enjoy life in christ

Wanted: Promotion of the Heart, Mind, and Soul

Dr. Mike Journey in Christ , , ,

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When you first start out in your business career, isn’t it natural to seek advancement opportunities in your field of endeavor?  Don’t you want to better yourself financially and be recognized for your abilities? If you work for a large organization, the opportunities are probably greater than a smaller organization.  In a small organization, typically the position you start is the one you will retire from unless someone leaves and you are fully qualified to take over their responsibilities.

Many of us choose to work for a smaller organization where your input is quickly recognized. Likewise, so are your mistakes. Our friends in larger companies would be on a fast track program where they would be promoted into a new position almost every two years. As one friend said, you never see the real outcome of your work because you have already moved into a new job with new opportunities. However, in a smaller company, you are in your position for a longer time period and witness the fruit of your labors. You see your successes and also your mistakes of the past. You have a greater opportunity to learn from your results as you actually see the outcome of your direct decisions. If you’re good, you will accordingly be rewarded.  If you are not good, than you will not last as your mistakes will uncover your real abilities.

As you work at the same position for a number of years, you become naturally very competent at it.  As a professional, you make it look so easy.  Of course, the work may become routine and boring.  However, it is also the greatest opportunity to put your work on overdrive and take the time to make a real difference in the lives of others around you.  Because you don’t have to concentrate as hard in performing your job, you are able to spend more time in building up the people around you. You have the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of those people who live in your world.  You begin to realize that you have a greater influence making changes that impact the lives of others right in the position that you are at.  You realize you don’t have to be in a higher position to have an impact in the life of others.  You can make it right where you are at without the additional burdens that a higher position would give you.

You find that you are becoming larger than your job. Your character outshines your position. Your actions speak louder than your responsibilities. You are not overburden by your responsibilities, but you are in control of your work.  This of course, allows you to spend more valuable time with your family and love ones. You find yourself the master of your job and not its slave.  You are in control.  You are not over-burden with pressure.  You handle the pressures and deadlines with grace.  You are able to challenge your energy in areas of greater importance. It is not that you wouldn’t take a promotion, it’s that you have no real desire. Your desire is to make a difference right now in your current position. You have more time to disciple because it takes less time to fulfill all your daily responsibilities.

No, we don’t need a job promotion to make a difference in this world.  We need a spiritual promotion; a promotion of the heart, mind, and soul.  That is the promotion we need every single day of our life.  With these promotions, we don’t need any other type of additional responsibilities.  With these promotions, we “can do all things through Jesus who strengthens us”, as Paul writes.

With additional gifts of the Spirit, we are equipped to better serve our brethren, to build up the church, and give the glory and honor to our Lord.  These are the  best promotions that come to His disciples.

OUR PRAYER

PRAY 8

Our Dear Dad, promote us!  Raise us to your standards of living!  Change our heart, mind, and soul to be like yours!  Help us to focus outside our desires and see how we can help others to achieve real success in their lives.  You are our boss. Provide us with the opportunities to serve others as you serve us.  Bless others who come to know you through us.  Let your kingdom reign wherever we go.  Let your Spirit rule the land.  We thank you Jesus!

Consultant & Coach for Christ-Centered
Business Owners & Executives

Dr. Mike

Author of Great Business Emulates a Good God

Where Is The Beef?

Dr. Mike Journey in Christ , ,

 

beef 1Sometimes it just takes time.  It took this person over seventeen years of growing up under the ritual aspects of one faith and another twenty-five plus years living as a Jewish Christian to truly appreciate the power and awesomeness of God’s amazing grace. Now after being bathed in God’s sovereign grace, how can one go back to living a law motivated, self-righteous, shallow existence?

As the apostle Paul writes, the law is good. It gives us knowledge of what God is like and what constitutes sin; sin which blinds us from God. But law living cannot save us. Eternal life is a gift from God and cannot be earned. Keeping the entire law, crossing all the “T’s” and dotting all the “i’s” will not win us salvation. That is God’s gift to us through Jesus. He is the way, the life and the truth. He is our law.

When the law was our standard of measuring spiritual success, we were blind to self-righteousness. We along with the Pharisees of Jesus’ time period would have made great drinking buddies. We would probably gather together and laughed at the failures and weak­nesses of our brothers while esteeming ourselves in our ability to live up to God’s standards. We would probably tell jokes about incompetent people or people who were different than us. Because of our ability to self-manage ourselves, we would believe that God’s physical blessings showed us how well we were performing. The more we kept the law, the more God blessed us. And because God blessed us physically, we must be living up to God’s measurement of success. Oh, how ignorant and blind we were.  Thank goodness that God is also gracious to the stupid and ignorant.

When we made the law our daily objective, we probably eventually found ourselves confronted with questions that the majority of us have great difficulty in answering. Questions like how much physical work is appropriate to do on the Sabbath? How much of an offering is enough to please God? How much of a movie is enough to watch before it becomes vain and spiritually degrading? We find ourselves wanting to measure every area of our life to be sure we are not only meeting but, even exceeding the standards of God. Looking in hindsight, we were probably one pompous, self-centered, prideful, religious fanatic doing everything we could to be better than the law of God. And the more we lived God’s law apart from the Holy Spirit, the more important we became in the equation. Our spiritual salvation was more important than our neighbors. Our spiritual success was the most important activity of the day. Our life was the reason earth was created. Oh, how spiritually self-absorbed we became. We stunk up to high heaven but just didn’t realize it. Yet, through it all, God still loved us. He waited until the proper time to open our eyes to see his amazing grace in comparison to law living. Oh, how wonderful and awesome is God’s way when you begin to fully understand His plan of salvation and purpose for life today.

To compare law living with spirit living is like comparing grade school with graduate school. It’s like comparing eating at a fast food outlet versus a banquet at a gourmet five star restaurant; it’s little league versus professional sports; it’s sunshine compared to darkness. There is a place for both sides of the equation, but after you tasted the better side it’s hard to return to the former.

It’s like that old hamburger commercial where the mature lady looks at the meat between the buns and seeing how little there is between the bread exclaims, “Where is the beef?” When you compare the spirit-filled life with law-living, you likewise come out asking “where is the fruit of God’s Spirit?” There is no comparison. They are both in different leagues. And wouldn’t we rather play in the majors than the minors?

OUR PRAYER

PRAY 21

Oh Gracious Dad, thank you for showering your Grace upon us. Thank you for loving us even when we deserved less than nothing. Thank you for loving us even when we are in error with your doctrines and misunderstood you and your plan for us. Thank you for your mercy, understanding, patience, and deliverance.

Let your grace abound in our life. Help us live life in truth and in the spirit. Keep your laws in our heart and help us express them in love to others. Let nothing ever come between us. Let us not judge our brother or even ourselves. But let us place our life into your hands and trust you with its outcome. You know our heart, mind, and soul. You know what needs to be purified by your Spirit. You know what this life needs to excel in your kingdom. Help us keep focused on you. Do not let us down. Let us always glorify you in church, meetings, parties, family outings, public forums, and wherever you want us to speak up.

Be always gracious to us. Let your Graciousness always abound in us. Help us live a life truly glorifying you.  Thank you Jesus in whose name we ask these things. Amen.

Dr. Mike – Consultant, Coach, Author of

Great Business Emulates a Good God

Faith in What?

Dr. Mike Essays, Kingdom Paradigms , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Whenever someone says that they have faith, the question arises, “faith in what or whom?”

If you probe enough in a person’s narrative, you will find the worldview that the person builds their reality from.  Is their foundation for “faith” in happen-chance? a “faith” in self? a “faith” in another person? a “faith” in “big brother?” or a “faith” in “karma?” Wherever the faith is focused toward reveals the person’s source of life and their reality.

In political slogans, we are asked to have faith. In business circles, we are asked to have faith. In relationships, we are asked to have faith. Faith is one of those words that has become a generic, abused child. However, when faith is properly employed, reality becomes more real in a person’s life. When faith is built on a true, solid foundation than kingdom reality becomes a life-giving source that makes oneself and those around him/her to flourish.

If someone is looking for a Biblical definition of faith, check out chapter eleven of Hebrews. If you want a another practical definition, substitute the words belief and trust in the work of the Triune God every time you come across the faith word. It will give you a more precise meaning of the word faith as used in scripture. But for those whose basis is not scripture, faith is only an empty cliché to distort the power and grace of God. Yet be not surprised, Biblical words and concepts have slowly eroded over time to become a water down version of its original meaning. That is why we all need to become practicing theologians to some degree.

faith

My belief and trust is in Jesus Christ. He allows us to take part with Him in His story which is restoring creation back to God’s original intent. He has my back. My belief and trust is built on His faith, His work of salvation, His plans for humanity, and His ability to make it all happen for  His goodness and the goodness of all under His dominion.

So the next time you hear someone mention faith, be sure you both have the same definition of faith in mind. Otherwise, who is being radical and missing out in the enjoyment of life in Christ?

Dr. Mike