By Every Word

Order Gives Fulfillment

Articles, Embassy Epistles Comments Off

Sep 202010

Alright, so here is a very well known scripture- but one we must remind our self of constantly.

1 Corinthians 14:40
Let all things be done decently and in order.
KJV

How many successful businesses do you know of that are in complete disorder when it comes to their bookkeeping, inventory, staffing, tax filing or other important areas. I’m not talking about “John’s Peaches” on the side of some random road. I’m talking about a proven business that has went through the ups and downs of the market and has sustained profitable results through these trying times. Probably zero or very few… and of the few they are most likely borderline bankrupt. It just doesn’t happen.

One of the greatest feelings in life is going to work or your place of business and fulfilling a needed duty for which you receive compensation in the form of green paper. That little green paper is earned for providing a service or skill that benefited others. When at work most of us enjoy that feeling of doing something important while earning those monetary notes- But there is also something we may not realize or be constantly aware of while doing our jobs that is a reward in and of itself, and that is the order of our environment. We often don’t give much thought at work about where to find a pen, pad of paper, find a proper place to work on a laptop, or other trivial necessity. We need a pen, it’s in the desk- need a pad of paper, on the left side of the desk… For some reason it just isn’t as smooth at home all the time. I don’t know how many times I have found myself yelling to my wife in desperation “Where’s a pen!?! I need a pen !?! …oh thanks… Where something to write on?!?”

I cannot always control where things are in the house, as there is usually more than one hand on them in any given day, but something far more important I can control is my time. God is a God of order and we being His creation in His image should realize we need to act in like manner. If we’re His children, why do we think we can go without having order in our life and expect successful results? I mean… He’s GOD! He does everything decently and in order. He does everything in proper time. Even Jesus came “when the time had fully come”.

Just so there is no confusion, I am not talking about scheduling every minute of a service down to the final 2 minute warning with prayer before the buzzer and we all leave and go eat chicken. No, no, no- that’s programming God out of our service and that’s another writing for another day.

But God does expect us to make the best use of our time as His citizens.

Hebrews 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
KJV

Judging from this scripture, I have so much time on earth while I am in this body. I know I have purpose to fulfill and I need to be about my work and getting things done. I don’t have a “heavenly slot machine” by which I can win life tokens for extra years, I don’t have a pause button for life, and God doesn’t plan on rewinding what has passed just so I can get a do-over for time wasted. So I have to do the best with what I have. But how many times do we come home from our orderly jobs, with our tightly knit agendas that use every ounce of time to its fullest, only to sit down on the couch and think about all the things we need to get done but become tired just thinking about it? Uncompleted tasks, projects, potential ideas keep piling up… but the only thing we succeed at is FAILING TO ACT! Sometimes we try, but we start one thing only to get scatter brained while thinking about the other things we need to do… and we often go to bed thinking “I just can’t get caught up around here.”

Well remember who you are- you were made in His image AND in His likeness. It is not natural for you to be disorderly. You cannot run a company like this, so why do you think you can get positive results in your life without order? I had someone recently tell me “I just can’t find time to read… I’m too busy” The reason we can’t find time to read is the same reason we can’t find time to pray, we don’t make time. We have to appoint times and bring order to our life. Prayer is the most important thing a citizen of the kingdom can do each day… yet it is often neglected… and we wonder where is God and why can I not get anything done. Because your life is out of order.

King David was bringing the Ark of the Covenant to his place and decided to have it brought on a cart, which was not the way God had told them to transport it. When the ark began to fall, Uzza tried to stop it and touched the ark and he died. After a few months of leaving the ark at Obededom’s, David acted differently in his approach to this task…

1 Chronicles 15: 12-13
12) And said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it.
13) For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.
KJV

Sometimes God will allow affliction to come on you, because it’s the only way to get His stubborn children in line with His plan. So prayer is a daily necessity in bringing complete satisfactory order to our day. Notice I did not say just “order” but “satisfactory order”. That’s because you may get results because of a well structured plan, but you’ll be missing a key component to your personal satisfaction and any results can only be sustained temporarily with a “no prayer agenda”. And yes, you need to assign times for prayer. I love God with all my heart and have seen great and mighty things, but I have yet to have the Holy Spirit in the form of a cloud pick me up out of my bed, float me out of my room to a solitary place, wake me up gently and say “Please pray…” I have times He gets my attention but the majority of the time it is a discipline… and one we definitely need to work on.

So make time be what you want it to be, grab a hold of it and bring order to it. Assign tasks to your morning and evening and you will see great rewarding results and feel accomplished at the end of the day. I am convinced that the primary reason for this feeling of accomplishment is because you are in right standing with the kingdom and in the King’s favor when you dominate your life. (Genesis 1:26). You’re acting just like your Daddy… in Heaven.

Start today, get a pad of paper and assign what you will do each day. It doesn’t have to be perfect- AND don’t just “think” what you want to do because that’s why we’re doing this exercise in the first place. Your mental agenda has a way of rescheduling indefinitely. So WRITE IT DOWN, and you can adjust as needed after a few days. An example would be…

6:00AM: Wake up / Pray
6:30AM: Get Ready
7:00AM: Leave for Work – School – Etc
–Blah–Blah–Blah–
6:00PM Arrive Home – Relax
6:30PM: Cook
7:00PM: Exercise – Shower
8:00PM: Read Book
8:30PM: Study Bible
9:00PM: Free Time

This is just an example and time durations for certain things will vary but- TRY IT! Write it down, commit to it, and follow through for 21 days so it becomes a habit. If you don’t like it, you can always go back to procrastinating- it will welcome you with slothful arms.

But kingdom citizens are not lazy, they ACT, and their diligence brings reward.

For The Kingdom!

A Prayer For Uganda

Articles, Blurb Comments Off

Jul 122010

Two suspected Islamist bombings occurred in Uganda today. As of this writing 64 are suspected dead. Everyone who reads this post today- take 60 seconds right now, and say a prayer for those in Uganda. This is a tragic event. Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters of someone were killed today. Life will be even harder for those individuals who have survived them- they will play this over and over in their mind.

Pray now… it will make a difference…

It’s Time To Quit

Articles, Embassy Epistles 1 Response »

Apr 212010

This sounds horrible doesn’t it? …Why?

“BECAUSE YOU SHOULD NEVER QUIT!” – That’s what most say right?

Well that’s absolutely not true. The obvious thoughts about good things to quit would be to quit smoking, using drugs, drinking, unhealthy eating habits, etc. Right?

But what else? Think of one of the most valuable resources we have… “time”. You cannot get time back. You can lose money on some stupid deals, or blow it on ridiculous stuff- but you can always get more money. We sometimes become “cost conscious” but we can easily fall back into excessive spending if we are not responsible. However, we spend one of our most valuable resources so loosely. If I could sell time back to peoples lives- I would be the richest man on earth. The most wealthiest of people would give me everything they had earned in a lifetime for another year of time on their death bed. So why do we waste this valuable resource? Well I have several truths on this subject, but I’m only going to cover this one thing for now. QUIT WASTING TIME!
Life is too short to waste time. Do you realize you have something you were born to do? A true purpose in life. It’s true! God makes nothing without a purpose. But we are easily distracted. Well- it’s time to Quit! That’s right Quit!

You should quit something if it is not your calling. You should quit things that are keeping you from your purpose. You should quit things that are not profitable in your life. (This is not referring to just money)
You should quit things that are pointless.

So should you quit a job? How about a profession? How about a ministry?
Hmmmm. These can be tough questions to deal with. But the answer is within you. You have to analyze where you are in life and realize or not if you are fulfilling God’s call in your life; If you are fulfilling God’s purpose that he put in you, by bringing out the potential that is waiting to come out.

It can be hard to deal with, but think about this. What if Billy Graham had decided to be a physician instead, …or a basketball coach. I know you may be thinking… pfffttt.
It’s easy to see where someone is or what they have become but what you don’t see is all the things they went through to get there. The night’s of praying for purpose. The constant seeking for purpose. The rough roads on the way. You will never be happy unless you find and fulfill your purpose. Billy Graham may have been able to be an awesome physician or even a champion basketball coach- but look what potential he would have given up. What true purpose would have never been seen.

Oh yeah! This works both ways too. Let’s go ahead and get it out of our minds the incorrect and dangerous separation we have with people. We sometimes put people in two groups. People in ministry and everyone else. There are nurses, athletes, and artists that are fulfilling God’s purpose in their lives and successful in ministry far more than some of those that label themselves as “IN” the ministry. The thing is God doesn’t see people this way. How do I know? Well He is the creator; He designed you, molded you, and made you. He knows exactly what He put in you to come out in life. He put potential in you to be birthed for the kingdom in this world. He wants to see it come out. That’s why God is so patient with us. He wants to see you reach your full potential. He will clean you up along the way- He just wants you to turn to Him, acknowledge Him, accept Him and return back to His kingdom and He will restore you and bring you into the full glory of His nature.

The thing is God knows what he is doing. He wants what is best for us and knows what will give us joy. It’s in our purpose. He is more pleased with one of His kids who is a firefighter (because he called them to this area of occupation), then if “THEY” decided they want to be a pastor. Ouch! Does that hurt? It hurt’s if you are in something that you have no business being in. That is God did not design you for it.

What’s better? An “OK” surgeon- or an “AWESOME” family counselor. In the book 48 DAYS TO THE WORK YOU LOVE, by Dan Miller, he tells a story of a struggling pastor. After several unfulfilled years as a pastor he was struggling with where he was in life. I mean he loved the Lord, but the thing was he was never called to be a pastor. After talking with Dan Miller they discovered he was an artist and had a ‘passion’ for it. The man went on to paint in people’s homes some of the most beautiful artwork, borders, and amazing pieces you’ve ever seen. He makes a ton of money, does what he loves to do, and has touched more people’s lives with his ministry now then ever before. This has become a gateway into people’s hearts. They have him come in and do his work, which he loves to do, and it opens up communication with this individual that he may have never had the chance to deliver had he been behind the pulpit. What is your calling? passion? purpose? If you don’t know- you need to find it!

That is when it is GREAT to quit! Make a commitment to quit doing things that lead to dead ends. Quit doing things that are not what God made you for. Quit strategies that are not working. Quit doing the things you were not called to do. I want to fulfill purpose in my life. I want to fulfill the things that I was born to do. I don’t ever want to be caught in the cycle of the daily grind that I cannot fulfill my work. I refuse to do it. I’m too busy about kingdom business to be bothered. See, you may not be in your final place of employment, but it’s just your current assignment. There is a reason God has you there. Something you are there to do. So be an example for the kingdom while you are there- and fulfill your duties and be about your work. But if you are in a position that has no purpose, no growth, no potential… If you are in a position at an assignment that ended years ago- You are wasting valuable precious time. It’s time to realize how important you are, and how much more needs to come out of you and “Quit” wasting time!

If you don’t chase after what you love to do- you will always have a JOB- but you will have never found your WORK… and you will leave this world with something that God put you here for. The bible says before you were formed in the belly He knew you. Who better to bring out your potential, then the creator.