I love these. You must read the captions… Between Two Worlds: More Demotivators from Despair.com.

Ever hear this before? “I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet…” Well, meeting this man with no feet will make you cry…

Today was my annual inaugural lawn mowing day. I gathered all of my equipment together, gassed it all up, and got ready to start. I then spent the next fifteen minutes staring at the corner of my house, which is sort of a mass housing complex for wasps. Think I’m exaggerating? Check the photo on the right- I assure you it has not been doctored in any way! WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

Oh, the agony of defeat!

First, it happened Thursday evening in our softball match-up. We lost the first game to Bentonville Church of Christ by a decent margin, but we were pounded the second game 26—3. Ouch! I’m guessing about nine other guys are wishing I just wouldn’t have brought it up.

Then, it happened again last night as the Razorbacks gave up a touchdown in the last couple of minutes of the game to lose to Alabama in a gut-wrenching defeat. I’m guessing a few hundred thousand fans are wishing I wouldn’t bring that up either.

So what do we learn from losing? First, we learn that it stinks! But we also learn to regroup, to sharpen and hone our skills, to get our heads back in the game, and to try a little harder next time.

God doesn’t want you living in spiritual defeat. He’s called you to be “more than a conqueror!” But the greatest spiritual conquerors I know have suffered some losses… and they have become all the better because of the lessons learned. So when you lose… learn! But strive for the victory today!

http://www.churchcentral.com/nw/s/template/Article.html/id/24549

Richard Blackaby, in this article, does a great job of related to us that the growth and success of a church largely (almost entirely) depends on the spiritual growth taking place in the heart of the Pastor. It’s so true that we can’t give away what we don’t have. I’ve spent plenty of time being frustrated and discouraged over low numbers in seasons when I’m more about studying church growth than studying God’s Word. But when I really connect with God and spend ample time in prayer, that’s when God seems to really bless the church around me with a fresh season of growth, both spiritually and numerically.

Let me make a few confessions. First, I’m a helpless, hopeless romantic. I often don’t have a clue how some guys pull it off. They come up with these dynamic plans for a special date, a day at the spa, etc. When Valentine’s Day approaches, I go into panic-mode. I can’t think of what to buy, how to surprise my honey, or how to “wow” her socks off.

Second, I’m not the emotional type, the ooey-gooey, syruppy, sappy kind of guy. I don’t cry much during romantic comedies or Hollywood-produced dramas (though I can get choked up during a classic like Milo and Otis). You’d think, being in the ministry, I’d be better with words. The reality is, I can’t always put all of my thoughts into words, much less on paper.

Third, I’m madly in love! I’m proud of my marriage. I’m grateful for my wife and the love we share. Though I have a long way to go and “He’s still workin’ on me,” you’d be hard-pressed to find a guy as committed to faithfulness in marriage than me. I’m wrapped up in my wonderful wife!

She’s the one whom God has used to keep me close to Him. She’s a spiritual thinker and has a heart for ministry to ladies. She keeps my head on straight. She’s not afraid to honestly criticize my dumb ideas and she’s the first in line to praise my successes. She works, not only so that our family can have adequate health care, but also because she has a calling to help hurting people. She counsels kids who have problems, who rarely get told that they’re worth anything.

She’s beautiful too. Her smile can be sweet, cute, or a little crazy looking, but I’m always thrilled to have her smile! More than any of these, she’s an awesome Mom! Our little girl is the apple of her eye and the utmost concern of her heart. She comes from good stock (had to plug the in-laws) and is determined to pass on the rich blessings she’s received.

Is she a Proverbs 31 “woman of perfection?” No. Only Jesus could live up to that, and He’s the “son of man,” not a daughter. Nonetheless, there’s nobody else on this planet that could compete for my affection. I love my wife, I love being married, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.

I just finished reading Jim Cymbala’s book Fresh Power and it has again revived my thirst for God. One of the most impactful insights from the book is the revelation that if we can explain the success of our churches in terms of programs, personalities, or well-oiled machinery without the power of the Holy Spirit, then we’ve missed the point. Cymbala appeals to A. W. Tozer who proclaimed that if the Holy Spirit were removed from our midst today, most of our largest and most rapidly growing churches would continue as they are because their growth is attributable not to the powerful working of the Holy Spirit, but to a marketing structure, business plan, and organizational genius that is very humanly originated.

We do need to operate in the “fresh power” freely available from the Holy Spirit, God’s operative agent in the world today. We do need to continue the writing of the Acts of the Holy Spirit in our modern world. For the Brooklyn Tabernacle, which Cymala pastors, the secret of this abiding power and presence of God is not merely to be found in a great choir, great preaching, or great buildings. It is found in their Tuesday night prayer meeting which serves as the fuel source for all else that happens.

I believe my favorite chapter is the second, entitled Of Cemeteries and Insane Asylums. Pastor Cymbala writes about the two extremes of today’s Christianity. The insane asylums represent the excesses of the charismatic movement. It describes the counterfeit revivals, the get-rich-quick Christianity, the mass-miracle-crusades without discernment or validation. This is Christianity that has zeal but little truth. The cemeteries are those circles of modern Christianity much like my own denomination, which have so reacted against the charismatic movement that we’ve become boxes of bones with no life. We have our truth, and like Charlton Heston and his rifle, the world can peel it from our cold, dead hands. Shame on us!

What an atrocity that we are so closed to the potential activity of the Spirit of God that we completely deny the possibility that God would want to invade our space, enliven our worship, and move us to a new level of power-filled witness. How we desperately need a fresh infilling of His presence. As we seek a proper biblical balance in all things, let us seek the fullness of power of the Holy Spirit, and let us seek to defend the truth in a pluralistic age. God, may You enliven today’s church by Your mighty Holy Spirit, and may this work begin in me!

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” -1 Corinthians 15:57-58

When I was in Junior High, I had a Nintendo game system and a particular baseball game in which you could pre-program the statistics of your team to make them better. You were allowed a certain number of homeruns for the season and you divided them among your lineup as you felt best. I would stack the first seven batters with all of the statistics so that I would end up winning almost every game against the computer. In a 162-game season, I’d end up winning about 150 games! Cheating? You decide.

One thing I know is that the odds are already stacked in our favor. You may feel like Satan’s punching bag today, but God has already insured your success. Satan is defeated, or at least he is as good as defeated. When darkness shrouded Jesus on the cross, Satan had his brief glimmer of limelight, but when the tomb was opened, Satan’s doom was sealed! Now God’s Word says clearly that every believer has sure victory, certain success, absolute assurance of final conquest.

We often wonder at God’s ways. If you want your people to work hard, why guarantee their salary? Why not give them a quota, some incentive to earn their keep. But remember that the very nature of salvation is that it’s a free gift from God. The gospel would not be so glorious if it could be earned by our labor. Instead it is too lofty, too high for us. It is so glorious it is unattainable. God’s eternal riches are reserved for those who, in absolute humility, fall on their faces before His throne in worship and adoration. May His name be praised! We’ve won, now let’s get to work!

“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”—1 Peter 1:7

Tests come daily! God never tempts us to sin, but He allows various kinds of trials, including temptation, into our lives to test us. God’s testing is never for the purpose of failing us, but rather for refining us. God’s tests are always designed to make us successful at living life while Satan’s temptations are designed to make us fail. One of my favorite quotes comes from Philips Brooks…

“Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you yourself shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God.”

By submitting to God’s tests, we allow ourselves to be refined and purified in the fiery trials of life. What are you going through now that may be a test? How can God refine your life through this? Say a prayer today that God would give you power equal to whatever you may be facing, that your life might

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification… For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 7)

It’s very easy to get caught up in the pursuit of something secondary to God’s great purpose for us as believers. We constantly face the temptation to be driven toward success or popularity, possessions or prestige. But God has caught us and called us to a higher purpose, a better life, a heavenly goal. We’ve been called to cleanness.

While many believers will suffer spiritually as they struggle to gain the freedom to rule their own lives (and thus resorting back to the old, unredeemed life), we must pursue the purpose for which we have been apprehended by Jesus - holiness, cleanness, and sanctification. What other pursuit could be more important in our personal journey of faith?

If you’re a believer, you’ve been caught! Jesus, the fisher of men, has apprehended you. He has purchased you in such a way that you are no longer your own. Contrary to popular opinion and American individualism, you are not your own any longer. God has placed certain spiritual authorities in your life. He’s placed you in the family of God and your church has a mutual stake in the outcome of your faith. While you may scream for the freedom to rule your own domain, God’s Word will remind you that the greatest freedom of all is to be enjoyed within the boundaries of God’s will.

His will is in one respect, an individual issue. In another respect, His will is universal to all believers. We cannot resort to a Christian brand of moral relativism. Instead we must realize that certain rules are applicable for all Christians, regardless of individual circumstances. This is not legalism, which is seeking to please or “pay off” God through rule-keeping. Rather it is merely reverencing God’s moral authority as our Father, Lord, and King.

If Jesus is your Savior, then pursue that for which you’ve been saved - holiness! It’s a worthy pursuit. Holiness brings the confidence of spiritual assurance, it earns a crown in heaven, it pleases the Lord who purchased us with His precious blood, and it supports our verbal witness to a lost world. Give yourself wholly to this goal - total perfection, total spiritual completeness, and total Christlikeness!