Hardworkaphobia
How many times do you suppose people have not attempted something because they wrote it off by saying, “It can’t be done.” I have found that most of the time when people claim, “it can’t be done”, they are really saying, “It’s too much work.”
Think about this:
- What if spouses stopped saying “it can’t be done” and made the commitment to work out their issues?
- What if Christians stopped saying “it can’t be done” and began leveraging everything they have to make a Kingdom impact?
- What if church leaders would be open to possibilities and rally their congregations to reach people far from God?
- What if you really lived your life like you could do all things through Christ who strengthens you?
You and I could do so much more for the cause of Christ if we removed “it can’t be done” from our vocabulary and our minds. Thomas Edison once said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Let’s stop making excuses, stop complaining, and stop limiting what God can do in us and through us. Nobody ever said serving God would be easy. Nobody ever said starting that business, ministry, savings, degree, would be easy.
Anything of great significance and meaning will require hard work. You can’t expect to make a big difference with little effort. I am so thankful that Jesus didn’t hold anything back when he was paying the price for my sin. My prayer is that I can pour everything I am and have into something that is worth the sacrifice He made for me. And I am so thankful that I have the privilege to pastor a local church with people who understand this. Let’s do something great for God!
Good Father, Not Bad Friend
Yesterday I just finished a series of talks at Ovation Church about prayer titled, Teach Me To Pray. As I do most Mondays, I was replaying yesterday’s message in my head but I was also thinking over all the messages in the series. While each message was great (because of the Bible, not me), reflecting back, my favorite was the second Sunday, Teach Me To Pray – To The Father. Today I was reminded of the truth that MY God is like a good father, not a bad friend.
When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, He told them a story about a guy who had unexpected company drop by but didn’t have any food to offer them. As you would expect in most small, close-nit communities, the guy goes to a friend’s house and asks to borrow some food. This was very common in the culture and each person Jesus was speaking to had probably experienced something similar – either asking or being asked. But as Jesus continues to tell the story, He says the friend refused to help because it was inconvenient. At this point, the crowd listening would have thought, “What a jerk of a friend! Who would do that?” But Jesus says that because of the guys boldness in asking, even this bad friend would give the food being asked of him.
Then Jesus asks the question, “How many of you being good fathers would give your child what they are asking for?” What loving dad would give his child a stone when they asked for bread? With this in mind, Jesus then asks, “How much MORE will your heavenly Father give to you?”
God is not like a bad friend that we have to annoy until they finally give us what we need. Jesus says God is like a good father!
Victory Over Hardship
How should you respond when you face hardships in life? What do you do when the story of your life doesn’t play out how you dreamed? Marriages that end in divorce did not start with that as the dream. When parents experience the joy of birth, their expectations for the future do not include attending their child’s funeral. But, as I’m sure you are well aware, life doesn’t always happen the way we want.
Everyone has a story of hardship. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that no hardship we face is beyond the course of what others have had to face. The Message translation goes on to say, “All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.”
The Apostle Paul was no stranger to hardship. He was whipped 5 times with 39 lashes, 3 times he was beaten with rods, once he was stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked, rejected, betrayed, hungry, thirsty and cold (2 Corinthians 11:24-27).
How did Paul respond to these hardships? He refused to allow them to distract him from doing what God had called him to do. In Acts 20:24, facing imprisonment and hardship, Paul says, “None of these things move me.” What I hear Paul saying is that his service and obedience to God is not dependent on his circumstances. He was determined to accomplish the call God placed on his life no matter how uncomfortable or hard it may be for him.
How could he be so confident? How could he respond with such faith? Paul knew what you and I need to learn: regardless of what happens, we have victory over hardship. Look at what Paul writes in Romans, “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” (Romans 8:35, 37)
Whatever you may be facing today, refuse to feel sorry for yourself. Don’t allow your circumstances to determine your obedience to God. Develop the attitude Paul had and begin to say, “None of these things move me.” If you are in the middle of a hardship right now, I make what Paul wrote in Romans 15:13 my prayer for you: “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
It is true that here on earth we will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, Jesus has overcome the world! (John 16:33) The moment you surrender your life to Christ, you win. You have victory over hardship!
Expectation
In an attempt to avoid disappointment, have you ever lowered your expectation? Maybe it was a job interview, waiting for a test score, or possibly something as simple as a birthday gift. All of us face situations in life where we think it’s best to protect ourselves from pain by choosing to not get our hopes up. But the truth is, that is no way to live. It’s certainly not the life God has planned for you.
Maybe you are in a season of life where it is hard for you to be optimistic. Maybe a marriage has failed, a relationship ended, maybe finances seem to be getting tighter and tighter. Well, let me encourage you. When you put your trust in God, your best days are ahead of you, not behind you. You were created to be the victor not the victim. God loves you, and when He looks at you, He sees a champion. He sees potential in you to do and experience greater things.
Jesus didn’t come to earth, suffer, and pay the debt of your unrighteousness so that you could settle for some average, mediocre life. In John 10:10, Jesus tells us, “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” (The Message) Other translations describe the type of life Jesus came to give us as, “to the full, satisfying, and more abundant.”
We should never lower our expectations for life. We serve a great God, and He wants to do great things for us, in us, and through us.
Refuse to allow the circumstances facing you to lower your expectations. Maybe you don’t have the resources. Maybe you don’t have the education or finances. Maybe you feel like you’ve made too many mistakes. Living the abundant life Jesus paid for is not about how great you are, it’s about how great our God is.
Ephesians 3:20 tells us, “[God’s] mighty power is at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Let me encourage you to begin to dream. Raise your expectations and break free from the limits you have accepted. If God is for you, who can be against you!
Desires
Premise: The desires we give attention to are the reason WHY our lives are drown to a certain course or follow a certain direction.
There is nothing wrong with having desires. God even has desires. Paul wrote to Timothy and said that God desires that all men be saved (1 Tim 2:4). Life would be pretty boring without desires. Just floating through life with no ambition or drive to do anything.
It is a good thing to have desires!
May he [God] grant your heart’s desires and make all your plans succeed. Psalm 20:4 (New Living Translation)
Desires motivate us, stimulate us and cause us to accomplish and achieve. Often times our desires are the reason, cause behind why we make the choices we make.
Let me ask you this, WHAT IS IT THAT YOU DESIRE? What you desire or don’t desire, could be the reason WHY you’re getting the results you’re getting.
What if Jesus visited you at home today, with all of His miracle power ready to be unleashed, and asked you what is it that you desire? That may seem far-fetched, but that is pretty much what happened to a man named Bartimaeus.
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked.
“My rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!”
52 And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road. Mark 10:51-52 (New Living Translation)
What is it that you are desiring today?
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Desire for your marriage
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Desire for this school year
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Desire for a spouse
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Desire for your finances
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Desire for your health
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Desire to make a difference with your life
Intangible desires produce tangible results.
Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Greater Things
God has a great plan for your life. In fact, God’s plan for your life is even greater than you could imagine for yourself. We serve a great God who desires to do greater things in us and through us.
Jesus said, “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” – John 10:10 (Amplified Bible)
Jesus is saying that he came so people could have life and enjoy life. Sadly many people are not enjoying life. They have moments of happiness, but there is no lasting joy. They are just surviving. Jesus came so that you could experience a greater life than that.
Often times when something goes wrong or things don’t turn out the way you want them to, it’s common to say, “That’s life.”
Many people have accepted less than what Jesus went to the cross to pay for you to have. A life of significance, a life of meaning, a life of purpose.
This does not mean the abundant life is void of struggles and hardships. In fact, if you want to experience the greater things, the abundant life, you are going to have to fight for it.
Numbers chapter 13-14 tells the account of 12 spies being sent to evaluate the land God had promised to the Isaelites. 10 of the spies came back saying they could not take the land because they were afraid of a fight with the inhabitants. 2 of the spies (Caleb and Joshua) saw the same circumstances but had faith in God and know they would win any fight.
If you are going to step into the greater things God has for your life, you are going to have to take a stand and fight. Refuse to accept an average marriage, mediocre finances, or a strained relationship with your family. Don’t accept that as the way things will always be forever.
Sure, life is going to throw you some curve balls. There will be times you fall flat on your face. Don’t just stay down there thinking that is all life will ever be. When you fall down, the most natural thing to do is get back up.
Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; – Micah 7:8
Get back up, dust yourself off and start believing God for greater things in your life.
Room For God
Everything in life is clamoring for your attention. Work, kids, school, friends, family…when we should be sitting at Jesus’ feet listening, we are distracted by all the busyness of life. We have no spiritual margin, we have no room in our lives for God.
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:17, 20 (New International Version)
They thought that they were complete, full and didn’t need anything. They were wrong.
We have to make room for God. We have to create room/space in our lives where we allow God to move in.
How do you give God more room in your life?
This is deep…You can’t create spiritual margin by devoting yourself to nonspiritual things.
The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. John 6:63 (New Living Translation)
Luke, Chapter 10, is a great story about two different women; Martha was distracted by the busyness of life, while Mary chose to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to His words.
Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better.” The choice is yours! You can choose to live in a way that will lead to an overloaded, stressed-out life, or you can make a better choice and set everything else aside and make room for God.