To the Tick Tock and You Don't Stop

Paul says in Colossians 4:2 to

“devote yourselves to prayer.”

Devote (proskartereo) – to continue in, devote, to hold strongly, clasp on

Think of being in a stormy sea, maybe in the midst of a hurricane in the middle of the ocean. As you gasp for breath and frantically fight to stay above water you notice a buoy close by. You reach out and grab the buoy, embracing it with all your strength and might. You hold on for dear life, for this buoy is the only thing keeping you alive in this storm.

That’s the word Paul uses to describe our prayer life in Colossians. Pray diligently, devoting yourself to it. Devotion has to do with dedication and an investment. Too often we pray as an afterthought (“well, I tried everything else, I might as well pray about it”), or we pray mechanically (blessing the food, before we go to sleep, before a test or presentation, etc) or we pray out of a reactive panic (“oh no, my world just collapsed, God help me!!”)

Prayer is simply communicating with God. We all know relationships cannot survive without proper communication. If we only spoke to our loved ones as an afterthought, or mechanically, or only when things were as jacked up as they could possibly be, what kind of relationship would we be involved in? A dying one, if it isn’t dead already. Yet many times we approach God like this. To keep our spiritual relationship fresh and flourishing we need to live a life of communication. That’s why Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to “pray without intermission”. During plays and Broadway shows the acts are separated by intermissions. This is a time where the audience can socialize, freshen up, hit up the concession stand etc. Let’s bring it home to us. Halftime during a football game. It’s not the game; it has no relevance or determination towards the outcome of the main even – the battle that’s happening on the field.

Paul says don’t have a “halftime show” in your prayer life. This game is too serious to pause. Once we’ve been engaged we don’t want the enemy to have a “halftime” to go over our plays and our strategy and figure out how to come out in the 2nd half and be better, stronger, and more efficient. No! Let’s keep the game going; our strategy – prayer. Prayer without ceasing. Prayer works, and when we have a play that works, that the opposing team can’t stop, what do you do coach?

Join us tonight after service for our Men’s Prayer service. And let’s begin and continue to live a life of dedicated, invested, and devoted prayer.
God bless…

Synergy...

It’s a term you hear a lot in the corporate world (or so I’ve heard) used to describe some sort of teamwork or team effort that brings about an overall better result than if each person was working toward the same goal individually. Merriam-Webster defines it as, “a mutually advantageous conjunction or compatibility of distinct business participants or elements.” Plainly put, there is a benefit, a valuable goal out there and synergy is the joining of like-minded groups going after that goal. Oh, and it also has the idea that individually the benefit or valuable goal would not be reached on its own.

Think of baking a cake (though not one of my frequent past times). The individual ingredients are disgusting by themselves. A raw egg, a teaspoon of baking powder, or a swig of vanilla extract isn’t the most desirable treat. But when mixed together with other “not so appealing” ingredients, a delicious cake is made.

Synergy comes from the Greek word “sunergeo” and is the exact word used in the famous Romans 8:28 verse:

And we know that God cause all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

All things don’t work together for our good in and of themselves. GOD CAUSES all things to work together (synergy) for good. All things that happen in our lives – good or bad – God mixes them together like a Holy Baker to produce a beneficial, valuable goal in our lives. His providential power is shown in the “all things” part. “All” means “all” and that’s all “all” means! Things that we bring on ourselves, things that others do to us. Things we deserve, things we don’t deserve. Consequences of our own actions, consequences of other’s actions. God causes all things to work out for our benefit. That’s what “good” means. Not good as in a pleasurable, happy, wonderful emotional experience. No, God will ”sunergeo” or “mix together” everything in our lives to become beneficial, spiritually profitable, and useful = good.

But, don’t get so excited about the “good” part that you stop reading the rest of the verse. Paul says that there is a major condition here. In order for God to work all things for your benefit, you must (1) love God and (2) be called according to His purpose. The love here is a lifestyle of love. Are you living a love lifestyle? Check 1 Corinthians 13 and make sure. If you are not living a lifestyle of patience, a lifestyle of kindness, a lifestyle of protection, a lifestyle of trust, a lifestyle of hope, a lifestyle of longsuffering or – if you are living a lifestyle of envy, a lifestyle of boasting, a lifestyle of pride, a lifestyle of rudeness, a lifestyle of anger, a lifestyle of jealousy; then guess what, this promise doesn’t apply to you. And secondly, His purpose is to make us like Christ. How’s that going for ya? Are you becoming more Christ-like? Check yourself out. Be honest with yourself.

God desires to bring synergy to your life. So live a lifestyle of love while working to become more like Christ. Then come what may, God will work it out for good.

The Instruction Manual

Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. Psalm 1:2

God bless Gladiators. It's been a minute (I know) but we're still here, still working, schooling, daddy-ing, husbanding, living, breathing, fighting, struggling, rejoicing, stressing, worshiping, depending, thinking, planning, wishing, hoping, praying, caring, nourishing, listening, obeying, and the myriad of other thing we do as men. It's funny, no matter what, life don't stop. There's no pause button to conveniently press. This "being a man" thing is real. That is, if you doing it right. Unfortunately there are still slackers out there. Those who refuse to "man up" and take the responsibility that God gave us seriously. These "Losers" are poor excuses for men and give those of us putting forth the effort a bad name. It ain't easy, by no means. It's a 24/7 job; or shall I say, career. But the good thing about it is that God gave us the manual to this “man” thing; His Word.

My son's 7th birthday was last week (wow, I got a 7 yr old son!). One of the gifts he got was this model helicopter thing that could be made into three different things. For speed’s sake, my first attempt was to just look at the box and try to build the helicopter. Problem was this thing came in about 550 pieces all the size of a nickel. Impossible. I had the tools and the material to build it, but without specifically following the provided instructions nothing was getting done. Oh, I screwed some stuff together and matched some pieces, but to no benefit.

It’s the same thing with this “man” thingy. We got the body parts and we see what it's supposed to look like, but a lot of times we don't even look at the "manual" much less follow it specifically. Of course by manual I'm referring to the Bible. It starts with that. Not coming to church, not signing up for track classes, not being faithful in your giving, or to a ministry or a pastor; those things are just the tools, and tools without the manual aren't worth a thing. I’m getting the impression from conversations with church folk that the act of “coming to church” is in some way all that is necessary. I hear people saying things like, “before I started coming to church…” or “when I wasn’t going to church…” sounding as if the emphasis for this new life is going to church. Nope! By no means! Our faithful journeys to 2500 Oak Ridge every Friday and Sunday aren’t even close to being sufficient. Heathens go to church every day! The Pharisees in the Bible were not only in church every day, but all day; and they taught the Scriptures. Jesus called them a den of snakes and referred to them as “white washed graves”: clean on the outside, but dead, decaying, rotten, and putrid on the inside.

A personal relationship with Jesus is where it begins. Personal = 1 on 1. Relationship = having a harmonic connection. Think of an orchestra with all the different instruments and how they all come together in “harmony”. So, do you have a one on one harmonic connection with Jesus? If not, all your church going is just wasting gas! Get to know Jesus. Start with the Bible. Make it an everyday thing. Read it, memorize it. It's hard out here enough already without help from our Creator. Pick up the Book and ask God to make it come alive to you. He will.

Question, have you read the manual today?

Reputation vs. Character (Part 2) - Integrity

Following up with Part 2 from the last blog on reputation and character, one’s integrity comes to mind. Being a lover of math, it was interesting to me that the word integrity comes from the mathematics word “integer”. Now walk with me back to elementary school for a minute. Remember integers? They are the mathematical way of saying “whole numbers.” Get it –”whole”? Not divided, but whole. The formal definition states that integers are a collection of numbers whose positive elements are well-ordered, and in which order is preserved by addition. As a matter of fact, the word integer is from the Latin word integer which literally means “untouched” or pure.

Being undivided has the idea of being consistent. What’s on the inside is shown on the outside. You are who you say you are and you are who you show you are. A person of integrity has private and public standards that are the same anywhere and anytime! God said Job was one who “maintain[ed] his integrity” (Job 2:3). Can He say that about us?

This is just as important in how we live as well as what we say. When a person of integrity speaks his yes is yes and his no is no. He keeps his word even if it hurts him. A person of integrity is careful about making commitments because he keeps them all.

The basis of our integrity comes from God:

“Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom I the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” – Psalm 51:6

David knew that only God’s forgiveness and grace could make him a man of integrity, and depended on the Holy Spirit’s power to keep his integrity.

Here are a few benefits of integrity…
Integrity pleases God (1 Chronicles 29:17)

“I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.”

Integrity gives security and peace (Proverbs 10:9)

“The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.”

Integrity gives guidance (Proverbs 11:3)

“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”

Integrity gives authority (Psalm 78:72)

“And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands He led them.”

Steps to Develop Integrity

• Value the integrity of the heart as something precious to guard – 1 Kings 9:4, Proverbs 4:23

• Decide beforehand never to compromise or be defiled – Job 31:1, Psalm 15:1,2

• Draw a clear line on your limits of behavior and step well back from it.

• Be on your guard at all times. Guard your mind, eyes and the little things – Philippians 4:8

• Be accountable to others – James 5:16

Finally, I leave you with these truths from Dr. Tony Evans. If you haven’t read his book, “No More Excuses” I really recommend it!

How to Internalize Integrity (from “No More Excuses”, by Tony Evans)

1. Don’t wait around for your boss or your wife or your environment to get better before you make a move.
2. Set your standards in advance.
3. Develop a daily devotional life, which includes bible memorization.
4. Find some friends who will hold you accountable for living up to your standards.
5. Major on God and not your circumstances.