Trying to stay "on task"

Tell me has this happened to you?

You have a deadline, a project or paper is due.  Your diligently working on it and the next thing you know your desk surfing and imagining your in Hawaii battling the waves in the Hawaiian Surfing Classic, with a shark approaching and time running out.

OK maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration.

However, we have all taken a phone call, started another project, got sucked into social media, or started playing a game when we really needed to stay on task and finish what we started.

Nehemiah was a cup holder for the king, exiled from his home of Jerusalem.  Word had gotten back to him that his homeland was in ruins.  Nehemiah had a burden for his homeland and gained permission from the king to return to Jerusalem and begin the great task of rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem.  As Nehemiah began the task it was overwhelming how great a project it was going to be, and he was constantly having to deal with opposing countries trying to stop the work.  He had to deal with immediate danger, naysayers who said it couldn't be done, and a huge financial burden of the project.  God saw it through with him, all the way to the end.

^15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. ^16 When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God. (Neh 6:15-16, NIV)

Unbelievable, think about it, a fortified stronghold of a wall was built all the way around the great city of Jerusalem in 52 days.  God is the only explanation.

Here is my point.  God has a task for you, YES YOU!!  You will have a lot of people telling you that you can't, you will have people telling you that you are crazy, you will have people telling you that it is simply not possible, you will have people telling you to give up you are wasting your time, you will have people that may even physically or financially stop you, or your greatest enemy may even be not believing in yourself.

Listen to me, better yet listen to scripture:

^6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Php 1:6., NIV)

Be confident, be assured that God has called you for a specific purpose and HE will carry it on to completion.  You and I just have to stick with it.  You and I have to stay on task.

There are so many things out there to distract us, squirrel, so focus and stay with it.

I believe in you, God believes in you, now will you believe in you?

Chris

en-dur-ance

endurance:  the ability to withstand hardship or adversity; especially : the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity

Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary., Includes Index., 10th ed. (Springfield, Mass., U.S.A.: Merriam-Webster, 1996, c1993).

Endurance... Perseverance.... patience

 ^3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ^4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. ^5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

(Ro 5:3-5., NIV)

I never understood endurance until I began training for a half-marathon last year.  (note i never ran the half marathon, but that is a different story for a different day).  I can distinctly remember the day i hit 8 miles, the day I hit 9 miles, and then finally 10.  Every time during a training run once I got past 7 miles I felt like I was just in "endurance" mode.  The body is getting tired and your brain and muscles are yelling at you to quit, and yet in your mind you know you have a goal that you want to reach.  Finally the running ap says "10 miles", you slow your pace and walk for a minute or two thinking to yourself "wow I can't believe I actually did it".  The next time you run 10 it gets a little easier, then the next time even easier, and so on and so forth.  At the end of each run, my hips hurt, my muscles ache, and I feel completely spent, and yet I smile because I know I can now do it.

Life can seem a lot like this sometimes.  Our days are grinding and we find many challenges ahead of us.  There are days that our hearts are telling us to just quit, throw in the towel, and give it up.  Our minds and souls are screaming "NO".

Romans 5:3 tells us to "rejoice" in that suffering.  Understand this the word rejoice actually means to try to find joy in suffering even if you can't directly see it.  Let's face it I don't know of anyone who finds joy in tribulation, do you?  I seriously doubt it.  Here is what happens.  If you skip all the way to end of verse 4 and beginning of verse 5, you read that we get "hope, and hope does not disappoint us".  Every time we make it through a tribulation we gain hope.  Remembering that is what helps us to find joy in our sufferings, because we know it builds on the end result, that is hope.

Now I'm like you I would just as soon not deal with tribulation.  I would rather not have tough times in life.   I would definitely choose not to have stress, tears, and headaches.  I would prefer life to be smooth sailing.   Reality is that is not, nor will it ever be.  Every tough time we deal with builds us up for the next, and we enter the next time of tribulation with hope.

I hope this brought some light into your day,

Chris.

Spiritual Discipline

Turn the power on.... with Spiritual Discipline

^“45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. “ (Luke 6:45, NIV)

 

I remember one of the first ever Southern Baptist Convention’s I ever went to,  Bobby Welch was newly elected and Baptists where on fire trying to get a “million saved and baptized”.  The concept was astounding and exciting.  Churches all over where trying to get people saved and baptized.  President Welch did a tremendous job of leading and rallying Southern Baptists.

 

There was just one downfall, and it wasn’t because we didn’t reach the million.  No, the problem was we converted and baptized but they disappeared.  We left out the part of discipleship.  We left out the part of Spiritual Formation. 

 

Spiritual formation in the life of the believer is huge.  It’s essential.  In Luke 6:45 we are told that we should bring out good stored in our heart, but not just good it speaks to the “overflow”.  Overflow is the assumption that you and I are spending time on our own personal spiritual development.  We are praying, preaching, teaching, and even witnessing out of the overflow of what God is doing in our own personal spiritual formation.

 

It’s virtually impossible to have an overflow, when there is little to nothing going in.  I would venture to say that far too often we treat our spiritual health the same way we treat our physical.  That is to ignore it, while we are taking care of others first.  Therefore, you and I must work on our own spiritual formation before we can help others.

Power up with Spiritual discipline

Chris