Simple Church
Today I finished the book Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. It was definitely one of the best books on church ministry I’ve read. The premise is basic, but powerful. It argues for simplicity against complexity in church ministry. The book is based on extensive research of vibrant, growing churches and stagnant, declining churches.
The book’s goal is to help churches develop a simple strategy to make disciples. Amid case studies and stats the book presents several helpful steps in creating a simple church. It argues that so often churches mistake complexity and activity for effectiveness. The truth is, some churches have no discipleship strategy or process that they lead people through. More and more myriads of ministries are added the calendar becomes increasingly full. The result is divided focus, divided resources, and burned out people.
The book proposes 4 concepts to be embraced. They are:
Clarity
Movement
Alignment
Focus
Clarity means having an easily definable spiritual growth process. It is something that is easy to understand and communicate. This is the overarching ministry process that the church has embraced in order to create disciples.
Movement is about helping people to keep progressing. The stages of the process are leading people to increased commitment and maturity. Movement helps to keep people from stagnating or stalling in their spiritual growth.
Alignment is making sure that every program in the church contributes specifically to the spiritual growth process. It is also making sure that every ministry also models the spiritual growth process.
Focus is the ability to stay on target and not follow diversions from the spiritual growth process God has called the church to embrace.
That’s a very brief rundown of the book. It is very good. I highly recommend it to pastors and church leaders.
George Muller On Overcoming ADD in Prayer
I know I’m probably the only one who’s ever had to deal with this, but have you ever struggled with ADD in prayer? You know, trying to be focused in prayer but instead end up experiencing all kinds of distractions. Like when you sit down to pray and then remember that your car needs an oil change, your refrigerator is empty, the room you’re in could really use a good cleaning, and wow! your already 10 minutes late for work!
So what do you do? How do you deal with it?
George Muller wrote something really insightful regarding this in his autobiography. He said:
“The primary business I must attend to every day is fellowship with the Lord. The first concern is not how much I might serve the Lord, but how my inner man might be nourished…The most important thing I had to do was to read the Word of God and meditate on it…Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible. But I often spent a quarter of an hour to an hour on my knees struggling to pray while my mind wandered. Now I rarely have this problem. As my heart is nourished by the truth of the Word, I am brought into true fellowship with God… This exercise of the soul can be best performed after the inner man has been nourished by meditation on the Word of God.”
Muller basically proposes that meditation on the Scriptures is a powerful means of staying focused in prayer. As our minds are occupied with the truth of God’s Word our souls will stay nourished and focused in prayer.
George Muller On Overcoming ADD in Prayer
I know I’m probably the only one who’s ever had to deal with this, but have you ever struggled with ADD in prayer? You know, trying to be focused in prayer but instead end up experiencing all kinds of distractions. Like when you sit down to pray and then remember that your car needs an oil change, your refrigerator is empty, the room you’re in could really use a good cleaning, and wow! your already 10 minutes late for work!
So what do you do? How do you deal with it?
George Muller wrote something really insightful regarding this in his autobiography. He said:
“The primary business I must attend to every day is fellowship with the Lord. The first concern is not how much I might serve the Lord, but how my inner man might be nourished…The most important thing I had to do was to read the Word of God and meditate on it…Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible. But I often spent a quarter of an hour to an hour on my knees struggling to pray while my mind wandered. Now I rarely have this problem. As my heart is nourished by the truth of the Word, I am brought into true fellowship with God… This exercise of the soul can be best performed after the inner man has been nourished by meditation on the Word of God.”
Muller basically proposes that meditation on the Scriptures is a powerful means of staying focused in prayer. As our minds are occupied with the truth of God’s Word our souls will stay nourished and focused in prayer.
Mature Love For God
Right now I’m reading through Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. One interesting concept that I’ve been reading about is his take on loving God. He deals with the dilemma we all face about basing our love for God or our spouse or others on our feelings. Regarding love for God he says,
“They [people] are told they ought to love God. They cannot find any such feeling in themselves. What are they to do? The answer is the same as before. Act as if you did. Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings. Ask yourself, ‘If I were sure I loved God, what would I do?’ When you have found the answer, go and do it… Nobody can always have devout feelings: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about. Christian Love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will… He will give us feelings of love if he pleases. We cannot create them ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right.”
Sometimes I think we (myself included) are inclined to love God or worship God or pray to God only when we have strong feelings of love toward him. If that is the only time we pursue God (i.e. when we feel like it) it proves that our love is fickle and immature.
I thank God for the times when I feel intense love for him and my heart is awakened by revelation. At the same time though my love for God cannot be dependent on my feelings. Lewis alludes to the fact that feelings come and go and cannot be manufactured. They are also not principally what God cares about.
In the same way that a husband and wife’s love matures and is strengthened through time and testing, so our love for God is refined and purified through spiritual drought seasons. That is, when we feel no love for God, the resolve of our will to love him anyway strengthens and matures our love for him. In the same way that a marriage cannot be built on a feeling, so our relationship with God cannot be built on our feelings.
As a side note, though our love for God is immature it does not mean that God does not regard it as real and genuine. This side of eternity we will all be growing in our love for God and none of us will ever perfectly arrive. His love for us never changes and is not dependent on our performance.
So how can we mature in our love for God?
I can think of at least three things, there are probably more, but basically:
1. We must realize that love is not a feeling, but rather a resolve of the will.
2. We must realize that feelings of love will come and go.
3. When the feelings are gone (and this will happen) we must resolve to love God for who he is and what he has done not because of what he can do for us or how we feel.
In this way, as our love for God is tested through seasons of suffering or drought, our love for God becomes more and more mature. The cool thing about God’s grace is that when we choose to love him regardless of how we feel, he tends to bless us with feelings of love more often. The old principle is true: Faith does not follow feelings, feelings follow faith.
Any thoughts on this?
Mature Love For God
Right now I’m reading through Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. One interesting concept that I’ve been reading about is his take on loving God. He deals with the dilemma we all face about basing our love for God or our spouse or others on our feelings. Regarding love for God he says,
“They [people] are told they ought to love God. They cannot find any such feeling in themselves. What are they to do? The answer is the same as before. Act as if you did. Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings. Ask yourself, ‘If I were sure I loved God, what would I do?’ When you have found the answer, go and do it… Nobody can always have devout feelings: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about. Christian Love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will… He will give us feelings of love if he pleases. We cannot create them ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right.”
Sometimes I think we (myself included) are inclined to love God or worship God or pray to God only when we have strong feelings of love toward him. If that is the only time we pursue God (i.e. when we feel like it) it proves that our love is fickle and immature.
I thank God for the times when I feel intense love for him and my heart is awakened by revelation. At the same time though my love for God cannot be dependent on my feelings. Lewis alludes to the fact that feelings come and go and cannot be manufactured. They are also not principally what God cares about.
In the same way that a husband and wife’s love matures and is strengthened through time and testing, so our love for God is refined and purified through spiritual drought seasons. That is, when we feel no love for God, the resolve of our will to love him anyway strengthens and matures our love for him. In the same way that a marriage cannot be built on a feeling, so our relationship with God cannot be built on our feelings.
As a side note, though our love for God is immature it does not mean that God does not regard it as real and genuine. This side of eternity we will all be growing in our love for God and none of us will ever perfectly arrive. His love for us never changes and is not dependent on our performance.
So how can we mature in our love for God?
I can think of at least three things, there are probably more, but basically:
1. We must realize that love is not a feeling, but rather a resolve of the will.
2. We must realize that feelings of love will come and go.
3. When the feelings are gone (and this will happen) we must resolve to love God for who he is and what he has done not because of what he can do for us or how we feel.
In this way, as our love for God is tested through seasons of suffering or drought, our love for God becomes more and more mature. The cool thing about God’s grace is that when we choose to love him regardless of how we feel, he tends to bless us with feelings of love more often. The old principle is true: Faith does not follow feelings, feelings follow faith.
Any thoughts on this?
Experiential Faith
The anticipation is continuing to build as the countdown to our Spiritual Awakening Services is down to two days. As I mentioned in a previous post, all of my life-defining moments have come from times where I was immersed in the presence of God. This weekend I’m praying and believing for life-defining moments in people’s lives. I’m praying that God would change lives forever.
Our faith is intended by God to be experiential. Think about it, the Scriptures are full of men and women who had real experiences with the living God. It’s impossible to read the Bible and come away denying the fact that God wants us to experience his presence.
It’s in God’s presence that we’re reminded of how great he is and how small we are. It’s in that place of intimacy with him that we experience “fullness of joy” and are changed forever.
I’m reminded of what A.W. Tozer says in The Pursuit of God,
For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.
I’m praying that this weekend God will reveal himself in powerful ways. That everyone who comes in will experience the life-transforming power of his love and grace and never be the same again!
Experiential Faith
The anticipation is continuing to build as the countdown to our Spiritual Awakening Services is down to two days. As I mentioned in a previous post, all of my life-defining moments have come from times where I was immersed in the presence of God. This weekend I’m praying and believing for life-defining moments in people’s lives. I’m praying that God would change lives forever.
Our faith is intended by God to be experiential. Think about it, the Scriptures are full of men and women who had real experiences with the living God. It’s impossible to read the Bible and come away denying the fact that God wants us to experience his presence.
It’s in God’s presence that we’re reminded of how great he is and how small we are. It’s in that place of intimacy with him that we experience “fullness of joy” and are changed forever.
I’m reminded of what A.W. Tozer says in The Pursuit of God,
For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.
I’m praying that this weekend God will reveal himself in powerful ways. That everyone who comes in will experience the life-transforming power of his love and grace and never be the same again!
Book: Next Generation Leader
Just finished reading Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley. It’s pretty much one of the best books on leadership I’ve ever read. It’s pretty small and very easy to read. It’s already on my list of re-reads! The book is centered around five principles which he says are the fundamentals of leadership.
These five principles are:
competence, courage, clarity, coaching, and character.
The competence section focuses on identifying your core competencies and discovering the gifts and strengths that God has given you. He talks about how you don’t need to be good at everything and that good leaders focus on developing their strengths. They realize that their weaknesses are somebody else’s strengths. Some of the things that are hard for you to do actually energize other people. So, by focusing on your strengths you are giving someone else the opportunity to flourish. Conversely, if you are always micromanaging your weaknesses, you’re robbing someone else of the opportunity to leverage their strengths.
The courage section talks about how wherever there is great fear, there is great opportunity. He used the story of David and Goliath to demonstrate this reality. He talked about letting your vision drive you. Let the what precede the how. We should not let the how questions deter us from pursuing what could be and should be. We should not let the how questions, no matter how impossible, paralyze us and keep us from going after the dreams God has given us. He also talks about having the courage to say no, the courage to face current reality, and the courage to dream. He says, “The leader who accomplishes great things will not always be the most talented or the best educated – it will be the leader who refuses to put brackets on his thinking. It will be the leader who refuses to limit himself by what others have done or failed to do.”
The clarity section discusses how uncertainty underscores the need for leadership. He says that clarity of vision is more important than certainty of outcome. He talks about how every great idea came in contrast to someone’s current reality. He says, “In the beginning there is always enough uncertainty to shut down a vision – thus the need for leadership.”
The coaching section develops the need for a leadership coach. We will never grow in our leadership capacity without someone pushing us to become better. A good leadership coach doesn’t measure us with other people, but against our own potential. They push us to be the best “us” that we can be. A leadership coach can give you honest feedback on how you’re doing because he is helping you see yourself from a different perspective than you may not have seen before. Having a leadership coach requires the leader to have a teachable spirit and not limit himself by thinking he has all the answers. He ends the section by encouraging us not only to find a leadership coach, but to be a coach for someone else and help them to become better.
The character section was probably the strongest section of the book in my opinion. He talks about how character makes you a leader worth following and that your character determines you legacy. He says “Character is the will to do what’s right even when it’s hard.” He talks about the importance of deciding ahead of time what your reaction will be when faced with a decision to compromise your values. He talks about how “there’s no cramming for a test of character, they are always pop-quizzes.” They’ll come when your not ready for them. When they come, who you really are will come out. Another good thing he talked about was how we never need to violate the principles of God to maintain the blessings of God. He says, “To become a leader worth following, you must give time and attention to the inner man. To leave a legacy that goes beyond accomplishment alone, a leader must devote himself to matters of the heart.”
Really good stuff. I heartily recommend this book to anyone in leadership.
Book: Next Generation Leader
Just finished reading Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley. It’s pretty much one of the best books on leadership I’ve ever read. It’s pretty small and very easy to read. It’s already on my list of re-reads! The book is centered around five principles which he says are the fundamentals of leadership.
These five principles are:
competence, courage, clarity, coaching, and character.
The competence section focuses on identifying your core competencies and discovering the gifts and strengths that God has given you. He talks about how you don’t need to be good at everything and that good leaders focus on developing their strengths. They realize that their weaknesses are somebody else’s strengths. Some of the things that are hard for you to do actually energize other people. So, by focusing on your strengths you are giving someone else the opportunity to flourish. Conversely, if you are always micromanaging your weaknesses, you’re robbing someone else of the opportunity to leverage their strengths.
The courage section talks about how wherever there is great fear, there is great opportunity. He used the story of David and Goliath to demonstrate this reality. He talked about letting your vision drive you. Let the what precede the how. We should not let the how questions deter us from pursuing what could be and should be. We should not let the how questions, no matter how impossible, paralyze us and keep us from going after the dreams God has given us. He also talks about having the courage to say no, the courage to face current reality, and the courage to dream. He says, “The leader who accomplishes great things will not always be the most talented or the best educated – it will be the leader who refuses to put brackets on his thinking. It will be the leader who refuses to limit himself by what others have done or failed to do.”
The clarity section discusses how uncertainty underscores the need for leadership. He says that clarity of vision is more important than certainty of outcome. He talks about how every great idea came in contrast to someone’s current reality. He says, “In the beginning there is always enough uncertainty to shut down a vision – thus the need for leadership.”
The coaching section develops the need for a leadership coach. We will never grow in our leadership capacity without someone pushing us to become better. A good leadership coach doesn’t measure us with other people, but against our own potential. They push us to be the best “us” that we can be. A leadership coach can give you honest feedback on how you’re doing because he is helping you see yourself from a different perspective than you may not have seen before. Having a leadership coach requires the leader to have a teachable spirit and not limit himself by thinking he has all the answers. He ends the section by encouraging us not only to find a leadership coach, but to be a coach for someone else and help them to become better.
The character section was probably the strongest section of the book in my opinion. He talks about how character makes you a leader worth following and that your character determines you legacy. He says “Character is the will to do what’s right even when it’s hard.” He talks about the importance of deciding ahead of time what your reaction will be when faced with a decision to compromise your values. He talks about how “there’s no cramming for a test of character, they are always pop-quizzes.” They’ll come when your not ready for them. When they come, who you really are will come out. Another good thing he talked about was how we never need to violate the principles of God to maintain the blessings of God. He says, “To become a leader worth following, you must give time and attention to the inner man. To leave a legacy that goes beyond accomplishment alone, a leader must devote himself to matters of the heart.”
Really good stuff. I heartily recommend this book to anyone in leadership.
Recommended Podcast
In my line of work, preaching is very important. Therefore I try to surround myself with good preaching. I typically listen to anywhere from 1-4 sermons a week. One of my favorite preachers is John Piper. John is the Pastor for Preaching and Vision at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN. He’s also the author of numerous books including his best known, Desiring God.
If you’re looking to listen in on some great preaching, Check out John Piper’s podcast here. You can also get it by going into the itunes store and typing “john piper” in the search engine and click subscribe to Desiring God Sermon Audio. If you don’t have itunes, you can download it here for free. Enjoy!
Recommended Podcast
In my line of work, preaching is very important. Therefore I try to surround myself with good preaching. I typically listen to anywhere from 1-4 sermons a week. One of my favorite preachers is John Piper. John is the Pastor for Preaching and Vision at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN. He’s also the author of numerous books including his best known, Desiring God.
If you’re looking to listen in on some great preaching, Check out John Piper’s podcast here. You can also get it by going into the itunes store and typing “john piper” in the search engine and click subscribe to Desiring God Sermon Audio. If you don’t have itunes, you can download it here for free. Enjoy!
A Favorite Re-Read
Just finished a long overdue re-read of a favorite book of mine by Henri Nouwen, In The Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. One of several books I like to re-read periodically from time to time. The late Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite authors. He was a Catholic priest who also taught at Harvard, Yale, and Notre Dame. He wrote a lot of amazing things about Christian spirituality. The most fascinating thing about his life is that, in his later years, he followed the call of God to move from Harvard to be the pastor of a mentally handicapped community in Toronto.
In In the Name of Jesus, His main focus is on giving insight for ministry to the spiritual leaders of the 21st Century. Much of it has to do with temptations for ministers and the disciplines to overcome them.
He first addresses the temptation to be relevant. By this he does not mean relating the Gospel to our culture, but the temptation to idolize on our own accomplishments when people desperately need to be loved.
He writes, “The question is not: How many people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show some results? But: Are you in love with Jesus?” This combats a minister’s constant pressure to depend on his own abilities and accomplishments, when the world desperately needs someone who is intimately connected with the heart of God. He speaks of contemplative prayer as the remedy for this. “Through contemplative prayer we can keep ourselves from being pulled from one urgent issue to another and from becoming strangers to our own heart and God’s heart… Contemplative prayer deepens in us the knowledge that we are already free, that we have already found a place to dwell, that we already belong to God, even though everything and everyone around us keep suggesting the opposite.” He goes on to say,
“It is not enough for the priests and ministers of the future to be moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time. All of that is very valuable and important, but it is not the heart of Christian leadership. The central question is, Are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in God’s presence, to listen to God’s voice, to look at God’s beauty, to touch God’s incarnate Word, to taste fully of God’s infinite goodness.“
The second temptation of ministers that he talks about is the temptation to be spectacular. The disciplines of confession and forgiveness are the remedy for this temptation. He writes, “Confession and forgiveness are the concrete forms in which we sinful people love one another.”
The last temptation he deals with is the temptation to be powerful. He talks about the maturity of being led by God to places you would rather not go. He writes, “Here we touch the most important quality of Christian leadership in the future. It is not a leadership of power and control, but a leadership of powerlessness and humility in which the suffering servant of God, Jesus Christ, is made manifest.” He emphasizes that this is not to be confused with a psychologically weak leadership in which leaders are passive victims “of the manipulations of their milieu”. “…I am speaking of a leadership in which power is constantly abandoned in favor of love. It is a true spiritual leadership. Powerlessness and humility in the spiritual life do not refer to people who have no spine and who let everyone else make decisions for them. The refer to people who are so deeply in love with Jesus that they are ready to follow him wherever he guides them, always trusting that, with him, they will find life and find it abundantly.”
I feel like I’ve just re-typed the entire book, yet I’ve only scratched the surface. There is so much more I could say, but I’ll stop there. I really didn’t do justice to it. I really recommend this book for anyone in leadership. It’s a quick read, about 107 pgs. It can be read in an hour and a half.
Other good books by Nouwen that I’d recommend:
The Way of the Heart
The Return of the Prodigal Son
Clowning in Rome
A Favorite Re-Read
Just finished a long overdue re-read of a favorite book of mine by Henri Nouwen, In The Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. One of several books I like to re-read periodically from time to time. The late Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite authors. He was a Catholic priest who also taught at Harvard, Yale, and Notre Dame. He wrote a lot of amazing things about Christian spirituality. The most fascinating thing about his life is that, in his later years, he followed the call of God to move from Harvard to be the pastor of a mentally handicapped community in Toronto.
In In the Name of Jesus, His main focus is on giving insight for ministry to the spiritual leaders of the 21st Century. Much of it has to do with temptations for ministers and the disciplines to overcome them.
He first addresses the temptation to be relevant. By this he does not mean relating the Gospel to our culture, but the temptation to idolize on our own accomplishments when people desperately need to be loved.
He writes, “The question is not: How many people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show some results? But: Are you in love with Jesus?” This combats a minister’s constant pressure to depend on his own abilities and accomplishments, when the world desperately needs someone who is intimately connected with the heart of God. He speaks of contemplative prayer as the remedy for this. “Through contemplative prayer we can keep ourselves from being pulled from one urgent issue to another and from becoming strangers to our own heart and God’s heart… Contemplative prayer deepens in us the knowledge that we are already free, that we have already found a place to dwell, that we already belong to God, even though everything and everyone around us keep suggesting the opposite.” He goes on to say,
“It is not enough for the priests and ministers of the future to be moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time. All of that is very valuable and important, but it is not the heart of Christian leadership. The central question is, Are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in God’s presence, to listen to God’s voice, to look at God’s beauty, to touch God’s incarnate Word, to taste fully of God’s infinite goodness.“
The second temptation of ministers that he talks about is the temptation to be spectacular. The disciplines of confession and forgiveness are the remedy for this temptation. He writes, “Confession and forgiveness are the concrete forms in which we sinful people love one another.”
The last temptation he deals with is the temptation to be powerful. He talks about the maturity of being led by God to places you would rather not go. He writes, “Here we touch the most important quality of Christian leadership in the future. It is not a leadership of power and control, but a leadership of powerlessness and humility in which the suffering servant of God, Jesus Christ, is made manifest.” He emphasizes that this is not to be confused with a psychologically weak leadership in which leaders are passive victims “of the manipulations of their milieu”. “…I am speaking of a leadership in which power is constantly abandoned in favor of love. It is a true spiritual leadership. Powerlessness and humility in the spiritual life do not refer to people who have no spine and who let everyone else make decisions for them. The refer to people who are so deeply in love with Jesus that they are ready to follow him wherever he guides them, always trusting that, with him, they will find life and find it abundantly.”
I feel like I’ve just re-typed the entire book, yet I’ve only scratched the surface. There is so much more I could say, but I’ll stop there. I really didn’t do justice to it. I really recommend this book for anyone in leadership. It’s a quick read, about 107 pgs. It can be read in an hour and a half.
Other good books by Nouwen that I’d recommend:
The Way of the Heart
The Return of the Prodigal Son
Clowning in Rome
Book: In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day
I just finished reading Mark Batterson’s book “In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars”. I really enjoyed the book and wanted to share some its highlights for me.
The book’s idea is based on the biblical character Benaiah. Samuel 23.20-21 tells of how he was a valiant warrior who killed two of Moab’s mightiest warriors, encountered a lion on a snowy day which he followed into a pit and killed, and with a club killed an Egyptian warrior who had a spear. In time Benaiah became King David’s bodyguard, and eventually the commander of Israel’s entire army.
The book talks about 7 skills needed to live as a “lion chaser” in life. These are:
Overcoming Adversity
Defying Odds
Unlearning Fears
Embracing Uncertainty
Calculating Risks
Seizing Opportunities
Looking Foolish
A main theme of the book was that in the long run you will regret the most the things you could have and should have done in life but never had the courage to do. Mark writes,
“Spiritual maturity is seeing and seizing God-ordained opportunities. Think of every opportunity as God’s gift to you. What you do with those opportunities is your gift to God. I’m absolutely convinced that our greatest regrets in life will be missed opportunities.”
He talks about how God sees everything from an omnidimensional perspective. Sometimes, our greatest challenges in life can prove to be God’s way of refining us and making us into who he wants us to become. If Benaiah had ran from the lion, no one would have thought less of him, but he also probably wouldn’t have become the commander of Israel’s army. Maybe unfavorable circumstances are opportunities that God wants to use to form us into the people he wants us to become.
Another good thing he says is, “One of the most paralyzing mistakes we make is thinking that our problems somehow disqualify us from being used by God. Let me just say it like it is: If you don’t have any problems, you don’t have any potential. Here’s why. You ability to help others heal is limited to where you have been wounded… the more problems you have, the more potential you have.”
Here’s a few more quotes for thought:
“No problem equals no miracle”
“If you’re willing to risk everything, there’s nothing God can’t do in you and through you.”
“Most God-ordained dreams die because we aren’t willing to do something that seems illogical.”
“The greatest risk is taking no risk.”
“There is no such thing as risk free faith.”
Of lion chasers: “Their fear of missing out is greater than their fear of messing up.”
“Lion chasers don’t let what they can’t do keep them from doing what they can.”
“More often than not, the only thing between you and your dream is a rational excuse.”
Over all, great book in my opinion. I certainly recommend it to anyone who wants to live the life God created them to live.
Book: In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day
I just finished reading Mark Batterson’s book “In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars”. I really enjoyed the book and wanted to share some its highlights for me.
The book’s idea is based on the biblical character Benaiah. Samuel 23.20-21 tells of how he was a valiant warrior who killed two of Moab’s mightiest warriors, encountered a lion on a snowy day which he followed into a pit and killed, and with a club killed an Egyptian warrior who had a spear. In time Benaiah became King David’s bodyguard, and eventually the commander of Israel’s entire army.
The book talks about 7 skills needed to live as a “lion chaser” in life. These are:
Overcoming Adversity
Defying Odds
Unlearning Fears
Embracing Uncertainty
Calculating Risks
Seizing Opportunities
Looking Foolish
A main theme of the book was that in the long run you will regret the most the things you could have and should have done in life but never had the courage to do. Mark writes,
“Spiritual maturity is seeing and seizing God-ordained opportunities. Think of every opportunity as God’s gift to you. What you do with those opportunities is your gift to God. I’m absolutely convinced that our greatest regrets in life will be missed opportunities.”
He talks about how God sees everything from an omnidimensional perspective. Sometimes, our greatest challenges in life can prove to be God’s way of refining us and making us into who he wants us to become. If Benaiah had ran from the lion, no one would have thought less of him, but he also probably wouldn’t have become the commander of Israel’s army. Maybe unfavorable circumstances are opportunities that God wants to use to form us into the people he wants us to become.
Another good thing he says is, “One of the most paralyzing mistakes we make is thinking that our problems somehow disqualify us from being used by God. Let me just say it like it is: If you don’t have any problems, you don’t have any potential. Here’s why. You ability to help others heal is limited to where you have been wounded… the more problems you have, the more potential you have.”
Here’s a few more quotes for thought:
“No problem equals no miracle”
“If you’re willing to risk everything, there’s nothing God can’t do in you and through you.”
“Most God-ordained dreams die because we aren’t willing to do something that seems illogical.”
“The greatest risk is taking no risk.”
“There is no such thing as risk free faith.”
Of lion chasers: “Their fear of missing out is greater than their fear of messing up.”
“Lion chasers don’t let what they can’t do keep them from doing what they can.”
“More often than not, the only thing between you and your dream is a rational excuse.”
Over all, great book in my opinion. I certainly recommend it to anyone who wants to live the life God created them to live.
