The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director. Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year. God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started i...
Do we really mean half the stuff we sing? I'm not too sure.
"Come live in me, all my life...take over..."
"All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give..."
"Take me, mold me, use me, fill me, I give my life to the potter's hand..."
Someone once said, "Christians don't tell lies, we sing them."
We want to be powerful but often don't want to yield ourselves to the process that brings about the fruit of the spirit. Fruit comes about only by trial and testing.
If developing the fruit of the spirit contained no challenges what would it really mean anyway? Imagine going to a school where there were no pop quizzes, no exams, no benchmarks for learning. What would the diploma mean? Really nothing. To achieve anything we must be tested. Being examined and passing the test is proof that we have learned and we are ready for the next level.
Some say, "I'm tired of testing. I've had enough." Well, I think God might actually listen to a prayer like that to some extent. Don't believe me? Well think of it this way...there are people who achieve more in this life and others who really don't do anything with their lives. Consider Person #1 -- they are a Christian who goes much deeper in God, they walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, they develop serious fruit, lead more people to Jesus, see more miracles happen in their lives, in fact some consider them a walking billboard for supernatural happenings. Then there is Person #2 who is a believer but they just get by. Nothing really big happens in their life, they just kind of go about week to week existing. Person #2 is a Christian, and they'll be in heaven someday with Person #1, they just live a really boring life while they are here.
Take it from me, Person #1 is greatly tested more than Person #2! There is a price to be paid for what Person #1 receives and achieves.
The sad thing is, most of the time people like Person #2 criticize people like Person #1 and think they just got lucky when blessings come their way. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it's much easier for #2's to throw stones as #1's go by than for #2's to actually be willing to pay a price for character, fruit or a miracle.
"Come live in me, all my life...take over..."
"All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give..."
"Take me, mold me, use me, fill me, I give my life to the potter's hand..."
Someone once said, "Christians don't tell lies, we sing them."
If developing the fruit of the spirit contained no challenges what would it really mean anyway? Imagine going to a school where there were no pop quizzes, no exams, no benchmarks for learning. What would the diploma mean? Really nothing. To achieve anything we must be tested. Being examined and passing the test is proof that we have learned and we are ready for the next level.
Some say, "I'm tired of testing. I've had enough." Well, I think God might actually listen to a prayer like that to some extent. Don't believe me? Well think of it this way...there are people who achieve more in this life and others who really don't do anything with their lives. Consider Person #1 -- they are a Christian who goes much deeper in God, they walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, they develop serious fruit, lead more people to Jesus, see more miracles happen in their lives, in fact some consider them a walking billboard for supernatural happenings. Then there is Person #2 who is a believer but they just get by. Nothing really big happens in their life, they just kind of go about week to week existing. Person #2 is a Christian, and they'll be in heaven someday with Person #1, they just live a really boring life while they are here.
Take it from me, Person #1 is greatly tested more than Person #2! There is a price to be paid for what Person #1 receives and achieves.
The sad thing is, most of the time people like Person #2 criticize people like Person #1 and think they just got lucky when blessings come their way. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it's much easier for #2's to throw stones as #1's go by than for #2's to actually be willing to pay a price for character, fruit or a miracle.
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