Scripture
Now discover your strengths
Many people think that the best way to improve themselves and achieve excellence is to work on their weaknesses. And, yes, there is an aspect of completing God’s workmanship in us which involves that, but I think too many people look at the weaknesses, rather than their strength.
In our section on “Heart,” one of the areas that we focus on is, in fact, discovering and than building upon your strengths.
There are a couple of things that are important to understand in this area, so let’s take a look at the verse in Romans 12:4-8:
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
The two key ideas which I try to elaborate on in our complete 40-day program are:
1) God has given you the ability to do certain things well
You may not be aware of it. Or you are aware of them, but aren’t really using them. Which brings us to the second point.
2) He wants us to focus and use them in the service of others
Look at the verse actions for each gift. “If it is giving, give generously.” “If you are a teacher, teach well.” In other words, fully into your strengths, rather than expending energy on your weaknesses.
So how practically does that work?
I think one way is to take tests, such as they Myers Briggs personality test. That can start to give you a sense of who you are. The Strength Finders tests is also one specifically designed to identify what your strengths are.
The other is to be aware of areas that you experience joy. “If you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” I don’t think it just applies to those who are kind — is there something you find yourself totally lost in? Then it’s a sign that it’s a strength.
Really, even though we cover it only in one day, Day 15 of the 40 Day Program, you could probably spend a lifetime honing your strengths.
But I think beginning now and making it a priority is key. Because every minute and hour spent in your strengths builds you up.
Remember: “each member belongs to all the others” — your strengths belongs to you, and vice-versa. That creates a powerful dynamic in God’s abundant economy.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Winning the war within with the right motives
Isn’t it the whole army of evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can’t possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don’t get it because your whole motive is wrong — you want only what will give you pleasure.
The war within wages because we have desires, “evil desires” in the sense that it makes us jealous of what other people have.
Do we long for more power, wealth and prestige driven by the fact that others around us have it? In an area where I live where there is much money and wealth, it becomes easy to desire that and covet it. I know deep down inside, as much as I may consciously deny it, I do. I think there are far more people out there who, if they honestly asked themselves, are jealous of it. They may react differently by spurning all materialism altogether and being unhappily poor and judgmental of those who are wealthy. It’s a passive-aggressive way of trying to “take it away” from them.
So what is the way to address this evil desire?
By checking the motive.
This has been hard, checking to see if what I ask is “only what will give me pleasure.” But the Scripture doesn’t say to not ask. Throughout Scripture God wants us to ask. But in this passage, it shows what the exact posture is:
When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on him, he will lift you up and give you honor.
Powered by Qumana
Beware of shortcuts!
"Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life – to God! – is vigorous and required total attention. (Matthew 7:13-14 MSG)
How true this statement is, that the marketplace has tons of "easygoing formulas for a successful life" that it can be distracting. It distracts people who may not be Believers from exploring the Truth; but it can also distract Believers into following these alternatives and tugging away from focusing on God’s prescriptions.
I have often looked around, asking, Why haven’t I "made it"? What am I missing from being "successful" and achieving my goals?
The answers I found were in the Bible itself. If I would just listen and partner and allow myself to be transformed, I could experience those things.
The problem: I was distracted by the "easygoing formulas for a successful life" that are made available everywhere. And I realized that, at least for me, in order to put them into practice, I had to actually write them down, put it into my own words, and make them real.
So that’s what I am trying to do. To come up with my own personal alternative, to distill for myself God’s blueprint for navigatin this life and experiencing all the richness he’s promised for following Him.
Powered by Qumana
Take Captive your (Negative) Thoughts
- Image by LunaDiRimmel via Flickr
It’s been hard not to have negative thoughts of despair, regret and anger: every time I look at my stock portfolio I am gripped with anxiety. This was money I had dutifully saved only to have it all come doubling down.
But only by focusing on the solution, even in the midst of total distress, can I find hope. This is the test we all must go through, and 90% of the battle is mental.
So what do we do? We have to use will-power and faith in God to wrestle with these thoughts:
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
The context and probably the original intent was to set people up to withstand false prophesies and ideologies away from believing in Christ.
But I would say that anxiety, self-doubt, lack of self-worth — all those impact our ability to have a relationship with God and ignore that fact that He dwells within. Bad things happen. And when they do and we start to panic, doesn’t that mean we doubt the sovereignty of God?
Can the financial irresponsibility of those who brought upon us this economic crisis have thrwarted God’s plans?
What am I doing to take these thoughts captive? I’m spreading it out in the next post, but it’s willpower and prayer.
My personal challenge: to go for 24-hours without a negative thought and instead to focus on solutions and gratitude.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=c0597a25-bbfd-4fd1-a79c-05588d73e27c)
Proverbs: Thoughts, Work, and Plans
Although not known for absolute certain, Proverbs is said to have been written by the wisest of kings, King Solomon. As part of this blog, I include thoughts and meditations on Proverbs that bring out key concepts towards living a life of leadership and success in this world.
For myself, I know I am constantly battling with, “What are my plans and what are *my* ideas. How will I succeed in this world?”
These three Proverbs have been impactful for me in the right emotional and mental posture and discipline:
“We can gather our thoughts, but the LORD gives the right answer.” Proverbs 16:1
“Commit your work to the LORD, and then your plans will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3
“We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.”
Proverbs 16:9
These are pretty self-explanatory, pretty much saying the same thing. The nuances play out in how one practices them.
The way I am trying to go about executing these:
Allow God as part of the Planning Session
“Gathering thoughts” is the planning of all the ideas and thoughts that come throughout the day or through discplined planning. What would it be like to have a brain-storm session with God in the mix, to ask him, “What is the right answer?” Where should I focus? Should this be in high-tech? Do I want something that will give me flexibility in work and life? Is it worth spending my savings on it?
Planning is Important, allow God to help us execute and prioritize
Notice how the brainstorming and planning is still something that we do. It isn’t all about letting God tell us what to do and we follow blindly.
There needs to be planning, a desire of where one wants to go — as done in the first part with God providing the right answer.
Then once we have plans, the goal-making process usually involves the specific steps and the sequence of how to get there. It’s more tactical. I think this part involves letting go and trusting God, because “the LORD *determines* our steps.”
This part is really asking and being guided and is the hardest part to do when one wants to be productive and go-go. But getting the first part right is so important…because if the planning and “gathering thoughts” stage didn’t include God….”determines our steps” may not be where we think we are going!
Execution as Worship
Do the things as if doing them unto God, not unto man. To give one’s work, committing it to God by trusting him and doing it in His name, is a form of worship and is critical to the success of your plans. Is it better to succeed in a God-formed planned that isn’t 100% yours, or to have 100% of a plan without God’s success?
Who is the King within?
Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will be much fruit….If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”
John 15:5-7
Jesus is the king “in” you and part of this blog is exploring what that actually means. This passage reveals one way to both “remain in Jesus” and to allow the power of Jesus to remain in you, which is to keep the “words” inside.
It’s a powerful, but consistent, notion that Jesus is the word, and the way to keep Him within is to keep the word within. What does that mean to so completely internalize those commands?
This seems consistent with the earlier entry that God sees the heart, and the way to transform the heart is to allow his spirit inside but to also take the diligent efforts of letting the truth of the living word literally seep into our bones by understanding those words.
So I see three basic types of entries (well, four) — one, where I look at the actual words of Jesus which will lead us to develop the “kingship”; the words and lives of actual Kings, primarily King David and King Solomon to find behaviors and outcomes to model to fulfill our own “king within”; and then, in keeping with the words, to look specifically at Proverbs, Psalms, and Eccelsiastes which are often attributed to King Solomon.
This is what I call the “Open Secret” — a way to experience a full and rich live deserving of a king by following the words of the King of all kings!
Oh, right, and the fourth type of entry is the more personal application — how do I actually apply these to my own life of trying to build a company, grow my relationships, and contribute to my community and to the redemption of the world.
Kingship is in your heart
When Samuel was seeking out the king to someday replace Saul, he saw Elihab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.” He jumped to a conclusion based on outward appearances.
Isn’t this what we do with others? And, worse of all, with ourselves? We look at ourselves in our abilities and possession and make an assessment that we cannot inherit “kingship” — both material and spiritual.
But here’s what God says:
“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
Part of unleashing the “king within” is to take these words seriously, that God looks at our heart and, therefore, we should as well.
If God were to look at your heart, what would he see? Part of this journey is exploring how we can elevate, strengthen, and purify our heart to be worthy of our King within.
Take every thought captive
2 Corinthians 10:5:
“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…”
To tap into the “king within” is going to come up against a lot of resistance: what the world thinks, what you’ve been brought up to think, lies, misperceptions, rampant thoughts that run through your mind.
Take a moment to see if you can catch yourself thinking thoughts that may not be healthy.
As I could through this and begin to wrestle with the notion that, in alignment with God, I can unleash “the king within” — I see thoughts emerge that say, “No, it cannot be done.”
To counter-balance this, first we must be aware of the negative thinking. It can be subtle, and I am going to explore later how, by focusing on something bigger and beyond myself, I bring those thoughts to the surface.
And once you start to do this, you must “take every thought captive” and submit it to the Truth that comes from Christ living within having died for our brokeness.
It is only then that we can each begin to take on the mantle as a “king” to serve the king of all kings.
What does Solomon, the Wisest of All, ask for?
1Kings 3:9
“So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.”
And God was pleased, and granted this. God, when speaking to King Solomon, then adds:
1Kings3:13-14
“Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for — both riches and honor — so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in my ways and obey my statues and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”
King Solomon asks for wisdom, and in exchange he becomes wealthy and powerful.
Psalm 46:10
Be still and know that I am God.
