The Leader Who Waits…The One Who Lingers & Even Meanders!

So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir. - Genesis 33:14

Our work often determines that we move at a pace that can put incredible stresses upon people and relationships. We all have our own pace. I like speed. It speaks efficiency and tells me that I am more competent for my ability to move quickly. I like feeling like I am competent. I also get annoyed when things do not move at my pace and in my direction.

In the Old Testament there was a certain man who would one day be known as Israel. His name was Jacob. Jacob was a man who learned to manipulate and control outcomes. He even stole the birthright of his older brother, Esau, through trickery. The Bible speaks of Jacob as a man who strived with God. That means he tried to push God along like a child wanting to leave one place to go to another, Jacob would "pester" God.I am sure those around him would say that Jacob had a knack of forcing issues to his advantage. Because his motives were selfish and greedy took years for God to break down all the rough edges of Jacob so that he could be worthy of becoming the patriarch of the 12 tribes of Israel. God saw something in Jacob that He could use.

Robert Hicks, in his book, Masculine Journey, describes five biblical stages of manhood that must be passed through before a man becomes a mature man of God. I like the idea of this. It's linear. My experience however is that God is not linear in His dealings with me; at least not necessarily. Nonetheless, one of those early stages is known as the "warrior stage." In this stage of manhood, the man is known by what he does, what he accomplishes, and he is primarily defined by his performance. It can be a tumultuous time for the man and those close to him. It is often signified by broken relationships because the goal is often about him, his needs, his goals, his aspirations, his work and this phase is most about about the goals and not the way the goal is accomplished. Yesterday I had the chance to meet with a man who was through this phase. You can tell. He was not driven in the conversation. But, he did talk about this phase without naming it; a time when he was dogged and relentless in his pursuits.

In an effort to get to the point I have shown a time when Jacob had successfully passed through these five stages based on the verse above. It takes someone mature to be able to "move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children." Leaders who never come to understand this may be successful materially but fail at the most important aspect of leadership-leading at a pace that his followers can maintain and where they feel an integral part and also accomplished. The lives of men are full of wives, children, and workers who cannot keep up with the pace of leaders and are left behind with broken dreams, broken hearts, and unfulfilled promises.

Are you a person who is more concerned with outcome than how you achieve the outcome? Can the people around you describe you as someone who leads at a pace that ensures respect, admiration and an observed value on what is also important to those around you? Ask the Lord for the ability to be a godly leader who understands the condition of those left in his charge and stop to observe and best understand the pace in which you can lead without alienating those for whom God has made you accountable.

I remain…

InHISGrip, ~J~

Oh You Beautiful Mess Maker!

Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest. - Proverbs 14:4

When I was a 7 year old we moved to a brand new neighborhood. It was a brand spanking new house! One of my favorite things was to play in streets filled with red clay from the land, plastic pipe and wood and other building materials as bulldozers would be left behind for us to play on. The job site was a beautiful mess from a 7 year old boys point of view. There was always all sorts of trash from workers, and is generally a mess. The houses looked ugly; all of their insides were exposed as they were being being pieced together. It was good for us that this process is necessary to get to the finished product. When completed, the homes were gorgeous. The landscaping looked like they came out of a home-design magazine. Everything would go from "MESS!" to clean and perfect in order for the new homeowner to move in.

I am sure you get the picture. The Christian life is just like this. Often we must go through s messy period of our lives in which all aspects of it are in chaos (Or, at least it feels that way to us). It is in these times that God builds out new aspects of His human tabernacle. He might remove some structural timbers in our lives and replace them with new ones. He might even add on another room. And unless this process takes place, we will never see the end product. The goal the Father aims at is for his kids to exhibit greater Christlikeness. In order to achieve this in us, He requires a period of breaking away what is not "of Him" and replacing it with new appliances and buildings; all that is not of Him replaced with all that is "of Him!"

It can be a painful process. But when the pain and messy start be lifted up! A brand new awesome wing of who you are will be coming forth. Years ago a song was penned that had this lyric line:

Sometimes a shadow dark and cold - Lays like a mist across the road - But be encouraged by the sight - Where there's a shadow, there's is light

Where there is a mess there is, out of the midst of it great beauty, power and strength

It would be impossible to keep oxen in a barn without having to clean up the mess from time to time. It just comes with the territory, but the result of the oxen is an abundant and useful harvest. God may be allowing a mess in order to ensure a fruitful harvest in your life. Learn from Him so that you might experience the fulfillment of His purposes for you in these times.

One other thought, those messes are not just created unilaterally and they are not cleaned up and that order is not just built in this world by one man or one woman. God creates or allows the messes to come through people. He uses people to build order. In the midst of the beauty of building he encourages us to gather to ourselves others in the building process. At Vision Reach we would love to be on your team. We would love to be your coach, your encourager, your exhorter; someone that helps to keep you on task and on purpose.

Join Cindy and I today in the adventure of an eternal lifetime!

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

Well...er...The Reason You See Is....

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. - Hebrews 10:23-25

Everyone I know realizes I am a major baseball fan. This is my season! I had two "stupid human tricks" as a child growing up. First, I could never ever make, model and year of every car from 1947 (I was born in 1952) until 1976 on the road. The other was I could remember the most minute details about ballplayers and the game itself. I loved it! I didn't see it as trivia because I loved it so much. To me it was cool and fun and I suppose it was also important. How good was I? Even my friends, who had teams that they loved more than I did and had heroes that were not my heroes knew less about their favorite players and teams than I did. I hated the Yankees but my Yankee loving fiends marveled that I knew more about Mantle, Maris, Ford, Berra, Richardson, Kubek and all the lesser known Yankees than they knew. You may be that kind of person or have friends and family like that. Well, I still am a bonifide member of this group of trivia containers.

Fans have other traits as well don't they? They have an indomitable sense of commitment, loyalty or determination - okay, okay, maybe "addiction" is a better word! Against incredible odds, sound logic, and even medical advice, sports fans will persevere to the dying end! Difficulties are viewed as a challenge ... never an excuse to stay away or miss a chance to support our teams!

I've often wondered what would happen if people were as intense and committed and determined about their love of Christ Jesus and the Body He died for as they are about sports or any other hobby. This topic was covered some years back in a Moody Monthly piece that illustrated twelve excuses a fella might use for "quitting sports." The analogy isn't hard to figure out.

1. Every time I went, they asked me for money.

2. The people with whom I had to sit didn't seem very friendly.

3. The seats were too hard and not comfortable.

4. The coach never came to call on me.

5. The referee made a decision with which I could not agree.

6. I was sitting with some hypocrites---they came only to see what others were wearing.

7. Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home.

8. The organist played music that I had never heard before.

9. The games are scheduled when I want to do other things.

10. My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up. (Hmm...I'll have to ask my boys)

11. Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches anyhow.

12. I don't want to take my kids, because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.

I've come up with a few more:

13. The parking lot (steps, walkways, etc.) was awful . . . I had to walk 300 yards to the stadium entrance.

14. Nobody came up and introduced themselves to me; it was so impersonal!

15. The public address and lighting systems don't suit me.

16. It's always too hot (or cold) in the stadium.

17. It's so loud there!

Enough said. Think it over.

What would happen if we approached our responsibilities to the Body of Christ with the same enthusiasm we give to our hobbies, sports, and other extracurricular activities?

My Internal GPS

Thus says the LORD: “ Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD. - Jeremiah 9:23,24

There is a kind of thinking that goes like this..."If I am sensitive I will know that God has provided instruction, but then it's up to me." Does that sound about right? Or, maybe you are of a different school of thought regarding you and God's will. Maybe yours is as simple as, 'If I just knew the Bible better I could better understand God's will." Or, maybe yours is more mystical or more practical than either of the above. Nonetheless, there is a part about knowing and a part about doing.

My experience is this, those who are most in love with Jesus; those who crave Him most deeply and glorify Him most easily do not seem to have much of a problem with the whole issue of God's leading in their life. It just sort of flows.

Period.

The focus of our attention should be on the relationship that Jesus Christ came to earth to re-establish with us and that is, to get us back to a place where we realize and fully embrace God's love, acceptance and forgiveness and desire to provide direction for our lives so we can snuggle into a relationship with Him. The rest seems to just fall into place.

But, regardless, we must accept His instruction and apply it to our lives in order to see that He is in fact working in us and through us for His good pleasure and our fulfillment. It is then, and only then, that we can expect to cash in on the benefits of His leadership in our lives. My friend Chuck Swindoll would say, "application is the link between (God's) instruction and change (in our lives)."

I'm not sure that is what God is concerned about. Therein lies the rub. God doesn't lead us just so we do stuff. The end game for our lives isn't but it does include it.

Let's look at a realistic metaphor for this scenario and our most common way of interpreting what God requires of us.

Imagine that you work for a company whose president must travel out of the country and spend an extended period of time abroad. So he says to you and the other team members, "Look, I'm going to be gone to Outer Mongolia. While I'm gone, I want you to pay close attention to the business. You manage things while I'm away. I will be in communication with you regularly. It most likely will be snail mail since I'm not sure that I'll always have Internet or that my cell phone will work there. But, when I do communicate, I will instruct you as best I can given your situation and give you what you should do from now until I return from this trip. The direction that I want you to take the company will be outlined in writing." Everyone agrees. He leaves and stays gone for a couple of years. During that time he writes often, calls when he can, and tries to find enough Internet signal to E-Mail if possible...the point is though he is communicating his desires and concerns and most of the time, as he had indicated it was by written communiqué primarily. The more personal messages seemed to be fewer and farther in between.

Finally he returns.

He walks up to the front door of the company to find everything is in disarray - weeds flourishing in the flower beds, windows busted out across the front of the building, the receptionist is dozing, loud music roaring from several offices, two or three people engaged in horseplay in the back room. Instead of making a profit, the business has suffered massive losses. Without hesitation he calls everyone together and with beet red face and a frown asks, "What the *#@^! happened here? Didn't you get my instruction?" You say, "Oh, yeah, sure chief. We got all your letters. We've even bound them in a book. And some of us have memorized them. In fact, we have 'letter study' every Sunday. You know, those were really great letters." I think the president would then ask, "But what did you do about my instructions?" And, no doubt, the employees would respond, "Do? Well, maybe not everything we should. The studies were helping us to determine what the correct interpretations should be. We didn't want to assume you meant what you said. But we read every one...a lot!"

In the very same way, God has sent us His instructions. But how do we use it? Did it provide you with an ability to understand general instruction (love, don't lie, cheat, steal, assist, care, show mercy, forgive, redemption story, how end times will occur, etc.)? Did you see the pattern of how you should be responding in life based on what you read? Was the written signals God has given you enough of a link for you to more deeply understand personally how you should act or, more importantly, when He is speaking to your spirit (heart, soul, mind, etc.) is the general messages and examples enough of a framework that you can discern His intimate communication to you?

God has preserved every word of much of His hearts desires and even provided great examples of how to live them out in a Book, the Bible. It's all there, just as He communicated it to us. When He returns for His own, He is not going to ask us how much we memorized or how often we met for study. No, He will want to know, "What did you do about my instructions; more succinctly, the ones I gave to you personally? Did any of your time in study of the Bible, did it link in to our specific times of discussion, meditation, and personal communication? Did you even listen during our one-on-one Skype calls? Were you even there? Did you even have any with me? Didn't you get that from the big black bound book; that I desire to speak directly into the lives of my children?"

One leads to the other. The Bible gives us hope. Not just the hope of salvation but the hope that God turns his attention and in earth time that attention is aimed directly to people who are very much like you and I. Just folks. Oh sure, a few Kings and prophets along the way got messages from Him. But our father spoke to white collar and blue collar working stiffs too. He spoke to children and to women and to people of ethnicity's very unique from one another. It is a message to you: I want to have your attention and time and I want to be your greatest lover and fan. Most important of all, He spoke personally to them.

Remember, it to rebuild the bridge and loving, personal communication and relationship... that is what Jesus came to do...to put you and Abba Father back together again. So, when you read the Bible what are you hearing in your heart? How is it changing, affecting and guiding your actions...your life?

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

Allowing Me Into Your Life

Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel - Philippians 1:12-13

Have you ever heard these statements: "Money talks." Or how about this: This is the golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules." Both of these statements have a hint of truth in them.

When Jesus was crucified there was a question as to where Jesus would be buried. Those that hurried Him to the cross, designed that He should make His grave with the wicked; that he would be buried with others who had been accused of crimes and that had also been crucified. God designed He should make it with the rich and prophetically had announced this in the Old Testament in Isaiah 53:9 - Though they prepared his grave with the wicked he entered in death with the rich though he had done no violence nor was there found any lie within him.

And so a rich man also named Joseph (like Jesus' earthly father) ensured he had a proper burial. In order for Jesus to be buried with honor, this man of influence was permitted to take the body of Jesus. It seems this man had a personal relationship with Pilate. Thus, we can call this Joseph a man of influence. Ultimately he retrieved the body of our Lord and placed it in a burial plot he owned in a cave that was reserved for the rich.

Joseph of Arimathea was called an honorable counselor, a person of character and distinction, and in an office of public trust; some think it would be comparable to our State Department. That would allow him to be privy to and associated with Pontus Pilate. This post also seems to have been in the Jewish faith and that he was one of the great Sanhedrim of the Jews, or one of the high priest's council.

The Bible says that God desires His people to be the head, not the tail. He prepares us, when we accept and embrace God's instruction through the Holy Spirit to be sensitive to God's leading and to be instructors, teacher's, leaders.

Guys, if we are to influence the our time, our place, the culture that surrounds us, we must be men and women of influence in whom God uses to impact the culture. If you are a successful person, consider the words of Paul when he said, "...what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel." Although Paul was referencing adversity in this statement, it can be equally said that each of us needs to ask if our prosperity has served to advance the gospel or our training or our advancement in any area of our life. We need to look to heaven and ask God to reveal to us where our personal leverage and leadership exists. We also need to ask where we have not sharpened the saw of our life or maximized our potential to change lives by allowing God to fully develop our tools, talents, passions and gifts.

Are you using your influence to impact your workplace, city, Body of Christ or even nation for the sake of the gospel? Is there something or some things you have neglected that would change your ability to stand in a place of honor, or, as in Paul's case, apparent dishonor (this to be developed more thoroughly in a future teaching) so that God is glorified and the borders of the Kingdom of God are spread by your efforts and position? What else should you be doing? What two things, right now, do you know for certain you could do that would extend your ability to touch and perhaps bring salvation to lives around you? THINK! :-) - I bet you dollars to donuts that if you spend just 15 minutes in consideration, meditation and prayer over this that the Holy Spirit of God will show you what those two things are...

This is a season of warmth, love, consideration, serving and fellowship. Nothing about giving is more valuable then your compassion spread in a way that would fall naturally within your gifting and position. God's richest blessings to you and may your borders and tents be spread and Jesus arise in you and through you to others like the Daystar of the morning. I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

To Obey Is Better n' A Sack of Ice?

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him. - Acts 5:32

As the Shins once sang, "there's no connection" in the title and to the subject matter of this devotional.

Other than this...obedience is often obscure to Christians and means something very different than we might have thought we were taught.

I am a sales person in my chosen profession. I work in franchising. I have for quite some time. My work requires me to create solutions for both the franchise company and potential franchisee's (franchise owners.) If I can't I do not get paid. It is straight commission. God has been good to me over the years. I have done well. But, it is never far from me that my success and productivity is measured by numbers; you make the numbers you receive the accolades (and pay).

So often we as a society equate numbers with success and my day job is just an example of that. The larger the conference, the more successful we deem it. Sadly, a whole generation of evangelicals got trapped in a "the larger a church, the more we believe that God is blessing" mentality. Most of us know better now.

When I was at AlphaGraphics Printshops we once were planning a conference and because we did not initially promote it with our usual pomp and marketing drive registrations were not where they should have been. We were just a few weeks before the event. There was a new ownership. They had a new Board of Directors. The pressure was on to ensure this conference was as good as any we'd previously held. It wasn't long before I began to get "under the pile" about the level of attendance. One of my Area Managers who was assisting came into the office to check up on me. Though he was not a particularly spiritual guy, Don immediately reminded me of my own teaching in this area. "You always say, (stealing it from Keith Green, the Christian Songwriter) just do your best and pray that it's blessed and God will take care of the rest."

Hmm...

The first part of the lesson about obeying and doing your best was this: God doesn't judge us (though mankind might be ticked) on the outcomes. "If my job required I take responsibility to put on this conference, then the outcome is up to Him if we have done our part."

Since that time, in the world of ministry I have seen God work in just this fashion. We had one idea of success but God had a different idea. His idea was about an individual; or maybe two or three. While we worried about the crowds Jesus wanted us to touch a person.

I have to constantly remind myself of the tension between the world's standards of success and Gods'. Being led by the Spirit often means we must not use the world's standard for success as our measuring stick. You never know what an act of obedience will yield at the time. Leave the results to God. Our role is to obey. His role is to bring results from our obedience. What God ordains He brings to pass; just be prepared for something different than you might have imagined.

This kind of God-led success does however lend itself to a specific issue: "My sheep hear my voice..." - Jesus

We have an obligation as followers of Jesus Christ, as the Redeemed, as His disciples to both hear and follow. We need to focus on the front-end of the process much more deeply. We need more knowledge of the Holy as He relates to us. We need His people to speak into one another's lives. His word needs to be more deeply understood and we need to ensure our goal is His glory and honor.

Do you make decisions based on the potential outcome or by the direction of the Holy Spirit in your life? Do you overly evaluate the pros and cons without consideration to what the Holy Spirit might be saying deep inside? We are all prone to make decisions based on reasoning alone. Ask God to give you a willingness and ability to hear the Holy Spirit and to obey His promptings.

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

Takin' It Easy - Not So Biblical After All

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!- Psalm 90:12-17

This last week, at my favorite coffee house, as I prepared my lesson for Sunday, a group of 4 walked in, ordered their drinks and sat right across from me and my Mac. One gentleman of the group just started shaking hands with all the patrons. He must've shook hands with a half-dozen folks he’d never met before. Then he looked at me, and with a grin and a twinkle in his eye, walked over, bent slightly at my table and whipped out his hand in my direction. I grabbed hold, smiled and realized that this was a working mans hand! It was a hand you could strike a match on, toughened by decades of rugged toil.

"And a great day to you sir," I said. "You look like a man who enjoys life. What do you do for a living?" I inquired of my brand new friend.

"Me? Well, I'm a farmer from back in the Midwest. It is what I do and I guess I have gotten to be pretty fair at it."

"Really? I guess I'm not surprised, since you've got hands like sandpaper! Those are some tough hands!" "Ya, well son, yours aren't so much but you look like you pluck on that gizmo there pretty good. What do you do?" After sharing with him my work and passions he patted me on the back and said, "I like it!"

He then laughed . . . asked me a couple of insightful questions, then told me about his plans for traveling with his new girlfriend (and he winked). "She's the young one over there at the table."

"What did you do last week?" I asked.

His answer stunned me. "Last week I finished harvesting 90,000 bushels of corn," he said with a smile.

I then blurted out, "Ninety thousand! How old are you, my friend?"

He didn't seem at all hesitant or embarrassed by my question. "I'm just a couple months shy o' 90." He laughed again as I shook my head. Wow!

the man in front of me had lived through four or five wars, the Great Depression, seventeen presidents, ninety Midwest winters, who knows how many personal hardships, and he was still taking life by the throat. I had to ask him the secret of his long and productive life. "Hard work and integrity" was his quick reply. "Be honest, do what you say and do more than they think you can. That's all."

As we parted company, he looked back over his shoulder and added, "Don't take it easy, young feller. Stay at it!" This wisdom from a ninety year old to a fifty pluser...truly.

The Bible is filled with folks who refused to take it easy. In the Old Testament is the story of a man named Caleb, who, at age 85, attacked the powerful Anakim in the hill country and successfully drove them out (Josh. 14)? Or Abraham, the Father of our Faith, who had a baby (well, actually Sarah did) when he was "in his old age" . . . he was 100, she was 90 (Gen. 21)? Or Noah or Moses or Samuel or Anna, the 84-year-old prophetess . . . significant people, all.

Age means zilch. Wrinkles, gray hair, and spots on your hands, less than zilch. If God chooses to leave you on this earth, great. If He makes it possible for you to step aside from your work and move on to new vistas with fresh challenges, that's also great. Be sensitive to the spirit to expect to be doing more in your future, not less...

And whatever else you do, don't take it easy!

"No disease is more lethal than the boredom that follows retirement" (Norman Cousins).

As I typed this I wasn't sure of the deep spiritual truths other than I just was inspired by it and felt for someone out there who's butt might have grown a size or two in the past year or so, take heed! Death waits at the door, spiritually and physically of those who quit on life and godliness!

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~