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10 Reasons we fail to come into our true Greatness

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Time Magazine got it wrong when they put T.D. Jakes’ picture on the cover of their September 17th 2001 magazine with the question – “Is this the next Billy Graham?” Our culture is always on the hunt for the next big thing. But that idea falls short of the glory of God. Why can’t both preachers be great in and of and by themselves? In this third part of their ‘America’s Best Series’, the magazine failed to rise above the age long temptation to define greatness in terms of position, power, prominence and possession.

Even Jesus’ disciples stumbled over this same temptation when they “argued with one another about who was the greatest.”

The desire to be better than or above everyone else is born in a sinful, broken and bankrupt place of an arrogant heart. A lot of people tend to think that this is an American problem. But this is not an American problem, it is a sin problem. Pride is a disease. And the gospel, in all its simplicity and power, is the cure for that disease.

Jesus’ entire life and ministry is a teaching on how to have the same mind that he had: “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant.”

Greatness is not about the kind of car you drive, the kind of home you live in and the amount in your bank account. All those things are nice but a “man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Greatness is not about whether we are smarter, more accomplished or successful than our peers. We are not defined by what we create, we are defined by who God says we are. Excelling in the area of our calling is both an occasion to give glory to God and an invitation to humility and service.

I would say, every accomplishment, every exploit and every breakthrough- be it in the medical field, in the arts, or tech industry, all fall under one banner: “Good and perfect gift from above.” In the same way, each person who has ever done anything significant or innovative, received that perfect gift from above for one purpose – to show who God is.

The potential for greatness lives within each of us

The unknown pastor who labors for the kingdom of God in an unknown village in Africa is as great as the well-known one who pastors a megachurch in the United States. Their greatness is measured by their faithfulness not by the size of their congregation or their notoriety.

The obscure first grade teacher who teaches way up in the boonies is as great as the renowned professor who teaches a prestigious university in the big city. Their greatness is measured by the impact they are having on others. Bob Marley said, “the greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”

We must never think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. The potential for greatness lives within each of us, but it should never be harnessed or pursued in order to lord it over others.

10 obstacles preventing us from coming into our true greatness:

If I am not the greatest I am not great at all

I believe we must all strive to do great in whatever field or vocation we are in. We must all push ourselves to excellence. We must always do our best to present ourselves to God as approved, workers who need not be ashamed. And if or when we excel more than others, see it as an opportunity to serve, not as a badge of superiority.

My greatness depends on what others think about me

Too many people sit back and allowed others to define who they are or who they should be. You will never see who you really are until you understand and believe who God says you are. Your true identity is not only in God but it is defined by Him.

A paralyzing insecurity:

  • A spirit of fear
  • A failure to take risk
  • A lack of belief in self

We allow our culture to define what true greatness is

Our culture has no clue about what true greatness is all about. It fails over and over again at it’s definition. Anyone who chooses to live by its definition come up short over and over again. Greatness is what God says it is – and he is never wrong.

We obsess way too much about status than we do about servant-hood

Everyone wants to be the head and not the tale. Everyone wants to be the first and not the last. We are way too concerned about our platform and our following.

Selfish Ambition

The root definition for selfish ambition is “to go both ways to gain one’s point. This definition fits anyone who runs after glory, praise and favor of men in a two-faced or deceitful manner. They always miss the point and fall short.

False Humility

There is nothing wrong with doing great things. Even Jesus promised that we would do greater things than what He did. There is nothing wrong with accomplishing extraordinary things. What Jesus accomplished for us ain’t no small thing. Christians have idly stood by for generations sitting in mediocrity while quoting scriptures about humility. Humility does not mean lazy.

We compare ourselves to others

We all have different gifts.  Your style is different from the leader down the street, so is his. To hope that you were more like the other guy down the street is just a recipe for frustration. You will never be like anyone else – so, be yourself.

We try too hard at being something we already are

How many of you wake up each day and say to yourself, “today I am going to do my very best to be a human being. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you will never make yourself more a human than you already are. We are not defined by what we create, we are defined by who God says we are.

We work too hard at maintaining the image of greatness that we or others have branded us as

I find it incredibly crippling and terribly agonizing to worry about writing another book, producing another record that will be better than my current best seller. That is because my culture tells me that I have to consistently write better books, produce better records than the ones before. And if I can’t I am not great enough.

Conclusion

Greatness lies, not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; and strength is not used rightly when it serves only to carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.

Henry Ward Beecher

Disturb us Lord

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Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love

Prayer by Sir Francis Drake

His Loyalty is Astronomic

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Whatever you are going through tonight, I want to assure you that you have a friend who is constant, faithful and steadfast. Day by day his mercies are new. Step into that ever flowing stream of everlasting faithfulness today and you will find strength and endurance for the journey ahead.

Quotes from Donald Miller’s Scary Close

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I read Scary Close a few weeks ago and enjoyed it immensely. I have never had the privilege of reading Donald’s other books, so I will leave the all the critical evaluation to those who’ve read them and how they compare to this one.

But in this book, Donald leads in a conversation about his personal journey of painful and failed relationships. For most of his life, he had lived, pretending to be something he wasn’t, hoping to impress people in order for them to like him. But at age forty he began to discover the freedom of being himself and the rewards of taking of his masks.

If you want intimacy in your relationship, a healthy mind, a strong family and a satisfying career, Donald invites your to drop the act, be yourself and connect with more people. In this post, I want to share a few quotes that really made this book stand out in a significant way. Enjoy!

Distracting noises of insecurity:

“Applause is a quick fix, and love is an acquired taste.”

“You need somebody who is more in love with you and not just impressed by you.”

“What if we are designed as sensitive antennas, receptors, to receive love, a longing we often mistake as a need to be impressive? What if some of the most successful people in the world got that way because their success was fueled by a misappropriated need for love? Whet if the people we consider to be great, are actually the most broken.  And what if the whole time they are seeking applause, they are missing out on true intimacy? Because they never learned to receive it.”

You are good at relationships:

“We cannot let our failures define us.”

Everybody’s got a story and it’s not the one they’re telling

“Heroes are almost always screw ups.”

“The strongest character in a story isn’t the hero, it’s the guide.”

“Shame causes us to hide, and the more we hide, the harder it is to be known to connect.”

“Sometimes the story we are telling the world isn’t half as endearing the one that lives inside us.”

Why some animals make themselves bigger

“Sometimes when some animals felt threatened they make themselves bigger.”

“Drop the act.”

Three things I learned from relationship from swimming in a pond

“Those of us who are never satisfied with our accomplishments, secretly believe, no body will love us unless we are perfect.”

“Flaws are the way we receive grace. “our flaws are the glue that binds us to the people we love.” grace only sticks to our imperfections. Those who cannot accept their imperfection cannot accept Grace either.

Performance anxiety in real life

“Somewhere along the line, we buy into the lie “we only matter if:” we are strong, smart, or attractive.”

The people we choose to love

“We become like the people we hang out with.”

“Healthy relationships happen best between healthy people.”

“A lot of people damage their lives by mistaken enablement for grace.”

“The manipulator is the loneliest person in the world. And the second, is the one being manipulated. Unless we are honest with each other we can’t connect, we can’t be intimate.”

“If you want to make a sad person happy, start by planting them in a community of optimist.”

“90 percent of people’s problems cam be prevented, if they chose healthier people to give their hearts to. A healthy person coupled with an unhealthy person, will still result in an unhealthy relationship.  (john Cotton Richman)

Control freak

“Change only come when we face the difficulty of reality head on. Fantasy changes nothing. That’s why when we are done fantasizing, it feels like a bankrupt story.”

“The root of sin is the desire for control… the root of control is fear. To love somebody is to give them the power to hurt you. Controlling people are loneliest people in the world.”

“When two people are entirely and completely separate, they are finally compatible to be one. Nobody’s self worth lives with inside another person. Intimacy means, we are independently together.  True intimacy is the one thing we all want, but must give up control to get. (Henry Cloud)

Manipulative people

  • The score keeper: Harriet Braker said manipulators see the world as a zero sum game.
  • The judge: when the judge person is a judge will use the bible to manipulate people
  • The false hero: manipulate by leading others to feel like they have something better to offer than they do.
  • The fear monger: they rule by making others suffer the consequences of insubordination. fear mongers love to use the word loyalty.
  • The flapper: over dramatizes their victim-hood in order to gain sympathy and attention. nobody need a judge or score keeper lording their faults over them.

Kitchen

“You will be surprised how easy it is to convince the american people that a perfectly good man is demon.”

“God is a fan of people connecting and the enemy of God is a fan of people breaking off into paranoid tribes. And all the clinging pots and pans in the kitchen to scare people from the territory we feel compelled to defend is playing into the hands of dark forces. A lot of the shame based religious and political methodology has more to do with keeping people contained than with setting them free.”

“God created you so that people could enjoy you, not just endure you.”

The risk of being careful

“How else can we connect to people unless we let them know us.” Bill Oakey

“The wish they had the courage to live a life true to themselves.”

“Remarkably, the most common regret of the dying was this: they wish they’d had the courage to live a life true to themselves and not the life others expected of them.”

“Learn to preemptively forgive.”

“The powerful, most attractive person we can be  is who we already are. An ever becoming being that is coming and would never arrive. But have opinions of what is seen along the journey.”

“Martha Graham, each of us is unique and if we didn’t exist, something in the world would be lost.”

Great parents do this well

“The stuff it takes to be intimate is authenticity, vulnerability and the belief that other people are about as bad and good as you are.”

“A safe person is a person who speaks truth in grace.”

“Parents who are open and honest with their kids create and environment in which are allowed to be human. Sadly, parents who hide their flaws, unknowingly, create an environment where kids feel the need to hide. What children really need is somebody who can show them it’s okay to be human.”

“We don’t have to pretend to be perfect.”

“If we live behind a mask, we can impress, but we can’t connect.”

The stuff to a meaningful life

“Relationships have a way of stabilizing when in motion until then, they just feel like a road-trip to nowhere.”

“Have a project to work on, some reason to get out of bed in the morning and preferably something that serves other people. Have a redemptive perspective on life’s challenges. That is, when something difficult happens, recognize the ways that difficulty also serves you. Share your life with a person or people who love you unconditionally.”

You will not complete me

“Co-dependency – happens when to much of your sense validation or security comes from somebody else. if somebody obsessive about whether somebody likes them or returns an email or whatever, it is a symptom . Stalking is an extreme.”

“How many relationships have been ruined by two people attempting to squeeze the Jesus out of each other. I don’t know if there is a healthier way for two people to stay in love than to stop using each other resolve their unfulfilled longings and instead start holding each closely as they experience them.”

The place we left our ghost

“Love is a decision, it is as much something you made happen, as it was something that happen to you.”

“The path to join souls in love must of necessity involve a crucifixion.”

“We are never going to be perfect in love, but we can get close. and the closer we get the healthy we will be. love is not a game any of us can will, it’s just a story we can live and enjoy. it’s a noble ambition to add a chapter to the story of love and to make our chapter a good one. We don’t think about how our love stories will affect the world, but they do: Children learn what’s worth living for and what’s worth dying for by the stories they watch us live.”

By the way, to conclude, thank God for Betsy!

Praying For the Red, White and Blue

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image July 4th 2015 May God continue to bless America

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Lord, we seek your face. Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for these United States.

Lord, we turn from our wicked ways. Let your grace abound toward us and let your mercy overtake us as you forgive us our sins.

Lord, heal our land racism, hate, perversion, greed, and apathy. Sent a mighty revival of truth and salvation. Awaken us so that we can take this gospel to the ends of the earth.

In Jesus’ Name… Amen!

Greener Grass Syndrome

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grass-is-greener

Everybody wants a great relationship, a great marriage. Everybody wants a good job, you know, job security. Everybody want a church they can call home. Everybody wants a great ministry, to be used by God. Not too many, though, want to do what’s necessary to make it happen where they are. They are always looking for something better on the other side of the fence. The way to fix that is simple:

  • You love what you have
  • You nurture what you have
  • You invest in what you have
  • You put value on what you have
  • You believe in what you have
  • You are grateful and thankful for what you have
  • You cherish what you have
  • You water where you are

This is the cure, I think, to the greener grass syndrome. If you love your country, make it a better place. If you love your home, make it a better place. If you love you church, make it a better place. If you love your school, your neighborhood, make it a better place.

You never know what you have until its gone!

Quote Source: michealhyatt.com

Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise

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A few days ago, I walked into my office and realized that I had two voice messages from the light flashing my office phone. I quickly pressed the button on the phone to retrieve the messages. As I listened to the second message, I recognized a familiar voice.

It was Bob Kilpatrick. If you don’t know who Bob is, you ought to. He is not only a prolific singer songwriter with countless hits, an author, but also one the most down to earth, passionate for Jesus and funny guys on planet earth. He is a bundle of joy to be with.

Around the time I got saved, Bob’s praise and worship songs were sung in every church. I remember leading the church in songs like, In my life be glorified. That one song was featured in almost every worship set. Long before I got to meet him, Bob’s words in songs took me to another place. A heavenly place. His words today, are still taking me same. Taking me places.  Heavenly places.

In 2014, we had an opportunity to spend a weekend with Bob at our church. It was incredible! We loved him. We were refreshed by his music and his words. We laughed, worshiped, danced, and had an awesome time of fellowship.

So, after almost a year of missing him, I couldn’t stop listening to his message. I guess it was the unexpected affirmation of praise the floored me. I played it over and over again. finally, I sat down after the fifth time and pressed the repeat button again:

Hi pastor walt bright, it’s me bob kilpatrick. Just wanted to touch base with you, see how you all are doing. Because I think, you guys are an undiscovered gem. love you, talk to you soon.

That one message made my entire week. I don’t think I will ever forget the message. It is embedded within my soul forever. I’ve also been thinking about how my congregation would respond to the message when I share it. I know they will be moved by it.

When was the last time you honestly, genuinely offered someone else an affirmation of praise? When was the last time you give someone a compliment that really made a difference? Allow me to motivate your with these words of Dale Carnegie. He wrote, “Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”

Do that today! Don’t delay.

Show Some Love:

Here is Ben Rector’s two-cents about Making Money

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Making money, it isn’t easy
And it sure won’t make you happy
So I think it’s funny, we’re so concerned
with making money

And money won’t keep folks from grieving
And it won’t stop love from leaving
So here’s my two cents
What’s the use in making money

And I know that life ain’t cheap
And not all good things are free
But there is no enough and no too much
and it seems so strange to me
I just think it’s funny,
we’re so concerned with making money

I make my living singing love songs
That I made up cause I love songs
But folks believe them,
So I’m receiving paper money

Don’t get me wrong, I love my lady
And I probably wouldn’t trade her
But life’s no better with debts or debters
Making money

And I know that life ain’t cheap
And not all good things are free
But there is no enough and no too much
And it seems so strange to me
I just think it’s funny, we’re so concerned
with making money

Everybody’s got their reasons
Finer wines or fairer seasons
If we’re truthful, we know we’re fools for
making money

 
http://www.benrectormusic.com/

The use of Excessive Force: 10-quotes-from-malcolm-gladwell’s-david-and-goliath

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In David & Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell offers a paradigm shift in the discussion of how we usually deal with pain, suffering, disadvantages, obstacles, and discrimination. He frames the story of David and Goliath as one of an underdog facing a giant.

The cool thing about this dynamic is, “being  an underdog can change people in ways that we often fail to appreciate: it can open doors and create opportunities and educate and enlighten and make possible what might otherwise have seemed unthinkable.”

If you’ll allow it, this book will massively overhaul and change the way you look at challenges in your life. In short it a manual for underdogs, misfits and all those who are faced with giants way too strong to conquer.

Notable quotes:

“Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness.”

“If you bomb a city, you leave behind death and destruction. If you take away a mother or a father, you cause suffering and despair. But one time in ten, out of that despair rises an indomitable force.”

“We get good at something by building on the strengths we are naturally given.”

“What is learned out of necessity is inevitably more powerful than the learning that comes easily.”

“A near miss leaves you traumatized. A remote miss makes you think you are invincible.”

“There is no possibility of being pessimistic when people are dependent on you for their only optimism.”

“Gifted children and child prodigies seem most likely to emerge in highly supportive family conditions. In contrast, geniuses have a perverse tendency of growing up in more adverse conditions.”

“We are all of us not merely liable to fear, we are also prone to be afraid of being afraid, and the conquering of fear produces exhilaration.”

“Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start. Courage is what you earn when you’ve been through the tough times and you discover they aren’t so tough after all.”

“It has been said that most revolutions are not caused by revolutionaries in the first place, but by the stupidity and brutality of governments.”

Malcolm writes:

“When people in authority want the rest of us to behave, it matters – first and foremost – how they behave. This is called the “principle of legitimacy,” and legitimacy is based on three things:

  • First of all, the people who are asked to obey authority have to feel like they have a voice – that if they speak up, they will be heard.
  • Second, the law has to be predictable. There has to be a reasonable expectation that the rules tomorrow are going to be roughly the same as the rules today.
  • And third, the authority has to be fair. It can’t treat one group differently from another.

Therefore, the excessive use of force creates legitimacy problems and force without legitimacy leads to defiance, not submission. When the law is applied in the absence of legitimacy, it does not produce obedience. It produces the opposite. It leads to backlash.

My Prayer

Father, after all is said and done, I pray that our God, the One who “causes wars to end throughout the earth,” will break the bow and snap the spear. I pray that he will raise us up to be instruments of peace, even in the midst of injustice and excessive force. I pray that he will create an atmosphere in which this conversation can take place without violence and chaos. I pray that he will help everyone to take a step back and decide to do the right thing.

Excerpt: Malcolm Gladwell, David And Goliath, (Little Brown & Company, 2013) 208; 222; 273

10 Quotes from Max Lucado’s ‘Before Amen’

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When Prayer Flows

If you want to take you prayer life to another level of simplicity and ease, “Before Amen” is for you. It is inviting and inspiring. The focus remains on the Father all through the book. In essence, that is exactly what prayer is all about.

Enjoy a few quotes that jumped off the pages:

“Before you face your world, face you Father.”

“Prayer is conversation with God while driving to work or awaiting an appointment or before interacting with a client. Prayer can be the internal voice that directs the external action.”

“Guilt leaves a tattooed heart.”

Just as a happy child cannot mis-hug, the sincere heart cannot mis-pray”

“Prayer is the hand of faith on the door handle of your heart; the willing pull; the happy welcome to Jesus.”

“Prayers are not graded according to style.”

“You are never more like Jesus than when you pray for others.”

“An un-prayed for problem is an embedded thorn.”

“Life is a gift, albeit unassembled. It comes in pieces, and sometimes it falls into pieces.”

“God’s goal for you is wholeness.”

An Illustration that will preach

This was a gentle, smooth read. Max’s illustration of the prayers of a 10 year old girl in Helen Roseveare’s orphanage is a powerful testament of what it really means that the “Father knows what you need even before you ask” (Matthew 6:8). How would you like to receive a timely gift, the same day you prayed, only to find out that the gift was mailed 5 months earlier?. I highly recommend Max Lucado’s ‘Before Amen.’

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