Happy

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! (Psalms 32:1-11 ESV)

What makes you happy?

Seems like that is really what we are worried about these days… We have cars that do the things we need them to and we have phones that do everything but drive our cars for us (wait it will happen…). We have instant everything. Like Mac and Cheese, as if macaroni and cheese are really hard to make to begin with…

We are searching for those things to fill the voids in our lives and make us happy. But will we ever find them?

No you will never find a single thing that will make you happy. You can not find an object that will keep you happy for ever. Cars and houses fall apart, and people will let us down, it happens we are human and we start to worry about our own happiness rather than the happiness of the other…

So can we be happy?

YES!!!

Psalm 32 tells us Happy is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. So if God has forgiven you you are happy! You are happy when you follow Him and live the life He has called you to.

Does that mean that you have the latest devices and gadgets? No…

Does that mean that everything is perfect in your life? No…

But you will be happy when you follow after God and the life He has planned for you.

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

“Jesus himself did not try to convert the two thieves on the cross; he waited until one of them turn ed to him.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

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Quickly and Simply Transform All Meetings

Dan Rockwell's avatarLeadership Freak

Bored child

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If you could only get back the time you gave to boring, ineffective, useless meetings!

Meetings give the impression something’s getting done when usually it isn’t.

There’s too much talking in meeting
because people aren’t focused on doing.

One rule transforms every meeting from ineffective to effective.

Rule one:

Mercilessly cut everything that isn’t connected to action.

Three functions of rule one:

Every agenda item must do at least one of three things:

  1. Enhance efficiency – improve action.
  2. Generate assignments – create action.
  3. Stop ineffectiveness and/or inefficiency – prevent action.

Guidelines for rule one:

  1. All “information-giving” must clearly inform action. Always explain the connection to doing.
  2. Determine options for action, when you’re problem solving and innovating, then give assignments.
  3. Don’t spend so much time improving things you haven’t done yet. Do something; improve as you go.
  4. Explore what isn’t working and improve it or end it. Organizations that…

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War inside…

20130613-162024.jpgWhat causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us ? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:1-7 ESV)

There is a war we fight every day. We fight a war with ourselves, about who we are, what we want, what we need, if we are where we want to be…

James is telling us that all of our quarreling comes from our own inner turmoil. We desire things and because we do not have them and others around us do, we do what we have to to get it.

But do you not realize that God will give you everything you need if you will only hand your life over to Him? Submit yourself to God and every good thing He has for you will be yours. Resist the evil that leads us to give into our inner desire for fame and glory, and the Devil will flee from you.

Do not submit to the war inside, but turn to God and allow Him to have control, so your life will be what He has planned for you.

What will faith do…

As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said,“Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.”And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed.And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” (Luke 8:42-48, ESV)

Have you ever known that if you did this one thing that everything in your life would be taken care of?

We all have the ability to have our problems handled and the ability to have the life we have coming…

The catch is that our problems are not gone, we have the one who gave us life to walk with us. You see that is what happened here. Jesus and the disciples are on their way from one miracle to another and someone touches Jesus. He asks who touched Him and Peter is like “for real, dude! Have you seen all these people around us and you want to know who touched you? More like who didn’t touch you.”

But she knew and because she had the faith that Jesus gave her she came out and told Him that she touched Him. And because of that the issue she had for 12 years that no one else could cure was cured. She was cured by the faith that Jesus gave her and the belief she had in the promises.

Do you have that kind of belief in the promises? Even when it looks dark and the world is coming in on you, can you crawl and touch the hem of His robe?

What can your faith do?

Be a straight shooter…

20130611-120810.jpgBut when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? (Galatians 2:11-14 ESV)

Peter was opposed by Paul for being two faced…

How many of us have ever acted one way with a certain crowd, and another way for another?

How many of us dress and act one way Sunday morning, but a totally different dress and way of acting on Saturday night?

As followers of the way we need to be straight shooters, meaning we hold no punches and we tell it like it is. We are always are self, while maintaining being all things for all people. That means we stay ourselves and do not change for others, but we are able to accept everyone where they are and to be what Christ needs us to be for them.

We should not be wearing masks, or afraid to invite our church friends out with us on a Saturday night. Be a straight shooter for God and throw your mask away!

Binding…

 
After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” (Genesis 22:1-14 NRSV)

Wow. I remember talking a lot about this story in seminary. We all wanted to call it the sacrifice of Isaac. That is what we have heard it called in Sunday school. We learned it that way so that has to be the right answer…

But was Isaac sacrificed? If he wasn’t sacrificed how can it be the sacrifice of Isaac? Our professor in seminary said we should call it the binding of Isaac, because while Isaac was not sacrificed, Abraham had bound him and was ready to sacrifice him.

Can you imagine what must have been going through Abraham’s mind? He just told Isaac that God would provide a lamb for the offering, knowing what God had asked him to do. I can not imagine doing this to any of my children (even on their worst behavior days). The gift given by God, how can He possibly ask for me to give it back, and not only give it back but play a part in the demise?

Abraham shows a vast and profound faith that many of us do posses we just don’t want to lay claim to it. When we step out and do something because we know that it is what God has called us to do we are stepping out in faith. We may never be asked to do something like sacrificing our children, but He will ask us to sacrifice our lives. You see God knew that Isaac was Abraham’s most prized possession, and for that reason Abraham was asked to sacrifice him.

What is your most prized possession? Is it taking God’s place in your life? Can you sacrifice it so that God has His proper place in your life?

Bind your life to Him and God will always provide what you need.