Monthly Archives: December 2012

Praying for Three Wise Gifts

In recognition of the wise men who brought gifts to Jesus, I’m praying for three gifts this season, both for my family and for yours!


1. Gold – a metal of immense value, treasure of significant worth. For gold, I’m asking for blessing on family. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife and two beautiful girls, absolute treasures in my life, not to mention a tremendous extended and spiritual family. Let’s pray for the bonds of relationship to stand strong in this busy season, for the enemy’s divisive attempts to be thwarted, and for unity in faith and love to be strengthened through the entire Christmas celebrations.2. Frankincense – an aromatic that brings pleasant smells to our lives. In honor of frankincense, I’m praying for God’s Spirit to cover our home and our lives thickly and tangibly. His Spirit makes our lives more pleasant as an aroma and brings peace in times of busyness or difficulty. Let’s pray for God’s Spirit and His touch to mark our lives this season, also to radiate from us to those around us who we love and serve.

3. Myrrh – a preservative and cleanser. In honor of myrrh, I’m praying for fresh revelation from God’s Word, which cleanses and protects us from the influence of the enemy. As we walk through this time and read texts that many of us have read 100s of times, may we experience a fresh understanding of the incredible gift that was given to us that first Christmas. Let’s pray for increased illumination of God’s purposes towards us as expressed through His Word. Pray for His Word to be ever on our hearts and tongues for purposes of building one another up and speaking life to those whom we serve and love.

I pray this season is a wonderful time as you reflect on the Creator who loved us so much He sent His son as a baby to change our world 2000 years ago.

Do the Honey Do List Second

Once in a while, I find myself with spare time on my hands around the house. It’s rare, but it happens a few times per week. When I find myself in that position, I am so unselfish 🙂 that I look for things I could do to surprise my wife:

Wash the dishes, pickup around the house, really surprise her by taking care of some laundry…

One of my love languages is acts of service, so I immediately set to work on one of these small items, knowing that my wife will be so blessed when she gets home and finds this task done. She will, it’s true, but there’s a problem with my thinking if I always resort to this list first…

There are a few tasks in my world that will never appear on a list, my wife will never ask me to do, and she’ll never be surprised that I’ve done them. In fact, she probably won’t even notice – unless I neglect them completely.

Studying the Bible, exercise, praying for our marriage and our children, managing our finances…

These things will never appear on her list, because they’re “my job”. Those other things need to be done and when I have time, I should show honor and care for her by doing them. Never at the detriment of the things that are my primary responsibility though.

Hey dads, are you neglecting “your job”?

Fixed Pie vs. Abundance

I work with a great team in an awesome organization. And one of the things you learn leading a team is that people are different. Okay, duh, you knew that already. But trying to lead a team forward on an initiative, especially a new or challenging one, will reveal lots of “differences” in people.  Here’s one example:

Don’t read any judgment into these writings ESPECIALLY if you work with me!

Fixed Pie Thinkers

You know the people I’m talking about. They are always thinking about how allocating resources to this new thing will affect their piece of the pie. Because the pie only has eight slices, so if her slice gets bigger, or if someone new comes in, I’m going to lose some. In ministry, we refer to these people as good “stewards”, because they are really good at managing on a budget and saying no to new things that come along because they don’t fit. When it comes to volunteers’ schedules or a leader’s attention span, there is a limit to how much you can navigate in a church. I contend this is also something you should consider when planning announcements. The more you talk about in a service or meeting, the less people will hear or remember.

Abundance

On the other side, we have people who see “no limits”. There’s always more room at the table, money in the budget, and hours in the day. After all, who needs sleep? In ministry, we sometimes say these people walk in a greater measure of “faith” than the rest of us. While one area that is often considered a fixed pie is the resource pool of your church, I contend that God really does have more than enough finances and volunteers to do everything He is calling you to do. It may require greater vision and prayer or asking in ways that you aren’t used to asking, but there is more out there.

The truth?

They’re both right. The glass is both half full AND half empty.  So sit down right in the middle of that paradox and figure out how to navigate forward. You have to esteem both perspectives or you will only bring part of your team along. Both sides of the team will need to be on board to get the victory God has for you. Congratulations, leader; hard as it is, that’s why you are in your role.

Have you ever encountered this?