Make Your Waiting Times Productive Times

I witnessed a funny sight the other day as I made hospital rounds. When I arrived at the elevators, a woman stood there waiting ahead of me.  Since the up arrow light was on, I knew she had mashed the button at least once. While we waited for what must have been about 60 seconds, she mashed the button again four times – as if the more she mashed the button the faster the elevator would descend.  Finally, just as she mashed it the fourth time, the doors opened.  She probably still thinks the door opened when it did because she mashed the button for that fourth time.

waiting

We spend a lot of time waiting, doctors even have a room specifically for waiting. I guess that’s why they call us patients, because the we have to wait patiently for our appointment.  We wait in checkout lines, we wait at traffic lights, we wait for customer service, we wait for the preacher to get through (and wait, and wait, and wait).  We despise waiting, but since it is inevitable, why not learn to make waiting work for us.  After all, the Bible speaks highly of waiting.

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Passion In the Right Direction

passionOur culture is not lacking passion these days, but passion is often misplaced.  We are passionate about our sports teams, our families, our jobs, and even about our hobbies.  We are passionate about politics and current events.  Yet, when it comes to things of God, we replace passion with either a robotic ritualism or general apathy.

How can we direct our passion toward God and living for him? Consider as a role model a King we read about in the Old Testament.  Here’s how the Bible summarizes his life, his epitaph, so to speak.

[he did] “what was what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God.” – 2 Chronicles 31:20

His name was Hezekiah, and he excelled above the other kings of Judah. If you study his life, you find a man with a passion for God. Why did the Bible say that he did what was good, right, and faithful? How could he accomplish this on a daily basis?

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Passion Properly Directed

“In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.” – 2 Chronicles 31:21

I believe Hezekiah demonstrates four truths that will help us focus passion in the right direction.

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Gold Medal Living

The 2016 edition of the Summer Olympics drew to a close Sunday.  For me, these games were some of the most entertaining in memory.  The accomplishments of Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky in the pool, Simone Biles on the mat, and Usain Bolt on the track amazed us.  The U.S. Men’s and Women’s basketball team not surprisingly dominated their competitions.  At the end of the games, the U.S. led all countries in gold medal and total medal count.  Unfortunately the games also provided some unnecessary and embarrassing off-site moments, but the accomplishments far outweigh the ridiculous.

gold medal living

(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

The Olympic athletes did not just show up and compete; they trained for years preparing for these 16 days.  They deprived themselves, pushed themselves, and extended themselves in trying to prove themselves best in the world.  Each one had a goal of winning a gold medal in their field of competition. 

Conversely, what would happen if we applied the same effort to our Christian life?  How different would our lives look if we worked at our faith likes these athletes worked at their sport?  Is it possible for us to “win” a gold medal in the Christian life? I think the Bible indicates we can.  Look with me at 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.

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God’s Purpose: A Makeover for You

Romans 8:28 is one of the most memorable Bible verses in the minds of many Jesus-followers.  It is a verse of great hope and inspiration in difficult times.  Whether good, bad, or worse, God causes all of our circumstances to work together for good.  Paul indicates God’s works in the lives of those who love Him, and further adds that God has called them out for a purpose.

If you are a Jesus-follower, how often do you stop to realize God has a purposeful plan for your life?  I write often about living intentional lives, and we can do that because God is intentional with us.  He did not redeem us just to count us as a statistic, but He has a purpose for us.

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Preparing Our Minds to Counter the Devil’s Lies

I remember an old joke declaring how you could tell if a particular individual was lying.  The punch line was, “If his lips are moving, he’s lying.” 

preparing our minds

The devil has earned such a reputation.  John 8:44 tells us four realities about the devil’s reputation: there is no truth in him, he is a liar, he is the father of lies, and lying is his “native language.” Through his skilled lying, the devil has led countless people astray, including many Christians.

Maybe you’ve heard the lies. “You’re no good.”  “You can’t _____.” “You won’t ________.”  If you try, you’ll just _______.” You may have heard many other such lies.  The devil likes to get in our heads.

Preparing Our Minds with Truth

We are not helpless against his lies, however.  The only effective defense against the devil’s lies is God’s truth.  You don’t have to fall for his deception.  You can prepare your mind for the inevitable onslaught of his lies by arming yourself with God’s truth.  Let me share three ways you can get ready and fill your mind with God’s truth.

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Spiritual Warfare and the Prepared Mind

Much of both my personal study and my preaching lately have focused on spiritual warfare.  Whether or not we realize it or admit it, if we are Jesus-followers we face conflict on a spiritual level daily.

spiritual warfareMany people think of spiritual warfare in physical terms.  Some see physical illness, financial distress, or problems with material things in our lives as the devil’s attack, but the Bible teaches us that spiritual warfare takes place on an invisible battle field – what Paul refers to as the “heavenly places.”  (Ephesians 6:12)

Granted, the devil will try to use these physical and material circumstances against us, but they are not in and of themselves the battleground. Spiritual battle takes place over HOW WE REACT AND RESPOND to them.  The devil will try to muddle our thinking and demoralize our emotions by tempting us to focus more on our circumstances than on God.  The primary theater of operations in spiritual warfare is our MIND.

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Preparing Our Minds for Spiritual Warfare

1 Peter 1:13 challenges us to prepare our minds for action.  We cannot wait until spiritual attacks occur to defend ourselves, but we must ready ourselves for the inevitable onslaught of the devils devices.  Let me suggest three readiness steps you can begin doing today that will put you in a better position to prevail in spiritual warfare. Read More

Encouragement for Struggling Believers

I know a lot of people experiencing difficult circumstances in their lives.  For some of them, their current situation is the latest in what seems an endless stream of misfortune and heartbreak.  For others, the heartbreak is fresh, but painful nonetheless.  Christians are not immune to struggling, in fact, it seems we experience more than our fair share sometimes.

struggling with life

Today, I want to offer some words of encouragement to those who are hurting, broken, disillusioned, and/or discouraged.  Let’s be sure to pray for one another regularly and encourage each other often.  Romans 8 provides for us 4 encouraging truths we need to remember in our times of struggling.

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Focus Better with These 5 Prayer Hacks

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focusIn another blog, I mentioned that prayer is hard work, and indeed it is.  For many of us, stilling our minds to quietly focus on any one thing is difficult enough, and when you add the reality of spiritual warfare – with the devil doing all he can to keep us from praying – the task is even more challenging. Today I want to share with you some practices I have discovered that help me stay focused and communicate with God.  

 

5 Prayer Time Focus Hacks

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5 Reasons To Take Church Attendance Seriously

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Church attendance is in critical condition in the 21st Century Church.  The 4th commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy…the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.” The principle of the commandment is to reserve and revere one day out of the week as a time to focus intentionally and intently on our relationship with God. The Christian church, perpetually celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus, recognizes Sunday as that day.

empty church pews and attendance

A seat is waiting for you

An alarming trend among church members is that we are attending church less often.  Them Rainer has identified the decrease in attendance frequency as the number one reason for the overall decline in church attendance figures.

Let me share with you five reasons I believe we should take church attendance more seriously than many of us do. Read More

You Are Already Equipped For Bible Study

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In Bible study as in life, there is always “more than meets the eye.”  Many people make poor judgements by following their first impressions and instincts without taking the necessary time and effort to fully observe what is happening around them.  Likewise, lack of careful Biblical observation has led to much false teaching and poor understanding of Biblical truth.

sherlock-holmes-facebook-insights-blog

“Never trust general impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

 

Biblical observation is not difficult, it just takes a little time and attention. The average Christian may feel under-prepared for the task, but the simple truth is you already possess the two most important tools in Biblical observation and other helps are not difficult to obtain and use.

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