Your Greatest Asset

Psalms 118:22-23 "The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. 23  This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see." God specializes in taking what this world rejects and creating something great out of what the world says has no value. He takes the foolish things to confound the wise and the weak to conquer the mighty, so that He alone will get the glory and the world will know that He Is God! God doesn't save by human strength or wisdom, he saves by his mighty power. This is why the greatest ability is availability; when we make ourselves available to God, we position ourselves to experience the impossible and to become a vessel of honor that bring Him Glory. So instead of grieving over what you can not do, submit your life to the one that can do all things. Let him display his strength through your weakness and demonstrate his power through your life. You will be amazed at what God can do with your availability, it is your greatest asset. Below I want to share with you seven areas of availability that position you to experience the impossible and see God's Glory revealed through your life. Be available for intimacy. Make time everyday to sit at his feet; prayer, worship and the word. Be available to share. When the opportunity arises to tell someone about Jesus, stop what you are doing and share with them the message of Jesus Christ. Be available to pray. When someone shares a prayer need stop what you are doing and say a 30 second prayer, agreeing with them and the word of God. Be available to minister. When God sends someone into your life that needs ministry; encouragement, counsel or deliverance. Schedule time with them and allow the Lord to minister through you. Be available to give. Budget your finances and live below your income, so that when God quickens your heart to meet a financial need you have money available. Be available to serve in everyday life. When you encounter a need that you can meet, then lend a hand and help someone in need. Be available to serve in the local church. Get involved: give your time, talents and resources to the Kingdom of God through the joint efforts of the local church. Find the greatest area on need and plug in to meet that need.

Enforce the Victory

1 Samuel 17:46 "Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head..." David had it figured out, whatever God has established in the spirit, we have the authority to enforce in the flesh. David said, "The Lord will conquer you and I will kill you and cut off your head." Jesus has conquered the enemy, he has defeated sin and Satan, our job is to enforce in the flesh what has been established in the Spirit. It is time for all the mighty warriors to rise up and fight. We can not be defeated but we can be deceived into not fighting. You will never win a fight that you are unwilling to engage in. Let's fight for our families, communities, nation and the world. Let's take on the Goliath's of our day and like David, let's run to the battle!

God's Warning Label

John 5:14 "But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” The wages of sin is death, sin brings destruction into our lives. Jesus warned the lame that had been healed to stop sinning or something worse may happen to him. When people get healed, delivered, set free or forgiven there is a warning label that reads, stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. Only God can heal the sick, set free those who are oppressed, forgive our sins and save our souls, but we have a responsibility to walk out the freedom that Christ gives. A supernatural miracle can be short lived if you continue in a lifestyle of sin. God can supernaturally meet your financial needs but if you refuse to change your ways, debt will rise back up and devour you. God can heal you of cancer, but if you continue to smoke it can come back and take your life. God can forgive you of your past and wipe away the shame and guilt of your yesterday, but if you don't change the way you live, guilt and shame will come back like a flood. There is a warning label that comes on the back of every miracle and supernatural work that God does in our lives, if we obey it, we walk out our freedom and move forward into the future that God has for us. But if we violate the warning label we will end up worse in the end. Don't allow your miracle to short lived, walk out what God has given you and enjoy the journey of your life.

ALL

Psalms 103:1-5 "Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. 2  Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. 3  He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. 4  He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. 5  He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!" All, that is an amazing word especially when it is wrapped up in a promise from God. I looked up the word all in the Greek and Hebrew and all means all. So listen to the word of the Lord, God forgives all our sins, heals all our diseases and desires all that we are to praise him. God gives all and he requires all. All that we are in surrender to all that he is. God never ask for more than he has given, every request he makes from us is first conditioned with a gift from himself. Everything that we give to him, he first gave to us. So when he says praise me with all that you are, he is really saying give back to me all that I gave to you knowing that there is always more to come. As a matter of fact the only way to shut down the supply of heaven is to become unwilling to give back what he has given you in the first place. When we close our fist so to speak, we become unable to receive. But a open hand allows all things to flow in and out of our lives. So today let's Praise God with All that we are for All that He has done!

Confidence

Proverbs 14:15-16 "Only simpletons believe everything they’re told! The prudent carefully consider their steps. 16  The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence." Wisdom measures twice and cuts once. It takes the time to do the work on the front end, so that once a decision is made you can run with it. Fools plunge ahead, they make decisions based upon emotions and refuse to slow down long enough to think through and evaluate the process. They move ahead with what the Bible calls reckless confidence. Now as a leader you need confidence and your people need to have confidence in you. The way we build confidence is by making wise decisions, leadership alway involves risk because as a leader you are taking your team somewhere that none of you have ever been before. But calculated risk and reckless confidence are two totally different animals. Calculated risk means that I have done my homework, it means that I have taken the time to pray through the decision, gather information regarding the decision, gotten counsel about the decision and finally gotten a word from God to move forward. When we have done our part, we can be sure that God will do his and we can lead with a confidence that flows out of a prudent and wise heart.

FUEL

John 1:3-4 "God created everything through him (Word), and nothing was created except through him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone." Do you ever wonder why it is so hard for so many Christians to stay faithful to the daily reading and study of the word of God? Maybe you too have faced the struggle of consistency in the word of God. Our scripture for today gives us insight into why Satan wants to keep you out of the word of God and ultimately disconnect you from Jesus the living word. This scripture teaches us that the word gives life to all that is created and that his life brings light to everyone. Understand that the word of God gives life to your life, it is spiritual fuel that ignites the engines of the Spirit and causes you to come alive for the glory of God. In Genesis 1 we learn that the Holy Spirit was hovering over the face of the deep and that darkness covered the universe. The Spirit of God was present but their was still darkness, until the word came. The moment God the Father spoke the Word and said let their be light, the Holy Spirit moved and light came. The word of God fuels the Spirit and gives life and that life the Bible says brings light to everyone. I have never meet a soul winning, disciple making, devil stomping Christian that did not have a daily time in the word of God. Why? Because the word brings life and that life brings the light of Christ to the world so that people can be saved, discipled and set free from the power of sin and Satan. So now you know why Satan wants to keep you out of the word. If he can deceive you into thinking you are to busy (you are not) or that you can not understand (the Holy Spirit will teach you) the Bible, then he can siphon the fuel out of your Christian life and remove the light of Christ from your world.

Clean Stables or A Large Harvest

Proverbs 14:4 "Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest." As a leader you can have a clean stable or a large harvest but you can not have both. Ministry is messy and it requires a lot of leaders to make it happen. People lives are never changed without great sacrifice. Our salvation is rooted in sacrifice, the cross was not clean and tidy. True discipleship is hard work and very messy, in order to grow people up in the faith you are going to have to change a lot of dirty diapers. Too many pastors want clean stables, they want pretty churches, filled with pretty people. But Jesus came for the sick and not the well. Hospitals are sterile but if you have ever been in the operating room it gets messy. Why? Because dealing with the stuff in people's lives that keep them sick and unhealthy means going beyond the surface of Sunday morning Christianity and ministering the healing and wholeness of Jesus Christ. True discipleship is hard work but one life becomes a seed that changes future generations, it is worth the effort. Raising up leaders also messes up the stable. The more hands you have serving the more chances you have that something can go wrong. And all leaders especially new one make mistakes and sometimes dig holes that have to be mended. It is easier and cleaner to just do the job yourself, but that decision limits the size not just of your church but also the harvest that you reach for Christ. We need all hands on deck if we are going to reach a dying world. Both sides of discipleship is necessary for a healthy growing church. We have to reach out to the sick and hurting and we have to raise people up (leaders) to do the work of the ministry. If you just reach out to hurting people you will be overcome by the enormity of the need. If you just raise up people to do ministry then you will run out of people to raise up and will have a group of spiritual couch potatoes. But if you do both you will have a thriving church that is filled with the sick and the well. You church will become a hospital for the hurting and a training center for those who have been made whole. It will be messy and it will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it. So as a leader you have to make a decision, do you want a nice, neat stable or do you want a large harvest. I believe the success of your ministry will be determined by your choice. So what do you want?