Take a Walk; Have a Talk

Matthew 4. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, there were three ways the devil came at Jesus; Physical, Mental, Emotional. The enemy can’t attack your spiritual – that’s all God’s domain. But you can allow the enemy total access to your spiritual by letting him break through another avenue of your being. Stand strong, and when you’ve done everything you can, Keep Standing! 1 Corinthians 16:13
"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong." Walking, Reading, and talking to a friend can help keep your physical, mental, and emotion tuned up. You will have to stretch yourself in these areas as to not become numb to your initial efforts. Keep the faith - move forward in everything you do! Put your hand to the plow, don't look back. Press on toward the goal - this includes your Earthly goals and most important the goal of staying true to God until you've reached heaven.

God's Voice

I was in prayer today at the church and I know God spoke to me as clear as He ever has. It was during my repetitive walks around the sanctuary that my mind became very still; I knew it was God. Apparently, it was predestined that I “over heard” Krista listening to a podcast of Joyce Meyer and John Eldridge agreeing that hearing the voice of God is not only possible for today, but it’s essential for today. They talked about the potential awkwardness of explaining to others about the whole idea of God speaking to us on a personal level. John 10 states clearly that those who belong to Jesus will hear his voice, still! Later, I went to pick up Molly from pre-school and Andy Stanley was on the radio talking about being confident in knowing the voice of God. It’s a great day when I can settle my heart and mind to let God speak to me. You can do the same by being still and giving God your undivided attention. Being still and doing nothing are two completely different things. Being still is difficult, but with God’s help its attainable. God will speak to you when He has your undivided attention.

Indescribable Uncontainable

So, to recap the week: On Monday in my Fab 5 Mtg. (you can laugh, we do) I learned not to let desire become expectation to the point of do or die. On Tuesday I learned to pace myself during the heat of the day: my thermostat busted and my body overheated. As my body began to shut down w/out explanation I thought of many things. On Wed. after my brain and body had a chance to kiss and make up I evaluated many things in my life, slowly! God clearly presented a thought to me while still sipping juice and topping off on potassium:

"I've been called to do the impossible by the immeasurable who lives in me."

Since God lives in me & His power and might are immeasurable, that makes the impossible seem reasonable.

Still too wordy? If God is for you, who can be against you? Are you acting alone or with God's blessing? ...I've always believed that the right question will flush out the best answer.

You may feel overwhelmed these days: if so - inquire of God about His desire and hope for you and how He can help you move forward in your faith and understanding of who He is and how He works in people's lives.

Deep Breaths. Lots of prayer. Find a trustworthy friend to share all. Read the Bible. Simmer down.

On Thurs. a friend came to hang out with me and confirmed I was going to live!

On Friday my wife and another friend went as a team (while other friends and family watched the kids, thank you all!!) and cooked for the Light for the Lost Dinner in Parma, OH. "As a team" makes all the difference!

Today I am glad for friends, family, truth, and am moving forward in my faith due to a week of running hard, stopping fast, starting slow, counting blessings, and looking ahead to a bright and exciting future w/ The Immeasurable!

HonorBound

Tonight we kicked off our men's ministry efforts at Velocity Church. I'm excited about seeing the spiritual growth of our men over the next several months. By Christmas we should be much more the men we were tonight because of our desire to move forward in our faith!

I say Men's Ministry "Efforts" because even though we like to meet up for breakfast once a month and inhale bacon like it's going out of style, we're more than a group of AM meat eaters. We're about helping others. My prayer for our Velocity Church Men is that we are keenly aware of our own spiritual aptitude so that we can make adjustments to personally move forward & be of good use to those who are closest to us; whether it's a spouse, child, co worker, or even the cashier - my goal is for our men to see the need and meet it without hesitation. Our wives need to be loved, kids need to see Jesus, co workers need a good example and cashiers are people too; and we're ready to give people something to believe in.

Our Velocity Church Men's Team is called HonorBound... a term that will mean something positive to many people before too long!

Forgiveness

A story is told that when da Vinci painted the "Last Supper" he was fighting with a fellow painter; so he painted that dude's face on Judas's body! But when he began painting Jesus, he couldn't continue; so he erased the face of the other painter from Judas's body. Forgive: da Vinci did it; more importantly Jesus did it, so can we.

Lesson Learned

I've been asking God to make things clear to me recently. I love the catch phrases He's been giving me to keep it clear and simple. See if this helps you: "I need to let go of frustrations I have with some people, and others I need to let it fester." Here's the Case: I had a reservation about something today. But I played it off as myself being to critical. Wrong: in my heart I knew there was reason for my gut check. Thankfully, as I'm learning slow but sure, God has been surrounding me with some armor bearers that help protect. For your sake: give everyone the benefit of the doubt, don't leave them unattended. The Point: Follow your intuition until the coast is clear. Evaluate the circumstance with prayer and fasting and proceed from there; slow but sure.

Bunch a Linchpin's

Don't let your circumstance, job or your ministry define you. Define it first, in other words, cast vision, paint a picture of what it needs to be, and by what would make you proud to be apart of it, and work to that end! Do things that will help you move forward and eventually help your office or construction crew move forward. Was reading a book called Linchpin for a while. I still flip its pages every so often. The book is for middle managers first, and everyone else a close second. Basically, serve so efficient at what you do that you create an atmosphere and an idea that you really are irreplaceable, even though every one is, you can still be of such good help and encouragement to those around you that they will wonder what they'll do if you ever leave. Be the definition, not the word that defines it. Think about it: would you like people running around calling you a Linchpin or would you rather people say "that person is who holds the many elements of our complicated structure together." Be more than hearers, say more than words: Be action.