Yesterday I was reading in a book that I am using to disciple a new believer. In looking at the “Discipline of Friendship,” Hughes recounts the story of David and Jonathan. It’s one of my favorites. These guys had an awesome friendship – look at this:

• They were one in spirit (1 Samuel 18:1)
• Jonathan loved David as himself (19:1)
• He spoke well of David (19:4)
• He helped David grow spiritually (23:16)

Then Hughes says this:

The deepest friendships have in common this desire to make the other person royalty. Disciplines of a Godly Man

Jonathan wanted David to be king. He had a passion to see David fulfill God’s dreams.

So, what about you? Do you have a passion to see your friends be royalty?

In other words, do you support them in such a way that they will succeed (and may even go further than you or get what you “deserve”)?

Since that night we’ve been walking through the book, Disciplines of a Godly Man by R. Kent Hughes. This week we studied the discipline of purity, and this quote jumped off the page:

At this moment God . . . loses all reality . . . . Satan does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What an eye-opener! As believers, Satan is not attempting to get us to hate God when sin enters our way. That would be to obvious. Satan is attempting to get us to forget about God. On purity, Hughes said:

When we are in the grip of lust, the reality of God fades.

Has the reality of God faded in your life? You are probably not angry with God, but you have likely been convinced that God no longer cares about your life. He has become uninterested or somehow you believe that you can fool Him. REMEMBER – He is there with you. Consider this promise if you begin to forget Him:

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Hebrews 13:5b

Legalism is self-centered; discipline is God-centered. The legalistic heart says, “I will do this thing to gain merit with God.” The disciplined heart says, “I will do this thing because I love God and want to please Him.”

In the American culture we struggle with legalism. However, I’m not sure that our legalism is to gain merit with God much anymore. It seems now that our legalistic heart is more about impressing others. In the “Christian” culture, we often do things that are “godly” to gain influence with people. Life becomes about the pursuit of us.

It was a great reminder for me – discipline is about pursuing God in an attitude that says, “I want to love and please you, Lord.” No matter what the cost. No matter how often I fail. No matter how long it takes. It – is – all – about – YOU.

Are you self-centered or God-centered? Ask God to replace your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Then, pursue Him will all that you have!

For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough…. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again,” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again,” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

The first thing you should do now is read the quote again at least 2 more times. It’s deep…very deep. But it says something significant: God doesn’t get bored. I’m not sure about you, but I get bored. My life feels dull, my spiritual life feels routine, my heart grows hardened. Why?

Because my sin nature says that I should have more, that God should always be who I want him to be in my life and respond the way that I desire, and that I can do life on my own for significant periods of time.

But I can’t. And God should not always be who I want Him to be and many times enough is enough.

It’s hard to keep the infancy, the “Do it again” spirit alive in my life. My kids still have it, but it is slipping away quickly. I heard our 4-year old say recently, “I’m bored.”

God, will you give me “an eternal appetite for infancy.” Will you help me to decrease so that you can increase in my life and allow me to experience a relationship with you that I have only scratched the surface of?

What about you? What does the quote say to you?

We become worldly not by engaging with the world but by allowing it to shape our thinking. Steve Turner, Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts

As Believers, it is a struggle to see the line where the shift begins to occur. As you are living life, you are not often considering how the world is “shaping your thinking.” As I struggled with this, some questions hit me:

• Where has a shift occurred in my thinking that’s not healthy in my relationship with Christ?
• How much influence does media have on my mind?
• Is there someone who can directly speak into my life and challenge my thinking (that I will listen too)?
• How do I recognize that the Christ in me is being clouded by the culture or the “shift”?

I want to engage the world, but I do not want to become like the world. I want to be the salt and light that Jesus spoke of. This is a tough one.

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. Matthew 5:13

How do you maintain the balance of “engaging the world” but not allowing it to “shape your thinking”?

Recently, we were driving and there was another thought about something that is God-sized (I can’t tell you about this one and may never be able to), and the potential looks really good.

Honestly, my Type-A brain is always at work thinking about everything. But the thought hit me -

I don’t take enough time to write down and develop my thoughts.

Lots of people that I know do this, but I didn’t. So, I started carrying a book to keep up with what’s going on in my mind. Honestly, there’s a lot of room up there for some cool echoes!

What about you? Are you keeping up with what is happening in your mind? Your thoughts could change the world or someone else’s life – keep up with them!

Due to my disability, I am unable to attend a church. I Praise God that my dear friend led me to your iCampus. I am blessed to be able to praise and worship God and be a part of a church community in spite of my body’s limitations. My spirit has been set free!!

Really enjoyed the webcast this Sunday!  My husband and I live in Seymour – so it’s a really long drive for us.  We watched this instead.  We need to get back into church.  My husband is a little resistant – so I’m praying for him to feel the desire like I do to regain our walk with the Lord.

When I realized what the Pastor was preaching about, I decided that my family needed to be there, so I logged off, told everybody to get ready, and we came to the 11:45 service.

The web-church experience is opening new doors to impact the world for Christ. Look for a post tomorrow about how Kyle accomplished the web campus – it is awesome!

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Proverbs 27:1

Confession: I struggle to live in the “today.” My job is to be strategic, to make plans for the future, to see what’s coming in the future so that we are ready. So, I lived today about 6 weeks ago. That’s right. And, today, I am living a day to come about 6 weeks from now.

Part of me writes this off as planning – I’m a planner and organizer. Yep – I plan my work and work my plan.

But, what about today? It’s all over Scripture.

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Why did God tell us to live today? The most obvious – it may be your last one or you don’t get another one of this day. But for me it is a reliance issue – a faith issue. When I live in tomorrow, I don’t have to rely on Him today. I’m not looking at what He wants me to do today. It’s easier to pass by Ephesians 2:10 opportunities (the good works).

I need to live today and plan (with His help) for tomorrow. Do you struggle to live today?

The worst part about hell may not be the burning sulphur or lake of fire. The worst part of hell will be the realization that you are eternally separated from the one true living God.

Imagine if your family never has the chance to experience the one true, living God. Imagine your friends (like the rich man in Luke 16), desiring to have a touch from someone in heaven to quench their thirst. I was reminded of the finality of the situation again this morning, and it again renewed my burden. Listen to the words of Luke 16:26 -

And besides all of this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, not can anyone cross over from there to us.

Who are you investing in and inviting to church this year at a time when most people are open to consider it?

If you want your employees to deliver excellent service, you’d better provide them with excellent leadership.

Leadership is more than a role; it’s a responsibility. Being a leader means doing what has to be done, when it has to be done, in the way it should be done, whether you like it or not, and whether they like it our not.

The book hits me at a great time because we are planning a trip to Disney. Honestly, we believe that they have some of the greatest customer service, which Cockerell says is secondary to leadership. If you have great leadership, he believes customer service will happen.

Being a part of our staff team makes the second quote so real. I am charged with being a leader of FPC. At times that is very easy and at other times very challenging.  Honestly, in the challenging times I pray for great integrity and for God’s wisdom. Wisdom is the #1 thing I ask people to pray for when they want to pray for me. My thought is with integrity and wisdom I can make the tough decisions – even if I do feel sick about it.