Living by Faith not Fear

For the past year I have been learning a lot from the life of David, I have also be teaching a lot and talking a lot about moving from living out of fear to living in faith. Well its easy to say you want to live that way, and easy to say when you aren't facing major life changing decisions. So the time has come to learn to walk in faith and you know what it kind of stinks... its not comfortable, there aren't any guarantees, people misunderstand you, you doubt yourself, and friends leave you... but what I have to keep telling myself (because my emotions, and sometimes logic are screaming something else) that I have to pursue what God has placed in front of me regardless of the odds against. He hasn't called me to comfort, he has called me to life obedience and continual life transformation.

I read an Article Blog Post from Perry Noble today that Challenged me to be a Leader like David, not Saul...

Ten Signs A Leader Is “Losing It!” March 25, 2010

I’ve been reading through the OT lately and have been challenged by the downward leadership spiral that Saul went on…here are TEN signs from his life that point to a leader “losing it.”

#1 – The ministry he leads moves from being about the name of God to the name of the leader. (Compare I Samuel 14:35 with I Samuel 15:12!)

#2 – He gets impatient with the process that God is taking him through and thereby tries to “make something happen” rather than waiting on God’s timing. (I Samuel 15:5-10)

#3 – He makes self centered leadership decisions that slow down the people he works with rather than empowering them. (I Samuel 15:24–notice the references to himself in this verse.)

#4 – He refuses to completely obey God because it places him in uncomfortable situation. (I Samuel 15:1-9)

#5 – He allows fear of man to trump his fear of God. (I Samuel 15:24)

#6 – He refuses to take action and deal with the obvious issue in front of him…and if anyone attempts to do so he is quick to tell them they cannot! (I Samuel 17:32-33)

#7 – He cannot celebrate the success of others. (I Samuel 18:8-9)

#8 – He tries to discredit/destroy anyone or anything that looks like it is successful apart from him–Saul actually became more obsessed with destroying David than he did leading the kingdom! (I Samuel 18:10-11)

#9 – He resorts to trying to see the spectacular apart from the presence of God. (I Samuel 28)

#10 – He refuses to deal with the fact that his jealousy, insecurity, disobedience and self reliance is not only going to cost him…but cost others as well! (I Samuel 31:1-3)

(end article)

Love this Article, #5 is the one that seems to kick my tail quite often. Its kind funny (not really) that God is putting me through areas of my life, or allowing me to go through things that cause me to actually live this and not just keep it around like a nice little nugget of truth.

Alright time to step away from the keyboard, where it is easy, and to go out in the world and actually let it be a part of who I am and how I live.

Love what my good Friend Jon Serrins is doing

check out his project buyasongchangetheworld.com
Love it when people just dont talk about things but match their passions and giftings up with their calling and just do something. Jon is one of those people. Looking forward to what God is gonna do through a great guy with a awesome passion.

Dreaming

Dreaming.

I am a dreamer, sometimes I catch myself just drifting off thinking about what could be or what could've been. I also am a pretty crazy dreamer at night, the kind with talking and walking involved- freaked my wife out a lot in our early days of marriage. Now she just gently grabs me and talks me out of my sleep-drunk stupors.

The sad thing is that I have allowed myself to get to busy and to practical to dream a much these days. I am reminded that much of the things that have been memorable and effective in life adn ministry have come through dreaming up some things.

I just finished a little dream-storming session with my buddy Jerrod and out of this has come a idea that I believe is going to revolutionize our ministry and community as well.

The wheels are already being put in motion and we are now putting feet to a dream that started with a goofy idea. Can't wait to share more soon, but gonna get some more ducks in a row before we let the cat out of the bag.

its gonna be awesome... its Crazy, its not normal, Logic would probably advise against it, and we have no Model to follow- Perfect!!!

Got a note from my Pastor this week that was extremely encouraging it said "If God has given you a dream, the worst thing you can do is nothing." Well said. Now its time to start running with this dream and putting some structure to this crazy dream- hopefully without taking away the possibility of more dreaming.