule your heart? Did you struggle against anxiety? ...embitterment? ...insecurity? ...competitiveness? ...isolation? ...materialism? ...self-righteousness? ...or maybe you didn't even put up a struggle :)
Paul wants Christ's peace to rule - He knows you've GOT His peace. He knows Jesus' peace CAN rule. He knows it likely ISN'T ruling. He knows you'll be better off if His peace DOES rule. And He knows it's ultimately up to you to LET Christ's peace rule.
What would it take for the peace of Christ - the sensible security of our savior's sufficiency - to dominate every other turbulent emotion in your heart?
Would you have to trust that God knows better than you what you need? He sent His Son when you and I often would choose shallow self-improvement, didn't He? Sure seems like He knew better than us!
Would you have to trust that God is capable of bringing about what He knows is best? He was able to place our sinful nature on His Son's cross, and then raise up a NEW YOU with Him when He walked out of the tomb - with YOU! That's pretty powerful!
Would you have to believe that not only does God know better, and is capable of bringing about what is better, but that He will? That He loves you enough to accomplish what He alone knows you need no matter what? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Check out Romans 8:32!)
He loves you so much that He gave His Son to die so that you - a rebel & traitor to the Kingdom - might know Him as Father. Jesus died so that those who would kill Him could be called His brethren and co-heirs! That's RADICAL LOVE!
So, here's an idea. Wake up tomorrow and walk through a little trust inventory:
> Do you see from what He gave that He knows what you really need?
> Do you see from what He's done that He can do whatever you need?
> Do you see from what He paid that He loves you enough to pay more than you could ever need?
...Then, my friend - let peace rule. The God who gave so much still gives. The Father who calls you His child still calls you by His Name. The Lord of Life still wants to live it in and through you - today.
...and you can trust - and have peace - that He will do just that... if you'll let Him.
 Made some empanadas the other night. During the process I chopped a bunch of Jalapenos - not that unusual for me. But later, I noticed that my lips were burning (and I hadn’t eaten the empanadas yet!). Then I noticed my cheek was burning just below my eye - starting to water.
Then my hands - dry from multiple washing throughout the cooking process and having been out in the blazing sun a chunk of the day - were starting to burn. Hours after finishing the meal, having delivered some to friends in crisis and returning home to my wife who had also happily eaten them - my hands burned more and more. I’ve always had a high tolerance for capsaicin - the molecule that makes spicy-hot food, but this built to a really uncomfortable level. After many hours, my hands were on fire. My lips were on fire. My face was on fire. Even my arms where my hands had touched were on fire. We searched online to find a few home remedies... have you ever tried dunking you face in milk? ...or a cornstarch paste? ...not all that pleasant. So, eventually, I was sticky AND on fire.
In the end, I just had to wait it out. Late in the evening the fire in my boiling skin had turned down to a low simmer, and I fell into a blissful sleep.
The next morning however, as I got into my car, the power of the smell of jalapenos hit me immediately as I opened the car door. Carefully sniffing the cloth, the radio, the dash, etc. I found that the oil that had seeped into my hands was all over, especially in the steering wheel. Of course, I washed it all off as best I could, and battled repeated bouts of trying to keep it off vulnerable skin areas, and eventually... and I mean EVENTUALLY... it stopped being so noticeable.
I’ve thought often since that I want Christ’s Life in me
to be just like that.
I want to saturate so much in the grace of Christ that my words, my behaviors, my attitudes seep the stuff of Christ. Jesus juice.
In Acts - the chronicles of the early Church - the Apostle Paul became so saturated with the reality of an indwelling Christ that anyone who even had his shadow pass over them, or touched a cloth he had touched, were forever impacted by the power of Christ’s life. He became an expression of the irrepressible, inexhaustible, ever-potent, super-saturating reality of grace.
To the Church in Colosse, he said,
“Let your conversations be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,
so that you may know how to answer anyone.”
What might it look like if people burned with conviction, passion, inspiration, and revelation of Christ as Life whenever they encountered us? Might we walk in greater Christ-confidence? Would we walk with the security of Christ revealed in and through us? Would we no longer be daunted by circumstance, deceived by the flesh, thwarted by condemnation, and stumbling over personal failure in pursuit of performance?
I want everyone and everything I come into contact with to be exposed to the scorching revelation of an indwelling God - like the burning bush before Moses - that burns with holy fire but is not consumed in the midst of it.
How about you? Ready to burn?
ridiculously graced...
-mike.
[originally posted on previous blog in fall 09}
Howdy, Blog followers!
Mike's blog - "The Next Level" - has officially moved! We'll be transferring a bunch of our more popular blogs from past posts to this location as well as adding new posts 2 or 3 times each week, so we'll grow "newer" and "older" at the same time.
In the meantime - check back often, review some of the reposted stuff, catch the new stuff, and be sure to post a question in a comment or via email and we'll start fielding some of those (anonymously, if you prefer) here as well.
Be encouraged! You are FREE! You are LOVED! You are abundantly SUPPLIED! You have REST, and LIFE, and HOPE, and PEACE, and GRACE - and grace has a name: J E S U S ! !
ridiculously graced... -mike.
Worldly wisdom vs. Godly wisdom...What’s the difference?
Understanding cause and effect is the nature of worldly wisdom. Learning consequences, weighing cost, discerning outcomes is all evidence of strong worldly wisdom. Understanding these formulas for life help us make wise decisions.
The Bible prescribes worldly wisdom for making many of life’s decisions: determining finances before building a tower, comparing troops before going to war, even weighing the cost of becoming a disciple, and understanding the laws of the harvest, finances, and friendship. Scripture is filled with wonderful examples of good, well-reasoned, cause-and-effect formulas for good decision making.
But when we try to bring “cause-and-effect” theology to work in our favor with God, we discover something that at first is very disconcerting:
Our formulas don’t work with God.
We try to do what Scripture requires, but we never seem to garner greater favor from God. We submit our requests to Him faithfully, and rarely hear back regarding those things requested. We “get our life straightened out”, yet don’t see Him increase blessing at every turn.
“Wait!” you may say, “I HAVE been blessed, and I DO receive favor, and I DO hear from God, and I KNOW He’s worked in my life!”
Good... Me too!
Yet, it never seems to be in response to my praying, or behaving, or changing. In fact, it’s often the exact opposite. When I STOP praying for something and relinquish my desire to Him, He often brings about what I USED to ask for! When I give up behaving, He often brings about a change of heart. When I see Him working it’s rarely where I WANT Him working! Of course, there are some positive, worldly effects associated with all these endeavors. Better behavior may keep me out of trouble, and veracious prayer may make me more mindful of God, and certainly making good changes in my lifestyle can have wonderful impact in my circumstances - thus worldly wisdom certainly works! But God is not responding to my formulaic expectations.
Scripture deals with this, too. Jonah, couldn’t change God’s mind about Nineveh (or his part there). Abraham couldn’t make any of his own plans for God. Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Job, Paul, Peter, and even Jesus all couldn’t get what they wanted from God.
...Because God does not operate with us in the formulaic paradigm of worldly wisdom.
God operates in a purely relational paradigm.
I have struggled with God over my finances, my relationships, my career, my family, travel, health, talents, pain, opportunities, hopes, sin, perspective, spiritual gifts, and more. Yet, nothing I do seems to bring about greater divine empowerment. Because I am consequential and God is relational, we are too often working toward very different goals. I will never undermine God’s sovereign goal for my life. My goal for me is always me. His goal for me is always Him. He wants Himself for me.
When I desire financial security, He is wanting more of Himself for me. When I am trying to be a better person, He is wanting more of Himself for me. When I want a better marriage, a better job, a better house, even better health, God’s goal for me is none of these. He wants a deeper dependence, a richer relationship, and a more authentic experience of Himself for me.
This conflict may seem insurmountable. But God graciously gives us the solution in His Word. The answer to all I need in this life just happens to be Him, as well. He says to seek Him when we’re thirsty. To seek His kingdom (not ours) and His righteousness (not ours), and all that we need will be provided.
Ironically, I seek what I need when God wants to be my pursuit. He doesn’t desire just to be my Provider. He wants to be my Provision. He doesn’t just want to give me security, He wants to be my Fortress. He doesn’t want to make me better, He wants to be my Righteousness.
He doesn’t want to give me a better life. He wants to be my Life.
So, what is the difference between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom? Worldly wisdom is discerning cause & effect...
Godly wisdom is living in, through, and from our
relationship with Christ as our Life.
As we depend upon Him - and abide in Him - as our Source, we experience by grace all He has for us. And He moves us into a deeper realization of our Life, who is Christ.
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