You Don't Have to Prove Anything to Anyone But Yourself

You don’t have to prove anything to anyone except yourself. People will place all kinds of expectations on you if you let them. They will tell you what they think you should do based on their own lives. Much of the time, we think about what someone else will think when we’re making our decisions.

We live with an underlying sense of expectation from our parents, spouses, our friends, our boss, and our coworkers. We worry about what our political affiliates will think. We worry about what our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ will think. We worry about what our pastors will think.

But none of those people are living your life. You alone have to process your thoughts and emotions when you lay your head on your pillow night. You are the one who has to determine whether you’re following God or not.

You are the only one you have to prove anything to. You know what you’ve done, you know what you need to do, and it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, they can’t live out the results of your choices for you.

2 Ways

This is important in 2 ways. You have to answer to yourself for your bad decisions and mistakes. And you have to live with not giving 100% toward your calling and passions.

You have things deep within you that you know you should do, but you don’t because you’re worried what someone else will think.

And you are paralyzed with guilt and condemnation from hiding those things that no one knows but you.

Your own heart is itching for you to rise up and prove to yourself that you are not the worst parts of you, you are not your failures, you are not a worthless, perverted scumbag, or whatever else you call yourself in secret.

You are the righteousness of God in Christ with the power of Christ within your heart. You know that. You know that you can be and do much more than you are accomplishing right now.

I want to challenge you to forget about what everyone else thinks and go for it. Don’t be foolish or immoral, but seriously, quit letting your judgments about other people’s thoughts about you determine what you’ll do.

Who cares what they think?! You don’t have to be mad at them, just put them out of your head and live your life. Quit arguing with the people in the stands and run your race.

What Do You Owe Yourself?

You owe yourself honesty. You owe yourself a good attitude. You owe yourself compassion. You owe yourself some effort. Get up, get over it, get moving!

You’re the only one listening to your self-talk. You know yourself better than anyone else. Make a promise to yourself that you will not lie to yourself, you will not drag yourself down, you will not stay stuck in the past, you will not continue to see yourself in light of what someone else did to you. You are not a victim, you are a victor!!

You can live a life you can be proud of. You have God’s grace in your inner man to empower you and to teach you to live upright and godly along the way.

Get busy living, be someone you can be proud of!! You can do it, God is for you and is behind you with his unlimited resources, and he will not fail you.

GO!!

Viral Love: The Church Can Spread Love Through Unity in the Midst of Uncertainty and Fear

The world is freaking out, and we have the solution! When we allow God to love us we are made whole. From that wholeness we will trust God deeply. When we trust him, we walk in his promises and experience His provision, even during a pandemic. The world needs this kind of wholeness, the world needs peace. How will the world know this love that makes us whole? Through a united church.

Unity Starts With Personal Peace

Jesus gave us his peace. His peace is more than inner tranquility; it also means wholeness. Jesus gives us his wholeness. Jesus gave us his whole and complete relationship with the Father. We have peace / wholeness with the Father. Amen!

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Out of that whole relationship, we can unite with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Then we can turn that love toward the world and inspire them to respond to God’s love and receive peace. It starts with God and flows through us to the world.

A Diverse Church Unified In Our Sonship

If we can lay down our denominational differences, we would realize that there are billions of people who call Jesus, Lord. Those are our brothers and sisters. We’re called to love each other in such a way the world concludes that we’re Jesus followers.

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

We may express our beliefs differently, we may have different callings and giftings, we may have different focuses within the body of Christ, but we’re all one family in Christ. If we can lay aside our differences and acknowledge this singular truth, we will be a powerful force in this world. And the world needs the church to be powerful right now.

Our unity in Christ as children of God should compel us to walk in love toward one another, the kind of love that testifies of our sonship in Christ.

1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

John 17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I also pray for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

It’s Simple

It’s a simple process:

• God loved us and died for us while we were still sinners

• We respond to his love for us by loving him

• Jesus commands us to love one another

• Jesus says our love for one another will testify that we’re his disciples

• Jesus prays that we’ll be united in him in such a way that it compels the world to believe

• The result is believing world because we loved one another and turned that united love to the world

While the world is still in shock from the Coronavirus, the church has the opportunity to show them our inner peace and our united love, which will compel them to believe God sent Jesus for them too.

Pray

Take some time to pray and open your heart to God’s leading. He will show you who to love and how to walk in love in these uncertain times. I walk you through a meditation to hear from Him at the end of the message at the top of this page.

When You Pray, Believe That You Have Received and it Will Be Yours

Jesus said, “all things are possible for those who believe,” and “believe that you HAVE RECEIVED and it WILL BE yours.” We can either take him at his word or come up with all kinds of explanations and rationalizations about why he didn’t really mean those things. Folks will bring up theological points like context and audience, but the bottom line is, he said them.

For reference purposes, here are the passages:

MARK 9:22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” 23 “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Mark 11:22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

“All things are possible for those who believe,”
“believe that you HAVE RECEIVED, and it WILL BE yours.”

You could say all things are possible for those who believe they have received.

Where does your mind go when you read those statements? Do you say amen, and that’s it, no matter the circumstance? Do you think of a time you prayed and nothing happened? Do you think of a time when you felt like you had a word from God, but it didn’t happen? Do you think of a theological system you were taught and reason these passages into a comfortable place in your mind? Where do your thoughts go when you read those statements? Your thoughts and emotions will give you a clue about what you believe in your heart.

Believe that you have received what?

“Believe that you have received, and it will be yours.” Believe that you have received what? What can you legally expect to receive? What can you legitimately pray for and expect to receive if you believe? Everything that God has given you in Christ.

So that begs the question, what has he given you in Christ? Everything he accomplished, paid for, and received in Christ’s atoning work.

What did he accomplish and pay for? That’s the real question.

Look at it from this perspective; We received an inheritance from God. Jesus died as the testator of God’s last will and testament to enact everything that God left us in his will.

Jesus died to leave us an inheritance

Hebrews 9:   15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. 17 For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives.

We are joint-heirs with Jesus, heirs of God

 Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Jesus inherited Heaven and all that God has

Hebrews 1:1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness as our inheritance made secure forever in the shed blood of Jesus.

It’s legal for you to expect everything consistent with the nature and character of God. For instance, God is a healer, provider, comforter, counselor, and father; it is legal for you to expect to experience God in all of those capacities. It’s is theologically correct for you to expect to receive from God things that are consistent with those aspects of his character. He has given them to you, and they are yours, as you believe.

Homework Assignment

If I may, I’d like to give you a homework assignment. Make a list of all the things Jesus accomplished in His death, burial, and resurrection. Just start with a list of things you know, write them down. Then list the scriptures for those things; it’s ok to use a search engine to help you. Then meditate on the fact that each one of those things is yours now. I’d love to see your lists in the comments.

What Do We Know?

The scientific world asks, “what do we know” when seeking to establish accurate results. The Law Enforcement community asks, “what do we know” when trying to examine evidence and find the truth. The same question can be asked when seeking to establish God’s Word in your heart.

“What do I know to be true about God” is an excellent question to ponder when you pray. Start with what you know is true, then pray about the things you need to pray.

Our prayers are usually motivated by need, fear, and worry. It’s ok to pray about what you need and the things that you’re worried about, just make sure you know what God has said about those things before you pray.

For example, if you are in debt or you’re behind on your bills, and you pray to God for financial help, make sure your heart is aware of who God is regarding finances.

“Father, I know you are a provider. I know you desire to meet my needs out of your riches in glory, exceedingly, abundantly above all I can ask or think. I know you are a good father who will not give me stones when I ask for bread. I know that Jesus was made poor that I could become rich. I know you desire to bless me so I can be a blessing to others. I thank you that you know what I need before I even ask. I thank you that you want me to be prosperous and be in health above everything else. I know you can make a way where there is no way. I thank you for the testimony of Jesus finding money in a fish’s mouth. I thank you that we have the testimony of Jesus multiplying food. I thank you that your spirit is in me, leading me and guiding me into all truth. Because you are a provider and want all these things for me, I can rest in you, I can trust you, I can let go of fear and worry and be confident that you will lead me into success. I am willing to do whatever you lead me to do, Father, thank you for a clear step to take to experience you as my provider.”

Think of an area you have been praying about and craft a prayer like this that is more focused on who he is than you need.

How Do We Know What We Know?

The idea is to become aware of who God is and acknowledge that he is that in your life. You don’t even have to ask him for things. He knows what you need. A better way to pray is to acknowledge who he is simply. Meditate on who he is until you are more moved by who he is than your need. Meditate and pray on the nature and presence of God until he is more real than your struggle. Become confident in God in your heart, and then something very magical happens, the kingdom and off of God’s promises will grow into your life.

Here’s how Jesus explains it in Mark 4 —

The kingdom of God is as if a farmer should scatter seed on the ground. The ground is your heart. The farmer sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed (Word/kingdom) sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The seed produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

God’s word will bear fruit after its kind. When you meditate on who he is (spreading seed in your heart), his kingdom will grow in you and into your life. We don’t know how it works, we can’t control the process, but if we allow his word to abide in us, his word, his promises will manifest in our lives.

Prayer is a time to spread seed in your heart and your life. Prayer is the continual watering and cultivation of that seed you’ve spread. It’s important NOT to let worry, fear, cares of this world, and the lust of other things choke out those seeds from growing.

Pray God’s character into your life. Pray the identity of God rather than rehearsing your problems. Pray God’s truth and watch your life reflect his will.

You Must Be Sanctified to Encounter the Presence of God

Coming in contact with the presence of God will kill you if you have not been appropriately sanctified. Sanctification means to be cleansed or purified in a specific way. Once something is consecrated, it is holy, or fit for use by God.

Under the Old Covenant, you sanctified yourself, under the New Covenant, Jesus is your sanctification. Under the OC, you cleansed your outer man. Under the NC, Jesus cleanses your inner man.

To be sanctified under the Old Covenant, you took a bath, washed your clothes, and abstained from sex for two days.

And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” When Moses told the words of the people to the LORD, the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Exodus 19:9-11

That was for the average person; the sanctification process for the priests was much more involved. (See Exodus 29) Keep in Christians are kings and priests under the New Covenant (1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 5:10), so the Exodus 29 purification process would have applied to us.

I hope you read through Exodus 29 because it will make you thankful for New Covenant sanctification.

Hebrews 10:8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Holiness

To be clear, you have NO HOPE of being holy on your own!!! I can’t stress that enough. Jesus is your sanctification, which leaves you holy!!! From then on, you are to live worthy of that gift you were given in Christ.

Grace, God’s influence in your inner man, his spiritual strength in your heart, will teach you to live godly. You can not be holy in your behavior, but you can yield to his grace and be empowered to live worthy of the holiness he gave you in Christ.

Sanctification and Prayer

I wanted to lay out the idea of sanctification so I can talk about prayer for the rest of this article. Prayer is a time to spend in communion with the direct presence of God. That was impossible under the Old Covenant. If you encountered God’s presence, you died. Not so now, that presence lives in those who have placed faith in Christ. That means inside, you must be holy for God’s presence to live in there.

Because the God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.—2 Corinthians 4:6-7

You can not make yourself holy, and you can not become more holy, you can only live in a manner that honors the work of Christ in you. The very fact that you have changed means you have a power in you that Old Covenant believers didn’t have, and you can live worthily. But how you live in and of itself is not your sanctification; the blood of Christ is.

Prayer is a time to turn your attention to God’s transformative and powerful spirit within you and yield to the shaping of his hands in your inner man.

You can not take enough baths or wash your clothes enough times to get God’s spirit inside you; only the blood of Jesus can wash you clean enough to be acceptable to interact with God.

Holiness is an acknowledgment of God’s presence within you!! Prayer is a time to reverently honor the work of Christ on your behalf and be thankful for making you a new creation that can be inhabited by God!!

How to Pray

When you pray, acknowledge that God is holy. Acknowledge that he is in you. And give thanks that he has done a work in you to qualify you to be inhabited by him.

Pray until you perceive his presence within you. Pray until your heart is confident in his power within you. Pray until you have hope that God is working on your behalf to bring about his goodwill in your life. Pray until your emotions match his promises. Pray until you believe that your circumstance really can change.

Too often we pray out of fear and worry. We “pray” and then go right back to the same fear and worry, as if God’s presence in our lives is ineffective.

Prayer is first and foremost a gift. It is a time to get your mind and heart in alignment with God’s promises and perspectives. If God said it, If Jesus paid for it, you have the legal right to expect it in your life, whatever the guarantee may be.

Prayer is not magic; it just shifts your inner man back to dependence on God. Prayer is a mind-renewal process. Pray until God’s promises are believable, then don’t back down and don’t lose heart.

I hope you take the time to listen to this sermon, I go into much more detail on this subject. I pray it’s a blessing to you.

I Am Free to Love You When I Set You Free from My Judgements

““Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

— Matthew 7:1-5

To Jesus, judgment is when you “look at the speck of sawdust in another person’s eye.” He says, STOP IT! Don’t do that! When you look at the speck, you no longer see that person, you only see the speck. The speck is whatever issue or behavior you are judging about that person.

His remedy is to remove the plank in your eye so you can see clearly to help them remove the speck from their sight. The plank in your eye is your judgment of that person. Your opinion is clouding you from seeing the person apart from the speck, and you only see the problem. Remove your opinion, and you will see clearly to help them.

Notice he doesn’t say to ignore the speck. Jesus wants you to address the speck if you see someone caught in a sin, you are to help restore them. But if you only see their problem, it will blind you from healthily helping them.

God is not holding our sins against us, and we should not hold people’s sins against them either. Love keeps no record of wrong. Does that mean they get away with it? No way, they’ll reap what they sow, but you’re not the judge, jury, and punisher.

Removing Your Spouses Speck

What if that speck is in your spouse’s eye? Be careful! Seriously, approach with care in your eyes rather than judgment. If your spouse has an issue you need to address, make sure your motive is love before you approach them. You can not trust your intentions if you are not motivated by love. They will not hear you if your motivation is to be right or show them where they’re wrong. Approaching your spouse from any other motive than love will shut them down.

Marriage is a blessing, remember that when you need to deal with an issue with your spouse. Remember that women want to be loved, and men want to be respected. Men, connect to your love for your wife before you deal with that problem. Women, communicate with your husband respectfully, not in a demeaning way when you address the issue.

Love seeks to restore, not be right!!

Marriage Is A Blessing

Seriously, marriage is a blessing. Someone commits to helping you for the rest of their life. That person makes you a priority in their own life, for the rest of their life. They commit to love you and be your partner in life, helping you through every single struggle and failure. What a blessing it is to have a partner for life!

Unfortunately, lots of folks don’t see a marriage that way. Marriage has become a negotiation, a chess match. Too often, husband and wife drift apart due to lack of communication. We’re pretty forgiving creatures if we’d talk to one another, talk in such a way that we find common ground, forgiveness, and restoration. Too often, our communication server to further validate our judgments, offenses, and hurts regarding our spouse.

I’m certainly not advocating putting up with infidelity or abuse; I’m talking about a couple that lacks the effort to work things out.

You can do this! You can have a healthy, thriving marriage. You can have the kind of marriage that is a testimony of God’s love for us. But one of you is going to have to go first.

It’s time to lay aside your judgment and love your spouse. It’s time to take the first step. Someone is going to have to go; first, it may as well be you.

LOVE GOES FIRST!! BE LOVE IN YOUR HOME!!

Listening to People Develops Trust and Open Communication in Our Relationships

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”

— Dr. Stephen Covey

Most people just want to get their point across. We often ignore the other person but pretend we're listening. We selectively hear what we want to respond to but often miss their meaning. Most people listen with the intent to reply, not to understand. We prepare in our minds what we're going to say while they’re still speaking. WE FILTER EVERYTHING THROUGH OURSELVES. Consequently, we decide prematurely what the other person means before he/she finishes communicating. This is called judgment, more on that next week.

God Listens to Us

Let’s look at a few passages and get some insight from God on how to listen. These are beautiful promises about the character and faithfulness of God, but we can also learn some universal principles about communication from these passages.

I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. Psalm 116:1-2

LESSON #1: LISTENING DEVELOPS TRUST

“Because he heard me, I will call on him.” The Psalmist bears his heart about God, he lets us know that he feels heard by God, and because he feels heard by God, he will continue to go to God all the days of his life.

Do you feel like God hears you? He does all the time in every single situation. We often judge God because of the circumstances of our lives. We feel like we pray, and nothing happens. We then come up with doctrines and cliches like “when God is silent.”

I have news for you, God is never silent, he is always present to hear our hearts, and he is still responding with mercy, compassion, empathy, and wisdom. It’s up to us to lay aside our perspectives and change our thinking to his frequency - this is true repentance.

This principle also applies to our relationships. LISTENING DEVELOPS TRUST. Let’s flip it around, do you feel like there’s a break down in trust in your relationship? Maybe it’s because you don’t feel heard. Perhaps it’s because your spouse doesn’t feel heard by you. Am I speaking to you?

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 1 John 5:14

LESSON #2: LISTENING DEVELOPS CONFIDENCE

Let’s look at the definition of CONFIDENCE:

CONFIDENCE - Gr. parrēsia (click for lexicon)
Openly, Plainly, Boldly

1. freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech
- openly, frankly, i.e without concealment
- without ambiguity or circumlocution
- without the use of figures and comparisons

2. free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance

Does your spouse feel confident (open, free to speak) that you are hearing and understanding them? Do your actions and follow up behavior reflect that you hear and understand? Or do you nod your head and go about your business?

I have seen too many relationships fall apart due to a lack of communication. People are willing to forgive, rebuild, and move on, but there must be communication. Once communication stops, I know the relationship is coming to an end. I have seen people talk through some of the most horrific situations, things you would think would be deal-breakers, but as long as they keep talking and working together, they overcome.

But there must be an open door for communication. That’s up to you. You have to let people feel safe enough to tell you the truth. The truth about their feelings as well as the truth about you.

If you respond in anger or become defensive, you can rest assured the other person will be less open and honest with you, and that could be the beginning of the end.

Practical Tips for Listening

Stop being defensive

Be a safe person. Allow people to tell you painful truths without being defensive. If you find yourself being defensive, slow down, and notice the underlying issue. You may find an insecurity or past hurt lingering around, driving your current behavior. Seek help to let it go.

Ask Questions

In seeking to understand before seeking to be understood, you must ask questions!! You may find out the information you didn’t know. You may help the other person clarify their thoughts when you take the time to ask questions.

Emphatic Listening

Try to see the world through the eyes of the other person. Get what they are feeling. Empathize with their perspective and feel what they’re saying. “You feel me?”

Rephrasing

Say back what you heard in your own words to confirm you understand. “What I heard you say is…” Make sure you know what the other person is saying before you respond. Make sure you understand their point before arguing or trying to make your point.

Listen to understand before expecting the other person to see everything from your perspective. Show empathy and compassion in your listening and watch all of your relationships reflect the character and love of God.

You Hear God Better When You're Aware of Your Sonship

This message brings my Becoming Limitless series to a close, This series is about eliminating those internal limitations that keep us from following God. This series is not about getting rich and living your dreams, this series is about living FROM purpose and fulfilling those God given assignments in your life.

You are complete in Christ, doing things for him do not define you, but God does have things he wants you to do for him and his kingdom, and the fulfillment of those assignments increases his kingdom and brings great joy and fulfillment.

So what does he want you to do?

I personally think you can discern those assignments in an environment of love for others. In this series I suggest that you define who you love for your own understanding, and then take practical steps to act out that love for that people group, bringing the Gospel, meeting practical needs and prayerfully affecting them in such a way they turn to Jesus.

God Will Show You The Way

When God called Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt he told Moses that he would teach him what to say and do.

Exodus 4:12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”  15b … and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do.

Jesus said that he would send the Holy Spirit who would lead and guide us. Paul said we know God’s mind on matters of life and ministry and his spirit will reveal things to us that God has prepared for us.

John 16:12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

God is speaking, do you hear him?

Sometimes yes and sometimes no, it’s that way for us all. I’d like to put a few passages together and make a point about how God speaks and how you can settle into hearing him more consistently.

The first I already posted above, John 16:12-15. Jesus promises that his spirit would lead and guide us into all truth. His spirit will declare to you all that the Father has given Jesus. The nuance is that all of that is yours too.

The other 2 passages are 1 Corinthians 2:1-16 and Romans 8:9-16.

1 Corinthians 2

9 However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him— Isaiah 64:4

10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about (understands) all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” (Isaiah 40:13). But we have the mind of Christ.

If you have the spirit of God, you have his mind on the issues of life. By the way, if you’re born again you have his spirit.

Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

God’s spirit within you testifies to you or bears witness to you that you are his child. God is speaking to you and what he is saying is this, “you’re my child.”

We all want to hear God but are we hearing him reassure to us that we belong to him, that we’re safe in him, that we’re his beloved and favored child?

If you want to hear God’s leading for the assignments he has for you, make sure that you’re hearing him bear witness with your spirit that you’re his child. Anytime you pray or seek the Lord for wisdom and direction, allow him to bear witness to you that you are his and he is yours. Get excited about your place in his family and allow it to establish a peace that can not be shaken - then turn your attention to what he wants you to do.

Identity first, obedience second, it’s a winning combination.

There’s a Difference Between Dreams and Assignments from God

Assignments from God are completed FROM identity, not FOR identity. Once you know that you are already a child in his kingdom (by grace through faith), he equips you as an ambassador to complete assignments.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

An assignment from God has to do with those good works you were created unto. An assignment has to do with those works God has prepared for you to do. An assignment is something God wants you to do as an ambassador of his kingdom. God may have multiple assignments for you throughout your life, some are fulfilled in a day, some are walked out over a lifetime.

God has things he wants you to do, don’t you want to do them?

It’s important to keep in mind that you do not derive your identity by completing these assignments. He has given you the power to be his child by grace through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, he adopted you and that’s it, you’re his child.

Nothing you do for God will ever determine whether or not you’re saved, whether or not God loves you, whether or not your salvation is secure - the completion of assignments are to be completed BECAUSE you are an accepted, righteous and holy child of God.

What Are Dreams?

Dreams: a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal

- Aspiration: a hope or ambition of achieving something
- Ambition: a strong desire to do or to achieve something,
typically requiring determination and hard work

Dreams are those things you want to accomplish in life that may not have much to do with ministry. Dreams are perfectly fine to have. Your dreams and your assignments may coincide. Your dreams may finance your assignments. BUT, living your dreams will not bring the same kind of spiritual fulfillment that completing assignments will.

You may have a dream to travel the world, build a successful business, be a world class artist or become a star athlete - all of those are fine, but those dreams are most likely not the kinds of assignments God has for you as an ambassador in his kingdom.

You might use your influence as a professional athlete or take advantage of opportunities that traveling may create, and yes there may be assignments within each of those dreams, but the attainment of those dreams alone is not the same as completing God-ordained assignments.

Watch a clip from an interview with Tom Brady from 2005, he now has 6 Super Bowl wins.

This is not a judgment against Tom, it’s just an illustration, he achieved his dreams and it didn’t bring fulfillment, he was looking for more.

Some of you think that achieving your dreams will do it for you, it won’t. Dreams are fun, they bring a lot of excitement, but there’s more.

The Sweet Spot

Yes, of course, some of you have dreams that are also divine assignments, I have those too. That’s the sweet spot, when your income, your dreams, and your assignment are the same thing, but that’s not the case for everyone.

I hope you get to live your dreams, I hope your dreams pay you, but if they don’t, I pray you still fulfill the assignments God has for you. In doing so you’ll have more fulfillment and contentment than the achievement of any dream could bring.

Dreams are something you want to accomplish or experience. Dreams typically require hard work to be realized.

The Peter Pan Syndrome

This is the part where I may upset or offend people, watch this incredibly insightful explanation of Peter Pan.

Peter Pan is more than a children's tale, it's a warning. The warning is you better grow up and make mature decisions. Peter doesn't want to grow up so he stays in Neverland where he's magical. If he joins the real world he'll no longer be magical.

Peter's biggest enemy is a mean man who has been bitten by the crocodile of time, Captain Hook. Peter makes fun of the man who has been affected by time, he taunts him while he lives in his fantasy land.

Peter also never gets to have a real relationship with a woman, he has to settle for Tinkerbell, who can't talk. An immature boy can't speak with a real woman anyway. Peter is also king of the Lost Boys, another group of boys who are hiding from the real world. They just never grow up.

Peter seems fun and unrestricted but he never makes the sacrifice of maturity. He never lays down his fanciful dreams of childhood and discovers the wonder of adulthood. He's grown but he still sees the world through the mentality of a child.

Too many men are living in Neverland. They end up divorced, they never develop a career, they don't put in the sacrifices to come out the other side into a world where you get to actually live and accomplish dreams. Meaningful dreams, not just fanciful dreams.

The moral to the story is growing up, not just grow up but take on the responsibility of maturity. Maturity is able to enjoy life in all its wonder much more completely than the immature dreamer who never makes it out of childhood.

Conclusion

I love Jordan Peterson, I appreciate his insights and direct nature of communication. I found this illustration to be very appropriate regarding the subject of dreams and fulfilling assignments from God.

Life with Jesus isn’t like it is in Neverland. Life with Jesus requires paying the price of dying to yourself and picking up your cross. The secret is, there is incredible fulfillment form picking up that cross and coming out on the other side. The other side of maturity is fulfillment.

I hope this is helpful to you. Some of you may be reading this and feel a sense of pressure. I don’t want to offend you but it may be time to just get a job and learn to be productive at something. Develop the character of consistency and let go of the fantasy that life is easy where all your dreams come true.

I know that’s a bit harsh to say but I really feel at this time, there are people who need to understand who they are in Christ, get to work, and seize opportunities to serve God and fulfill those assignments as they come.

Confess The Word of God to Renew Your Mind and Be Transformed

You are transformed as you renew your mind (Romans 12:2). There is no better source for mind-renewal than the word of God.

There are several methods and applications to root the word in your heart. You can read, pray, meditate, confess, incorporate into art, listen to, and sing songs about the word of God, but in all of those, you must hold the word in your heart to give it time to root and bear fruit.

I want to focus on the power of confession in this article. For a little more context, I am discussing confession in light of renewing your mind and developing confidence in the area of your assignment from God.

You might ask “how do I know what my assignment is?” Here’s the short version - ask yourself “who do I love?” When you know who you love you can then determine how you will love them and get busy on your assignment, God will give you the details along the way.

The Greek word for confess is homologeō , which means “to say the same thing, to agree with, to profess.”

When you confess God’s word you are saying the same thing God is saying about whatever you are confessing. You are coming into agreement with God. You are professing his wisdom, logic, promises and faithfulness over your life and circumstances.

In this Becoming Limitless series, we are using the power of confession to build a Confession Script for your assignment from God.

I gave my church the assignment to write down several identity passages as well as a few passages that relate to their assignment from God. Scroll down and watch previous sermons to discover how to determine your assignment from God. I invite you to work on the same assignment. Compile the list then read it out loud as part of your prayer time. Say it until you feel it, say it until you believe it.

You don’t confess the word to make God move and you don’t confess it to magically make things happen in your life, you confess it to make it believable to your heart.

All things are possible to those who believe!!
If you want to be limitless, do whatever it takes to believe!!

As you go about fulfilling God’s assignments for your life it is important to keep your mind renewed and guard against those pesky internal limitations that seek to disqualify you from fulfilling your assignment.

A Confession Script is a powerful tool to keep your heart confident in your identity in Christ and focused on the goal of completing your assignment.

Do yourself a favor and use God’s word to renew your mind. Put on your true identity by confessing God’s word over every internal issue and external circumstance. The word of God is alive and powerful, co-labor with it to speak life over your future!!