Courage and Boldness

We just completed a 3-week series on “courage” at our church. As we concluded the series the question ruminated in my soul, “are you a person of courage?” Courage as we defined it is “a boldness that is willing to do God’s will in the face of persecution or potential personal loss.” After all isn’t that what Jesus demonstrated for us?

Early followers of Christ inspired by the courage Christ displayed for them, in return displayed courage “to speak His name.” That type of courage was the ability to “speak openly, without concealment, without ambiguity, free, fearlessly, and confidently about the name of Jesus Christ.

Have you ever noticed how the name of Christ brings a sense of uneasiness to those whom you talk to? You can talk about anything, but when the name of Jesus comes up, reluctance sets in? Peter and John faced that in Acts 4:1-20 when they were arrested, imprisoned, taking before the leader and commanded NOT to speak any longer in the name of Jesus.

The leaders were specific, “don’t speak in the name of Jesus.” Because the leaders knew that, that one name was the source of a lame man walking, that name was the reason for 5,000 men believed, that name produced miracles that could not be denied, and that one name is the name that can and has changed our lives.

A dear friend of mine came up to me after church on Sunday and she is in the process of reading a book that speaks to this issue in one of the chapters, and I believe it is the attitude that we as not just believers, but as BELIEVERS IN JESUS CHRIST must have. Based on Acts 4:23-31 when Peter and John were released from prison all of their friends prayed and rejoiced and instead of retreating, they prayed that Christ would give them more courage and boldness to speak His word all the more. She described it as such:

God sends fresh infusion of the Spirit. The Apostles grow. God sends His Spirit, but not to keep them safe; to make them more dangerous.

Make us more dangerous than the safe places.

The courage of Christ is calling you out of your safe places, so that you can be dangerous for Christ. In a country where Christianity is on the decline, it only takes courage to see it grow.

This week “SPEAK OUT and SPEAK UP”

Pressing On

In preparing for my sermon the other day, I continually found myself amazed at the level of humility and transparency the Apostle Paul share with his church in Philippi.

I am following a sweet friend's journey to lose weight (http://abrowngirlsdiary.blogspot.com/) and I have been thoroughly encouraged by her transparency, and honesty. She continues to inspire me and I feel it right take the journey with her. We all have a journey set for us and a prize at the end, but it requires us to have a perspective like Paul.

Philippians 3:12-14

He told them:
I haven’t already obtained the prize. (vs. 12a)
I’m not perfect (vs. 12b)
I do not consider myself as having taken hold of it. (vs. 13)

Paul seemed to understand that he still had a ways to go, he wasn’t perfect, and that he needed to give a true picture of where he was.

This gives a sense of relief in my soul to know that while we strive for perfection in Christ Jesus (which is the goal), we must be brutally honest with God, ourselves, and with others on where we really are.


“We will never strive, if we think we have arrived.”

Today give careful consideration to where you desire to be in life, assess where you truly are and with the power of our Savior “Press On!”

Blessings,

Darryl

Waging War

“As our church prepares for time of prayer and fasting, as well as our Victory Weekend (a time of spiritual cleansing of the soul and a time to seek God for deliverance from some of greatest challenges), I have found myself looking internally at the things I know God desires to relieve and release me from. While this is a normal blog, I desperately desire that God would create in me and in others a “Vision for Victory.” Join me as we consider the war that lies ahead.”

If you are like me, then you love to see a classic battle. Whether it’s military battles that demonstrates all the strategic and tactical efforts necessary to win a single battle out in the theater of war, or a classic clash of the titans on the athletics fields and/or arenas through out this world, or even the proverbial super bowl commercial wars that draw just as much attention as the game itself. There seems to be a natural attraction by many to see competition at its highest level, by fierce opponents who both want to win.

In Romans 7:7-25, the Apostle Paul talks about the most fierce battle we will ALL participate in, and that is the battle with “SELF.” Later we will look in greater detail at some of the wars Paul mentions, but before that I would love to ask something personal. “What are the wars that wage within you?” “Who is your enemy in your wars, and what is your strategy for VICTORY?”

If I may use my limited military terminology, there seems to be battles in life that we fight over and over again. There are certain battles that we have been deployed and redeployed to fight over and over again. But shouldn’t we grow tired of just fighting in the battle? Does something inside that cry, “I want to win the war.” Do you want the spoils of victory, or a badge for being in the battle? Do you desire to know what victory tastes like? If so then it starts with us.

Our greatest battle will be with ourselves. We must constantly battle our emotions, thoughts, past, pains and lusts, to name a few. Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher says, “ I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.” In my life this is so true.

The ultimate outcome matters not on how hard the struggle may have been. Regardless of the tactical mastery or even the sheer guts and determination displayed in war; what matters most is that a war must be won. We must desire to find Victory in self before we can experience victory anywhere else.

I ask that you join me in this journey to find a “Vision for Victory.”

Blessings,

Darryl

Never Sacrifice What You Want Most For What You Want For The Moment Pt. 3

Point #2

I’m famished…. Genesis 25:30

Esau was famished! He found himself wearied from the journey and toils of being out in the field; and it netted him nothing more than an unquenchable desire to satisfy his thirst. He desperately needed something to drink, because he had labored so hard while on his journey.

Through Esau we can surmise that even in our lives we can undertake good works, and embark upon God inspired journeys, that still may leave us tired, weary, and thirsting.

Dehydration is a craving generated from the central processing in the brain, and it screams, “YOU MUST HAVE SOMETHING TO DRINK AND YOU MUST HAVE IT NOW!” That’s where we find Esau in this “most vs. moment scenario.” Everything inside of him said “you need it now”, causing him to relinquish everything he was to inherited later.

We all have needs that must be met. We all hear the screaming sounds that yell, “you are dying of thirst.” Some things we thirst for are honorable before the Lord and others are not. For those that are pleasing to God, we must do what every coach, sports trainer, and parent from peewee sports to the pros encourages. “Drink a lot of fluids before you take the field.”

We must be proactive in preparing ourselves for the journey God has set for our lives. We must hydrate our minds, our souls, and our spirits before we take the field to battle in this world. When I see Esau, and consider my life and the lives of others, I realize that what caused him to be famished, and to ultimately give up his birthright, was because he didn’t do at least one (if not more) of these things:

1. He did not hydrate himself properly before going out into the field.

2. He did not prepare properly for the journey, and ran out of what he needed before his journey ended.

3. He didn’t distinguish between his flesh saying, “You need it now” and his spirit saying, “you can really do without that stew.”

When you find yourself thirsty and desperately in need of a drink, listen to the Spirit of God and remember the words Jesus spoke to the woman at the well in John 4:13-14

Take a sip of Jesus today!

NEVER SACRIFICE WHAT YOU WANT MOST FOR WHAT YOU WANT FOR THE MOMENT!

See you next time when we talk about Esau feeling like he was going to die.

Blessings,

Darryl

Never Sacrifice What You Want Most For What You Want For The Moment Pt. 2

What makes us give up some of the most important things, for our temporal desires?

Why are we willing to gamble away “our long term for a short term?”

Why must we have it right now, instead of getting it later on?

Esau, when he encountered his brother Jacob preparing stew was not able to look past his immediate desires, to see what the long term results of his actions would produce. In selling his birthright, Esau lost his rightful place as the one to receive the blessings and inheritance of his father; he rejected the privilege to carry on the family name. We like Esau, are blinded by our immediate desires, which cause us to overlook the blessings that God has yet to give us.

It is clear through Esau’s words that he was consumed with his “right now,” and could not see his “later on.” In Genesis 25:30-32 Esau makes 3 statements that show his decisions were made “in the moment.”

1. “Quick, let me have some of that red stew.”(vs. 30)

2. “I am famished.” (vs. 30a)

3. “I am about to die.” (vs. 31)

Point #1: This tells me that Esau wanted what I call a “quickie.” He wanted it fast quick and in a hurry. He was not concerned about anything else except “getting his.” This was common vernacular for my buddies and I, when we were young. It meant we don’t need any of the fixings; just give it to me like it is, and give it to me NOW! As we grew older it became clear that we should not only be concerned with the fact that we were willing to take “quickies” but that there was a person willing to give a “quickie.” Who in their right mind will give away something that is so precious and has taken time to prepare, without wanting something in return? “If we wanted ours, then they wanted theirs.”

"Those who are fueled by their present desires, and inattentive to the long term ramifications of their decision will generally go for a quickie." Our housing marketing, banking industry, automobile industry, and so many other things are in shambles, because we gambled on a quickie. There is no value in those quickies, and for many of us, it has left us in debt without the money to pay.

I wish I could go back to all of the wrong people, the wrong things, and my wrong actions, and get back all of the good times, effort, money, and morality I wasted on them. I’m sure what I wasted then, would be worth so much more now.

As you live your life in Christ don’t go for the “quickie."

“NEVER SACRIFICE WHAT YOU WANT MOST FOR WHAT YOU WANT FOR THE MOMENT.”

See you next time when we talk about being famished.

Blessings,

Darryl

"Your Most versus Your Moment"

Never Sacrifice What You Want Most For What You Want For The Moment

Genesis 25:27-34

This quote was given to me many years back from a person whom I have a great level of respect and appreciation for. During the off season (a few months before camp would begin) many playesr would take a month to go into some intense and demanding training. All of this was preempted by the fact that what lie ahead could produce one of the greatest rewards in our profession, “a Superbowl championship.” Going into training  I found myself excited about the possibilities of what could be produced from this time of training.

Yet when I found myself actually engaged in this training, and experiencing excruciating pains associated with the rigors of hard work, there was only one word that seemed to come to mind, “QUIT!” Long gone was the joy and anticipating of working out, lost in the agony of my pain was the potential of becoming the great player that I always dreamed to be, eliminated from the equation was the visions of working harder than anyone else at my position. Instead my body (through pain) continued to beckon my mind to just “give up!”

Struggling just to make it through, no longer concentrating on the disciplines and techniques needed to compete at the highest level,  and at times unable to finish the drills due to unbearable pain. I could hear the voice of my mentor, my friend, and my coach. “Never sacrifice what you want most, for what you want for the moment!” The echo of his voice and the bellowing sound that seemed to scream louder than my pain, could be heard in my soul, “never sacrifice what you want most for what you want for the moment.” 

This statement means so much to not only professional athletes preparing for a marathon season, that was sure to bring both adulation and consternation. But it is also meaningful to every person that believes. It means something to those who are carriers of a dream, pregnant with vision, sweating with passion, and confident they have a purpose. “The life we live is replete with possibilities, and yet so stingy to the weak minded.” “The difference between realizing a dream, and turning a vision into reality is always delineated at the place in which some give up, and others continue on.” 

I am confident of this, from time to time “we all want to quit!” Quit our marriages, quit trying to be a good parent, quit trying to be a good neighbor, quit being honest, quit in anything you have to put effort into. But it’s important to find out, what is it that will make you continue on? What makes you press forward where others have stopped? What makes you find that second wind, widen your stride, pick up speed, and don’t give up? What makes you ignore the “real time pain?” I found it to be in this quote, “most versus the moment.” 

“Pain only last for a moment," if we continue to press on, or "pain can haunt you for a lifetime," if you quit.

You will be haunted more by the things you quit on, when you know you had more to give, then by the things you couldn’t do because you simply had nothing left to give. God is looking for people who know the value of what is “most” important, versus what will last for a “moment.” Thirteen years removed from professional training, I still hear the voice of my friend Gil saying “never sacrifice your most, for this moment.” 

Next time we will look at Jacob and his brother Esau, and how a most versus a moment scenario played out in their lives.

“Live for the MOST and not for the moment”

God Bless You!

Darryl

Guilty By Association

Has there ever been a cost associated with being friends with someone? Have you ever had to distance yourself from friends or family members, because their actions could tarnish your good reputation? Maybe there would be some, who would look down upon you if they only knew the company you kept? Whether you’ve experience this or not, I can emphatically say, “that at times it can cost you to know someone.”

We see it all the time, a big time political figure, professional athlete, or celebrity losing popularity, endorsements, and public approval, because of their association to someone who did not meet the standards that society deems as acceptable. I often wonder would I be accepted in certain circles if people only knew more about my family and my friends. Would others receive me if they knew my grade school buddies who went to jail, sold drugs, consumed drugs, murdered, and were murdered? You may be able to attest to the fact that there are people in your life that could tarnish your good reputation, if others knew who they really were. {or maybe we are that person}

See the question we all must ask, is not if there is a cost of being associated with those who’s reputation is subpar, rather, “is the pay good enough for you to distance yourself from these friends?” When is the right time to distance yourself, what would you not be willing to lose because of your friendships, when is the time to walk away, and when is the time to run?

In Philippians 1:13, the apostle Paul says that it has become known to everyone that the reason for my imprisonment, “is for Christ.” Paul had not sold drugs, nor had he stolen anything, he committed any white-collar crime, the reason why he was in jail is because of his relationship with a man known as Jesus Christ. Certainly this Jesus had to have killed someone, I’m sure he must have done some heinous act that caused another to become paralyzed, he must have introduced someone to some sinister acts of demonist behaviors, or maybe he betrayed his closest confidants by becoming a traitor?

As much as we would think that this had to be the reputation of Jesus, since Paul was imprisoned because of him. The stark reality is that Jesus did not kill, “he raised the dead,” he did not paralyze, “through His name the lame walked,” he was not a devil worshiper, “He cast out demons,” he wasn’t a sell out, “He was sold out, so that we might have eternal life.”

Much like the days of Paul, being associated with Jesus Christ might cost you something. You might lose some friends, your popularity may dwindle, and public opinion concerning you may diminish, but are any of these things worth you distancing yourself from Him? We must maintain this relationship, no matter the cost. Regardless of how we are perceived by the public, we have to be “down with the King” and everyone must know it. In a day and age when name-dropping has become the norm to get ahead in life, we must never drop the name of Christ unless we really mean it.

To put it plainly, Paul says it like this. “Nothing can separate me from the love of God, through Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:35-39