Month: May 2010

Win a Pre-Release Copy of Priceless

Priceless

Over on his blog Tom Davis is giving away a pre-release copy of priceless.

Readers and friends, this week I am giving awayone pre-release copy of Priceless to one lucky winner. I have just received a few of my author copies – this will be the very first book anyone has seen. My publicist doesn’t even have copies!

Priceless is not due to release until June 1–but you can get this exclusive copy next week. I will even personalize and sign this copy for you or someone you’d like to give it to.

If you want to read the first chapter of Priceless, just visit SheisPriceless.com for a free download.

Click here to Enter

All in God’s Timing

On 4/19/2009 we (Ari and I) received a prophetic word about our next house along with that came a word that by this time next year my ministry would be in full swing.

A little over one year later we received a call that the bank had accepted our offer, on a house and that just happened to be the same weekend I was leading our Men’s group on a camping trip.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to be entering into a new stage in life, as homeowners and in ministry. At the time we didn’t think much of it, we were so excited about the prospect of moving into our new home, thats really all we focused on. When the move didn’t happen according to when we thought it should we were a disappointed, but it’s great looking back and knowing that God had a plan all along. That realization gives me hope for the future and a renewed trust in God and his Word.

Want to Get to Know Somebody?

I’ve always had a tough time starting conversations. Not just that, but verbal communication in general for me has always been difficult. So whenever I see good conversation tips, I try to make a point to read them and put them into practice. Here are some good ones from Donal Miller’s blog post entitled “Want to Get to Know Somebody? Understand Their Story”.

A story is a character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. So next time you meet somebody, delve into their story, not their job or the weather they experience where they live. To find out a persons story, you have to find out what they want or have wanted in life, what conflict they endured in getting what they wanted, and what great moments of celebration they have experienced. Questions like this:

A CHARACTER THAT WANTS SOMETHING:

1. Why did you come to America?

2. What drives you?

3. What do you hope for for yourself and your family?

AND OVERCOMES CONFLICT:

1. That couldn’t have been an easy transition to America. What was the most shocking thing you endured?

2. Was that a lonely journey?

3. Did you ever think it wasn’t going to happen for you?

TO GET IT:

1. When did you realize you were happier than the average man?

2. If there could be a moment in the future when you’ll realize that you made it, what would that moment look like?

3. When the credits roll, what do you think is most important in life?

If you ask these questions, I promise, you will be entertained for the next hour. Not only will you hear stories, but you will watch as a person truly reflects on their life, and you’ll learn a great deal about what most people find important. You’ll be amazed that most people don’t really care about money or prestige, they care about love, about weddings and funerals, about children, about dignity and integrity.

Are you and orphan or a son?

I’ve been slowly working my way through an amazing book written by Jack Frost called “Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship“. The main focus of his book is to identify the orphan heart and thinking that mankind has had since the fall of Adam and then guide the reader toward the true spirit of sonship that God has called us to by his son Jesus. I highly recommend this book it’s definitely one of those perspective (even life) changing books.

Midway through the book Frost contrasts the spirit of an orphan with the spirit of sonship. Below are the three the impacted me the most.

Dependency

Orphans are independent and self-reliant. They depend upon their gifts, talents, intellect, and anointing. They are convinced that they cannot trust anyone else. If they want anything, they must get it for themselves. “If anything is going to get done right, I’ll just have to do it myself.”

Sons are interdependent; they know they need the community of love that God and the Body of Christ offer. This interdependency allows them to be open for Father’s love to flow through them to others. Sons also know they are completely dependent on their heavenly Father,  just as Jesus was. “The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing;  for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19b)

This contrast hit me on two fronts the first was that in the definition of Sonship, I see everything that I want from “Church” or the Body of Christ, and then second in the definition of the orphan I see everything that I am.

Need for Approval

The need for approval is universal; we all desire acceptance. Orphans, however, are addicted to and strive for the praise, approval, and acceptance of man, But these counterfeit affections will not satisfy and instead lead to the fear of failure and rejection, which pulls an orphan hear farther away from God.

Sons are not influenced by this turmoil and fear because they know that they are totally accepted in God’s love and justified by His grace. They don’t have to strive for approval because in Christ they already have it.

I see myself here a lot in how I relate to my boss, my wife, and even my Pastor. I feel great when they affirm me, they tell me how good a job I’m doing (pat me on the head in a sense), but I feel fearful or insecure when they don’t. It can be one horrible roller coaster of emotions to ride. But there’s a much better way in the spirit of sonship.

Sense of God’s Presence

For orphans, God’s presence, if they sense it at all, is conditional and distant. If everything goes all right, if they have a good day, if they feel they’ve appeased the Master, if they Tthink they have dotted all their i’s and crossed all their t’s, then they man sense God’s presence. But even then, He often seems far away because their hearts are closed to intimacy.

Sons enjoy the close and intimate presence of God because they know that His presence and nearness do not depend on their behavior. They have discovered that He is with them all the time,  no matter how much they get off center of His love. All they have to do is stop, return to the center of their heart where God’s love dwells, and He is always right there. Sons know from personal experience the truth of the scripture that says, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb 13:5b). Orphans question whether God loves them; sons know that God is crazy about them.

For more on Jack Frost and his ministry see Shiloh Place Ministries.

Dream: A Baby & Ring

we were at this clinc and there were some other people there i didn’t know, you went back for some tests and when the nurse came out with the results she said that there was a 99.9 percent chance the baby wasn’t mine. I was like whatever I’ll love the baby anyway. After that i was back in the back near like a basketball court and you had gone into the bathroom. While you were in there my dad came out, we hugged for a second, but he had to go. As he was leaving i noticed a ring on his finger that had three crowns on it that were attached by little loops on the ring. After he left you came out and we left.
(Ring with three crowns = Father, Son, Holy Spirit.)

Dream: Witchcraft

I was in this place, that was hilly lots of green grass and a dirt path that I was following. Next to the path ran like a deep chasm. Along the way I ran into Sarah Palin (of all people lol) she was giving a speech or something though I didn’t see any people. But behind her across the chasm standing on the edge was a wizard or witch that was trying to kill with a spell or something. I spoke to the rock he was standing on and it broke and he fell into the chasm. Sarah realized what was going on and made some kind of comment and my reply was something like prayer is like witchcraft or visa versa don’t remember that well, but that does kind of make me upset that i would say something like that. Anyway i continued following the path and another wizardly fellow came flying after me because of what i did to the other guy. I started running down the path trying to get away but ran into a dead end. I turned to fight him and fire came out of my hands. That’s when I woke up. Really disturbed.

Dream: Bridge

In this one Arielle and I were flying back and forth between what we called in the dream Columbia, Florida. It was like an island off the coast. Ari recommended that I try the bridge next time, so I rented a car and started driving. The bridge was normal at first, but after a few mins it got crazy. I was doing loops and going upside down and crazy fast. About half way across there was a big chunk of the bridge missing and so I ended up in the water. In the water I started swimming intending to finish my journey. Along the way I found a big floating box that I was able to climb on top of and then hop from box to box till I got to the other side around the time the sun was setting and my rental car was waiting for me right next to my hotel.

Bridge = faith
Broken bridge = little faith
Swimming = Spiritual activity; serving God; operating in the gifts of the Spirit

The Mentoring Project

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5383654&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

The Mentoring Project – Elephant Musth Cycle from The Mentoring Project on Vimeo.

@tmproject seeks to respond to the American crisis of fatherlessness by inspiring and equipping faith communities to mentor fatherless boys.

Find out more at The Mentoring Project and @tmproject