3 Practical Signs that You’re Missing Your Calling

/10 Comments/in , /by

I am passionate about walking in the fullness of what God has called me to do on this earth. I hope you are too. I don’t want to miss my calling and just come close.

Our new favorite Internet-TV series is The Chosen, a dramatization of the gospels that is done extremely well. Instead of trying to cram everything into a two or three-hour movie, they are presenting the life and ministry of Jesus as a multi-season series. This gives them the luxury of developing fictional but plausible back stories for the various characters that met Jesus, like the disciples and others.

Jesus is not the main character, although he becomes more and more of a central character as the series develops. The main characters are the people who meet Jesus. The vision of the production is to introduce Jesus to viewers through the eyes of the people who met him, so viewers can have similar experiences meeting Jesus. The stories surrounding its production and the impact it is having around the world are truly the fingerprints of God. This series is reaping amazing Kingdom fruit.

No spoiler here, but there is a character that Jesus asks to follow him. This character has a very involved life he’d be leaving behind to follow Jesus; this is not an easy choice at all. Jesus tells the person in two days they are leaving Capernaum from the Fountain in the Southern Quarter of the city. He can meet Jesus and his disciples at the fountain if he decides to come.

When Jesus meets up with his disciples at the fountain, they find a money bag left by that man to finance their journey. A complete mystery to the disciples, Jesus knows who it is from. He also knows the man is hiding just behind the fountain’s wall, desperately wanting to come but not being able to.

Jesus calls out, “Are we all here? Is there anyone else who wants to come with us?”

The disciples look around, counting each other, and say, “Yes, we’re all here,” not realizing the invitation Jesus is giving to the unseen man. It’s a heart-wrenching scene: The man is silently weeping behind the wall, desperately wanting to go with Jesus but unable to tear himself away from his career and family.

Jesus looks directly at the wall where the man is hiding and says with sad longing in his eyes, “You came so close.”

I don’t want that to be my epitaph. I want to accomplish the calling and the work God created me for here on this planet, not get right up to the edge and back out.

Dominoes

When I began this writing journey in earnest, God showed me a vision of dominos, stood on end like we used to do when we were kids. You know the deal. Knock over the first one, and it knocks over all the others.

What if, on That Day when I see Jesus face to face, he shows me all the resources Heaven had lined up to use my writing for the Kingdom of God? What if it was an impact beyond anything I could ever ask or think (Ephesians 3:20)? But it never happened because I never tipped over that first domino. How tragic would that be?

That’s a conversation I never want to have. I don’t want to spend an eternity in regret, wishing I hadn’t been afraid to step out into what I knew God was calling me to.

3 Signs that You’re Just Coming Close

Here are three practical clues that you’re missing the calling God has on your life. Do any of these resonate? They did for me, and they continue to help me check myself, get off the eternal hamster wheel,  and actually make real progress.

1) Always planning but never doing. Planning is so much safer than doing. I want to do it right, so I just have to figure out a few more things first… You know the drill, needing to have everything figured out before doing anything. I perfected this to an art form.

Perfectionism is just socially acceptable procrastination. The truth is we keep planning, instead of doing, because we’re scared. But the only way forward is to start doing things, taking intentional steps, toward the calling we know God has on our lives. Stop ducking it by eternal planning. Enough with the excuses, already.

2) It never gets done because it’s not scheduled. Darn, another week went by without doing anything to move my calling forward. Oh well, I’ll do it next week. No, actually I won’t. Next week, life will happen and crowd it out just like it did this week. Unless.

Unless we schedule it and protect that time. For example, if God’s calling you to write a book, schedule regular writing time and protect it. If, say, a friend wants to do something during that time, just say, “I’m sorry, I have another commitment.” You don’t have to explain. Protect it like you would any other appointment on your calendar.

3) Always busy but never making progress. We’re all busy. But are we just letting life happen to us? Are we drifting, endlessly careening from one emergency to the next? Or are we intentionally taking steps into what God’s calling us to?

Moving Forward Is Simple, but It’s Not Easy

If this is resonating with you, ask the Holy Spirit to help you move forward by doing two things:

  1. Identify the next right thing to do. What’s the next baby step you need to take?
  2. Schedule time to do it. Pick a date and time and write it on the calendar or in your phone. Make an appointment with yourself to move forward into God’s calling on your life.

Simple, obvious, but not easy. Yet, you can do this. God wouldn’t have called you to it otherwise.

Your Turn

Does this resonate? What is your next right thing? What’s holding you back? Tell us your story in the comments, and please share this post to bless others.

Image by Larisa Koshkina from Pixabay

How to Move from Fear and Wounding to Calling

/2 Comments/in , , /by

I believe God wants to partner with each of us for an exciting and impactful life. He created us to live a life that makes a difference in the world and advance the Kingdom of God. He has created each of us with a unique calling and purpose.

But there’s something that derails us, that stops us in our tracks before we even start. Fear. And fear is driven by wounding.

When we say, “I have to do this because …”, that’s a clue that we’re living in fear. We’re living in fear of the “because.” Fear’s greatest lie is: “You have no other choice.”

Fear’s Greatest Lie: “You Have No Other Choice”

Living in fear can manifest itself in different ways.

Letting Life Be Controlled by Others

Victimhood. I never get a break. The rallying cries of our life are, “If only…” and “Someday when…” When we find ourselves constantly saying these things, we’re living in victimhood, controlled by others. Our controller doesn’t even have to be a person. If we’re continually derailed by our circumstances, we are still living as a victim and being controlled.

Victimhood can also take the form of False Martyrdom. (I did this for a long time.) False martyrs live under the constant fear of, “Will my spouse/parent/coach/controller be angry?”

The controller’s rages paint them as the obvious bad guy, which makes us the good guy. What we don’t see is, on the back of our brilliant, white, “Good Guy” hat, is the word “VICTIM,” neatly stenciled in big, bold letters. We live under that victim-mantle as long as we play the martyr.

Yes, bad stuff happens. Trauma happens. Abandonment (which is trauma) happens. But those who don’t live in fear as victims, when trauma happens, do two things:

  1. Pursue healing with both hands. People who refuse to be victims don’t let their trauma define them. And they do that by seeking out help and healing from qualified people they trust.
  2. Take action. Their life’s rallying cry is “I am doing …” They don’t wait for “someday when.” They take action today.

Say you’re driving to pick up your kid from school, and the road is closed for construction. ”Oh well, I guess they’ll just either walk home or sleep at school,” said no parent ever. No, what do you do? You take the detour, you drive around.

Same thing in life. When bad things happen out of our control, we trust the Holy Spirit to find us an alternate route. We keep driving; we don’t park.

Living Life to Control Others

If I’m abusing a victim, I must not be one, right? Negative Controllers – bullies, abusers, and narcissists – are incredibly insecure. They create this persona around themselves of being “large and in-charge” so no one ever knows how weak, afraid, and terrified they really feel. Creating pain in others numbs pain in themselves.

But Positive Controllers are just as unhealthy. Positive Controllers look really good on the outside. They often suffer from Performance Orientation, the foundational lie that my value comes from what I do.

They can be really sweet, precious people. But you can recognize a Positive Controller because they won’t take “no” for an answer. They sweetly respond with, “Ok, but can you just…”

  • “I know you said you can’t help with Vacation Bible School this year, but can you just …”
  • “I know you’re too swamped to babysit for me today, and I don’t want to impose, but can you just …”
  • “I know you said no to the favor I asking, but can you just sacrifice and at least do something for me so I get some benefit from your existence?”

When you have a problem, they don’t walk through it with you. They jump in the driver’s seat. They try to “fix” you. Because it’s so much easier and less threatening to work on your problem than on their own.

At the end of the day, it’s all about them, and about how your existence can serve them. When you think back, they’ve never served you.

Controlling others comes down to living in fear. We desperately try to stay in control to keep the world at a safe distance, to never let our shame sneak out. Because if people get too close, they’ll see the shameful truth about me. And that’s the lie we often unconsciously believe that keeps us stuck living in fear.

Under the Fear: Pain from Wounding

Underneath it all, living in fear is driven by something hidden. Something we desperately want to keep hidden but are secretly terrified will be exposed. Our wounding. Our shame.

We put on a persona to keep it from ever slipping out. Whether we play the victim at the mercy of others, or the controller using others, we’re trying to keep our wounding hidden.

Because if they knew the truth about me…

The reality is that it doesn’t work, at least not permanently. It may work for a while, but, out of his mercy for us, God doesn’t let it work forever. Because he wants us to address the wounding so he can bring healing.

Because he has healing for us. And a calling on the other side of that healing. It may be in the area of our wounding, or it may not. Our calling may look totally different after we’ve received healing, because we’re no longer trying to make up for our shame. Once our wounding is healed, that shame has no more power over us.

Yes, that’s possible. God wants to bring that healing into your life.

3 Mindset Shifts to Pursue Your Calling

We all have a calling, that unique contribution God’s created us to make in the world. In Biblical language, it’s the “live works” God designed for us to do before the creation of the world (Ephesians 2:10).

We might even know what our calling is – that passion in our hearts that both excites us and terrifies us when we dare to think about it.

Here are 3 foundational mindset shifts that help us get out of fear and pursue our calling in partnership with God.

1) Become more afraid of not trying than of failing. What if, when we meet Jesus face-to-face, we see all the resources Heaven had lined up to help us pursue our calling, ready to fall like dominoes just when we needed them. But it never happened because we never pushed over the first domino. I don’t want to live in eternal regret, do you?

2) Get comfortable with discomfort. Pursuing God’s calling on our lives always takes us into uncomfortable territory, into uncharted waters. Because God always calls us to something bigger than ourselves, something we can’t do without him.

3) Treat everything as an experiment. This takes all the fear of failure off the table. Because, with this mindset, you didn’t fail, you just learned what doesn’t work. Negative results are just as important. When we learn from our mistakes, we save tremendous energy by avoiding them in the future. And we make adjustments, getting that much closer to what does work.

Your Turn

So what about you? Does this resonate? Where are you on this exciting journey of finding and pursuing God’s calling on your life? Tell us your story in the comments. And please share this post if it would bless others.

4 Lies We Use to Sabotage Ourselves

/4 Comments/in , , , /by

So often I’m my own worst enemy. Are you?

Now don’t get me wrong here. There’s something good about being your own worst critic. If I’ve got a problem, I’d much rather notice it myself than have someone else point it out.

Often I’ll think something, like my writing or a video, is only 80-90% as good as it could be, but others think it’s 150%. As long as I keep it in check and don’t procrastinate in the name of perfectionism, my inner critic is a positive force that helps me do my best work. It’s the spark of inspiration within me from the Holy Spirit that makes my heart leap at the possibility of what could be.

But my inner enemy is another matter entirely. When I’m my own worst enemy, I sabotage myself.

Here are 4 lies I use regularly. See if any of these sound familiar.

1) “I’m Too Old” or “It’s Too Late”

“I can’t make a difference! I’m too old!”

“I missed my window! It’s over!”

“It’s too late! The opportunity is gone!”

All of these are lies we tell ourselves to justify not stepping out into the adventure God’s called us to. There’s an old Chinese proverb about the best time to plant a tree.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. — Chinese Proverb

Yes, maybe we should have started sooner. Maybe we should have followed God’s calling on our life 20 years ago. But if we think we missed our golden opportunity, that shows a mistake in our thinking. Namely, that we wrongly think there’s only one golden opportunity.

Every moment is a new golden opportunity. That’s why God makes every sunrise so beautiful. Every day is a new golden opportunity to follow your God-given dreams, make new choices, and start living large.

2) “Who Am I To … ?”

Imposter syndrome. Everyone who has ever done anything amazing feels this way. It’s the enemy’s last, desperate effort to get you to quit, often right before your breakthrough.

That’s why God promises us “the battle is mine, says the Lord” (2 Chronicles 20:15). And again in Zechariah 4:6, “Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.”

So while you may not feel qualified to write that book, or do whatever else God’s put on your heart, God is qualified. And it’s by his Spirit he’s put that heart cry in us, so he qualifies us, even when we don’t feel like it.

3) “I Don’t Know How” or “I Don’t Know What to Do”

This is an easy one. God is constantly calling people in the Bible to stuff they don’t know how to do. And God promises to come through. He’s got the wisdom we need.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” – James 1:5

“I don’t know how” should never stop you. Here’s a simple 4-step plan to get over this road block.

  1. Pray and ask God for his wisdom for this specific problem. Maybe it’s jumping on Google to see how others have solved this problem. Maybe asking others you respect.
  2. Maybe you get a download from God. Maybe you don’t. Take your best guess and try something. Think of everything as an experiment.
  3. Learn from your mistakes. Mistakes are a gift.
  4. Rinse and repeat.

You don’t have to figure the whole thing out up front. You just need to do the next right thing.

4) “I’ll Start Tomorrow”

No, you won’t. “Today is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Today is the day to start. Do one thing toward the call God’s placed on your life. Today. Start. The world is waiting.

What They All Have in Common

What do all these lies have in common? They are all covering for one thing:

I’m afraid.

They are all a cover for fear. Stepping out into the calling God has on our lives is a step into the unknown. That’s scary. But it’s so worth it. God is good, and will meet you in that place of dangerous, thrilling adventure.

Your Turn

What has God put in your heart that you’re sitting on? What are you too afraid to start? Today is the day. If you’re willing to start today, tell us in the comments what it is. There’s something powerful about declaring it publicly. And please share this post if it would inspire others.

3 Ways to Live Like a Creator instead of a Victim

/2 Comments/in , /by

The concepts in this post come from an amazing little book, The Power of TED: The Empowerment Dynamic by David Emerald. You can pick up your copy here. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in the last 12 months. I highly recommend it. (BTW, this is not an affiliate link. I receive no commission or any other benefit if you buy the book. But you’ll receive a huge benefit if you read it and incorporate these Kingdom of God principles into your daily life.)

I also want to give a shout out to my friend, Jane Abbate, who turned me on to this awesome little book. You can check out Jane’s excellent website at www.MessyMiracles.com (again, not an affiliate link).

No one wants to be a Victim. Yet so many of us live a victim lifestyle. We live at the mercy of our Persecutor, be it a person or a situation, and helplessly await our victorious Rescuer. Only the Rescuer never measures up to our expectations. The rescue comes with strings attached. Our Rescuer becomes our new Persecutor, and around the track we go again. Does this sound familiar? Have you been, or are you now, caught in this cycle?

The fascinating thing to me is that all three roles, Persecutor, Rescuer, and Victim, are all driven by the same motivational engine. Fear.

  • Persecutors act the way they do out of fear of becoming Victims. They try to control the situation. If they make someone else the Victim, then they aren’t. The persecutor thinks of the Victim, “Oh, you poor, sad bugger!”
  • Rescuers also operate out of fear of becoming a Victim. They get their sense of well-being and purpose, not from the calling of God on their own lives, but from fixing Victims. You know you’re dealing with a Rescuer when they don’t want to help you fix the problem—they want to fix you. Rescuers think, “Oh, you poor thing! Bless your heart!”
  • Victims are afraid of everything and live in anxiety, reacting to one problem after another. Victims think, “Oh, poor me!”

The good news is there’s another way to live. God did not create us to be Victims. God is The Creator, and since we were made in his image (Genesis 1:26-27), we were made to be Creators. Creator is the opposite of Victim.

Stick with me here. This is not New Age “we are all gods” nonsense. But God gives us authority over our sphere of influence, especially our lives. That’s why we become what we behold, and what we focus on manifests in our lives.

That’s why Jesus said, after Peter’s confession of Christ, “… on this rock I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:18) The Greek word translated “church” is ecclesia. Since there weren’t any churches around yet, I always thought it was the Greek word for synagogue. But it’s not. Ecclesia actually is the ruling council of a Greek city-state. Jesus was really saying, “On this rock (Peter’s spoken confession), I will build my government.”

Our words, our confession of what we believe, have governmental authority over our lives. God created us this way in his own image as Creators with this authority. He built this principle into the fabric of the universe so we could bless each other (and our own lives). When we speak or focus our attention on something, good or bad, it dispatches spiritual forces to make it so.

What does living like a Creator instead of a Victim look like? The key is that, instead of fear, the Creator’s driven by a different motivational engine—Empowerment. Here are three very practical ways to live like a Creator instead of a Victim.

1) Creators focus on vision while Victims focus on problems. Victims don’t have vision. Reacting to problems is their whole life. Creators focus on the reality they want, and realistically assess the differences between that and their current reality.

2) Creators deal with Challengers, not Persecutors. Persecutors create problems the Victim waits to be rescued from. The responsibility lies with the Rescuer, not the powerless Victim. Creators, on the other hand, see problems, not as Persecutors, but as Challengers to their desired vision. Creators take responsibility for actively taking baby steps through the Challenge and toward their vision.

3) Creators work with Coaches, not Rescuers. Rescuers assume responsibility for fixing the Victim, and their help comes with strings attached. They often become the Victim’s new Persecutor. But although Coaches may offer advice to help fix a problem, both the Coach and the Creator understand the responsibility for fixing the problem rests with the Creator. Coaches allow Creators to freely accept or reject their advice, and Creators seek out this kind of healthy help.

But what about when bad things happen that are not our fault? What about things totally out of our control? What about crime? Mass shooting victims and their surviving families? What if your parents divorce? How about abuse?

We can be the victim of a crime, or of abuse, or anything else life dishes out, without getting sucked into the Victim lifestyle. That’s a choice we make. It’s all about what we choose to focus on. Do we focus on the problem, and live a Victim lifestyle careening from one reaction to the next? Or do we live a Creator lifestyle, focusing on the vision of the life we want, designing and actively taking baby steps to get there?

The choice is up to us.

How about you? Does this resonate? Which of these roles do you fill most of the time? What change are you going to make after reading this article? And please share on social media if you think this would bless someone else.

How to Explain Our Calling to Others

/0 Comments/in , /by

Sometimes, the hardest thing about our calling is explaining it to others, especially our family or people we’re close to. Sometimes even our church family can be difficult. Often, fear of man is at the root of it.

Even Moses struggled with fear of man. When God was talking with him from the burning bush, Moses brought it up twice:

“Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” – Exodus 3:13

“What if they [the Israelites] do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” – Exodus 4:1

Moses was more afraid of unbelief from the Israelites than he was from the Egyptians. Isn’t that true with us too? Internal opposition is often scarier than external opposition.

Fear of Man: How Do I Explain this to Others? What If They Don’t Believe Me?

Does our fear of man manifest itself most in the fear of what our family will think? Those closest to us? Maybe even our church family?

God gives Moses a 3-fold strategy. The same strategy will work for us too. That doesn’t mean our family or loved ones are guaranteed to believe or support us in our calling. That’s on them. But the strategy God gave Moses is an excellent starting place.

(1) Invite them into a Story

“Story” is the most powerful communication tool in the world. That’s why Jesus told parables (one reason at least). Think of the best sermon or speaker you’ve ever heard. You may or may not remember what their points were, but I bet you remember the stories they told.

A story hooks us because, when there are two possible outcomes, success or failure, we have to know which happens. The two possible outcomes in a story are called the stakes. The stakes are what stands to be won or lost if the hero succeeds or fails. Painting the stakes is an invitation for the listener to step into the story.

God tells Moses to tell the Israelites that he’s seen their suffering and will bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:16-17).

God paints the stakes: the Israelites’ current suffering as slaves in Egypt versus a land of their own flowing with milk and honey. He’s inviting the Israelites to step into this story.

This is a strategy for us to explain our calling to those closest to us, spouse, family, etc. Paint the stakes. What is to be lost if you don’t follow God’s calling, and what is to be gained if you do?

Invite them into the story. Where do they fit? How can they help? What part in this story are you inviting them to play?

(2) God’s Working in Your Life

Then, if the Israelites don’t believe him, God gives Moses 3 signs to perform (Exodus 4:2-9):

  1. His staff turned into a snake (and back again).
  2. His hand became leprous (and clean again).
  3. He poured water from Nile on the ground and it became blood.

Two of the signs, turning the staff into a snake and turning the water to blood, represent the miraculous things God has worked in your life. Those who don’t believe may call them coincidences, but we who believe know it could only have been God.

Here’s an example:

I was talking to a family member, who doesn’t believe in God, about Janet and I moving into our current house. The “coincidences” and timing lined up so perfectly it could only have been God.

We moved from Stafford, VA, to neighboring Fredericksburg. The Fredericksburg housing market rarely has houses come up for sale, and they go fast. So I was prepping Janet that, after selling our old house, we might need to put stuff in storage and live in an apartment for 12-18 months until we found a place.

That would’ve been the typical way such a move would work, but God had other plans.

We put our old house on the market on Friday and had it sold by Monday. We had 3 offers over the weekend, and accepted a full price offer with no points requested by the buyer. That doesn’t happen. Except it did.

We did a rent-back for 4 weeks so we could find another place, which I knew wouldn’t work. It would take at least a couple weeks to find a place (probably a temporary apartment). But if we actually found a house, closings are minimum 30 days, if not 45 or 60 days. So, regardless, we were going to have to make two moves.

We found our new house in about 7-10 days, and I was shocked to find it fit our budget. We made an offer, with the seller paying all the points, which he accepted. That doesn’t happen. Except it did.

But to only make 1 move, the closing company would have to do the closing in 21 days. That doesn’t happen. Except it did.

We made one move, from the old to the new, did not have to live in any temporary housing, and did not pay any points on either sale. That doesn’t happen. Except it did.

My family member said, “Wow, what a lot of coincidences, that’s amazing!”

I said, “That had to be God. There’s no way all of that could have happened with God orchestrating it.”

He can believe what he wants. But Janet and I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, God moved us to Fredericksburg.

(3) God’s Healing in Your Life

The other sign God gave Moses, his hand turning leprous and then clean again, represents God’s healing in your life.

What has God done for you? What has he brought you through? How has he healed you? Your testimony is part of your story. Your calling is a continuation of your story.

There are lots of types of healing, physical, emotional, relational, etc. Depending on how sensitive it is, you don’t have to tell everyone. But, if it’s appropriate, based on the relationship you have with the other person, what you’ve been healed from can be a powerful point in favor of your calling.

Invitations Can Be Refused

A great way to explain our calling to family members is by using this 3-fold strategy God gave Moses:

  1. Paint the stakes.
  2. How God has worked in your life.
  3. The healing God has brought you through.

But it is not a guarantee. The Israelites did believe Moses (Exodus 4:29-31), temporarily, until it got hard (Exodus 6:9).

Invitations can be refused. We need to honor our loved ones by giving them that option. Even when our calling has an obvious role for them to play, their fear may stop them. Their unbelief may stop them. Or something may be holding them back.

But, even if they refuse, you press on. You follow your calling. God may win them over somewhere along the way in the future. Don’t let anyone derail the calling of God on your life.

Your Turn

Are you struggling to explain your calling to close friends, family members, or your church community? Or have you figured it out? Please tell us in the comments; it will help others. And please share this post if it would bless other people.

The Only Response that Angers God

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Bible is full of people making excuses to get out of what God’s calling them to do, including Jonah, Gideon, Saul, Moses, even Ananias in the New Testament (Acts 9), and many others. We do it too. I think it’s usually out of fear. God always calls us to something we can’t do without him, something bigger than ourselves.

Look at Moses. He makes a lot of excuses to get out of God’s calling (Exodus 3-4). And God is fine with all of them, having an answer for them, talking Moses through them.

All the Excuses

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” — Exodus 3:11

We call this “Imposter Syndrome.” It’s that feeling of inadequacy we all feel when we realize God’s called us to something bigger than ourselves, that we can’t do on our own. Which is actually the point. He wants to do it in partnership with us.

I’ll go into this more in a future blog, but God’s answer is simply, “I will be with you” (Exodus 9:12). The cure to imposter syndrome is spending time with the One who longs to spend time with us.

“Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” – Exodus 3:13

“What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” – Exodus 4:1

Fear of man. Moses actually brings this up twice. God is not angry at Moses for this, but gives Moses a strategy (signs to perform).

“I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” – Exodus 4:10

Translation: “I’m terrified of public speaking, and I stutter. I am genetically flawed and physically incapable of doing this.”

God’s not angry at Moses for this one either. God’s answer is partnership. “I’m bigger than your stutter. We’ll walk through this together.” (Exodus 4:11, my paraphrase)

The Response that Angers God

There is only one response Moses ultimately gives that angers God.

Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” – Exodus 4:13

Moses essentially tells God, “No.” And that is the one word that angers God.

The Lord’s anger burned against Moses. – Exodus 4:14a

God is fine with all of our excuses and objections. He will help us work through them. It’s perfectly fine to put a fleece out and say, “God, if you want me to do this, I need a solution to this problem.” Then, if the call you’re trying to follow is truly God, he will either remove the problem or give you a strategy for it.

But the one thing that ticks God off is when we say, “No, I’m not doing that.” This is not confusion about whether it’s really God or no, or just plain not knowing what to do next. This is overtly saying, “I know this is what God’s calling me to do, but I’m not doing it.”

And yet, even then, God gave Moses a solution.

“What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.” – Exodus 4:14b-16

Even after Moses told God “no,” God had grace for Moses. And he has grace for you.

God gives us the help we think we need to get over the hump, even if we don’t really need it.

Moses Says “Yes”

Talked out of all his excuses, Moses finally says yes. Eventually, Moses didn’t need Aaron to speak for him. Check out this (abbreviated) sequence of events:

  • Aaron speaks for Moses to the elders of Israel (Exodus 4:29-31).
  • Aaron speaks for Moses to Pharaoh and performs the first few miracles and plagues (Exodus 5-8).
  • Moses begins speaking directly to the elders of Israel (Exodus 6:9).
  • Moses begins to answer Pharaoh directly, when Pharaoh asks for relief from the frogs (Exodus 8:9-10).
  • Moses, not Aaron, begins initiating the plagues, starting with the plague of boils by tossing ashes in the air in front of Pharaoh (Exodus 9:10).
  • Moses goes to Pharaoh alone, and answers Pharaoh directly when Pharaoh tries to work a compromise after the plague of darkness (Exodus 10:24-26).
  • Moses finally initiates conversation with Pharaoh, about the plague on the firstborn, and storms out of  Pharaoh’s presence, hot with anger (Exodus 11:4-8).

Moses grew into the person God knew he was all along. And so will you.

Your Turn

Are you struggling stepping into the call of God on your life? Have you told God, “no”? Or have you said “yes” to something that was scary and seemed impossible, but God moved and it worked out? Tell us in the comments. Your sharing will help someone else. And please share this post if it would bless others.

How to Find Your Calling with 3 Easy Lists

/0 Comments/in , , /by

God has a unique calling on each one of us, our unique contribution to the world. The powers of darkness are terribly afraid of it, because when you walk in your calling, they lose real estate. The enemy’s strategy is to so grievously wound us, as early in life as possible, that we don’t ever step into the calling on our lives. Your calling is that important. If you don’t fulfill it, no one will. Then the world misses out and you live a boring life instead of the adventure you were created for.

So how do you find it? Your calling is the intersection of three things – your passion, your skills, and your livelihood. You need all three, or you don’t have a calling. You have something else. Let’s look at these one at a time.

This is a very practical post today. Have fun with this! Go through this exercise with the Holy Spirit. Ask him to show you the answer to each of these questions. He’s totally into this.

1) Your Passion

What sets your heart on fire? What thing makes your heart leap out of your chest at the thought of doing it? Alternatively, it might terrify you. For those of us still working our way out of our wounding, a calling can be terrifying. It can fly in the face of inner vows we’ve made to protect our heart. It can force us to face our fear.

For example, suppose your calling is public speaking. Suppose God wants to give you words and speeches and messages that will inspire and change a myriad of lives. But in grade school, the enemy set it up so you got severely made fun of for making a mistake during a class presentation, or maybe answering a teacher’s question wrong. You vowed you’d never speak in public again. It wasn’t safe.

Now that vow is holding you back from stepping into your calling, and the thought of public speaking terrifies you. But God wants to heal that. You can renounce those inner vows and the benefit they give you, choosing to trust God for your heart’s safety instead of your own means.

So if you feel either exhilaration or terror at doing a thing, that might be your passion. If your heart didn’t care about it, you’d be indifferent. And if it’s terror, there may an inner vow in the way that you need to work through and remove.

Make a list right now of what you’re passionate about. Use both the positive and negative questions: What exhilarates you? What terrifies you?

Another great question for finding your passion is, What angers you? What problem do you want to see solved? What fight do you want to pick with the world?

2) Your Skills

This is much more straight forward. What are you good at? Make a second list. What skills, talents, and abilities do you naturally have? What were you just always good at? Alternatively, what skills have you developed? What have you learned to do really well? Put all these on your second list.

3) Your Livelihood

Your livelihood is what will people pay you for. God doesn’t want you to starve. He’s a God of provision. He’ll provide for your needs so you can pursue your calling. The easiest way is if people pay you for it.

Honestly, people don’t care about your skills or your passion. They care about themselves. Not dissing anybody here, we all do. But when you solve a problem for people, they will pay you for it.

Make a third list. What will people pay you for? What problems can you solve?

Your Calling

The intersection of all three lists is your calling. Are you surprised? Or did you know it all the time, but were afraid to think about it? What is that thing? Share it in the comments.

What if there’s nothing on all 3 lists?

Oh no, I’m doomed, I have no calling! Now just hold on there, Mr. Melodramatic. You have a calling, we just need to dig a little deeper. The stuff of life has just buried it a little bit. What is on two of the lists?

Skills and Livelihood without Passion is a Job

But what happens if you’ve got skills at something and a livelihood but no passion? That’s a job. Maybe you used to have passion for it, and you’re convinced that job is, in fact, God’s calling on your life. How do you move it from job to calling? You have to rekindle your lost passion.

Ask the Holy Spirit how. One way is to go back to the beginning. Remember when this thing first romanced you and you fell in love with it? How did you approach it then? Can you do the thing the way you did at first and reclaim that lost passion?

Dude, I have never loved my job! Then your job’s not your passion.

Passion and Livelihood without Skills is a Daydream

Without skills, people won’t pay you for long, if at all. If you’re sure this daydream is God’s calling on your life, how can you move it from daydream to calling? What baby steps can you take right now to start acquiring the skills?

Maybe your daydream is to be an author. If that’s your calling, start a blog and start putting your work out there regularly for people to read. Maybe your daydream is to be a missionary. If that’s your calling, enroll in a class at your local community college to start learning your host country’s language.

Passion and Skills without Livelihood is a Hobby

God doesn’t want you or your family to starve. If it’s your calling, God will provide provision for you to pursue it. Usually that’s getting paid for it. How can you take your hobby and solve a problem for people with it? Where does it touch an area that other people care about? It’s ok if it’s a niche thing, as long as somebody will pay you for it. It’s ok if it’s not for everyone, as long as there’s enough people who collectively will pay you enough so you can keep doing it.

Alternatively, God may provide provision through something else. This is especially true in the early days when you’re honing your craft and acquiring the skills.

Think of the 17th century European composers and artists. They had patrons, usually nobility or royalty, who would cover their expenses so they could write their music and make their art. Oftentimes today, your job is your patron. It covers your expenses while you get good enough for people to start paying you.

What if there’s nothing on any two lists?

Then go with your passion list. What on there makes your heart sing? Is there something that equally excites and terrifies you? That could be it.

But, as it stands, you’ve got no skills and you’ve got no livelihood. So start acquiring them. What baby steps can you take now to start getting better at that thing? How can you solve someone’s problem with it? Look at people who get paid for it. What problem do they solve? What’s their business model? How do they do it?

Take Action!

You have a unique calling from God. Hopefully this exercise has helped you discover it. So take action! Have you identified your calling, but you’re missing either passion, skills, or a livelihood? Stare down your fear and start your God-given adventure today. Tell us in the comments what steps you’re taking to acquire the parts you’re missing. Let’s do this!

How to Walk a Hard Road with 4 Mindsets

/2 Comments/in , /by

Too often, “how to walk a hard road” isn’t something we talk about enough in Western Christianity. Our life is so comfortable, on the outside at least, that too often we neglect talking about walking hard roads. And yet, although we have freedoms and conveniences, our lives can be just as painful and torn as those suffering in third world countries.

Our favorite TV series, The Chosen, has a scene in Season 1, Episode 8, about 16 minutes into the episode, where Nicodemus and his wife Zohara talk about walking hard roads. They are talking about Hagar, who bore Abraham’s son Ishmael. (You can read the story of Hagar, and how God met with her twice, in Genesis 16:1-16, 17:24-26, and 21:9-21.)

Nicodemus: “Hagar was caught up in something complicated and fraught, but not of her choice. And yet, God saw her, and he knew the path she was forced to take would not be an easy one.”

Zohara: “When we stumble onto hard roads, he finds us and comforts us.”

Nicodemus: “Or does he call us to them?”

Too often in Western Christianity, we approach life with Zohara’s response: It’s God’s job to comfort us in our pain. There is an element of truth to that. God does find us and comfort us. After all, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter (John 14:26).

But I think Nicodemus was on to something here. While, yes, God comforts us when we find ourselves on hard roads, often he’s the one calling us to walk the hard road.

But we have a choice. The world gives us a plethora of other alternatives. Plenty of ways to medicate the pain. Plenty of distractions to otherwise occupy our time. Anything to keep us off that hard road God is calling us to and the impact it will have. Because walking our hard road will encourage other to walk theirs.

“A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” – Psalm 91:7

One person choosing to walk one hard road shatters ten thousand demonic strongholds for others. While we won’t know the full impact until we see Jesus, our walking our hard road terrifies the Kingdom of Darkness, which does see the effects. They see strongholds they’ve invested generations building up come crashing down in a day, all because one follower of Jesus chose to walk a hard road. That could be you. If you choose to walk your hard road, demons will need therapy. It sucks to be them.

So you matter. Walking the hard road Jesus is calling you to matters. So how do you do it? Here are 4 mindsets to choose while walking a hard road.

1) The “Uncompromising Decision” Mindset

My dad always used to be first in line for birthday cake or whatever other sweets were offered around the office. Until he was diagnosed with diabetes. Then he dropped sweets cold-turkey. People would ask him how he did that so consistently, without cheating at all. He’d answer, “Simple. I can’t have them.”

“100% is easier than 98%” — Benjamin Hardy

Decide. The mindset of uncompromising decision is our primary defense against the world. My dad found that “I can’t have any sweets” was a much easier road to walk than “how many sweets can I have?”

2) The “On Your Face” Mindset

When you’re walking a hard road, I highly recommend lots and lots of facetime before God. No, I’m not talking about the Apple app. I’m talking about physically lying, face-down into the carpet, before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This mindset is a posture of the heart (and often of the body) of humility before the Lord.

I was literally on my face before God, crying out for his intervention in my marriage and my family, for at least 18 months. I’d be on the floor in the corner of the room during worship time at church. I’d be on the floor of my office at home in the early morning hours when no one else was awake. I’d park in some distant spot in a remote parking lot during the day, because home wasn’t safe, and pour out my heart to God.

And I eventually saw God move, although not the way I wanted. Everyone has a choice. My wife left. The divorce devastated my children and continues to. It was the worst time in my life. But God was faithful and brought Janet. God has restored my calling, brought tremendous healing, and Janet and I walk out our callings that dove-tail so beautifully together.

3) The “Manage Your Influences” Mindset

After being diagnosed with diabetes, my dad didn’t frequent bakeries. While he could say “no” to sweets offered to him by others, he didn’t put himself in situations where it would be any harder than it had to be.

If you’re struggling with pornography, don’t watch movies with nudity or that glorify sex outside of marriage. Don’t listen to music that glorifies sex outside of marriage or objectifies women.

“The eyes are the window to your soul.” – William Shakespeare

Your senses are the toll booths guarding your heart. Guard your eye gates and ear gates.

If you’re trying to stop smoking, don’t go to the vape shop or hang with friends who smoke. If you’re struggling with alcoholism, don’t go to a bar or hang with friends who drink.

This mindset removes negative influences from your life. This means you might have to let go of certain friends. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring you godly friends who support the hard road you’re walking, instead of trying to pull you off it.

But I’m trying to reach them for Jesus! That’s good, that’s noble. But if they are pulling you back into a sinful lifestyle, you’re not reaching them for Jesus. They are reaching you for Satan, and you need to let them go. Put them in God’s hands, and trust that he will reach out to them through someone else who will not be compromised by them.

There is one relationship you can’t walk away from, and that’s with your spouse. If your spouse is a wet-blanket on your calling, I’ve put together a one-page resource just for you. You can download it here. Let me know if it’s helpful and how we can pray and support you.

Download the Guide
“7 Ways to Deal with a
Wet Blanket Spouse”

4) The “Focus on Eternity” Mindset

This mindset focuses on eternity, knowing that our hard road in this life is only a vapor compared to our eternity with Jesus (James 4:14).

Francis Chan says it much better than I can. Please watch this 4-minute video of The Rope.

So How About It?

What hard road are you walking? How can we support you on it? You’re not the only one, and your story will help others. So please leave a comment, and share this post to bless others.

How to Guard What God’s Entrusted to You

/0 Comments/in , /by

Looking back at history, we can see amazing things God was doing that nobody recognized at the time. Learning this skill helps us see what God is doing in us today that other people, often friends and family, don’t recognize.

While Europe was in the chaos of the Dark Ages, God used Saint Patrick to preserve the Gospel by sending it off-coast, to the isle of Ireland. Europe’s subsequent focus on education during the Enlightenment was birthed from the Gospel in Ireland.

There’s a powerful movie documenting this, St. Patrick: The Irish Legend (not an affiliate link), starring Patrick Bergin (in the title role) and Malcolm McDowell. I highly recommend it. We watch it every year around St. Patrick’s Day.

The point for us is, God called Patrick to guard something he entrusted to him. In this case, it was something rather large – Christendom itself.

But your calling is no less significant. What calling has God entrusted to you?

Patrick’s calling was way bigger than he was. Had he known the scope of his calling at the beginning, he’d probably have never stepped into it from fear and overwhelm. These are the same things that keep us from stepping into our calling.

St. Patrick’s Solution to Fear and Overwhelm Works for Us

What worked for Patrick will work for us. He put on a “breastplate” each morning, a prayer called St Patrick’s Breastplate. Here’s the part I like the most. You may have heard it before.

Christ be with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ deep within me,
Christ below me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right hand, Christ at my left hand,
Christ as I lie down, Christ as I arise, Christ as I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

It’s not about chanting magic words. It’s about intentionally adopting the attitude reflected in those words.

Are we intentionally looking for Jesus everywhere around us? How would our day-to-day life change if we did? In difficult circumstances, one of the most effective prayers is, “Jesus, where are you in this?” Patrick was acknowledging, every morning, that in every situation he would face that day, God was in there somewhere. And Patrick stepped into the day intentionally looking for him.

This prayer also reflects a conscious realization of Jesus’ point in the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46): “Whatever you did (or didn’t do) to the least of these, you did (or didn’t do) to me.”

Patrick had an awareness that every eye that saw him and every ear that heard him was judging Jesus by what they saw and heard. He used that awareness to steward his actions and his words well. Would our actions and words change if we realized, in difficult circumstances, that people will judge Jesus by what we are about to do and say?

Back to the Fear and Overwhelm…

Patrick, one guy in a monk robe, had no power to preserve Christendom on a pagan island. God calls us to things bigger than us. Hence the natural fear and overwhelm we feel. It’s the enemy’s most common weapon to back us down from our calling.

But when Patrick came ashore answering God’s call on his life to Ireland, he claimed it. He boldly struck the beach with his staff and claimed the island for God. And every snake on the island slithered past him and his team into the sea, symbolic of God removing all demonic roadblocks and evil forces that would oppose him.

What ground are we claiming? What would it look like to take a step toward that passion in your heart you’re afraid to step into? Often our problem is not being unaware of our calling. It’s not boldly stepping up on the beach and claiming that ground as God’s calling on our life.

Your Turn

Does this resonate? What is your calling? What’s your first step (or next step) you’re taking to walk in it? Tell us your story in the comments. And please share this post if it will bless others.

Why You Need a Bias toward Action

/0 Comments/in , , /by

It’s counter-intuitive, but action wins over clarity every time. Waiting to act until we have clarity will keep us paralyzed, never realizing our calling. It’s just socially acceptable procrastination.

Mother Teresa

A reporter visited Mother Teresa to do a story. When getting ready to leave, he asked her to pray for him for clarity. He had some big decisions he had to make back home that he was stressed about. She told him no.

He was shocked. “What do you mean you won’t pray for me? You’re Mother Teresa!”

She answered him, “I can’t pray for you for clarity because I’ve never had it. But I will pray for you for faith.”

Who Are We Trusting?

Waiting for clarity before we step out is really a form of self-idolatry. “I’ll be safe if I figure this out first. My clarity is my security, and then who needs God? I got this.”

I had a pastor who always used to say, “You spell faith R-I-S-K.” It’s a scary thing to trust God instead of ourselves. Faith is risky. But faith is where our calling lies.

Ships Weren’t Made for Docks

Waiting for clarity keeps your ship chained to the dock. It’s a lot safer than sailing out in that big, scary ocean, where many ships have sunk. But it’s not what the ship was made for.

Staying safe isn’t what you were made for, either. You were made for adventure. What’s the passion of your heart? God put that there.

“It’s a scary thing to step outside your front door.” – Bilbo Baggins

The Best Way to Get Clarity

The best way to get clarity is to act. Try something. What’s the next right thing? If you were actually going to pursue that passion in your heart, what’s the first baby step you’d take? Do that.

“Clarity comes with action.” – Jeff Goins

A former mentor, Jeff Goins, used to always say, “Clarity comes with action.” After you try something, you have much greater clarity about it. You’ve learned something. It worked or it didn’t. Most likely, it partially worked, and you’ve learned how to make it better.

Talk About Fear

A bunch of Christians running around fulfilling the passion God put in their hearts is Hell’s nightmare scenario. This is what keeps the enemy up at night. Because if we actually live out who God created us to be, the Kingdom of Darkness falls all across the world like a house of cards.

Yet all the enemy can do to prevent us from fulfilling our destiny, reaching our potential, and living our calling is pass his fear along to us. If he can anchor us to the dock of false safety with fear disguised as needing clarity before acting, he wins.

The people our message will touch are loved by God. But until we start doing things to move toward our calling, those precious lives remain firmly under enemy control. How sad.

On that Day we meet him face-to-face, what if Jesus shows us all the resources of Heaven that were positioned to help us live out our heart’s passion? Like dominoes, they were ready to fall into place to enable our calling. But it never happened because we never pushed over that first domino. How tragic would that be! I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have that conversation.

How to Use Your Brain

No one is saying be stupid. Use the brain God gave you. But use your brain to figure out the wisest path toward the passion God put in your heart. Don’t let your brain talk you out of it. So often “waiting for clarity” is just an excuse to live in fear.

Your brain is your GPS. It navigates the route. It never selects, or denies, your destination.

Say you get in your car and enter a destination into your GPS. “You really don’t want to go there,” said no one’s GPS ever. No. You, the driver, pick the destination, and, given that destination, your GPS plans the best route. That’s how it works. Your GPS is not allowed to have an opinion about your selected destination. Neither does your brain.

Your heart, led by the Holy Spirit, is the driver. Your passion is the destination. Your brain doesn’t have the right to talk you out of it. Your brain’s job is to say, “Ok, given that’s your passion, here’s the route. Here’s the best way to realize that in your life.”

Then take that first baby step. Clarity comes with action.

Your Turn

What’s the passion in your heart? Are you “waiting for clarity”? What is the first baby step you can take? Tell us in the comments. And please share if this would bless someone else.