PRAISE!

PRAISE!

In “The One-Minute Manager,” Kenneth Blanchard suggests that we develop the habit of “one-minute praising.”  Simply put, we should make a conscientious effort to “catch someone doing something right,” followed by sixty seconds of praising that person for what they have done.  Mr. Blanchard contends that this is rather challenging for most people since we are more accustomed to being CRITICIZERS and not PRAISERS.

There is a powerful practical application here for the Spirit realm.  Oftentimes, believers approach God as if He is a celestial genie who will bring into being every ‘wish’ we make whenever we rub the name-it-and-claim-it lantern.  This is satanic deception. While God promises to supply all our need (Philippians 4:19), His divine pledge is conditional.  It is predicated upon three things: 1) that our petition is aligned with the will of God (Romans 8:27); 2) that our petition is accompanied by faith (Mark 11:23); and, 3) that our petition emerges from an attitude of gratitude. (Colossians 3:15)

Whenever our prayers are not clothed in genuine praise (before, during and after), we are actually trying to manipulate God and only to fulfill our selfish aims and ambitions.  Actually, our prayers are authenticated, legitimized and empowered by our praise.  Additionally, praise is pleasant, and praise is comely. (Psalm 147:1)

Instead of asking God for ANYTHING today, I have an alternate idea.  Why don’t we expand upon Mr. Blanchard’s idea and do (not one-minute praising), but 24-HOUR PRAISING.  At least for one day, let’s try to be more about connecting than expecting.  Ultimately, it is our faithful praise that will charge the atmosphere, meet our needs, fight our battles and transform our mindset so that we can become productive and faithful servants of the King of Kings and His Kingdom.

LOVE...THE WORD OF GOD SPEAKS TO US

LOVE…THE WORD OF GOD SPEAKS TO US

I could not state the truth about love more succinctly or eloquently:

I Corinthians 13:1-13 (The Message)

¹ If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

² If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

^3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

^8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

¹¹ When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

¹² We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

¹³ But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

My sisters and brothers, every day of our lives, let us walk in love.  God is love.

I WISH YOU ENOUGH

I WISH YOU ENOUGH

Last week, my good friend and colleague, Elder Willie Templeton, shared this story:

Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together as the daughter's airport departure had been announced.  Standing near the security gate, they hugged rather emotionally and the mother said, “I love you and I wish you enough.”

The daughter replied, “Mom, our life together has been more than enough.  Your love is all I have ever needed.  I wish you enough, too, Mom.” They kissed and the daughter moved toward the jetway.

The mother walked over near the window where I was sitting.  Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry.

I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, “Did you ever say goodbye to someone knowing it would be forever?”  “Yes, I have,” I replied.  “Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever goodbye?”

“I am old and she lives so far away.  I have health challenges ahead and the reality is that her next trip back will be for my funeral,” she said.

“When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?”

She began to smile.  “That’s a wish that has been handed down for generations in our family.  My parents used to say it to everyone.”  She paused for a moment and looked up as if trying to recall that memory in greater detail, and her smile grew even brighter.

“Whenever we said ‘I wish you enough,’ we wanted the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.”  Then turning toward me, she shared the following prayer, reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

The mother began to cry again, and she slowly walked away.

For all of your lifetime, sisters and brothers, I wish you enough…and more.

FIND GOD'S CHURCH FOR YOU AND STICK WITH IT

FIND GOD’S CHURCH FOR YOU AND STICK WITH IT

A man had been shipwrecked on a remote island in the Pacific, and was alone for 20 years.  When a ship finally arrived, his rescuers were very impressed with the three buildings he had built and asked about them.

“Well,” the man replied, “this one is my house, and that building over there is my church.  It's a wonderful church and I hate to leave it.”

“And what is that third building over yonder?” one rescuer asked.

“Oh…that’s the church I used to go to,” the man replied with a frown.

It’s an amusing story, but therein resides a deep reservoir of hidden truth.  In a book by Bob Franquiz entitled, Zero to Sixty, there is a chapter on church hoppers.  According to this author, there are definite ways to identify church hoppers, based solely on their words.  You have heard many of these complaints:

1.          “But my old church…”

[This usually means they want their new church to be something like their old church].

2.        “I just need time to be fed.”

[Translation: “I don’t want to do anything. I’m here just to sit and see what I can get out of this church, so don’t expect me to serve in any way, shape, or form.”]

3.        “I’m looking for a church that teaches the Word.”

[Translation: “I’m looking for a church that dispenses lots of information without challenging me to personally do anything.”]

4.       “We came here because we are looking for deeper teaching.”

[This usually means their last church focused too much on actually obeying the Word. They want a church
that just talks about the Rapture, the Second Coming, who the Hittites were and the true identity of Theophilus].

5.        “I should know my pastor.”

[Translation: “In my last church, I did get to know the pastor, but when the church grew, and the pastor couldn’t have dinner with us every Tuesday night, I left and came here.”]

6.       “We want a church that’s focused on discipling people.”

[Translation: “I want a church that’s focused on me, not people who are lost.”]

7.        “I wish you wouldn’t focus so much on what people need to do.”

[This means they don’t like commitment, they don’t like to be told what the Bible actually tells them how to live and how to follow Jesus. They want to come to church, live in their sins and have no one tell them they are wrong].

8.       “I wish you wouldn’t talk about money.”

[Translation: “I don’t give very much.”]

9.       “My old church/pastor was…”

[The way people come to your church is usually how they will leave your church.  If your first conversation with them is all about the negatives of their last church and pastor, that is exactly how they will leave your church and how they will go to their next church].

10.     “Pastor, I’ve been talking to a lot of people and they all say…”

[Translation: “Me, my spouse and my mother think…”  If they start a conversation this way, 99.9% of the time they have no one else who thinks that way, it is just the best way they can think of to complain. If someone has a complaint and uses this line with me, they need to list all of the names or my best assumption is they talked to the same person 10 times].

Being a consistent participant in a Christ-centered, Bible-based fellowship of believers is vitally important.  Worship cannot be fully actualized alone or via Internet, television and radio media.  Worship is a powerful togetherness.  That’s why the Word instructs us to avoid “forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” (Hebrews 10:25)  In truth, “iron sharpens iron.” (Proverbs 27:17)  Believers are edified by one another.  All of us need to be active participants in an assembly of believers where the full gospel is presented, where prayer, praise, worship, fasting, Bible study, holy living, Spirit fruit, and Spirit gifts are emphasized, and where the shepherd of the flock has a true heart for the things of GOD and the total health of HIS people.

Instead of being a chronic critic or a church hopper, ask God for divine wisdom on how you can become part of the solution…not part of the problem.  Be continually blessed!