When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say, “I can’t.” Never allow the limitation of your own natural ability to enter into the matter.
The burden that God places on us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces the wine, but most of us see only the wine and not the burden.
Don’t just cast it aside, but put it over onto Him and place yourself there with it.
You will see that the sense of companionship then lightens your burden.
“Jesus can’t speak of judgment day without putting himself at the center of our cosmic conclusion—he is the Judge…He owns divine titles; accepts divine worship; performs divine acts… In short, he walks around Earth like he owns the place.” Randy Alcorn
Lord, You have made me a spiritual billionaire. May I so live?
~A.W. Tozer~
Over the last two thousand years, Christians have been forced to endure battles. For some in today’s America, it is health or financial, for others it may be family issues. Globally, in this century alone, many have been murdered, forced into slavery, and made to endure unimaginable, excruciating hardships.
In the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24 and 25) and elsewhere, Jesus warns that the road ahead doesn’t come with a cushy ride. He made it crystal clear that hard times will come. But His promise is clear for those who endure. Look to Jesus. Look to the examples of the Apostles and early church fathers. Look to those brothers and sisters suffering under the hands of brutal dictators or radical terrorists. Ultimate victory is at hand; God triumphs! “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).
Don’t EXPECT God to give you the type of life that “you” want. You will soon discover that God has different plans for you than you do.
“Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.” Albert Camus
Christ will be Lord, or He will be Judge. Every man must decide whether he will take Him as Lord now, or face Him as Judge then. ~A.W. Tozer~
The Holy Spirit comes as a Spirit of love. ~Andrew Murray~
Our leadership has a center and a source. The soul of our leadership also has soil. The vine is our starting point, our base, our origin, our beginning, and our end. The vine is the Alpha and the Omega and everything in between. The vine is not separated from pain but proximal to it. The vine sustains all things through God’s powerful word in the midst of the storm. The vine also holds us when we stand in the tension and waver between abiding and being apart. The vine invites us to return and remain without question as to why we fluctuated in the first place.
To return to the vine is to return to the root: it is thick, strong, deep, and wide. The vine does the work. Our work is only to remain connected as we abide. The fruit we bear will flow from that living connection.
the soil is the steadfast and unconditional love of God that nourishes the vine, which in turn holds us and upholds us. The Vine is Jesus and we are the branches in desperate need of abiding. Our leadership, indeed every ounce of our lives, must depend on being connected to the vine.
May you be deeply rooted in the soil of God’s love and may you be held and upheld, sustained by the source. May the soul of your leadership grow a thick and deep root in the soil of God’s own love.
The only safe place for a sheep is by the side of his Shepherd because the devil does not fear sheep, he just fears the Shepherd, that is all. ~A.W.Tozer~
As a leader, I must acknowledge my human limitations and release any subtle grasp for control in this crisis. Words have often failed me.
The first thing I’ve had to learn to do as a leader is to lament as needed. To identify and name my losses is the first step in the grief process.; do not run quickly to Easter Sunday but sit with the grief of the Garden of Gethsemane: my own and others’ grief. We serve a leader and a Savior that is well acquainted with the grief of both Garden and Good Friday.
There are two roads of life, the world’s path, and God’s path. Consider the journey and choose the way of the Lord––the narrow path. Jesus is there and He is the way to heaven.
~Billy Graham~
“If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.” ~Robert M. McCheyne,
Throughout Bible history God has done the same thing -- whenever He wants to make a statement He chooses a spokesperson (usually someone very ordinary or even less than ordinary), then does something extraordinary through them to get everyone's attention. There is one common ingredient in all these stories -- the person God chooses is always flawed. They're not perfect. Now we may think that we have to be incredibly spiritual and gifted person to be chosen by God, but that is indeed not the case.
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