Iron Sharpens Iron

Recently I was in a leadership meeting at church and one of the ministry heads was talking about being frustrated with the way things were going to the point of questioning whether they were really called to the ministry and should they continue as a leader. We can all have this type of frustration in our lives in the church regarding ministry and at home in our personal lives as well. I believe it all originates from the same place.
When we have full lives serving God, raising families, and performing on a job we tend to get on automatic pilot. We are confident in God and our relationship with him, we are confident in ourselves and the decisions we make that impact the family, and we are even confident on the job. If you are anything like me you can get so caught up in performance that you sometimes forget to invite God into the process. There was a time when I would start any ministry project or any endeavor in my personal life with the asking of help from God. I would first consult Him and pray for wisdom and discernment.
As I became more experienced I began to assume God would just bless what ever I put my hands to and provide the help I needed. Over time I began to realize that by not communicating with him first my love relationship began to grow cold and I began to take his presence and divine favor for granted.
The Lord wants a relationship with us more than anything else. I was behaving like the church at Ephesus in Rev 2. I was doing good works for God but I forgot my first love. I then start to minister under my own power and I wonder why I feel tired and spent.
I can never neglect my quiet time alone with God in prayer, meditation and study of the word. I began doing things with God in the first place because I would feel his presence so strongly when I did. That is what I love! When I communicate with God I feel good.
If you find yourself getting weary in well doing, or ministry has lost its luster, and aspects of family life have become a burden or whatever it is get back to your first love. Get alone with God and worship him. When I get back to basics doing what worked so well for me in the past and got me to where I am today with my focus on God all other areas of my life improve and the joy of my salvation returns.

Clif

I am not even going to get into whether to have New Years resolutions or not but I do think there are a few things we can do to start off our year focused and with some good habits in place.

1. Have a quiet time with the Lord. Find a time of preference and a devotional you like based on the Bible which contains a scripture with a meditation. I have my time in the morning because by inviting Christ into my day early it starts my day off right, but it works for many in the evening also so just do it.

2. Join some type of Christian based bible study small enough so that you can share openly and honestly and have a level of accountability. If you are not accountable to at least a few good men you are really asking for trouble and my experience say’s that you are compromising your ethics. When we try to go it alone we tend to modify our self discipline and give ourselves a pass on unacceptable behavior. If we shared the knowledge of this behavior choice with another brother he could help us to see it for what it really is unacceptable.

3. Do something social with Christian friends every week. It could be a cup of coffee or sports activity, lunch or doing an act of community service. When we work and play together friendship grows and the next thing we realize in a time of trouble is we have a large network of support that will help carry us through.

I realize for some of you this is a new way of thinking but I am not telling you something I do not do myself. I have one men’s bible study that I have participated in for 17+ years so I can tell you it works. By the way this is over and above my fulltime job, family, and ministry responsibilities. These are the things I do just for me! These three things can save you a lot of guilt, shame and remorse.

By the way a good inexpensive devotional is the Utmost for His Highest. You can get it for less that $10.

Take care of you! I am sure there are people depending on you.

Jesus is Faithful

Clif

Men’s Ministry Iron Sharpening Iron: Proceed at your own risk of growing up and maturing.

Your purpose is to know God Part 1

Have you talked to a new Christian lately? It is a glorious thing to be a part of. To see the light come on in someone’s eyes and experience that burst of enthusiasm. Most often the first thing they want is to do something for the Lord. We more experienced Christians know that there is nothing we can possibly do to repay Jesus for what he has done but the new convert naturally would like to make an attempt right away. This is where the guidance of a mature bother or sister could come in handy.
Poor self image creates many problems. How we perceive ourselves and having a healthy self image can impact how successful we will be as believers furthering the cause of Christ. In the book of Numbers 13: 26-33 we see the story of Moses sending the spies to get a report on the land of Canaan which God says he will give to them. In verse 33 we see that most of the spies after seeing the people living in the land of Canaan came back saying that there is no way they would be able to take this land. I want to focus on the end of verse 33 which says “we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." We see here that because of the Israelites poor self image of comparing themselves to grasshoppers other people perceived them that way also. Whether it is accurate or not a poor self image will stop you in your tracks in moving forward with God and will greatly impact how you handle adversity.
I recommend a written moral inventory (for your eyes only) by the new convert and shared with an experienced mentor, counselor, or Pastor to help in this process. By seeing our faults on paper it will help us determine our character defects which could inhibit our walk. We also will learn of our strengths which come often from the areas where the enemy Satan attacked us.
Let’s get started and remember Salvation is fully by faith and just the beginning a glorious beginning but never the less the beginning. Now that the Lord has drawn us with His Spirit and we have accepted the gift of salvation it is now time to let Him make us again another vessel and now the process begins. I am not saying not to begin sharing your testimony with others but before we launch off into ministry or begin our search for the perfect Christian women to accompany us in our new life focus we need to deal with the baggage of the past because the devil is sure going to bring it up in the future and we will need to keep these issues under subjection as Paul states in 1 Corinthians: 9, 27

Remember get started! Hang in there! And God Bless more to come!

Clif