Tag Archives: calling

June 21, 2017 · 5:22 AM

Understanding The Why


My son is very inquisitive. He is always asking why or how. In most cases, the answer is above his ability to understand. I try to tell him to let it go, but sometimes he just keeps at it. So I tell him. His nose scrunched up, his eyes squint and he looks confused in those moments. Then he starts asking more questions trying to understand. I’ll just keep going down the rabbit hole with him until he gives up or I can think of an easy explanation that he can understand so we can move on.

I’m not so sure that we are so different when it comes to God. When things happen in our lives, we ask God why or how. What I’ve found is so many times the answer is beyond our ability to understand. It’s tough for us to let it go too. I’m a person that needs to know the why behind things before I do them. If I don’t know the why, I don’t understand the importance or urgency that needs to be behind what I’ve been asked to do.

When God asks me to go somewhere or do something, that’s usually my first question. For me, it doesn’t come from a lack of faith or disobedience. I just like to know why before I do something. With that in mind, Proverbs 20:24 speaks to me in regards to when God asks me to do something or go somewhere. It says, “The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?” (NLT) 

If we believe God truly directs our steps, then we need to trust His reasons that are beyond our ability to understand. How much time and energy do we waste while we question God? I know He’s patient, it I bet sometimes He just wishes we’d simply obey and trust that He sees the bigger picture and is working out things for our good even though we can’t see it or understand it at the moment. We need to let go of trying to understand everything and just obey.

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May 31, 2017 · 5:34 AM

Doing The Work


Have you ever tried to get something done, but kept getting distracted? The distractions weren’t there until you decided to start. The moment you engage the project, it seems that the whole world falls apart. Someone calls and needs something right away. You realize you forgot to do something else that you were supposed to do. What you’re using to complete the project breaks or quits working. It gets pretty frustrating doesn’t it?

I gotta say, it happens to all of us and I’m not sure why. Then there’s the whole procrastination thing. When you’ve got a big project you need to be working on, sometimes starting it is the hardest thing to do. Where do I begin? What if I get into this and the distractions start? How long is this going to take? Do I have time to complete it? Why do today what I can put off till tomorrow? We question ourselves and talk ourselves out if starting. It’s easy to do, and I’m pretty sure I’m the king of it. 

As Solomon was becoming king himself, his father David handed him the blueprints for the Temple. It was a daunting project that would require years to complete with thousands of moving parts. Combine that with trying to run a country and you’ve got both distractions and procrastination creeping at your door. In I Chronicles 28:20, David encouraged him by saying, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you” (NLT).

Let that be an encouragement to you today. Do the work that you’re called to do. Push past the procrastination and stay focused through the distractions. Don’t be afraid of the outcome or discouraged by what others may say. You are uniquely qualified to do what God has called you to do. If He didn’t think you could do it, He wouldn’t have called you to it. Be strong, courageous and confident. Take your next step today and trust that God is with you and will be faithful to help you complete it. 

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April 5, 2017 · 5:40 AM

Your Strength Is Enough


The story of Gideon has got to be one of my favorites in the Bible. In Judges 6, Israel was being tormented by the Midianites. When they planted crops, the Midianites would come camp on top of them to destroy them. If they had cattle or sheep grazing, the Midianites would steal them. It says the Midianites would show up in numbers too high to count. The Israelites were in fear and had hiding places in the caves and mountains to get away from them. It was a dark time for Israel. 

Gideon was threshing wheat hidden from sight when an angel showed up. He greets Gideon in verse 12 with, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” (NLT) Gideon then questions how the Lord could be with Israel in this time of suffering. He even goes as far as saying that the Lord has abandoned them. The angel calmly replies, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” Just like that, Gideon received his calling.

What sticks out to me in this verse is that Gideon was told to fight these people, who were too numerous to count, with his own strength. God wasn’t offering supernatural strength, just the promise that He was with him and that he was called to do it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve prayed for God to give me supernatural abilities to fulfill my calling. I don’t see myself as able to do what He’s called me to do in my own abilities, but this story gives me hope.

I feel like a kid who’s scared even they first learn to ride a bike without training wheels, tThe parent holds the back seat and says, “You can do this. I’m with you holding the seat.” That’s the image I get from this story. God was telling Gideon, and us that we can do what He’s asked us to do in our own strength because He’s back there holding the seat running with us. It’s up to us to pedal in our own strength.

Whatever God has called you to do, He’s equipped you to do in your own strength. It may seem, impossible, but because He has called and is with you, it is possible. Don’t look at the task ahead. Look at the One holding the seat and trust Him to fulfill His promise through you. You are more capable than you think. You are more qualified than you believe. You are stronger than you know. Don’t be afraid to walk in your calling. The Lord has sent you.

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September 12, 2016 · 5:32 AM

The First Step To Success


When you think of anything you’ve accomplished in life that your proud of, you like to tell people about it. When you tell those stories, you start off with the humble beginnings, the adversity you went through, and the determination to make it happen. It not only makes for a great story, but just about anything we accomplish in life follows that pattern. People relate to it because either they’re in the beginning stages of something they hope will be successful or they’re facing adversity too. Telling the story gives hope to their dream.

You’ve probably heard the Lao Tzu quote, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Sometimes we look at the thousand miles and never take that first step. For those who take that step, it usually seems insignificant to them, but that journey would never happen unless they took it. So many things in life that we do seem insignificant at the time, but when we look back, we realize how critical they were.

In Zechariah 4, the Lord was giving a vision to Zechariah of the rebuilding of the temple. In verse 10, an angel said, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin” (NLT). If you’ve ever been to Jerusalem or studied the temple, you know just how big the temple was. To rebuild it was a huge undertaking. Just laying the foundation was a big deal. It was a small beginning, but God rejoiced when we they started the work.

God gets excited when you and I begin doing something with what He’s placed in our hearts to do. It can seem like a thousand mile journey, and it probably is, but that first seemingly insignificant step is a milestone that excites God. So many of us never start the work that God plants in our hearts because it seems too daunting or the beginnings seem to small. Don’t let fear or the thought that small things are insignificant keep you from starting. God rejoices in the little things because He can multiply something small. It’s when we do nothing that His hands are tied. 

What’s the small step you need to take today to begin your journey of a thousand miles that God placed in your heart?

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August 25, 2016 · 5:38 AM

Wake Your Dream Up


I recently asked a group of people what was the difference between a goal and a dream. I got several answers, but one stood out to me. They said, “A goal is something you can attain through making a plan, but a dream is that thing that is unattainable.” I thought, “If a dream is unattainable, then why have them?” Because so many of us think our dreams are unattainable, we let them die. We never chase them or go after them, so we focus on goals.

When I was younger, God gave me a dream of who I was to become. Yes, it was a calling, but it was so far out of reach, I treated it like a dream. I felt like if God wanted me to be who He wanted me to be, He’d just have to do a miracle. I lived all of my life with that dream in the back of my mind, but never had a thought of how I could attain it, so I never worked towards it. I knew the things I could do to move in the direction of it, but I stayed still.

In 2012, my former youth pastor was invited to speak at our church. I hadn’t seen him since the mid 90’s. After his sermon, I sat in my pew and quietly prayed, “God, if you want to make this a reality, I’m ready to do the work.” Immediately, he spoke into the microphone, “God just told me that someone in here has been running from their calling and just surrendered to it. If it’s you, He wants me to pray for you.” He actually got into more specifics than that and it was clear he was talking about me.

On that day, the dream God put in my heart came back to life. I began to do things, like starting this website, to get me closer to that dream calling. It’s no longer just a pipe dream. Each day that I do something about it, I get closer to God completing it. When I think about the Israelites, they couldn’t get to the Promised Land unless they were willing to leave the desert. They couldn’t enter it from the Sinai desert. They had to go towards the Jordan River. Once they got to the Jordan, God could perform the miracle for them to cross over into their dream land.

If you’ve allowed the dream God placed in your heart to die or lie dormant, I want you to take a step today from Ezekiel 37:9 and say what God told Ezekiel to say to the army built from the dry bones. Say, “Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again” (NLT). I believe if God placed a dream in your heart, He wants to revive it. You don’t have to be afraid that it’s too big. If you can’t accomplish it without His help, it probably didn’t come from Him. Speak life into that dream today and do something that moves you in the direction of your Jordan. 

You’re not too old. It’s not too late.

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July 25, 2016 · 5:31 AM

Trust Walk


While creating the video for “Billie Jean”, Michael Jackson ran into a problem. The stage was dark and he couldn’t see where to place his feet while dancing. The director came up with a plan to light up the ground where he was going to put his feet. The only problem was that for it to look right, the light would only come on as he put his foot down. He had to trust the director to light up each step as it came during his complicated dance moves. The result of him trusting the director was an iconic video that was a hit.

If you’re like me, too often my path appears to be dark and hidden. I don’t know where my next step is. The fear of taking a misstep can be paralyzing. Because I can’t see the next step, I often stay where I am longer than I should. I pray and pray for God to show me where to go and what to do, but more often than not, the path seems to be hidden. As a result, I’m not where God wants me, when He needs me to be there. I miss out on my potential.

The reason this happens is I want God to light up my next step before I take it. God. Who is the director of our lives, is often telling us, “Trust me. Take the step and I’ll light it up. I know it seems complicated, but I’ve orchestrated everything.” So much of His plan for our lives relies on our ability to trust Him and to step out in faith. Isaiah 50:10 says, “All of you that honor the Lord and obey the words of his servant, the path you walk may be dark indeed, but trust in the Lord, rely on your God” (GNT).

Our lives are really a trust walk. We have to trust God to light up each step as we take it. Things may be complicated to us, but He knows your next move. He knows where you’re going to put your foot down. He’s ready to light it up, but will only do so once you pick up your foot from where you are and take that step of faith. God, the director of your life, will not fail you when you step out in faith and trust Him. When you do, the result of your life will be a beautiful masterpiece that could only have been directed by God Himself.

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July 7, 2016 · 5:48 AM

Volunteering


At work, I’ll often ask for a volunteer without saying what it’s for. Sometimes someone will ask, “What does the volunteer have to do?” Other times, someone will say, “He will do it!” Everyone laughs because the person they pointed to usually isn’t paying attention. Other times, if not one raises their hand, I’ll just pick someone and say, “You just got volun-told.” But the best is when someone simply says, “Hey, I’ll do it!” Sometimes the assignment is difficult, but other times I take it easy on them because they’re the only one to volunteer.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah was taken to Heaven where he saw the Lord and His train filled the temple. After Isaiah saw the Lord, he felt the guilt of His sins. An angel flew over to him carrying a live coal from the altar, touched his lips with it, and said, “Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.” It was then that God asked for a volunteer. Verse 8 says, “Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” (NLT)

Isaiah didn’t hesitate. He said, “Here I am. Send me.” He didn’t look around to see if anyone else was going to raise their hand first. He didn’t look at the ground trying to avoid eye contact. He didn’t even think an angel might be more qualified than him. He simply volunteered because God needed someone. I don’t know if he was scared or second guessed himself. I often wonder what I would have done in that situation though. Would I have been so quick to raise my hand?

Today, God’s call for messengers still goes out. He’s still looking for volunteers to carry His message of love and hope to a desperate world. Are we willing to say, “Here I am. Send me”? Are we willing to volunteer to show His love to the least of these around us? He’s not always asking us to go around the world. Often times He’s asking us to go across the street. That doesn’t require a passport or hundreds of dollars. It simply requires you to volunteer. When God asks, “Whom shall I send,” what will you do?

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April 11, 2016 · 5:55 AM

Wait Patiently

  
Have you ever felt like you were meant for more than you’re doing right now? Does it feel like God has been ignoring you or isn’t keeping His promise to you? It’s hard to wait for God to put you where He promised to place you. It’s even more difficult to feel stuck in the mundane when you know there’s more to what God has promised to do in your life. So what do you do? Will you give up on your calling? Will you try to force your way into it by making things happen yourself? Or will you wait patiently?

When I think of giving up on my calling, I’m reminded of the Prodigal Son. He was tired of waiting for his inheritance. He didn’t think the day would come when he could be in charge of his father’s household. So he did the unthinkable. He asked for his inheritance and decided to show his father he was capable on his own. After he squandered his inheritance, he had too much pride to go to his father to admit he wasn’t ready. After a lot of time slopping hogs and living destitute, he made his way back to his father’s house.

When I think of trying to force my way into my calling, I think of Abraham. God had called him to be the father of many nations with descendants as numerous as the stars. After 25 years, he gave up and decided that he would fulfill it himself. He took his wife’s maid and got her pregnant. God revisited him to remind him the promise was going to come through his wife. Because he rushed things, he created an Achilles Heel for his descendants that remains to this day.

When I think of waiting patiently, I think of David. God called him to be king while he was tending sheep. David understood that he wasn’t ready to fulfill his calling even though he had been called. He looked at where he was and saw that God could use his current situation to help him be better at his calling. Even though the fulfillment of his calling was many years later, he stayed faithful where he was until the right time came.

Each of us have one of these three choices in our lives. I personally believe God is getting us ready for our calling in the mundane. Psalm 78:70-72 says, “He chose his servant David; he took him from the pastures, where he looked after his flocks, and he made him king of Israel, the shepherd of the people of God. David took care of them with unselfish devotion and led them with skill” (GNT). The skills David learned while watching sheep gave him the skill to be the best at his calling. What skills are you learning now that will help to fulfill yours? The right choice is to wait patiently for God to move. Just keep tending sheep in the mean time.

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October 14, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Missing Abilities

Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance. Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed.

Habakkuk 2:2-3 (GNT)

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February 23, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Get Off The Loop (Video)

18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

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