Momentum

We all get off track once in a while. One of the things I do to get back on track is to practice excellence in the little things. Do more than what's expected, dig a little deeper and see what you can do to improve a situation. Do it without condemning others though, just because they are not practicing excellence. Most people don't and it is easy to slip into prideful thinking. Do the best you can and leave the consequences to God. In Mt 25:21 "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" I think this applies to us as well. When I get off track spiritually I have noticed that I slack off in the little things and slip back into mediocrity. One of the quickest ways to get back on track is to practice excellence in the small things. Like when you empty a roll of toilet paper, put on a new one. Or, if you see some trash on the floor pick it up. Or putting the shopping cart back in the buggy parking space instead of leaving it in the parking lot. It is funny how doing this helps you to get back on track and stay on track spiritually. I think it has something to do with thinking about others first.
Taking it to the street:
1.) Ask God to help you to see the things where you are practicing mediocrity.
2.) Think of something you can do above and beyond the normal, then do it.
Pressing on with excellence!!
 Keith    

Temptation

 We all are tempted. Even Jesus was tempted, so that is not new. But the question remains, how do you overcome temptation? Staying away from triggers can help, but I don't think that is the answer. It is good to think ahead and have a plan as to what you're going to do when you are tempted. Jesus overcame temptation by using verses from the Bible. That does work.The only problem with that is most people don't invest enough time in the Bible to have memorized it. So this can be a part of a pre-temptation plan; call it defense. The old football adage is: a good defense is the best offense. So, if we invest some time in God's word, it will give us something different to think about. If we memorize it, we build a strong defense by having it in the top of our minds. I'll give you an example. Lately, I myself have noticed a verse coming up while I've been reading the bible and again in a church service and again in a devotional. The verse was Ephesians 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen". So, I decided to memorize this verse and I've noticed some things that I've been saying that are not very wholesome. Also, I've been able to stop saying them before the words come out. So I may be tempted to say it but be able to hold my tongue. Ask God to help you overcome then take action by memorization.
Taking it to the street:
1.)  Invest some time in reading the bible.
2.) Memorize verses that God speaks
to you about.

Pressing on with Excellence!!
Keith                              

From Mountains to MoleHills

Do you ever ask yourself these questions? Why do I act this way? Why does that person bother me so much? Or say to yourself: I should be better than this. Do you ever feel like you’re so far away from God that you wonder if he will take you back? Do you have trouble forgiving people that hurt you?

I would say that most people ask these all the time and they are probably pretty normal thinking patterns. Would you like to get out of this rut? The first thing I had to do was to name and claim my sins; my selfishness, my fear, my envy, dishonesty, laziness, unforgiveness and my pride. These things blocked me from God.

When I started practicing the opposite, I knocked down the mountains that were blocking me from God. I started practicing unselfishness, trust, humility, honesty, diligence, forgiveness, and love. These things I could not do by myself, but I would pray and ask God to help me. As much as I was willing, God helped me.

I think it is vital to sit down and take a look at these things that are blocking me and write them down. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. If I don’t look at what’s making me the way that I am, then I will never be able to change it. I can’t change everything over night. But little by little, one at a time, I can reduce the effect that some of these things have on my life. If I practice the opposite, with God’s help I can turn mountains into mole hills.

Pressing on with excellence!! Keith

You have what it takes to change your thinking and change your life.

Do you struggle with low self-esteem?

http://hissideofthelookingglass.com/self-esteem-scripture-verses/

I bet you will find that people (myself included) who judge and condemn have low self esteem. Low self esteem causes me to be judgmental because if I can point out something in someone else, then I don’t have to look at myself. In other words, because of my own insecurity, I seek to find something wrong with others, to point it out and tear them down to make myself look better.

Poor self esteem is a sin and a lie to myself. How? Because I don’t accept God’s love and forgiveness---if I say to myself I’m fat or I’m stupid, I can’t do anything right or I should be better than this, then that is wallowing in self pity and guilt. If I do this then I’m not accepting God’s love and forgiveness. This is really a pride issue because God says he forgives me. But I can’t forgive myself and that is putting myself above God and I am greater than He.

This is one of the reasons self forgiveness is so important. I believe that Satan uses this guilt and self pity to keep us as Christians from being effective. See the thing is, Satan knows you’re forgiven and if he can keep you from feeling this freedom, then he’s won. Because with this feeling you can’t stop it. It will show. What we need is God esteem because we fail often. But God’s forgiveness is real and refreshed every moment.

Taking it to the street 1.) Ask God to help you to see when your being judgmental with others and to be sensitive to how you talk to yourself. 2.) Practice forgiving your self.

Pressing On With Excellence!!
Keith

The little things

I wonder why I struggle so much with the little things? I think it's a pride issue. I will give you an example: Say someone I know has gotten into a car accident. They are seriously injured. I may go to the hospital and visit them and feel sorry for them and even pray with them and for them. I may even feel their pain, but really I can't do much for them. I will pray continuously for them because I ultimately know that their welfare is up to God. But I am powerless to do anything for them. I know that and I am content with leaving them in the hands of the Creator. But, say something small comes up, something simple and I don't go to God in prayer. I say I got this and fail miserably, it usually happens with small, insignificant things. I really think that God wants to be the Lord of our lives and wants to be involved in the small things. He loves us and wants so much to be involved in our lives; every aspect of our lives, especially the small things. This is where we can get an intimate glimpse of God and how much he knows about us and wants to show it. But my pride often blocks me off from this intimate time with God. God won't step in if we don't want him to. He will let us try on our own until we have a Dr.Phil moment and ask ourselves "how's that working for you?" For me it doesn't always. I'm far better if I invite him into helping me with the small things as well.

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.

The Trick To Loving Others

 Matthew 22:36-39 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (NIV) Jesus said to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and to love others as you love yourself. One thing I have experienced in my own life is that, if you learn how to love God with all of your heart, soul and mind, loving your neighbor is almost a by product of that. I say almost because some people really make it difficult to love them. This is not an option, we have to love them, but how do we do that? This is where prayer and the greatest commandment comes in. If we love God with ALL our heart, soul and mind. He makes it possible to love others and yes, even forgive them, for what they do to us. After all He created them too. Who am I to condemn them? They were made in his image as well. I have to make a decision to love them. It might mean walking on eggshells around them to try to keep from offending them. That is a difficult task at times but God will give us the grace to do whatever it takes to learn to love them.

Taking it to the street: 1) Praise God for every good thing he has done in your life.
                                 2) Ask him to teach you how to love like he loves.

Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Judge Not

I was reading in James this week and he has gotten me to thinking about judging others. The verse I'm referring to is the one that talks about having a log in your eye and pointing out the speck in others. I've noticed that in my own life. I did my share of pointing out others mistakes or deficiencies. All without noticing the log in my own eye. As a matter of fact, I think the bigger your log is the more that you see others' deficiencies. It is so easy to sit back and judge others. I think it may be because the more I look at them and their faults the less I have to look at myself and see the log in my own eye. Our own insecurities and selfish desires drive us to do so many things. If we find ourselves judging and condemning others, we can be sure that there is something about ourselves that we are seeing in others, something that really bugs us about ourselves. Matthew 7:2 says, "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Sounds scary to me.

Taking it to the street: 1) Ask God to convict you when you judge others.
                                 2) Take an inventory of yourself and see if you can see what it is that needs to change in you.

Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Quit Chasing Rabbits

One of the things I would like to do is to focus more on the important things in life instead of wasting my time on things that don't really matter. Nice thought, but where do you start? I think you need to look at some things and decide what's really important. Goals are nice but if they don't lead you to what's really important then they're just a list of accomplishments. Or things that you want to accomplish. I'm not saying that goals are bad, they just may be a distraction from what is really important. What does God have for you? Trying to figure out what God's will for your life can sometimes be difficult. But if you don't figure that out and pursue it, then you're just chasing rabbits.
It says in 1 Corinthians 13:1, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." I sometimes wonder if I complicate it too much. I have said that I may not know what God's will is for my life, but I sure know when I'm not doing his will. His will is not complicated. His will is to be like Him and to love others since he is love. His will is to, wherever you are in life,
bring glory to him through all that you think, say, and do. Your relationship with God is most important. To love people is what his will for all of us is. The biggest problem I have with that is self.
Taking it to the street:1) Ask God to help you to realize his love for you.
                                2) Ask God to point out to you thoughts that are not glorifying to Him.
Pressing On With Excellence!! Keith

You Only Live Once

YOLO has been the theme of our services for the past few weeks. This is a great way to start your thinking for a new year. Because you only live once, you don't want to have your priorities out of whack. This is easy to slip into, especially in America where everything is about everything except what really matters. Don't believe me? Look at the commercials on TV. You can't be satisfied because you don't have the newest I-phone or the right vitamins or the right suit or whatever. In a world that continuously bombards you with the thought that you can't be satisfied with your life unless (fill in the blank) ______. It can be easy to get your priorities messed up. One thing that can help is to look at the idea that, if you knew you were not going to be here next year or in the next six months, what would matter most? What if you knew that your best friend would not be here next year? What would matter most? We think we can't live without a bunch of stuff, but those things don't matter so much when you are going to lose your life or someone you know loses theirs. What matters most is their salvation or yours! In the light of eternity, where someone spends it could change your priorities.
Taking it to the street 1.) Ask God to help you to discern his priorities for your life.
                                2.) Think about what would be most important if you were not going to be here next year. Because you only live once, make it your best.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Trust Him

Trust is the key to adventure (Alex Rover, Nims Island), so it is with our relationship with God. When we trust him fully we can have confidence in the unknown. Confidence that all will be alright and that we can do what he wants us to do when we are in His will. Then we are in for an adventure of a lifetime where we need not worry, but trust and see what he does next. If you put your trust in to a 401k or a job or on a credit card or people, you're not living to the fullness of life that God has for you. I'm not saying those things are bad, just where is your trust really? Things and stuff and people come and go. There is only one that won't fail you, only one that deserves your full trust. That one is God may you find him now. So what is your confidence in? See, God wants to help us, he want us to succeed. But it will not happen if we don’t accept his help. If we don’t trust that he will help us why should he bother? Does that make sense? Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". (NKJV) I can do all things through Christ, I can do nothing of any lasting value without Him. It may be a radical thought but it is biblical. So take a spiritual adventure and see what you've been missing. Put your trust in Him and enjoy the ride of a lifetime.
Taking it to the street. 1.) Ask the Lord to help you to trust Him daily maybe even hourly.
                                     2.) Ask yourself if you're putting too much trust in other things beside God.

Pressing on with Excellence!!
Keith

Realize

I had been a Christian for at least 15 years, yet there was clearly a disconnect between myself and God, almost a split personality of sorts. If I knew you were a Christian, I could mostly act like I thought a Christian should act. If I knew you were not a Christ follower, you probably would not know that I was a Christian. Some of the things that would come out of my mouth would make a sailor blush. I want to make it clear, I was a Christian. I believed in God and I had a heart for a closer relationship with him. I would read my Bible every day in the morning and that did help, but I had very little fruit in my life, meaning the fruits of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22 &23 says, "but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control." I believe it is possible to limit God's power in our lives. 1st Corinthians 13:11 says, "when I was a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." So maybe part of my being unfruitful could be blamed on spiritual immaturity. But I still believe there are ways to spur spiritual growth so that we may become spiritually mature quicker and stop wasting our lives. That is what this blog is all about!
Taking it to the street. 1.) Do an inventory of fruits of the Spirit in your life this week. (Are you lacking?)
                              2.) Ask someone to hold you accountable about the changes you want to see in your life.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Friend

There many names given to Christ. You know the list: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace, just to name a few. There is one that I'm especially thankful for. One that if it were not true, I personally would be finished. Many others would be too if it were not so. That name is Jesus, Friend Of Sinners. If He is a friend of sinners then I am in good company. I can trust that he loves me and forgives me and wants me to be his friend no matter what. Some friends write you off if you hurt them. Not Jesus; He would still have gone to the cross even if I was the only person in the world. Talk about hurting someone, my sin sent him to the cross yet he still wants to be my friend. What is a friend? A friend is someone who you can talk to about anything; a friend knows what makes you laugh or cry. A close friend may even be able to finish a sentence for you. A real friend will listen when you're down, help to lift you back up, and encourage you to keep going even when you think you can't take anymore. A friend knows your weakness and your strengths, your good and overlooks the bad. A friend knows your potential. John 15:15 says, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." Jesus is my friend and he can be yours too! He is a true friend and will never let you down. As the old hymn goes, what a friend we have in Jesus.
Taking it to the street: 1.) Identify some things you can do to become a better friend.
                                 2.) Look for chances to implement those ideas and become a better friend.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

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

Beliefs

  I have come to realize how important your beliefs are. I used to think that I had to act a certain way based on my emotions. This is not true. What I have found  is that what I believe about a situation controls what I will do. If I believe that someone is hurt bad, I may call 911. If I believe that their injury isn't so bad, I may give them a ride to the urgent care, or take care of it myself with a band-aid. This is true in our spiritual lives as well. If I believe that God is not going to help me with a specific problem, I may try to take care of it myself. Usually it is something small that I think I can fix on my own. The big stuff I tend to give to God because I have learned that I don't have any control over those situations. But the truth is, if I would believe that he would help me in the small things, I could save myself a bunch of trouble. James 1:6-8 says, "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;  8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." My problem was not that I did not ask, my problem was I did not really believe that he cared enough for me to help me with the small things. I think it kind of offends God when we do that. He wants to be totally involved in our lives.
Taking it to the street:
1.) Ask God to help you to sort out false beliefs in your thinking.
2.) Invest some time in His word each day this week.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Spirit led

It's funny, last week I blogged about focus and this week I lost mine. I could give you plenty of excuses but I won't. I made a decision to not write last Saturday, mostly because I was tired both physically and mentally.  I was listening to our pastor the other day, he said that there are 64,000 unchurched  people living in our county. He also said that if each one in our church would lead 32 people to Christ we could have a huge affect on our county. So, I want to do my part and I was wondering how to go about it. Is it realistic to have a goal to lead 32 people for Christ in a year? See, the thing is, I can set a goal of that, and I might even be able to have a plan of action of some sort, but I think that if it was left up to me alone there would be no one lead to Christ. I believe that the whole process has to be Spirit led. I can set a goal of 32 people in a year, but the Holy Spirit has to do the work in their heart. He would have to lead them to me. He would have to give me the right words to say. He would also have to help me to want to. So, do I just give up? I don't think so. I think I can set a goal of 32 people in a year. My job is to be led by the Spirit to abide in Him, and to be so in tune with him that I don't hesitate when I hear him. I will have to be aware of my surroundings and what people are talking about. I would have to be sensitive to others' emotions and where they're at and with what's going on in their lives. That's a tall order for anyone, no matter where you are in your spiritual walk.
Taking it to the street. 1.) Ask God for a heart  for people.
                                  2.) Practice listening to the Holy Spirit.
Pressing on with excellence!! Keith        

Focus

I have decided that if I want to try some new things I may need to give up some things to do that. It is very easy to spread yourself too thin. So instead I try to figure out what God is speaking to me about and focus on that. It's okay to drop some things from your life and try something new, it may not even be a permanent thing. But sometimes we need to just let some things go temporarily to get where we need to be, where God wants us to be, and where he can better use us. It might even be a good thing that we have to give up. For example, I serve as security at our church, and I want to take a Christian counseling course at church. I decided that I would have to give up the security position for now so that I could better concentrate my efforts on counseling. There is quite a bit of material to cover and I need to make time to read it. Plus the security position sometimes runs at the same time as the class. While security is a good way to serve others and a good thing to do, I need to let go of that so that I can better focus on what God wants me to do. Life is full of choices and when we lose our focus then we are wasting precious time.

Taking it to the street: 1) Is there something in your life that is distracting you from giving your full attention to what is most important? 2) Ask God to help you to see if there is.

Pressing On With Excellence!!
Keith

My Biggest Sin

I filled out an application for church leadership to be a small group leader at our church recently. One of the questions got me to thinking. The question was, do you have any recurring sin in your life? I wanted to answer this honestly, but I also want to lead a small group. I don't want to be disqualified by answering the wrong way. So, I decided to answer the question honestly and let the chips fall where they may. My answer was that I have a tendency to use profanity when I'm not allowing the Holy Spirit to control my mind. You can ask my kids; they have, I'm ashamed to say, heard some terrible things come out of my mouth. Especially when I'm working on a car. I don't know why that is. I used to think that you could judge how hard  a job was by how many swear words came out, not how many hours it took. I still struggle sometimes with that although not as much as I used to.
My biggest sin is living a life of mediocrity. Slipping back into old habits is more of what Satan would want me to do than what God wants for me and my life. I wasted too much of my life living in mediocrity; no more. I will not let my fire for Him go out. I want more than ever to be effective for Him. To see others come to know Him. To be in a position to see God at work in their lives. I have a passion for Him and His ways. I know that if I let up, I will soon be going backwards. So never, never, never, give up.

Taking it to the street: 1.) Bring glory to God with what comes out of your mouth this week.                  
                                  2.) Practice excellence is the small mundane things you do this week.
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