The Labor of Brilliant Ideas

The climax of the egg is the hatching.

The fiercest battles I have ever faced are the ones right at the threshold of breakthroughs.  It's the labor pains right before the birth. There is no turning back at this point.  Grace is the ability to do what God has called you to do.  That brilliant idea was His first, He will give you the ability to see it through.  If there was no battle then there would be no need for grace. Grace doesn't mean no effort on  your part, it means He backs up your effort with His power.

Brilliant ideas are open doors

God will open some doors for you.  He will give you brilliant ideas to commit to.  He will give you some marching orders to carry out.  These open doors are opportunities.  They will above all teach you all kinds of lessons. Always look at them as opportunities of growth. Sometimes we will experience growing pains when we go through those doors.

Adversity keeps the boat afloat

But because they come from Heaven doesn’t mean they will be pain free, battle free, or even misery free.  In fact, because they come from Heaven is a guarantee there will be some adversity.  It’s the adversity that keeps the plane in the air, and the boat afloat.

It never fails the minute I mention evangilism or outreach it seems like all hell breaks loose. The very instance the women even start considering a prayer group all kinds of havoc begins to play on everyone’s schedule.  It’s a gimme.

Keep your cool

Just because I know it’s going to happen doesn’t mean I’m not going to do it.  It means I need His grace more than ever.  I get a lot of phone calls from women’s ministry leaders right before a big event with all the “can you believe this happened and then this happened and then of all things bubba broke his foot.”  It’s calm down time.

Here are some things to keep you level headed during this battle.

Pray.  Im not talking about going to God and asking if you should have even done the event in the first place, or if you should have even went into ministry.  It’s all too late for that.  You are on the cusp of breakthrough, you are on the verge of cresting the top of the mountain, you have done all the leg work, now is the prayers of faith. This is praising and worshiping time. If you are going to petition Him about anything now ask Him to help you keep your integrity in all of it, that your response to the battle will be God glorifying and people redeeming.

Stand on God’s word.  He gave you the idea, don’t move on it.  Don’t let anything cause you to doubt it was not from God. Keep your feet in peace. Strive to keep the strife out. That "peace that surpasses all understanding" will but a wall around you and will guard your integrity.  When you are in the home stretch you have done all that you have known to do, now stand. Don’t back down from what God has given you.  The enemy will try to get you to sabatage the whole thing by doubting you heard from God. It’s too late to worry about that now anyway.  Don’t entertain any negative talk from you are anyone else.

Speak over it.  When all hell is breaking loose right before an event watch what you say.  It is easy to start letting the words of worry and defeat escape our already tired self.  Everytime you hear someone speak negatively you reinforce what God has said, His promises to never leave us, never forsake us.  It’s all about Him anyway.  Speak life over the ministry, the event, the situation.

Related Post:Your Faith on Center Stage
Leading in the Trenches

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Q4U: Got anymore suggestions for those breakthrough battles?

Solomon: The Original Wise Guy

Proverbs is an amazing book.  Who doesn’t need wisdom?  Even if your the wisest person on the planet your not wiser than God.  Even Solomon’s own mission statement was all about getting wiser. Solomon practiced what he preached. 

The purpose of these proverbs is to teach people wisdom and discipline; to help them understand wise sayings. Through these proverbs, people will receive instruction in discipline, good conduct, and doing what is right, just and fair. These proverbs will make the simpleminded clever. They will give knowledge and purpose to young people. Proverbs 1:2-4

The Good Life

No matter if your a CEO of a Fortune 500 company or a homeschooling mom, getting wisdom and exercising it is a strategy that can’t be missed. There is a need to understand market trends on Wall Street as well as the produce isle in Winn Dixie.  When we wait for wisdom we make better choices.  LIke a choice cut of meat, our choices will determine a life of rich living.  Maybe not material wealth  but a life of what's just, fair and right.  It’s not a life that looks good but a life that is good.  

No Such Luck

Contrary to popular belief, the word “lucky” isn’t in the Bible.  There is no fall of the dice in Vegas God doesn’t know about.  Prudent leaders don't “gamble”  and hope for Lady Luck to show up. Jesus never told the disciples “good luck” when he sent them out.  Why? Because luck has nothing to do with it.                   

There is no such luck in the Bible only blessings. Jesus starts out with “Blessed is the guy...”  not “lucky is the guy.”  You see if luck had anything to do with it God wouldn’t get any glory. Worse, Satan could then convince you that you just aren’t lucky enough.  What a bunch of pooo, luck has nothing to do with it. 

Secret Ingredient

Thre is no secret ingredient to success.  There is no magic word or secret potion to guarantee a problem free life or a successful business venture.  There is no secret or magic word that opens a ton doors.  There are a ton, probably 10 tons of self help books and blogs out there - all to help you succeed.  All with 20 steps to guranteed success in money, relationships, even parenting.  Yet with all these books out there our country is on the verge of default on a debt.  I guess some business people and politicians aren’t up on their reading list.

  

There are ingredients to success, and guess what? They're not a secret.

Q4U: What are the ingredients to success?  

Closed hearts

Closed hearts

"Gaurd your heart because it is the well spring of your life"

Guarding your heart and closing your heart is two different things.  Some people seem to think guarding your heart means protecting yourself from getting hurt.  Well the only way you can protect yourserlf from getting hurt is a coffin.  If your walking and breathing guess what? You will get hurt.  If you are in ministry guess what? You will get hurt.  There is no way out of it. Loving people will get you hurt. When we start guarding our hurts we can run the risk of closing our hearts to the people that matter the most. 

 The most valuable asset you have is your heart, it will bring life to your marriage, your family and to the ministry. Your heart when filled with God of potential and possibilities will produce people with potential and possibilities.  Closing it down for business is bad for business. 

Here are some signs of a closed heart.

1- They are distant and aloof.  A wall is up, they have fenced everyone out.  Getting in will take time, and a whole lot of mercy and patience.

2- There is no connections. No real connections to people. They are alone and prefer to be alone. It's safer.

3 - There is no real communications.  After a while communication skills shut down.  You will find them without a voice and struggling to find it. 

4 - They start fending for themselves, becoming self sustaining which reeks of pride. Unwilling to ask for help.

5 -  They become critical. The focus quickly switches to what is wrong instead of what is right. 

6 - They become demanding, demanding obedience, demanding submission, demanding perfection.

7 - Their oppression will be felt by everyone. People around them will feel oppressed. A good way to describe oppression is nothing getting in and nothing getting out.  






Q4U: Have any suggestions on how to deal with a leader with a closed heart? Leave a comment.

Cultivating a Passion for people

Here are some more practical things you can do to cultivate a passion for what God is passionate about, people.

1 - Specifically ask God to give you a passion for people. 
 Make it a part of your daily communion with Him.  Start praying earnestly for those around you.  Let me warn you though, don't be a bit surprised you hear God say "you do it." You feed them, you comfort them, you mourn with them, you sit with them, you be with them, you go to the doctor with them. 

2 - Ask God to give you a sensitivity to others. 

Eyes to see and ears that hear those around you. Just let me warn you with this prayer.  Be ready to see the broken hearted and the downtrodden, it just might ruin you for life, you will never be the same after that. Ask Him to help you discern the hurts, the heart cries and needs of others.

3 -  Ask God to make you spiritually radiant.  

Petition God to transform you so that people won’t see you but see Jesus alone.  Your part is to lean into Him (and not your own understanding) in such a way no one sees you.  Lean into His strength, into His wisdom, into His mercy so that you are hiding in Him. 

4 - Ask for boldness in witnessing.  
In case you didn’t know that is the baptism in Holy Spirit. Ask Jesus to baptize you in Holy Spirit power. Ask Jesus for a loving caring spirit of initiative that will help you recognize doors and give you the unction to seize those strategic moments.  Let the passion of and for Christ out weigh any complacency.

5 - Ask God to make you confident and positive.  

Deliver me from fear Lord. The more you speak to others the more confident you will become.  And remember the joy of the Lord is your strength.  This isn’t a joy you try to conjure up when you want to witness. It’s the well of joy, the same well Jesus had.   Just ask God to open up that well in you.  If you are miserable in God, and have a difficult time enjoying God’s creation learning how to witness isn’t your first problem. Let God begin to heal your wounded spirit and let Him anoint you with a garment of praise.  

6 - Put a constant priority on prayer.
Prayer is the key.  You have not because you ask not. To all the previous points ask Him. Talk to Him about boldness and His opinion of it and what it looks like with your specific personality.  Talk to Him about being confident and what the scriptures say about it. Talk to Him about His passion for souls and why.  Talk to Him about sensitivity, talk to Him about the gifts He gives us to address the needs of others. Have an ongoing conversation about it. Ask to hear His heart beat for people, it will absolutely amaze and overwhelm you at the same time.




Q4U: What other practical things could you do?

Take It On the Run

"I heard it from a friend

who-ooo 
heard it from a friend 

who-ooo 
heard it from another 

you’ve been messing around"

This poor guy!  Well at least the guy was willing to hear her side of the story. I know some who totally take gossip for real! How sad.

It’s amazing we even have to deal with this. But we do.  

Ministry can have the grandest vision and the best strategy but with gossip, good luck getting it off the ground and if you did will it be any fun at all?

Gossip is toxic.

You see it’s like this. Relationships are the air you breathe in ministry.  Mutual trust is the glue that holds it all together.  Anything that violates that trust well, it’s toxic vapor, it is the catalyst for rust.  Gossip and rumors destroy the trust.  It rusts the trust. 

Take it on the run.

We all know gossip destroys, I really don’t have to tell you. And really the only thing that stops rust is prevention.  We can moan and groan all day about gossip but that's not healthy and in some cases leads to more gossip (see it's rust). Let's come up with ways to stop it from slowing us down and keeping us from the grand destiny God has for us. Let’s take it on the run.  Let’s deal with it and keep going.  Let’s move on and not let this bring us down, individually and corporately. 

Can I quote you on that?

I heard a good way to protect a ministry from gossip.  Sharon Lussiere, the women’s ministry leader for Riverside Church, Sebastian hands out notebooks, for the ladies to carry in their purse.  Whenever someone starts up with questionable topics they can pull out their notebooks and say “Can I quote you on that?” Ha! That’s a good one. And that’s taking it on the run!

What are some of the ways to stop the gossip in your ministry?

Wisdom vs Foolishness

How do we recognizie the difference between wisdom and foolishness?

It’s interesting when you study the book of Proverbs, foolishness and wisdom seem to be doing the same thing, having dinner and inviting you to it.   As leaders we have to make decisions, the wiser the choice the more we will enjoy the outcome. 

But sometimes the line is not easily seen.  Some people have the "angel and devil in the ear theology."  You know, a little angel in one ear and a little devil in the other ear telling you what to do.  Both making their case. When ever that happens to me I don’t do anything.  God doesn’t work that way.  God doesn’t promote going back and forth.  God doesn’t confuse us.  God makes it simple.  

In Proverbs there is two descriptions of Wisdom and Folly.  Here is a list of some of the things I gleaned to help tell the difference.

1 - Wisdom sets her table out in the open for all to see, Foolishness is secretive and in the dark.   Ask yourself can you follow the choice in public, can you do the thing in front of people? or Will it bring shame and humiliation to you and those you serve if found out? Are you going behind someone’s back? 

2 - Wisdom made all her own food and wine, there was preparation.  Foolishness stole the food there was no work or preparation involved.  Is the choice going to involve preparation, some work, some discipline. Is it going to involve faith? Is it a get a bunch of something for nothing? Sounds like the Israelites when they sent Moses to the top of the mountain to hear God for them. 

3 - Wisdom offers life, Foolishness death. When I buy online I like to read the reviews.  I want to hear what others had to say. Who is endorsing and who is discouraging, and are we considering the source? Was there life or was there death? Is the prophetic word matching up with Scriptures?  Are we judging and condemning?  Is the message edifying and encouraging?  Are we presenting the Gospel or are we presenting prosperity? Are we fighting for life? 

4 - Wisdom loves correction, Foolishness mocks, insults and scorns correction.  When facing a choice are you willing to embrace correction? How do you handle feedback? How do you handle criticism?  

What other differences are there?

Inspiration is the Spark

Inspiration is the spark.

We love inspiration.  We flip through interior design books, we sort through the hairstyles, we watch hours of Food Network just for a spark of “That just might work!”  True inspiration, like what we find on HGTV, Hope Tour, and Fall Breakaway is the spark to moving people. It happens so quick we can even miss it.  


Inspiration allows me to say ‘Hey I can do that too!” 


Don't you just love to get around people that make things seem so simple and then share with you the secret ingredient that pulls it all off? It's just a spark, but your whole line of thinking is changed. Instead of being overwhelmed with daunting tasks, your seeing possibilities and potential. When we watch others make an overwhelming task seem simple, we are inspired to do the same.  Jesus inspired Peter to walk on water!!. Why? Jesus made it seem possible, He made it look easy. When we do things well, when we start walking in God's grace we will inspire others to do the same.  




 Inspiration will also add new energy to an already hum - drum process.


 I love inspiring messages for that very reason.  I love to hear about superwomen and their stories. I have a friend that I love dearly, she has cystic fibrosis and in the process of God healing her she has lived in 4 different continents as a missionary.  She inspires me.  When I’m tempted to complain, wallow in self pity, and walk in way too much pride,  I think of her, I spend time with her.  She walks, talks, breathes faith.  It inspires me to persevere and move on when I’m tempted to quit. When we press through we inspire others to press through too.




What inspires you? Where do you go for inspiration? Leave a comment, who knows you might inspire others.




Related posts:
We have liftoff!
Unction to Function

Video Pic: I want it all

How do we juggle it all?  

We have family, work, church, ministry, friends, holidays, presents to buy, parties to attend, science fair projects x3, mission trip, mentoring, message preparation, girls night out, date night, and let's not forget your daughter's cheerleading squad coming over for a slumber party, or your son's buddies coming over for marathon game of Red vs Blue whatever that is.  

Christine Cain says it all about having it all.  It's a short video, and she doesn't elaborate too much but it's powerful and it's key. It's enough to chew on for a couple of days.  

Christine Cain is coming our way!!!

 She will be at Save the Hero (Fall Breakaway 2011) at the Rosen Shingle Creek Orlando, Fl  - October 20-22.  Reservations include registration and room! 4 to a room only $100, you can't beat that!  3 days/2 nights in 5 star hotel, with your girlfriends and Christine Caine.  This isn't about the workshops either there is plenty of downtime to enjoy the area! You gotta love that, a conference that you can relax at! 

It's A Go! We Have LIftoff!

Have you ever watched the Space Shuttle get off the ground?  

There is a countdown, the astronauts are turning on  the equipment, and then a roaring thunder as it leaves the ground and heads for space.  It’s a sight to see from a distance.  I couldn’t imagine how cool it would be up close and personal. How amazing would it be to sense the excitement, to smell the fuel, to feel the heat and the ground shake, and don’t get me started with being in the cockpit. Yep, your right I wouldn’t mind taking a trip to outer space.

Getting ministries off the ground can be a lot like the Space Shuttle. It’s not one particular department that gets the shuttle off the ground and into space, it’s many components working together. 

When I meet with women’s ministry leaders and pastors there is one comment that always comes up. “Sandy, I love these ladies, they are gifted, loving, give the shirt right off their back, but I just can’t get them up and out.”   It’s the go.  It’s the getting the people we serve to get up off their uh-hem pews and do something. How do we do that?  What is it that gets them up and at them?

Inspiration is the spark.

Unction to function is the equipping.


and

We are a Go!

How many times have people come back from a conference and seminars all excited and after a few weeks, the excitement is gone and back to same old stuff. There was no movement. We can give an inspiring message on giving (that's the spark), we can show them how to give (equipping the saints), but if they aren’t moved to live generously giving is short lived.  You see people will only move to the level of their highest commitment. Just so we all understand, strong commits are no turning backs.  It’s not strong proclamations or declarations it’s a direction. Let's check out a hero of mine, Naomi in Ruth 1:6-22


Naomi gets a big commit!


Here is Naomi in the middle of the worse personal crisis imaginable and gets an unbelievable commit from the most unlikely of person. Let's review her situation: Her husband moves her away from home into a country totally despised by her countrymen, and totally cursed by God.  Her boys marry two women raised in a country known for sacrificing their children, so much for grandchildren and family.  Her husband and sons die, leaving her to fend for herself and two daughter-in-laws in a foreign country.  


She decides to leave and go back home. She tells the two girls her plans and basically tries to talk them out of following her. One girl kisses her good bye and the other, Ruth, makes this covenant commit to follow unto her last breath.  She commits to go penniless into a country that believes she is lower than dirt, with no options whatsoever.  


Commitment starts with us 


Ruth's commitment is huge! She goes as far as to say "May God punish me if I allow anything but death to separate us." WHAT!?? What was it about Naomi that would cause her to do that?  Her character, her inspirational story, her know how in tough times?  All of the above. She got that commit because she demonstrated the kind of character people will follow. The kind of character that people can trust, why? She was honest and transparent about what was ahead. She wasn't full of herself, making promises she couldn't keep. Her lifestyle prior to this decision making day backed it up.  


Big commits go the distance


She got a huge commit from half her audience, that's pretty good. I'd rather have a few huge commits than a bunch of little ones.  I would rather have 5 sold out women of faith at a meeting, a Bible study, a prayer group, than 250 any day. Why? They go the distance! Huge commits take time to get. Start with small commits and be faithful to them.  Adjust the vision and strategies to closer attainable places.Take baby steps to get there, before you know it your there. 


Naomi was committed herself


Naomi was going with or without them. Elijah was going whether Elisha could keep up or not.  Joshua set his face like flint, there was no turning back for this guy.  Jesus was going to the Cross, like it or not Peter. They weren't willy-nilly with their commitments.  They were commitments they were willing to die for. There might be detours along the way, there might be hurdles, or it could be a cake walk, whatever the case may be it's how far your willing to commit that inspires others. 


It is commitment that moves people. Your task if you choose to accept it is raise the commitment level. First with you, trust me it’s contagious, then give a call to action to the individuals and then corporately move. 

What kind of character that inspires you to  move? leave a comment

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Inspiration is the Spark
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