SET APART

Many years ago, in another lifetime and season of my life, I worked for an accounts receivables management firm.  I started at the bottom of the totem pole and over a period of over ten years, I worked my way into an upper management position.  The job was a great source of pride in my life.  During that same time, in my personal life, I had recommitted myself to God and the things of God.  

God took me from being the guy in the office who might organize a "guys night out" of bar hopping to being the guy who would pray with you and invite you to a 6 AM Bible Study at Cracker Barrel on Friday mornings.

I began to spend more and more time in prayer.  I prayed many times that I was willing to do whatever God wanted me to do.  I prayed that I was willing to go wherever and whenever God wanted me to go.

The problem was that for a long time, I didn't really mean it and God was, of course, fully aware of that fact.  I was not actually fully available to be used by God.  I was only saying the words that I was available.  I really enjoyed my job title, my company car, my office, my paycheck, etc.  The job was a great source of pride in my life.

It was only after God helped me come to a place in my heart spiritually where I was not only saying the words but also meaning the words.  As I continued to study His Word, God revealed more and more about Himself.  He was also revealing more and more of what I needed to know about myself.  He was moving me, as I prayed.  I was not moving Him.

It was only after I actually - for real - made myself available to be used by God that He was able to begin to use me in ways I had never even imagined possible.  

This happened because God had His hand on my heart with a plan and purpose for me and my life all along.  In my surrender, I was SET APART by God.  It was not my plan.  I had other plans.  I had to be willing to surrender my own plans.  I had to be willing to take risks and to step outside my own personal comfort zone.

I have no regrets about that season of my life nor would I trade it.  The job was a blessing financially to our family.  Those experiences and opportunities for professional and personal growth led me to be who I am today.  However, being in a position of a greater surrender to God and the things of God while serving God in ministry, has absolutely brought a level of satisfaction and reward beyond what I thought possible.

Can I just tell ya something?  I believe God is always calling us to something greater, to take a bigger risk, to stretch our faith, to something bigger than ourselves, to something which will require a deeper faith in Him.  What is God asking you to do which would stretch you beyond your own personal comfort zone?  Are you fulfilling your ministry?

Prayer - 

Father, I am humbled to consider all of the many ways You have worked in and through me as a man, father, husband, etc.  I do not deserve that You would even acknowledge my presence.  Your patience with me is hard to comprehend.  My heart overflows with gratitude.  Amen.

But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. -- 2 Timothy 4:5 (CSB)

#Missions #Evident #MásDeTi

MIDNIGHT NINJA

My wife is a light sleeper.  I am not.  You could drive a tractor through our bedroom while I am asleep and I will sleep right through it.  However, my lovely wife can detect a change in cabin pressure when a car drives down our road.  Then it might take an hour for her to fall back asleep.  If she gets up in the middle of the night, she can flip on the lights and do whatever she wants to.  I will never know.

If I am up while she is asleep, I must attempt to maneuver around with the stealth of some kind of midnight Ninja.  No lights - no sounds - move slowly - do not breathe.  Sensing a presence in the dark is one of her spiritual gifts.  I will think I have crushed it and suddenly, in the pitch dark, she will blurt out, "So did you just want me to get up?!?"

I made it a personal challenge many years ago that I would see how long and how far I can go in the dark.  The goal is to walk around our bedroom in the dark without bumping into something or stumbling.  

I tell myself: "I know where everything is anyway.  I don't need the light.  I know where that basket of laundry is sitting.  I know where the treadmill is, when to reach for the door knob... "  

I could use my cell phone for a night light.  But, pride tells me I can make it in the pitch dark without a night light.  Only children need a night light.

Then I bump into the bed and wake her up.  Then, 30 seconds later, pride is right back at it, telling me I can make it in the dark.  I don't need a night light.  Then I stub my toe on that box by the closet.  I say to myself, "I should have used a light."  Then, 30 seconds later, pride says:  "You don't need a light!  You've totally got this!"

We don't want to admit that we can get lost in the dark.  Loaded up with self-confidence and pride, we rely on our own memory and Ninja navigational skills.  

We think we know all we need to know.  What happens?  We stumble over stumbling blocks.  We fall.  Solomon wrote, in his Proverbs for his children, that essentially, pride actually leads us to fall.  Can I just tell ya something?  Pride gives us a false security in ourselves which is why we fall.  We must put our faith and sense of security in the Lord.  Paul says we should boast in Jesus rather than ourselves.  

Prayer -
Father, You alone provide the only real and lasting sense of security.  Please forgive me for putting too much faith in my own abilities.  Forgive me for boasting in myself.  Thank You for the promise to never leave nor forsake me.  Amen.

Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.  
-- Proverbs 16:18 (CSB)

#Missions #Evident #MásDeTi