The Greek philosopher Sophocles said,
“Heaven never helps the man who will not act.”
And it’s amazing how some things have never changed. The key to success some 2500 years ago when Sophocles wrote these words is the same key that brings success in today’s world. Actions speak louder than words.
The month of July is all about courage. It takes courage to accomplish great things. My goal for this month is to encourage you to be bold, to be brave, and to have courage in your life. This week's coaching session is a short video to help you define courage and a tool to help us start making success simple in your life.
What's an area you need courage in today? Comment below to share your thoughts with our community. We are better together.
Also don't forget to grab your copy of my new eBook COURAGE. Click here to purchase for only $1.99.
Do you feel like you’re in the middle - emotionally, financially, relationally? Your situation is better than it used to be, but you’re not where you know you’re supposed to be. In James 1:2-4, James tells us “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience haveits perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” For some background, the book ofJames is one of the oldest New Testament writings. James was a prayer warrior. He was also known as “Camel Knees” because his knees showed evidence of much time in prayer. He died a martyr. He was pushed from a building but didn’t die, so was beaten to death. He prayed the whole time he was being beaten. Most significantly, he was Jesus’ half-brother. Even though he grew up with Jesus, he questioned the idea of Jesus being the messiah until after he had seen miracles and the resurrection. In his book, he never refers to Jesus as his brother, but as Lord and Savior. I believe his words carry some weight.
James starts this passage with “count it all joy when”.WHEN. NotIF. We are going to face trials and they will come in all different types. Don’t be surprised when they come. It’s good to note that James is writing to converted and Jewish Christian’s who have been dispersed because of persecution. But he tells them to count it all joy!Trials are part of life but, we tend to ask “why” when we’re going through trials. Know this, your trial could be divine. God is not trying to take you out. He has a purpose. The goal is not to quit in the trial but to go through it. Trials are different from temptation. Temptation lures you away from faith. Divinely purposed trials are like gold in a fire. The impurities rise to the top and the dross is skimmed off…and then the gold is put back in the fire. Trials perfect our faith. In trials we look for when it’s going to stop. We wait for God to intervene. We say “When” but James says to say “Win”. Stay with it. Go through it. Get the victory. Realize the truth that we are more than conquerors through Him. What are we winning - God’s purpose for our life fulfilled. How do we get through the trial? We have a choice. When you’re being hit from all sides, count it all joy. Joy is different from happiness. Joy conditions and sets the environment. Joy is the unrelenting thankful trust in God in spite of circumstances.Have feelings but don’t let feelings have you. Working on your mind, what you listen to and watch, helps you command the feelings. Don’t go by what you see. Go by faith in God. Faith is stepping out when you’re not sure, knowing God’s got you.
A few weeks ago I was able to sit down with one of my friends Omar Periu and talk about the subject of Courage. Omar has truly lived a life of courage and would not be where he is today without it.
His story is marked with courage from the very beginning and I believe what he shares in these few minutes will inspire you and encourage you to pursue bigger dreams and have more courage in your own life.
Click here to play or click play below to hear more from Omar. You may also click here to get Omar's free eBook, "Get Fired Up."
Don't forget to grab your copy of my new eBook COURAGE. Click here to purchase it now for only $1.99.
I have said it before, and I will say it again. If you want something different, you have to do something different. You have to break away from conforming and pursue that vision and passion that will fulfill you and make a difference in the world. To do this you must overcome the pull from the world around you to be mediocre.
I love Natalie Coughlin's story as an example of the bravery it takes to overcome. She swam in the Summer Olympics in 2004 and won two gold medals, two silver and one bronze. She also broke a world record. In 2008 she became the first American female athlete to win six medals in a single Olympics. However, because of the wear and tear on her body, she was forced to endure two shoulder surgeries soon after the 2008 Olympics. Typically, someone in this position would expect to retire, or at best still compete but at a lower level. However, Coughlin bravely stepped out of competitive swimming for 18 months to rebuild. She found coach, Teri McKeever, who helped her get back into the elite level of swimming using an unusual approach. Instead of concentrating on rebuilding strength in her upper body, they focused on legs, used Pilates and strengthened the connection between her arms and legs through the core of her body, enhancing her physical abilities for competitive swimming. In 2012, she qualified for the Olympics and took home a twelfth Olympic medal, tying the record for the most Olympic medals for a female US athlete.
If you want to be different, you have to think differently. Break out of the mold. Turn away from doing things the same way everyone else is doing them. People who excel are intentional. They decide on their destination, assess and learn what it will take to get there, find the right people to speak into their journey, and then do what’s necessary to find their way there. A successful person says, “I’m going to do this,” and then starts the process and actually walks the walk – instead of just talking the talk.
Vision evolves but successful people set the destination, work to arrive at that destination, sacrificing time and resources along the way, reevaluate the destination, correct course, sacrifice more time and resources, etc. John Maxwell has stated that there are people who want to be what he is – a successful author, a renowned speaker, a coveted mentor, and much more. But his reaction to someone who has that dream is “Are you willing to do what I did?”
Once you have a clear vision, develop the plan, begin taking the steps and then be prepared to actively reject everything that works to hold you back. You will be told you can’t do it. You will be told it’s too much, too hard, not worth it. But I think, if it is a vision and a passion within you, that there is possibly a higher purpose that is attached to it and it is absolutely worth exploring and pursuing. In fact, the more obstacles you face, the more likely you are to come up with a new way of accomplishing what you have in your heart to accomplish. Reject the comfortable path and be courageous.
An adult wants to know that his or her life has counted for something; that their life has made a difference in the world. Do you want to live an extraordinary life, do extraordinary things, achieve your goals and leave your mark on the world? Then you will have to do what others aren’t doing – as early as possible. If you wait for the rest of the world to find value in the things you want to do, those things won’t be worth doing any longer. Muster courage to forego fitting in with those around you and pursue your heart’s passion. If you do, you will find yourself in places others dared not to go.
Did you know, your tomorrow can be better than your today. I’ve been going through a list of words that will help each of us make the rest of our year, the best of our year. The tenth word on my list is “expectation”. What are you going to do with the days you have left this year? Let’s start with what you are expecting. Did you ever think about how we are all different and even if we have the exact same skills and talents, what we do with them will be different from each other. Think of it like this. If we each bring home a bag of identical groceries, I’ll put them together differently than you. The dish you come up with will look and taste differently than mine. If we take the ingredients of each day, it will be different from what someone else might do with the same ingredients. Regardless, we take what we’re given and we want to make the best of it.
What are you expecting? What are you expecting for the rest of the year, for the rest of your life? The level of your expectation sets the level God is free to work. We can change the world by changing the level of our expectation. We can change what happens in our families, our circles of influence, and our churches on a Sunday in the same way. Whatever you expect with confidence becomes your self-fulfilling prophecy. Read Mark 11:23-25. Have no doubt, believe you have received and you can have anything you ask. It will be yours. But, when you pray, forgive first. So God will forgive your sins too. If you believe little, you will receive little. You don’t have to settle. Pray bigger. Expect bigger. Receive bigger. It doesn’t take any more energy to have a big dream than it does a little dream. With God all things are possible. Michelangelo said, “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our dream is too high and we miss it, but that our dream is too low and we reach it.” Don’t settle for reasonable and disconnect yourselves from the abundance God has available.
On this Mother’s Day, regardless of what this day means to you, we can agree that children are important to Jesus.
Throughout history, people have attempted to paint the perfect portrait of Jesus. Sometimes, He's smiling. Sometimes, He's crying or praying. We all have our gentle, sweet image of Jesus, but that picture isn't complete. If we're really going to understand the Savior of the Bible, it's time to take a fresh look. For years, Christians have asked, "What would Jesus do?" But what if we asked a more illuminating question, "What made Jesus mad?"
The theme verse through this series is from Matthew 23:13, "You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces." The three times that the Bible says Jesus was mad is in the temple when religious activity blocked access for the Gentiles to get to God (He had a “temple tantrum” there), the Sabbath healing where He was grieved by the hardness of their hearts (they cared more about the rules than people getting to God) and the woman caught in adultery (stay tuned). His people, church people, missed the point - people's needs.
People need access to God and they need care. God's first commandment is love God. The second commandment is love your neighbor. Who's your neighbor? It's God's kid. We can't make God happy when we’re blocking His children from a healthy relationship with Him or neglecting real needs. The Pharisees were busy counting out their dill seeds for their tithe and straining gnats from their drinks so they didn’t eat anything unkosher. But, all the while, God’s kids were in need all around them. They just didn't care, or didn’t take time to look up from their religion to notice. The point is not to focus on following religious rules in order to please God, but to love God and love your neighbor. By the way, you can't do one without the other.
Today, my focus is the case of Jesus’ own disciples. "People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them." They're like, "No kids right now. Jesus is busy." When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. What made Jesus mad? His disciples were blocking the children from coming to Him. I always imagined Jesus saying “Let the kids come to me” in a soft, gentle voice. But, this is in His mad voice, “You knuckleheads, it's not about all the important adult stuff. These are the people that need to get to God.” I know the disciples had good intentions, but this made Jesus mad. As a matter of fact, He followed it up with the craziest statement Jesus ever made, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:6 NIV). This sounds like Tony Soprano, not how I imagined Jesus speaking based on my Sunday school pictures.
All my life, I have been struck by the countless similarities between sports and life. Both sports and life require know-how, both demand talent and skill, and both can lead to glorious and fulfilling victories. However, sports and life are marked with obstacles and setbacks too, with mistakes and with crushing defeats. They are each marked with opposition, competition, and failure. And they offer us challenges, as well as opportunities to correct our mistakes and to rise above our failures. In athletic competition, there is always the next game or the next season. In a basketball game, there is always the chance to rebound a missed shot. And in life, we must create the same opportunities to turn failures into successes. We must keep “pounding the boards.”
There is a war going on and a lot of Christians are just simply not engaged in the fight. The Bible has a lot to say about this. Ephesians 6:10 teaches us, “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.” Picture this, the devil is at the drawing board trying to come up with a way to trip you up, or mess you up, or destroy your life (John 10:10). Sometimes I think the devil is working harder to destroy us than we are working to keep it from happening.
What are we to do? How do we face this? “Put on every piece of God’s armor (you are in a battle and you need to dress for it) so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. (This is not “if “ the day or the time comes but “when” it comes) Then after the battle you will still be standing firm” (Ephesians 6:10-13 NLT). Today. I'm going to expose the devil for who he is.
Today, I want to talk to you about trusting the process. Do you have kids? Things change rapidly with kids. Sometimes it feels like you are in a place where nothing will ever change. You have a two year old that throws a fit about everything. But give it two weeks. Things will change. Maybe you have an eight year old who is so enjoyably pleasant and cooperative. But…give it two weeks! Things WILL change. Life can be crazy. Sometimes we fight the process. We kick against the goads I’ve heard it said. But we need to trust the process.Trust is being able to have a sense of security and confidence when dealing with someone. For instance, I trust the team I work with. We’ve built trust together. We’ve supported each other and helped each other; we’ve prayed for each other and celebrated together. We’ve learned together and we are growing together.Trust is built by having the ability to predict that someone will act in a specific way and be dependable. When you have walked through life together, you learn what to expect from those you are walking through life with.
As a young father, I have seen my two year old take a flying leap off his changing table, fully confident I will catch him. However, my eight year old has more experience. She is not as trusting. She wants to fly with all abandon like her little brother, but she will ask me to get closer and closer until she can touch my shoulder and then gently shifts her weight into my arms. Do you believe God is aware enough and strong enough to catch you when you leap? Maybe you hesitate to jump. It takes guts. Are you an entrepreneur? I admire you! Do you believe God will catch you? Maybe you will jump when you can feel God’s hand on you, when you feel God is closer.God will catch you, every time. There is a story in Judges 6 about a man named Gideon who began to trust God and then became trustworthy of God. It is a story of Gideon vs the vast army of the Ammonites. Gideon was desperate. The Israelites were on a downward spiral of sin. They would turn their backs on God, begin to sin and would lose the blessings and covering of God. Then they would repent, begin walking again with God, get comfortable in His protection, and then get lax and begin sinning again. In this passage, we find Gideon in this pit, desperate and poverty stricken. An angel shows up and calls him a mighty warrior. He tells Gideon that the Lord is with him! Gideon wasn’t sure he could trust this word because his people were in such dire need. Gideon had to learn to trust the process and do things God’s way.
You know in your own heart if you trust God. There was a battle in Gideon’s life in addition to the battle with the armies of the Ammonites. Gideon had a battle within. He had to learn to trust God. He tested God but then, God tested him. Gideon amassed an army of 32,000 but God told him to send 22,000 home. God tested Gideon again until Gideon was left with 300. Have you ever had a fight, been right, but oh sooooo wrong in the “process”?When we do things on our own, we’re not under the protection of the process.I always have to ask myself two questions when I'm in a fight. Is this worth it? And who will I be at the end of this fight?Gideon’s army won the battle because they did it God’s way. If they had done it in their own strength, they likely would have died, we would not be telling this story, and God would have gotten none of the glory. When you trust the process, God’s power moves. God will take you step by step.The first step is to take the first step. A good friend of mine says, “Just start.” As we step out, God’sword is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105).Ask the Lord. He will speak to you. His word is alive and active, working on your behalf. The Word, for those who will work the Word. He will direct you. Confirm things through God and His Word. Trust the process. You know where you are supposed to go. Go to God first. A process is a series of actions or changes and if you want your tomorrow to look different from your today, you are going to have to do something today to make your tomorrow different.Take a step in the process. It’s not easy but it’s fruitful. Enjoy the process and endure the process. Romans 5:3-5 describes how it will go, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”
I believe many people in the church are here to learn, work on themselves and move past the hurdles that once stopped them from accomplishing all that God has for them. But if you quit the process, you won’t see the end results.Don’t run when things get hard, press in for your future, press in for your breakthrough. Who do you want to be on the other side? God will create you into something new if you trust the process. God is working, speaking and moving. Let His Word work in you.
Have you ever known someone who transformed themselves physically, began working out and bulked up so they looked like a different person? They have trusted the process. It’s not easy. And it won’t impact everyone the same way. But people who follow the process will get stronger and see their body be able to do things it has not been able to do before. The goal is to be a better version of yourself. The same goes for spiritual growth and strength. As you commit to discipline, to the Word and to relationships with others who can challenge you in your faith, you will become a better version of your spiritual self. In fact, we can use this process of growth and discipline in all we do - marriage, work, parenting, etc. Gideon would have lost the battle even with 32,000 men. But God said to trust the process. He said to do it His way. Blow the horn. Crack the pots. Watch the flame, the fire of God. The enemy was so distraught that they killed themselves. Start with worship each day. Incorporate prayer & praise. Read, study and meditate on God’s Word. Get in the Presence of God. Life needs God. It’s never going to be easy. But choose to grow in an upward spiral. Take steps toward God.
You may not be where you want to be, but if you look back, you’re not the same person that you once were. Take a deep breath and smile, God’s not done with you! It was a process for you to read this today. Maybe someone showed you this blog or told you about Motor City Church. Maybe they prayed for you. Trust the process. Are you stuck? Pray for breakthrough and vision.Dreams are Free!Get full of God. Trust the process.
In the past few days, our nation has been fractured by tragic events. We have felt shock, anger, betrayal, fear, outrage, grief, and loss.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said,
"We have learned to fly the air like birds; we have learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we have not learned to walk the earth as brothers and sisters."
We are hurting, but even in this tragedy, we are not lost.