Together is better

We had a sermon on prayer tonight. Our pastor talked about the first church and how they prayed. That got me to thinking about the people in Belize that we met. First of all, we walked this village to pray with people and they were very poor. But there wasn't any prayer requests for any kind of material things, only for relationships and physical healing for others. Not one kind of material thing at all. No trying to manipulate God for this or that. Here are people so needy, yet they were not; they really knew what mattered most.
The second thing I thought about was the Spanish church service that I visited in Belize; where the first thing everyone did when they came into church was to go up front to the alter and pray. Can you imagine what would happen if all of God's children did that? It was a powerful service. I never thought of it before, but if God loves to hear his Children calling out, how does he feel when we do it unified together? I bet He really enjoys it. I'll bet it is like a concert to Him.
Taking it to the street:
1.) Pray
2.) Pray with others.

Pressing On with Excellence!!
Keith

Get into the solution

So I went to a meeting tonight and there was a guy that had gone to a wedding and gotten drunk over the weekend. He had been sober only a month. The discussion took on the usual; things to stay away from, wet places, and how to have a plan of escape. Don't allow yourself to be tempted. The problem is, no matter where you're at you can be tempted with anything. Whether you're an alcoholic or just a regular sinner, temptation comes. So really there is no safe place. The Bible says in 1 Cor.10-13">No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it." (MSG). Even then you still have to have a desire to not give in. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. To the extent that we allow Him to control our mind he will give us the desire to say no. So the solution is to prepare ahead of time by submitting control of our mind to Him over and over again until it almost becomes a habit. Ro. 8:6 says, "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace." Think about this: when you're being tempted you are not at peace, in fact you're in turmoil. So you will know when you have overcome temptation because you will have peace. The peace you receive when you overcome temptation is real life and the only real solution. 

 Taking it to the street:
          1.) Identify those areas that are your greatest temptation create a plan of escape.
          2.) Ask the Holy Spirit to control your mind.

Defeated Christian

With faith, you can be free. With fear you are defeated. I lived a long time as a defeated Christian. I was saved, but I believed only to a certain point. I had corrupted beliefs that inhibited me from being free in Christ. So, I was right where Satan wanted me; defeated, not making a difference in anyone's life, not being able to change anything in my own life. You would hear me say things like...I can't do this, because I don't have any money. Or, I can't do that because I'm not smart enough or good enough or whatever. The truth is, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Phil 4:13).  But, with faith you can be free! When you really believe that the God who created the universe really loves you, you don't have to worry about anything. You can know that he will take care of you, that where you are is exactly where you are supposed to be. You can know that, if you're still breathing, God has a mission for you! You don't have to worry about gas prices or whether you going to have enough to eat or really anything. The way you think about life changes. You are free from that old scarcity mind set. The old things have passed away and all things are new. Now that we are Christians, we have to do away with that old way of thinking or we will be right where Satan want us...as a defeated Christian.

Taking it to the street:

1) Ask God to help you to see the truth.
2) Make a list of 10 things that you are thankful for.

Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith
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Listen

With the last post being about prayer, I thought it might be fitting that I share some of my struggles with prayer. One of the hardest things for me is to do is to take the time to listen. I'm not sure why. Deep down I want to know what God has to say to me, but I hardly give him the chance to speak to me. I think that is one of the reasons I enjoy hunting so much. It gives me the chance to get alone and be quiet with God. Those are two things you need to hear His still small voice. Even when I'm alone and quiet I can still become distracted. I really have to focus my thoughts, push them out of my head and just listen. He doesn't speak to me every time I pray, but if I can get alone, quiet, and focus my thoughts on Him, I have a real good chance to hear Him. On my way to work in the morning is also potentially a good time to practice listening. Once again I'm alone and quiet, although I often get distracted. Wherever you are it doesn't really matter. What matters is making it a priority to listen.
Taking it to the street:
      1.)  Plan a time when you can get alone, quiet, and focused with God. (Jesus did it in the morning.) Check this out: Mark 1:35, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed". I figure if Jesus needed to do this, so do I.
      2.) Develop a habit of focused listening during this time of prayer. This takes practice. Don't give up before the miracle happens.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Prayer

Last week I wrote about beliefs. This week I realized that if my belief in God is real, then why don't I take more things to him in prayer? Why do I try to do so many things alone? Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray continually; Do you pray continually? I know I don't. But when it comes to having the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, belief and prayer go hand in hand. It is pointless to pray if you don't believe that God is going to do something. I think that a lot of our prayers are hindered by unbelief. Why? What makes me pray, then believe that God is not going to do anything? I struggle with that. I hear myself say that He wouldn't do that for me because I don't deserve it. Thanks be to God that I don't get everything I deserve because I wouldn't be here right now. What's the point I'm trying to make? The point is that the way I talk to myself is, in a way, almost a prayer because God knows what I'm thinking. He can tell by my innermost thoughts whether I believe He will answer my prayer or not. We can also listen to our own thoughts and tell if we believe or not. I think we sabotage our own prayers by our negative thoughts and words.
Taking it to the street:
1.) Think about what you're thinking about. Is it negative or God honoring?
2.) Practice continual prayer.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Subtle Influence

So, I have been writing  lately about the Holy Spirit's power in our lives and how we can tap into that power. What I want to point out is that the Holy Spirit's job is to transform us into the likeness of Christ. 2Co 3:18, "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (NIV) Are you reflecting the Lord's glory? I know that is a tough question; my answer is sometimes more than other times. Even though I'm far better than I used to be, I still have a long way to go. So, once again this week, I noticed that what you allow into your head affects you and your closeness to reflecting the Lord's glory. I was driving the company truck and I usually change the station, but I didn't Thursday morning. It was on a classic rock station and I allowed myself to listen to some music from the past. I got a song stuck into my head and caught myself singing it the rest of the day; Elton John's, The Piano Man. I remembered most of the words, but I didn't think too much of it. But I did notice that I had a hard time controlling my mouth. But today I listened to the radio and got  the Christian song: Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher stuck in my head and had a much easier going day. I felt more at peace and had noticeably more self control over what words came out of my mouth. I'm reminded again that what you put into your head does affect you good or bad.
Taking it to the street 1.) Be careful of what you allow yourself to listen to or to watch.
                                 2.) Ask the Holy Spirit to control your mind.
Pressing on with excellence!!
 Keith

Selfless

In the last few blogs we have been looking at what blocks us from receiving the Holy Spirit. I want to take a different look at this subject. I want to look at things that we can do to be controlled by the Spirit. My life verse, Romans 8:6, says, "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace." All of my life I have been longing to have peace even though I did not know what name to give it. I knew what it felt like, but the peace I was receiving was fleeting. But I have found it and it is here most of the time. The only time now that I lose my peace is when I get into self and forget about being controlled by the Spirit. Selfishness and self-centeredness is my biggest block from seeing the Holy Spirit's power in my life. So, if I'm selfless and others focused, then I eliminate my biggest block; ME. So, the next few blogs will be about what we can do to have our minds controlled by The Holy Spirit.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Wait

Since we have been looking at Acts:8 and how we can have part in the power of the Spirit, I wanted to take a look at Acts 1. Here is, I think, one more key to accessing his power in our lives. The disciples are told to wait for the Holy Spirit's indwelling. During this time they prayed and waited. Why would Jesus tell them to wait? I cannot answer this. I do know time after time in my life God has asked me to wait and it has helped me to grow spiritually. It has taught me patience and how to trust Him, and to seek Him and His will for my life. Waiting teaches me to get me out of myself, and has taught me to not worry or fear. To just be still and know He is God and that He loves me. Waiting is not easy; it can wear you down, but it does seem to produce good results. During the waiting I get to experience the now, which is the only time I can really experience Him. Have you waited on God? What have you learned during this time?
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Pray

One of the last things that I see in the Acts 8 story that we have been studying is the relationship between prayer and the Holy Spirit. Though the people believed and were baptized they still hadn't received the spirit.Then, Peter and John showed up and prayed that they might receive the spirit (vs 15). Later on Peter tells Simon to pray and repent. I wonder if Simon ever did  pray and repent and receive the Holy Spirit. I also wonder how many Christian's there are who are like Simon. They believe and are baptized and still don't have part in the spirit. I think I was one for a while. I also believe that God's grace is sufficient until I figure out what is blocking me from His Spirit and become willing to have him remove that from me. I do know that if you pray and ask God to help you to see what is blocking you from Him, He will show you. It may seem difficult at times, it may seem impossible, but through prayer we invite the Holy Spirit in to help us to change those things that block us from Him. Things that we would be powerless to change on our own.
Pressing on with Excellence!!
Keith

Passing it on

 I wanted to comment about what we talked about in the last post. One of the things that I learned over the years is that, left to my own devices, I cannot change anything on my own. No matter how much I wished I could change, I could not do it myself; the power wasn't there. I have learned to allow  the Holy Spirit to control my mind. When the Holy Spirit controls my mind, then I act differently, almost without trying. It just happens. So when it comes to my kids I teach them to do this to the best of my ability. I only have them for a little while. I teach them how to make good choices to the best of my ability. What I'm trying to do is to prepare them because I know someday they are going to be put in a position to choose for themselves. I pray they will make the right decision, but, ultimately, it is their decision to make. To do that they will also need to learn to trust Him. If you know that God loves you, and is with you, and cares about you. Then you can have confidence that what is happening to you is for His glory and good. The best I think we can do is to prepare them for that day. If they screw up they will at least know where they can turn. If they learn how to allow the Holy Spirit to control their mind and are guided by the Spirit then they are in good hands and I don't have to worry about their future. Are you passing it on if so how?
Passing it on with excellence !!
Keith 

The Little Foxes

Solomon said in Song of Solomon 2:15, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” What was he talking about? I think that he was telling us to watch out for the little things. Be persistent in living a life of excellence in all areas of our lives.

It is easy to slip back into mediocrity. Am I doing the best that I can? Can I do better? Persistence is sometimes hard to muster. I have found that if I do things with excellence in one area of my life, it rubs off into other areas. This also works the other way around. If I slack off in one area of my life it affects the others.
That is why it is important to practice excellence in small unseen ways, so that these little foxes don’t creep in and ruin my efforts. It seems like I wasted parts of my life by having big breakthroughs only to mess them up again. By not being persistent in my actions, and slipping backwards, I had to make another trip around the mountain. If I persist in what I learn, and don’t fall back, then I’m free to learn something new instead of having to learn the same thing over and over again. Have you ever had that Groundhog Day feeling? You don’t have to have that. Practice excellence in the little things. Ask yourself, can I do better here? Then do it.
Being diligent in the little things will have a payback. Check out Matthew 25:29. The New Living translation says “to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given.” It has to do with sowing with excellence and reaping what you’ve sown.
Pressing on with Excellence,
Keith

Persistence

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiotsrun/3596439006/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Persistence. That's the thought that keeps coming up in my head. I've heard it said that persistence is faith. I think persistence is faith in action.

I have set out on a quest to see what my life would look like if I change the way I think. See, I've had enough of worry and anxiety and fear. You reap what you sow. So I've been intentional about what kinds of thoughts I've been sowing. But it's not harvest time yet and that's where persistence comes in; continuing to press on and grow and cultivate and irrigate, reading, listening, and putting good stuff into my head, eating right and watching who I hang out with. These things I work on to see what I will harvest.

I see new life coming on and plants growing. But it's still not harvest time yet. Oh, when will it be harvest time? This is when I need to be persistent and have faith that it will be worth it all. My life is so much better already. The rows are straight and most of the weeds are gone, but I still have some growing to do and some maturing before the harvest time.

This crop has to be bountiful because I haven't sown like this before. I can't wait much longer. This is going to be awesome.

Pushing on towards Excellence,

Keith