May 5, 2017

"But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you." I Samuel 17:34-37

The first stone that slays giants is purpose. David was crystal clear about his purpose. He lived to serve God and Goliath got between him and his purpose. Goliath fell to the stone of purpose.

Let's look at the second stone. What is it?

The second stone is passion. Passion sells. King Saul objected to David going to face the giant until he listened to his passionate plea and suddenly he went from banning the shepherd boy to blessing him.

We know the power of passion, but what is it? How would you define it?

I think we tend to equate passion with emotion. I'm not sure that is accurate. Passion is much more than emotion, although you can definitely hear the emotion is his plea to the King.

Let's see what we can learn from David's statement.

As I think about his statement I see something deeper than emotion, I see conviction. Emotion comes and goes but conviction lasts and grows! Emotions are often based on feelings but convictions are based on facts.

David's convictions were based on the facts that he had singlehandedly, in the strength of God, killed a bear when it attacked his father's sheep. He knew that God had helped him do that and it convinced him that he could depend on God. And when a lion attacked the flock, he also killed it! He had been convinced of God's power and strength and formed his conviction on the fact he had killed two ferocious beasts with his bare hands.

So, David wasn't volunteering to face the giant based on a feeling that he might be able to handle Goliath, we was convinced of the fact of God's power. He has conviction because he had been convinced. His conviction translated into confidence because he reasoned that because God had used him in the past God would also use him against the giant.

One of the big differences between passion and emotion is that passion almost always leads to commitment. Emotion rarely does. Conviction and confidence are a much stronger foundation for success than warm fuzzy feelings. David didn't feel like he could kill the giant - he KNEW he could! He was confident because he was convicted because he was convinced! Because of David's passion Goliath was dead before David ever walked out!

You will never have passion until you have conviction. You will never have conviction until you are convinced. You will never be convinced until you take time to see what God is doing or have done on your behalf. If you aren't fully aware of what God has done for you you will never be aware of what God can do for you!

Our world is full of emotion but it is woefully lacking in conviction. One reason for that is because we settle for feelings rather than searching for facts.

If you are facing a giant in your life. You will need the stone of purpose and the stone of passion. Purpose makes it clear WHY the giant must fall and passion gives you the conviction and the confidence that he WILL fall.

Today, I challenge you to take the time to look for God. See where He has moved in your life. Remember how He provided for you in the past. Remember how He delivered you. Recall how He used you before. When you begin to gather the facts of Who He has been for you you will begin to grow in the conviction that He can do it again! From that conviction will come a confidence to step out and confront the giant.

Why settle for emotion when you can live in passion? 

Why linger in the shallow waters of feelings when you can live in the depths of the facts? 

Why settle for the vagaries of emotions when you can live in the certainties of passion and purpose?

May 4, 2017

"Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine." I Samuel 17:40

There has been a lot of speculation about why David took five smooth stones in his bag when he marched out to confront Goliath, the giant.

Was he afraid he would miss with one shot?

Where there more giants who might come after him if he somehow managed to get lucky enough to take out this one? Some have suggested that Goliath had four brothers and perhaps David was making sure he was prepared if they came after him.

Was five his lucky number?

Obviously, we will never know what he was thinking but we do know what he did. He took five stones and had four of them left over (along with a dead giant).

It is no small thing to kill a giant. Goliath was not just big, he was fierce! He was not just big and fierce he was an experienced warrior. David had better know what he is doing and be sure of his aim. He probably wouldn't get a second chance!

I am not sure of what David was thinking when he took the five stones but it is obvious that he was creating a margin in his life. A margin is making sure you have more than enough to be successful in any situation. Call it a margin for error. Call it playing safe. Call it caution. Call it preparation. Having a margin is a good thing.

We know now that David didn't need the extra stones but he had them if he had needed them.

During the blog posts this weeks I am going to talk about the five stones necessary to slay a giant. And let's be real - we all have at least one giant in our lives.

The five stones I will be talking about are the stones of purpose, passion, plan, perspective and prayer.

Do you know the purpose of your life? Why are you here? What in the earth are you doing for Heaven's sake?

Are you living with passion? Are you fully engaged spiritually, emotionally, willfully, mentally, and physically? Or are you going through the motions?

Do you have a plan for successfully serving God? Do you have a strategy for taking down the giant(s) hindering your life? If you are failing to plan you are planning to fail!

Do you have a perspective on life? Do you see the giant like David did and as God did? While everyone else was saying Goliath was too big to challenge, David was thinking Goliath was too big to miss! Do look at the giants in your life with faith or fear?

Are you praying for God's strength to face your giants? Some might say that prayer would be the first weapon you should have. I could not argue with that. I believe, however, that you can pray more effectively once you have the other four stones in your sling. It certainly doesn't hurt to pray at every point - pray about His purpose for you - pray for Him to fill you with passion - pray for His plan to be revealed to you - pray until you have a faith perspective and pray for God to fight for you as you face your giant.

Giants are made to fall! The bigger they are the harder they fall but you must have the proper weapons and the right ammunition!

Faith Is...

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."  Hebrews 11:6

This is a great verse, isn't it? Most consider it the key verse of the great 11th Chapter of Hebrews. In one concise sentence it captures the essence of faith that pleases God. For that reason it is worthy of our consideration.

So, what IS this faith pleases God?

Faith is coming to God - "because anyone who comes to him"

Everyone is drawn to something - or someone. What you are drawn to reveals a lot about you and, it will have a profound impact on you.

If you are drawn to money you may be greedy or ambitious.

If you are drawn to cars, boats, or houses you may be materialistic.

If you are drawn to God it is evidence that you have a measure of faith active within you.

Faith pleases God when it draws you toward Him!

Faith is believing God exists - "must believe that he exists"

Why would you come to someone Who does not exist? Why would you be drawn to an non-existent person?

Faith is seeing the invisible and touching the intangible. Faith is knowing that which cannot be completely known.

Faith is overcoming the natural tendency to disbelieve what we cannot tangibly verify or prove. So, believing God exists shows that we have moved beyond the natural to the spiritual. Faith comes from hearing the truth about God's nature and existence from the Word of God and believing what it says. That pleases God!

Faith seeks God earnestly - "that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

One evidence that God is real is that the more you seek Him the more you want to seek Him. That is because He rewards your earnest seeking with His presence and His goodness and His comfort and His joy and His love!

Earnest seeking means that you pursue Him not for what He can give you nor what you can get from Him. You seek Him earnestly to get more of Him! You let nothing stop you from your spiritual pursuit of God.

Who are you trying to please?

If you want to please God it will take faith.

May 2, 2017

An inspiring challenge from Max Lucado:

Take Goliath Down 

by Max Lucado

Goliaths still roam our world. Debt. Disaster. Dialysis. Danger. Deceit. Disease. Depression.

Super-size challenges still swagger and strut, still pilfer sleep and embezzle peace and liposuction joy. But they can't dominate you. You know how to deal with them. You face giants by facing God first.

Focus on giants—you stumble.

Focus on God—your giants tumble.

You know what David knew, and you do what David did. You pick up five stones, and you make five decisions. Ever wonder why David took five stones into battle? Why not two or twenty? Rereading his story reveals five answers. Use your five fingers to remind you of the five stones you need to face down your Goliath. Let your thumb remind you of …

1. THE STONE OF THE PAST

Goliath jogged David's memory. Elah was a déjà vu. While everyone else quivered, David remembered. God had given him strength to wrestle a lion and strong-arm a bear. Wouldn't he do the same with the giant? A good memory makes heroes.

"Remember His marvelous works which He has done" (1 Chron. 16:12). Catalog God's successes. Keep a list of his world records. Has he not walked you through high waters? Proven to be faithful? Have you not known his provision? How many nights have you gone to bed hungry? Mornings awakened in the cold? He has made roadkill out of your enemies. Write today's worries in sand. Chisel yesterday's victories in stone. Pick up the stone of the past. Then select…

2. THE STONE OF PRAYER

Note the valley between your thumb and finger. To pass from one to the next you must go through it. Let it remind you of David's descent. Before going high, David went low; before ascending to fight, David descended to prepare. Don't face your giant without first doing the same. Dedicate time to prayer. Paul, the apostle, wrote, "Prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long" (Eph. 6:18 MSG).

Prayer spawned David's successes. His Brook Besor wisdom grew out of the moment he "strengthened himself in the Lord his God" (1 Sam. 30:6). When Saul's soldiers tried to capture him, David turned toward God: "You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble" (Ps. 59:16).

Invite God's help. Pick up the stone of prayer. And don't neglect …

3. THE STONE OF PRIORITY

Let your tallest finger remind you of your highest priority: God's reputation. David jealously guarded it. No one was going to defame his Lord. David fought so that "all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's" (1 Sam. 17:46-47).

David saw Goliath as a chance for God to show off! Did David know he would exit the battle alive? No. But he was willing to give his life for the reputation of God.

What if you saw your giant in the same manner? Rather than begrudge him, welcome him. Your cancer is God's chance to flex his healing muscles. Your sin is God's opportunity to showcase grace. Your struggling marriage can billboard God's power. See your struggle as God's canvas. On it he will paint his multicolored supremacy. Announce God's name and then reach for …

4. THE STONE OF PASSION

David ran, not away from, but toward his giant. On one side of the battlefield, Saul and his cowardly army gulped. On the other, Goliath and his skull-splitters scoffed. In the middle, the shepherd boy ran on his spindly legs. Who bet on David? Who put money on the kid from Bethlehem? Not the Philistines. Not the Hebrews. Not David's siblings or David's king. But God did.

And since God did, and since David knew God did, the skinny runt became a blur of pumping knees and a swirling sling. He ran toward his giant.
Do the same!

Let your ring finger remind you to take up the stone of passion.

One more stone, and finger, remains:

5. THE STONE OF PERSISTENCE

David didn't think one rock would do. He knew Goliath had four behemoth relatives. For all David knew, they'd come running over the hill to defend their kin. David was ready to empty the chamber if that's what it took.

Imitate him. Never give up. One prayer might not be enough. One apology might not do it. One day or month of resolve might not suffice. You may get knocked down a time or two … but don't quit. Keep loading the rocks. Keep swinging the sling.

David took five stones. He made five decisions. Do likewise. Past. Prayer. Priority. Passion. And persistence.

Next time Goliath wakes you up, reach for a stone. Odds are, he'll be out of the room before you can load your sling.

From Facing Your Giants Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2005) Max Lucado

May 1, 2017

"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:" Psalm 37:3-5

All this week I have been sharing with you on the thought "either you control your desires or your desires will control you." As we come to the end of this study on temptation we are face to face with the fact that people usually end up doing what they want to do. Most people are driven by their desires. They don't have to be, but most are.

The key to controlling your desires is to forget about your desires and focus on what God desires.

In this Psalm the Psalmist tells you three ways to do that and we have talked about two of them:

Want God - "trust in the Lord and do good"

Worship God - "delight yourself in the Lord"

Today you will learn the third thing God desires - Walk with God - "commit your your way to the Lord"

In the Hebrew the word for "commit" is literally translated "roll". "Roll your way on the Lord" or in other words, "roll with the Lord". Since we don't roll, walking with the Lord is a good translation.

When God first created Adam, they walked together in the paradise of Eden. That fulfilled God's desire and made Adam happy, too.

It stands to reason that if God desired to love Adam and to be loved by Him, and if God created you with a need to love God and to be loved by Him, then wanting Him and worshiping Him and walking with Him should satisfy you both!

When God IS your chief desire, His desire is met and so is yours!

April 30, 2017

"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:" Psalm 37:3-5

Everyone wants to know how to get God to give them the desires of their heart. Delight in the LORD seems easy enough! So, how does one delight in the LORD? There have been many fanciful interpretations of what it means to delight yourself in the LORD, but only one revelation of what this means is found in the Scriptures.

"Delight" here in Psalm 37:4 is the Hebrew word "oneg", which means "to treat as a delicacy." There are very few places in the Scriptures were the word "oneg" is used. Yet, because it is a rarity, it will help us solve a mystery. There is one place, and only one, where it tells us exactly how to delight in the LORD, even using the word "oneg".

This word used in the combination and context as it is here has the connotation of worship, which brings us to our second idea of how to desire God. We should WANT Him more that we want anything else on the planet. In the words of the Psalmist, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"

A second way He tells us we should desire Him is through WORSHIP. What does that mean?

Our word "worship" comes from to old English words "worth - ship" and literally means "giving worth" to God. What gives worth to God? Your devotion and desire! So, if you want to keep your desire above temptation make God the object of your chief desire. Honor Him with your emotion and your will.

Worship is so much more than what you often think. When you think about worship you may think about several songs an offering and a sermon. If worship is only a one hour per week deal with you, you will not give God the worth He desires - and deserves. Worship is a 24/7 and a 365 proposition. Worship is absolute devotion to God. As the Apostle Paul, one of the most devoted Christ-followers of all time, wrote: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship."

If you want to strengthen yourself against temptation aim your desire - your wants and your will - at God. In other words, worship Him. Not just for an hour on Sunday, but live a life-style of worship. Live in His Word daily, that's worship. Walk in His ways daily, that's worship. Love your spouse and your children, that's worship. Give eight hours work for eight hours wages, that's worship. Whatever you do you do it as unto the Lord - that's worship. That is what He desires and therefore, what you must desire.

This is what the Psalmist meant when he said, "Delight yourself in the Lord". 

Will you take delight in Him today? 

Will you aim your want and your will at Him? 

How will you do that today?

April 29, 2017

"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:" Psalms 37:3-5

Desire is a combination of emotion and intellect. 

Desire is part want and part will. Temptation is a battle over where we will aim our desire.

The First Adam aimed his desire at a lie and we have been a deceived race since.

Jesus, the Second Adam, aimed His desire at God and remained holy.

What about you? Are your desires being steered by your wants or by your will?

The Psalmist knew about desire. He wrote some of the most personal, poignant, and passionate poetry ever written. Few people have chased God harder than David. He gives us some insights here in Psalm 37 that you could benefit from. The Psalm promises that if you, "delight yourself in the Lord" the Lord will "give you the desires of your heart".

So, the question becomes, how do you do that? How do you delight yourself in the Lord?

Before we explore that, let me point out something even more obvious - you must first desire to please God. You must decide that God's desires are more important than your desires. You will not be delighted in God if He is not your chief desire.

What does that look like?

"Trust in the Lord...." The word picture painted here means "to rely on", "to be confident", "to lean your full weight on" Him.

The first way to delight in the Lord is to WANT Him more than to want anything or anyone else. Aim all of your desire at Him. Make it the purpose of your life to meet His desires. Don't even make it about your desires - focus on satisfying His!

When you want the Lord more than anything, temptation loses it's strength against you! I doubt if the devil will tempt you toward desiring God.

Will you aim your desires at God today? 

Will you make Him your chief desire? 

Will you confess and surrender any misplaced desires?