Tag: trustworthy

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Aspiring to inspire.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“This is a trustworthy saying: “If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honorable position.” ‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Leadership is never easy, especially when it involves guiding people. And, every sector of culture needs leadership to make things happen, whether that is in business, government, healthcare, education, protective services, nonprofit or the Church. Paul writes to Timothy, saying, anyone that “oregó,” stretches or aspires to such a position, “sets their heart upon,” a good thing.

Paul lists a very high degree of requirements to be an overseer, a bishop in the Church. Paul is looking for a stellar reputation to lead as a chief shepherd, even more so when they are over other ministers. It is no surprise that Paul starts with the family structure of the leader.

The New Living Translation also lays down the word, “must…” adding to the imperative of high standards. The leader MUST… Live a life above reproach, blameless. Faithful, if married, to only one. Exercises self-control, sober and temperate. Must be respectable, well-behaved, and hospitable. Hospitality is a major part of leadership, requiring an openness of home and an authenticity in the way one lives their life in all things – business dealings, personal connections inside and outside the church. One of the skills required of an elder, is that they must be able to teach. Often, people who aspire to lead, want to do so in humility, preferring to stay behind the scenes. Humility is admirable, but leaders have got to also speak, leading requires teaching. Alcohol use is mentioned because the church leader cannot be known as a drunkard! Not violent, but gentle. Not argumentative, and definitely into generosity rather and hoarding and being cheap. Beyond just being a person grounded in family, an elder cannot be a new believer, Paul citing that arrogance can quickly go to their heads and cause their fall. Finally, Paul sites the necessity of having a great reputation outside of the church, these are the unbelievers God has called us to reach. Being a leader in most other areas would not have the intense scrutiny required for being a church leader. Unfortunately, most people, secular or Christian believe that church leaders should be perfect, which we know is impossible.

Prayer

​Dad,
With trust at an all time low and more necessary than ever before, it leaves the church at a crisis point. We need more great leaders, not less! More charactered leaders, full of the Holy Spirit, not less! The timing of all this is amazing. Less of our younger generation desires to step into leadership because it’s hard, but also there are so many generational conflicts and frustrations. We are absolutely dependent on You, Oh Lord! We long for a supernatural move of God among us, pulling us together in unity. We admit our failures and shortcomings Oh God, please come and make Yourself known among this generation who desperately needs to see You moving on their behalf. Amen.

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The Prophetic Puzzle.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

”After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If you look at all the pieces of prophecy spoken about the Messiah, hundreds of years earlier, you begin to understand the amazingly complicated movement it took to get all the key figures in place to fulfill every single promise made by God.

Jesus was from Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, but came out of Egypt? How was this all supposed to work? At one point, Jesus was just a baby in womb, a newborn in Bethlehem and a toddler in Egypt, how did the God-child get around? Jesus even made a quick trip to Jerusalem at 8 days old, to fulfill that prophecy as well and meet two very special people that God promised would see the messiah, Simeon and Anna.

It is a wonder to behold that God carefully orchestrated Joseph, Mary and Jesus to be exactly where they should be, exactly when they were supposed to be there! These are just a small grouping of miracles that took place. I have already commented about Jesus coming from a sordid family in the past. And, I’ve already commented about how difficult it was on Mary and his foster dad, Joseph, who were already poor and from a small village known as Pitville (Nazareth was strangely known for lots of holes in the ground). Jesus was born into a brand new loving environment, but it was not comfortable and certainly not what would be expected for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! But remember the extraordinary places Jesus had to be at, timed perfectly!

“Flee to Egypt,” the angel told Joseph! And they did. After Herod died, the family would return to Nazareth, where Jesus’ journey would lead him to fulfill every single prophecy, many say at least 300 of them! What are the odds of that? I read that just fulfilling 8 of them is 1 in 10 to the 17th power or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000! I don’t get super excited about the incredible odds, I get excited about God telling us what He will do to save us and Him following through with every single one of those promises! He is faithful and true! I can absolutely trust Him because He has proven His trustworthiness.

Prayer

​Dad,
Honestly, I trusted you well before I knew any of these stories. I believed before I knew you had a perfect track record since the beginning of time. I committed my life, ALL OF IT, to you because you offered me something no one else could give. A life! A life different from the one I saw played out in my broken family connections. One different than the chaos, fear and sadness that surrounded me as a child. You offered me hope – and I believed You. My life is a miracle of your grace. The odds of me being anything other than what my family origin story would have predicted are outrageous. But You changed all that. All these promises you’ve kept are amazing, but I only needed one promise kept – that you would be my Father and I would be adopted into Your family. The promise You kept. Thank You.

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Word Keepers.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot.” Proverbs‬ ‭25‬:‭19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

RANT WARNING!

Leave it to Proverbs to give us the raw, straight-up truth about relationships and the struggles we have maintaining them. This might seem like a common sense, a “no-duh,” concept. Believe me, we try to apply grace and allow ourselves to give them just “one more chance,” but we end up chewing food with a broken tooth, when it comes to trusting a friend to come through for us. Why do we do it? We want to give the benefit of the doubt, assume positive intent, but deep down we know – they won’t come through. Wisdom must snicker at us with this reminder – “sure, give it another go,” if you enjoy chewing your food with a broken tooth! Or, you just love waking around on a sprained ankle! Ouch!

Honestly, when I read this Proverb, I don’t review a list of friends that are unreliable. When I read this, I see MYSELF! I ask myself, am I unreliable? Over the last decade I have been working hard, committing to a difficult principle – “say what I’m going to do, then do it!” I think it’s one of the most important leadership qualities one could possess. If you say it, then do it! Quit making grand promises that are never fulfilled, grand ideas that may start but never finish. Say it, do it. That’s it. If I say I will be there, then I should be there! If I say I will help, then I help. It’s a matter of keeping our word and following through with our promises. What about emergencies, or unforeseen circumstances? Sure, that happens and there are some things beyond our control. But people can accommodate those when they are real and rare. It’s the always late with lame excuses or promises made but something always “happens” to come up. I don’t want to be the person, the friend, that makes OTHERS chew food with broken teeth or limp with a sprained ankle! I want to be a person that keeps their word – that says it and does it!

I can see how this trustworthiness reflects on how God works with us. He makes promises and keeps them. God says something will happen, and it absolutely happens! God is true to His word, and we should be doing the same. I want to be a word keeper not a promise breaker.

Prayer

Dad,
I know it is hard to commit and to keep our word when life is so fast. We just get exhausted when constantly saying “yes” to too many things. I need a lot of help when it comes to keeping my word. I think it builds character, I know it builds trust from others. We seem to be short on both these days. I can be thankful that you are always trustworthy to keep your word and follow through with your promises! Great is your faithfulness Lord unto me.