IT'S TIME TO GIVE UP

God has put within us an intrinsic desire for Him. We have an instinctual understanding of what is good; what is beautiful; what is right. But throughout our lives, we struggle with allowing this spiritual nature to take control and lead our lives.

We often lack confidence, questioning if these natural desires are from God, or are they just our own ideas. The Spirit of God lives within us and therefore the voice of God is indeed "in our heads." We could actually boarder on being labeled psychotic because we hear the voice of God.

-- Now wait, I'm not a mystic and I understand living in a real world, but I also understand that the Spirit of God is more real than what you and I can see or touch. We have to trust that we are indeed created in the image of God, we do indeed have his Spirit living within us, and we do know what we ought to do. It's time to stop resisting God's promptings and let Him move us where He pleases. Then we will have some stories to tell!

HOW TO BE A BETTER QUITTER...

As a pastor, I've heard dozens of reasons for why people want to quit. From why they want to quit a specific ministry to why they want to quit coming to my church (I know it's not "my" church, but you know what I mean). I know what creates a positive outcome and what doesn't. Here's some tips.

When quitting a certain ministry, evaluate how the ministry will be impacted without your efforts. If you're feeling "burnt out" talk to the ministry head about that. If you're going through difficult times in your personal life - don't quit. It is better to pour yourself out serving than to give yourself extra time to focus on your problems. When it is at all possible, continue to serve. I know I'm a pastor so you probably think I'm just bias about wanting help. But I understand that we are all called to serve God's people and it's my responsibility to remind you of that.

When quitting the church, if your reason is "I'm just not getting anything out of it," you have a warped perspective on church. It doesn't exist for you to get something out of it. It exists for you to be a part of a community of believers and for you to bring something to it. And no matter what your reason, be a quiet quitter. There is little to no good that comes from sharing your gripes about a community of believers with whom you don't want to build into. Of course, you want your opinions and "suggestions" to be considered, but when your quitting, you've made the statement that you are unwiling to work at a relationship, unwilling to put forth the effort to bring about change. It just comes across as complaints. So just leave quietly and with love. We are all called to love one another above all things. That's how the world will know that we are Christians, by loving one another.

my wife's birthday

Today is my wife's birthday and I will be spending the day with her. I apologize for not having a regular post, but I'll put one up next Monday.

GOD DIDN'T FINISH THE JOB...

so it's up to us.

Jesus did indeed complete the work of salvation through his death on the cross. But he didn't tell the whole world about that sacrifice. This job has been entrusted to a variety of people who are primarily untrained, inexperienced and passionate about Jesus' work in their lives. That's you and me. Now you may say that I've been trained, I went to a Christian college. But I've never sat directly under Jesus teaching. I've not had any special opportunity to experience an independent study under Jesus. I've been taught about the Bible & Jesus and I know Him in my life. That's enough. From that point, He is expecting me to do my part to complete the work that He started; that of saving all mankind. Are you with me?

FORGET ABOUT YOUR POTENTIAL...

and start focusing on your capacity.

I know this could be a semantic issue, but I am more interested in reaching my capacity than I am in reaching my potential. I'm applying these ideas to my faith in and service to God. Here's how I define the two words. Potential is that which I could do or achieve if the conditions were right. Potential is not necessarily the best I could do at the moment, but the best I could do, if I stretched myself, and sought to move to a new level. Whereas capacity, is what I can do right now. Given my current conditions, what I can achieve right now is my capacity. Therefore to reach my potential, I'd have to increase my capacity.

I believe that many people think about a person's potential. "If given the opportunity, he could do some amazing things." -- But what if he isn't given this opportunity, what's the best he could do then? Too often we look to what someone else, or even ourselves could do if things were just a little bit different. It becomes an excuse for not doing something excellent. I think we would be better off to start thinking about how we can reach our capacity right now, today. Then when opportunities arise allowing us to move closer to our potential (our capacity has been increased) we are ready to move forward, and we are not excuse makers.

So don't think about if things were different. Given your current situation, are you reaching your full capacity? Is there more you can do before you hit your ceiling? Philippians 3:16 says, "Only let us live up to what we have already attained." Let us reach our capacity now, and anxiously await the change that will increase it.