Dealing with Uncertainty (3)

“I will instruct you…in the way you should go; I will guide you.” Ps 32:8 NKJV

Dr. John Maxwell points out that in order to thrive in uncertain territory you must be able to do the following things: (1) Understand your certainty quotient. Think back to your last big decision that turned out right. How certain were you? Eighty percent? Fifty percent? If your best decisions are usually made at the 75 percent mark, that’s your “certainty quotient.” When you reach that point, it’s time to stop debating and start moving. (2) Express your uncertainty with confidence. Never look at successful people and assume that single-handedly and with no hesitation, they fearlessly navigated the currents of uncertainty. No, they just understood that with each step, answers would be given. So instead of pretending to know more than you do, begin to encourage a culture of transparency that fosters the free exchange of ideas. When you don’t know, just say, “I don’t know, but I’ll try to find out.” (3) Consult others. King Solomon wrote more about seeking counsel than any other writer in the Bible. Do kings need good input? Yes, absolutely! And only those with the humility to acknowledge it ever prosper. (4) Measure your success by the scoreboard, not the playbook. Every good coach goes into the game with a plan, but he is willing to change it in order to win. Pencil in your plans, but write your vision in ink! Good leaders, like good coaches, are often forced to abandon or amend some of their plans in order to deliver on the vision. The ones who do are the ones who reach their destination.

http://theencouragingword.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/dealing-with-uncertainty-3/

Dealing with Uncertainty (2)

“The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”       Jos 1:9 NIV

When Moses passed the torch to Joshua, a lot of things had changed. For forty years Joshua had been taught to navigate and survive in a wilderness, but now it was time to enter the Promised Land. And what worked in the wilderness didn’t necessarily work in the Promised Land. Can’t you hear Joshua’s thoughts: “I know a lot about wandering, but not much about warfare.” So God told him, “Be strong and courageous…for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Why would God tell Joshua to be strong and courageous? Because he must have felt anxious! Everything about his new situation reeked of uncertainty. The only thing Joshua knew for sure was that God had said, “Go.” So, “Joshua commanded the…people, saying…‘Prepare…yourselves, for within three days you are to cross thisJordan…[and] possess the land” (vv.10-11 NAS). Can’t you imagine the people’s thoughts? Question: “But Joshua, how are we going to get across the river?” Answer: “I’m not sure, but in three days be ready to go.” Question: “But Joshua, what are we going to do when we get to the other side?” Answer: “I’ll tell you when we arrive. Just be ready to move out.” Are you getting the picture? As a leader you will always be uncertain as to many things, especially when you go into new territory. But you can never afford to be unclear or in doubt as to your calling, your vision, and your ultimate victory. And where does such confidence come from? God’s promise, “I am with you.”

http://theencouragingword.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/dealing-with-uncertainty-2/

God, Answer Me Quickly! by Mark D. Roberts

Psalm 102:1-28

Don’t turn away from me      in my time of distress. Bend down to listen,      and answer me quickly when I call to you. Psalm 102:2

Psalm 102:1-28

When we ask a question or share a concern with someone, we expect a quick response. Gone are the days when we would write a letter and wait patiently for days or even weeks for a return letter. Technology has fed our hunger for instantaneous communication. In fact, we call one popular form of this “IM” or “Instant Messaging.” But, even those of us who settle for the older forms of digital interaction, such as email, nevertheless want quick feedback. It’s not uncommon these days for someone to send an email and then a text to make sure the recipient got the email. If there isn’t a quick response to either of these, a cell phone call is not far behind. We want answers and we want them now, thank you very much.

We can also be like this in our communication with God. But our desire for God to respond quickly to our prayers isn’t simply a product of a technological age. In Psalm 102, for example, we read the prayer of an individual who badly needs God’s help. Verse 2 reads, “Don’t turn away from me in my time of distress. Bend down to listen, and answer me quickly when I call to you” (102:2). Desperate circumstances beget desperate prayers, both in our day as well as centuries ago.

The psalmist’s cry for God to answer and be quick about it impresses me in two ways. First, I’m struck by the boldness of this prayer. The writer doesn’t limit his language in ways I’d be inclined to do: “Who am I to tell God to act quickly? God’s ways are not my ways. God’s timing is not my timing. I have no right to demand an instant response from God.” As we see throughout the Psalms, there is no restraint here, no meticulous polishing of the words. The psalmist tells God exactly what he wants: Answer me…now!

Yet, my second impression is that God had not been acting according to the psalm writer’s timetable. It is true that God’s ways are not my ways and God’s timing is not my timing. Though it can be terribly hard to wait on God, and though we should feel free to tell God to hurry up, nevertheless, often God moves in ways that seem to us to be very slow—painfully slow.

A friend of mine is looking for work. He knows what he feels called to do professionally, yet the opportunities for him to do this are few. He can easily become discouraged, wondering why God is taking so long. Psalm 102 encourages my friend to be honest with God, asking for a speedy response. And, at the same time, this psalm implicitly reminds my friend–and all of us–that God’s timing is not our own. Thus, we live in the tension between telling God to act quickly and asking for the patience to trust that God’s ways and times are always the best.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: Have you ever asked God to answer your prayers quickly? How did this feel? Are there things you’d like God to do in your life or in our world right now? Have you told him this?

PRAYER: All-powerful and all-wise God, I am amazed once again by the boldness, one might even say the audaciousness, of the Psalms. Thank you for the example of Psalm 102, which encourages us to speak honestly with you, even asking you to respond to our prayers quickly, according to our timetable.

Lord, as I think about it, there are many actions I’d like you to do right now. I remember friends who are struggling with cancer and difficult treatments. Heal them quickly, Lord! I think of those who are out of work. Help them find the right job, soon! I think of families that are fraught with conflict. Bring peace and reconciliation, sooner than later! I think of millions of people across the globe who won’t have enough to eat today. Feed them, Lord, now!

Teach me to be bold in my prayers. Teach me to be patient as I wait for you. Teach me to trust that your ways and your timing are always the best.

I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/god-answer-me-quickly

A Life of Integrity at Home by Mark D. Roberts

Psalm 101:1-8

I will be careful to live a blameless life—      when will you come to help me? I will lead a life of integrity      in my own home.

Psalm 101:2

In Psalm 101, David pledges to live an exemplary life. He will praise the Lord, not only with his songs, but also with his character and behavior. In particular, David promises: “I will be careful to live a blameless life—when will you come to help me? I will lead a life of integrity in my own home” (101:2).

The phrase translated here as “I will lead a life of integrity” could be expressed more literally as “I will walk with integrity in my heart.” This refers to a profound consistency between one’s inner life and one’s outer lifestyle. It is the opposite of hypocrisy, where the inner and outer don’t match, or incongruity, where we act one way in one setting and a completely different way in another.

David mentions explicitly that he will walk with integrity “in my own home.” He means more than that he will live rightly when he is physically in his place of residence. David’s home is the place of his most intimate and important relationships, the place where he interacts with his closest friends and advisors, the place where he spends time with his children, the place where he draws near to God in prayer.

How easy it is for those of us who are in positions of leadership to squander our integrity at home. We appear to be people of high ethics in our workplace or public endeavors, but we may be altogether different when we’re with our family and friends or when we are alone. Psalm 101 challenges us to live whole lives in which all the parts fit together, forming a mosaic of witness to God’s love, justice, and truth.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: Are you living a life of integrity in your own home, in your closest relationships, in your private life? Where do you find it hard to experience the wholeness God wants to give you? Have you confessed your failings in this area to the Lord? Have you asked him to help you be a person of consistent integrity?

PRAYER: Dear Lord, thank you for this stirring reminder from Psalm 101. I want to lead a life of integrity in my own home. Yet so often I fail. Forgive me, Lord. Create in me a clean heart so that I might live for your glory in every moment.

Help me, by your grace and through your Spirit, to walk with integrity in every path of my life. When I’m with my coworkers and casual aquaintances, those who are closest to me, or when I’m with nobody else but you, help me to honor you and those you have put in my life.

In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen!

http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/life-integrity-home-0

Tozer Devotional-Making God Our First Resort

Making God Our First Resort

It is characteristic of human nature to turn to God only after every other avenue of help has been explored and been found useless. This is one of the many evils which sin has visited upon us–the bent to look everywhere for aid but in the right place, and if we do look in the right place, to look there last. No one likes to think that he has been a second choice, but our patient Heavenly Father lies under the shadow of always being at least second, and often third or fifth or tenth choice. For most of us will have to confess that we sought God only after all else had failed. When one friend after another had rejected our pleas, we turned in despair to the God who never rejects anyone who comes to Him in sincerity and faith. The old country woman “‘lowed” that it was no use to pray in a crisis if you hadn’t been in the habit of praying before. “For,” said she, “God doesn’t hear skeered prayers.” There may be a certain logic about her reasoning, but her conclusion is all at variance with the facts and with the gentle ways of God with erring men. For since our fathers fell asleep, the kingdom of heaven has continued to receive “skeered” persons of all ages and conditions who found the world too much for them and who in their grief and despair sought help where help can indeed be found.

http://www.cmalliance.org/devotions/tozer?id=429

You Need A Savior · Max Lucado

You Need A Savior · Max Lucado.

Each Life A Gift

Each Life A Gift.

Do+You+Walk+In+White%3F

Do+You+Walk+In+White%3F.

Mayor Bloomberg, Read History

Mayor Bloomberg of New York City has been an enigma to every freedom-loving American patriot. Using this unprecedented American freedom, he built a large empire and then used his vast wealth to get elected and then re-elected as mayor of America’s financial capital—New York City. So far, so good! After all, this is part of the American dream…right?

Yet his behavior, bias, and glaring prejudice in the past few years has raised eyebrows in some circles and made others downright angry.

Mayor Bloomberg whole-heartedly supported the Cordoba Center. This Islamic indoctrination and propaganda center is to be built at the hallowed ground where Muslims killed nearly 3,000 innocent Americans on September 11, 2001.

However, he supports the ban of peace-loving Christian churches who are renting public schools for worship on the weekends—when the schools are unused.  The Board of Education has said this “will protect the minds of impressionable youth” (see “Disorderly Prayers”, World Magazine, January 12^th).  

On Thursday, January 5, Mayor Bloomberg’s police arrested pastors and Christians who were peacefully singing and praying outside of the New York City Law Department, protesting the city’s decision to toss them out of school buildings they have been meeting in for years. These are congregations in poorer neighborhoods who cannot afford expensive buildings in New York City.

Among those arrested by Mayor Bloomberg’s police were a New York City Councilman and pastor Fernando Cabrera, Pastor Bill Devlin, and five others on charges of “criminal trespassing.”

Then, on Thursday, January 12^th, 200 hundred people gathered in the rain outside a Bronx public school where Mayor Bloomberg gave his State of the City address. After this speech, another 43 pastors and Christians were arrested on charges of “disorderly conduct” for kneeling to pray and singing songs.

It is baffling to so many of us who love America that the mayor if its financial capital would be so pro-Islamic and yet would not come to the aid of Christian Americans living in his city.

Some time ago I published an article entitled “Islamophilia”. In it, I explain the blind spot secular media and politicians have as they fall all over themselves to accommodate Islamic extremism while persecuting and mocking peaceful Christians in a Christian nation. This can only lead to the demise of Western civilization as we know it.

I, for one, often wonder if these folks have ever read the history of Islamic expansionism. If so, are they so blind or so arrogant or both to think that this type of history will not repeat itself and our destruction from within could not be far off?

 

 

 

Tags: Christianity , History , Islam , Mayor Bloomberg

 

Michael Youssef

Michael Youssef, PhD is an Egyptian-born American and founding rector of The Church of The Apostles. His messages are broadcast 3800 times a week into 200 countries through Leading The Way Ministries. He holds a PhD from Emory University in Social Anthropology. His blog: www.michaelyoussef.com Follow on Twitter: @MichaelAYoussef

http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelyoussef/2012/01/15/mayor_bloomberg_read_history/page/full/