Leadership is attracting the interest of American society today.  A stroll through the personal development aisle of a local book store reflects this interest.  There are books on Abraham Lincoln’s leadership style.  A book with General U.S. Grant’s leadership tenets is entitled Cigars, Whiskey, and Winning.  John Maxwell is a prolific author of very good leadership material.  Books analyze Moses and Abraham, even Jesus Christ as leadership role models.  With all this material, leadership is still a much misunderstood interpersonal relationship.  It is given a variety of definitions, depending on the facet of leadership which is presented.  This often establishes the belief that some are leaders and many others are followers.  There is an undeniable reality that leaders emerge in every field of endeavor, who influence great numbers of people.  There are valuable lessons to be learned from others.   

However, I believe that boiled down to its fundamental definition, leadership is influencing another to do something.  The inductive aspects of what they do, when they do it, where the leading took place, who led and who followed, and how they were motivated are all modifiers to the basic idea of influencing another to act.  Taking leadership’s boiled down definition, I assert that everyone is a leader (and yes, followers too).  John Donne’s observation that “no man is an island” provided keen insight in the social dimension which God created in every human.  We influence one another each time we meet.  Some are attracted to one another, others are rejected.  Some seek to model behavior they see in you.  Each of us has a sphere of influence about us.  Whether our influence is good or bad does not change the fact that someone is watching how we act, how we respond to situations, what we value or reject.  Whether you influence one person or thousands of people – you are a leader.  Leadership carries assumed responsibility.  You may not respect the responsibility you have as a leader, but it remains a constant companion to leadership.  This is why alcoholism and abuse are often passed down from one generation to the next.  This is where lineages are built in professions from doctors to professional soldiers.  Fathers and mothers pass on values to their children.  Good or bad leadership, effective or ineffective leadership, nurturing or critical leadership are all methods of influencing others.   

Henry and Richard Blackaby wrote an excellent book called Spiritual Leadership.  The book’s subtitle reveals its focus, Moving People on to God’s Agenda.  Blackaby cited John Barna’s three c’s of effective leadership – call, character, and competence.  Effective leaders have a clear understanding of what they are leading others toward.  The leader is convicted of his or her calling.  Effective leaders are molded in the form of their calling.  Their values control their desires and shape the paradigms of their decisions. Their minds are disciplined and equipped to choose wisely.  Their bodies are tools to achieve the goals of their hearts rather than allowing the desires of the bodies to shape the will of their spirit.  Elizabeth Inrig, in her book, Release Your Potential, defined Spiritual Leadership as, “being able to influence someone for good because of God’s natural and spiritual gifts to you…” and as “being able to influence others for good and God’s glory.”  She contrasted leadership by stating its aim is not “to demonstrate the superiority of the leader, but to bring out the strengths of people that will move them forward to the desired goal.”

Why lead?  I do not believe you really have a choice.  Someone is watching each of us.  For good or ill, there is something about you that someone wants to emulate.  The better question is “why lead well?”  Paul exhorted leaders to lead with diligence.  (Romans 12:8).  Referring back to Elizabeth Inrig’s book, she presented spiritual leaders with three reasons to guide others; the ultimate purpose – to know God, a common purpose – to be transformed to the image of Christ, and an individual purpose – to be uniquely who God intends each one of us to be.   Some people lead for personal recognition, but successful leadership is much greater that the individual leader.  As a young Army officer, I was thrilled by the honor and recognition bestowed on me personally because of my commissioned status.  However, through the years I realized that my calling as an officer was not for personal recognition, but the duty to enable the success of those I led to accomplish the goals of the nation that I served.  To be able to share with others the blessings that God continues to give us, so that they may know and honor Him is the inspiring motive that calls us to lead.  

In Him,

Dan 

www.noblepurposeministries.org   

How do you determine the value of an experience?  Perhaps we define value by comparing our inclination toward one item with our attraction toward another thing.   Dan (no not me) determined that the second day of his church workshop was more valuable than an extra hour of sleep.  He was not disappointed by his decision.  What Dan had determined to be valuable was a introductory workshop for helping others by exercising aspects of Christian coaching. 

For two days, a group of ministry leaders and pastors met in a church campground on the edge of Stayner, a small Canadian farming community.   The training program is known as GC2, an acronym for Great Commission – Greatest Commandments.  This program is the means through which the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada is accomplishing its goal to create a coaching culture throughout its denominational structure.  One of the facilitators said that EMCC desires “to imbed coaching into the DNA of the church.”

By applying the principles of coaching presenting in John Whitmore’s book Coaching for Performance, this church organization is unlocking the potential of its pastors to help others maximize their own performance.  The course combines discussions to introduce coaching precepts with practical exercises where students role play coach and coachee, while a third student observes the interaction and provides feedback at the conclusion.  In a very short time, the participants gain some fundamental proficiency as a coach.  At the beginning of the second day, they were asked to share what they had learned about coaching.  Here are some of their remarks:

“Coaching honors people.”  “I realize that I don’t have to be the expert on everything.”  “This refines the way we ask questions.”  “I can go into the conversation with an agenda-free approach.”  “It magnifies the importance of relationship”  “I am surprised by how much I’ve learned about myself.”  “Observation skill is more important that technical knowledge.” “I can be less an expert and more of a sounding board.”    “I realized my strong tendency to make every conversation about myself.”   “I need to listen to the whole person.”  “This takes the dependency off of both parties.”  “This is really freeing.”  And after Dan had counseled a member at his church during the previous evening, he concluded, “I realized how much I needed to come back today.”

The course was similar in many ways to the Essential Coaching Training program offered by the Center for the Advancement of Christian Coaching (CACC).  Both address values-based aspect of coaching character.  Both equip new coaches with Whitmore’s GROW model.  However, CACC tailors that model with a couple of introductory steps which sharpen the focus of the coaching conversation.  One of my observations of the GC2 exercises was that we seemed to experience greater difficulty with the client distinguishing between the objective or desired outcome of our discussion and the larger goal that he or she wanted to achieve.  The goal continued to be revisited and refined throughout the discussion and focus was often the casualty.  Perhaps this challenge came as we jumped to the task of tackling the client’s large “A” agenda goal without first clearly identifying the small “a” agenda of their realistic expectation for the conversation at hand. 

The GC2 introduced network group coaching sessions.  For my ministry, this was a valuable portion of the workshop.  We discussed group dynamics and exercised the group GROW model in a collective group environment.  Two practical exercises proved the benefits of support, collaborative learning, and consensus building. 

The most powerful moment of the workshop for me came as we discussed coaching values of distinct design, that the best subject matter experts for building paths to success are the clients themselves.  We were introduced to a photograph of Coach Doug Blevins, closely watching Olindo Mare, the Miami Dolphins kicker.  Blevins, who was crippled from birth, is sitting in his wheelchair, he positions himself to see clearly and is intently focused on the kicker.  He has never kicked a football, but he is the most sought after kicking coach in the NFL.  One of the pastors in the group said, “everything inside him wants to kick.”  That is the heart of a coach.

In Him,

Dan

www.noblepurposeministries.org

Our homeplace was on the very top of the highest hill in the county.  Some said it was the highest hill in Northwest Alabama.  Anyway, it was a great place to grow up.  We were surrounded by pine forests that we called, “the thickets.”  There were also large areas of hard wood trees; hickory, oak, maple, intertwined with huckleberry and blackberry vines.  There were several open fields field simply with tall grass and weeds.  In my mind, it was heaven on earth. 

Sometimes though, tragedy would strike this little piece of heaven.  It might come from lightning or the carelessness of kids playing with firecrackers or a farmer who failed to contain a “controlled burn” in one of the many cotton fields in the area.  When tragedy struck it happened quickly.  Usually as a wild fire that would spread through the grass fields and into the trees.  Families around the area seemed to rally to the raising smoke.  Adults and children alike would wade into the fields and begin to beat out the flames from the edge of the spreading destruction and working our way into the center until the fire was stopped.

At the end of the day, or sometimes the end of the night, we could look and see the damage of scorched earth all around.  What had been alive now seemed dead from the destruction.  However, in just a few days new green grass would begin to shoot out of the darkness.  The colors appeared more vibrant and alive than ever before.  Perhaps this was just our imagination or maybe it was due to the contrast of the surrounding damage.  But it was beautiful.  The trees would break out in new life as well.  Very soon the fields and wood lines were as vibrant and full of life as ever.

I wanted to share this little glimpse into my childhood to bring your attention to something more serious than burning grass in the fields of a boy’s memory.  There are real tragedies occurring in the lives of people around the world today.  God recently brought two people into my life who represent thousands of others that are enduring unthinkable persecution because of their faith in Jesus Christ.  While I don’t know exactly how to help and encourage them, it doesn’t take away my responsibility to try.  So please allow me to share a little look into their little piece of heaven which has been struck by tragic oppression.

Let’s begin by looking at James.  He is living and working to bring Jesus’ love to his fellow Nigerians.  James has a burden for the youth of his country.  Especially the poor who make their homes out of whatever corner they can find.  Children, many under 16 years old, roam the streets and fall into whatever vices will bring them food.  Others try to escape their reality through drugs.  James tells of corrupt officials who prey on these kids by throwing them in prisons, forming them into gangs, and then releasing them back on society to prey on the same people who had victimized them.  The monies they collect through their crimes are given back to the very officials who should be protecting society from criminal activity.  James discovered a role that is more hazardous than the kids who are exploited or the people who are victimized by these gangs.  It is very dangerous to step into the gap between these elements.  James is trying to break the cycle and protect these kids from crooked powers who use them for personal gain. 

Some advise James to move to the United States or another country, but he just responds, “Leaving is like running away…I had interview yesterday with over 25 teens(ranging from 15-17 years) in the prison…Just one out of five prisons in Lagos, as a State…..I lack words to describe what I saw and heard. Some have no clothes to put on…some do not know why they are there…and all of them were picked up on the streets…some were sent on errands by their moms…These teens should be in the classroom, considering the hours they were picked by corrupt Government Uniformed officials…Their reason of picking them was to extort money from them……made worse now by their parents who cannot be extorted also, due to poverty…”  Like a modern day Paul, James says, “I rejoice at my tribulations… as one who has faced blatant lies, blackmails, faced beating, etc, just for me to deny my Lord and Savior: Christ Jesus…”

In another area of the world Philip is ministering to needy people in India.  Here again, Philip’s home has been turned upside down by catastrophe.  In one message, Philip described a fellow minister hiding from members of his home village who had been ordered by their elders to kill the preacher and his wife.  They had been sharing the gospel of Jesus when an elderly villager died.  The elders declared that this death was caused by the new religion and the village must be purged from its influence.  In another province four preachers and their families had been murdered by violent mobs who opposed their message about Jesus Christ.  Scores of homes and churches have been burned.  In one report, Philip wrote, “More then 10,000 Christians were forced to flee their homes as violence spread. These are happening in Eastern, Central and South but now it reached to Delhi the capital of India. The Anti-Christians Group (ACG) started to attacked Christians and churches here in Delhi from 16th of September 2008.  In addition to that let me give you what happened in Delhi.  On 14 Sept. Sunday 14 churches were burnt totally.  The place where I meet for Sunday worship was vandalized on 17 Sept.  Two more churches in Delhi attacked by fanatics.”  However, in the midst of all of these struggles people continue to realize the need for their relationship with Jesus Christ.  In this same report, Philip wrote that 68 people surrendered their lives to Him.  Just like the new grass growing out of the charred remains of burned fields, new life grows out of the middle of turmoil and strife.  Philip asked if I could visit India and witness these things first hand.  He hopes that we might visit other ministers in the region and encourage them consider the strategic vision of spreading the gospel to people who need its message of love so desperately.

It is extraordinary to see how God’s Holy Spirit orchestrates events and circumstances to bring lives together.  He always works to the glory of Jesus Christ and Jesus always leads us to the relationship with the Father which they intended for us all along.  So here is what I hope to do with the leading of God’s purpose and will –

I have been invited to accompany Dr. Jeff Myers as he takes Passing the Baton to India next February and March.  Passing the Baton is a visionary ministry which is focused on equipping the next generation of Christian leaders.  Dr. Myers observed the urgent need to fill a potential leadership vacuum.  He is working to establish 1 million mentors to nourish the lives of the emerging generation and ensure the baton is passed to the new leaders who are firmly grounded in a biblical worldview. 

As we prepare for this trip, I am asking for two things.  First, please keep this effort in your prayers.  Prayer brings our concerns before the sovereign God who is able to make all things possible.  There is nothing that I could ask for that is more valuable than prayer.  My second request is for you consider contributing to the needs created by this cruelty.  While some unscrupulous people set up organizations to take advantage of others’ needs, there are credible ministries that ensure your contributions are provided to those in real need for help.  I am currently coordinating with Samaritan’s Purse to get your contributions to hurting who are in desperate need of help.  You can begin by sending money to Samaritan’s Purse (www.samaritanspurse.org).  In the near future, I will provide more information on how to support fellow Christians in India.

In Him,

Dan

www.noblepurposeministries.org

So what causes revival? The active will of God working in the lives of His people

What sustains revival? While it is an emotional thing, emotions can’t sustain revival because they aren’t the source. While revival drives us to action, our works will not sustain it, because we aren’t strong enough or influential enough. The source that sustains is the same source that initiates - our revival is sustained through our relationship with God. His Holy Spirit focuses our attention on the glory of Jesus Christ. An ever deepening relatinship blesses us with vision to see Jesus in and through us.

Am I/are we in revival? In a word - yes! It is exciting to see the Lord renew my strength as He promised in Isaiah 40:31. I am awed to see the Holy Spirit orchestrating circumstances around the world as His love is rekindled, often in the face of severe persecution as is occuring in India.

Let us all praise His name and pray for His will to be accomplished in us.

During the mid-16^th Century, a young woman named Teresa of Avila wrote a book on prayer – Interior Castle.  She describes a journey as one enters the castle and tours various rooms, always seeking to reach the room in the very center of the castle.  In that room, the soul unites with God completely.  The journey is a journey of prayer.  She writes, “The will inclines the soul to love God, the One in whom it has seen so many acts and signs of love… Then understanding comes forward and makes the soul realize that, for however many years it may live, it can never hope to have a better friend.”

Most of us have heard the stories of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem.  We’ve read of his many signs and wonders; water to wine, healing the deaf, blind, the lame.  We know that He chose 12 disciples, and one of those betrayed Him.  We remember His death on the cross, His burial in a barrowed tomb, Him raised to life again!  But let’s be careful that what we have know in our minds becomes rooted in our hearts.  That our will inclines the soul to love Him.

Focus your mind on the various aspects of who Jesus is!  What He has done, what He is doing now, and why he did what he has done – the significance of His sacrifice will find meaning in the core of your spirit.  Listen to John, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  And again, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  The only Son of God came to live here.  Fully sufficient in every way, He made Himself to depend on a man and woman for warmth, food, and safety.  Human logic can’t explain it.  His disciples never seemed to quite get it.  The educated refused to believe it.  The rulers of the day tried to destroy it.  And through it all – God gave it.  A marvelous gift.  A gift that sustains. 

Last month many watched the Olympic games played in China.  Once again, the world’s amazing athletes gathered to compete against one another, but many were competing with themselves to best old records, to complete races that had been left unfulfilled, to prove to themselves that they were not over the hill.  There were inspiring victories like Michael Phelps, and heart breaking defeats like the relays.  Both American teams, men and women, dropped the baton in the last leg of the race.  The commentators pointed out that the responsibility for passing the baton is in the hands of the one passing it to the one who is waiting to receive it.  This is true in life as well.  Last week our church celebrated the Lord’s Supper.  Two young men lead our thoughts and prayers.  As I watched their sincerity and eagerness to serve, I thought of all of our young women and men.  Their hands are reaching back and waiting for the baton and their turn to enter the race.  It is my generation’s responsibility to place the baton securely into their hands.  To ensure they are positioned and inspired to win the race.  This race continues through every generation.  Sooner than the new generation thinks, it will be their turn to pass the mantle on to those who wait for them.

When I am challenged by the lures of the world, Jesus’ love gives me strength to lean on Him for deliverance.  When I fail to seek Him, even then His grace pulls me home to Him.  As I think of who Jesus really is, the Holy Spirit coaches my spirit to relish the relationship with God and my desire to love Him grows from the recognition of His priceless love that He gives me.

In Him,

Dan

www.noblepurposeministries.org

Last evening our small study ground, we call them ‘Life Groups” had a wonderful discussion which kept replaying through my mind throughout the night.  Our study leader challenged us to consider our self-centeredness versus God’s call for a God-centered relationship with Him.  I could hear a common question of how to apply this relationship into our practical daily living.  How do we “do” life as we strive to yield to God’s invitation to join Him.  All of us are doers.  I believe that God created us this way.  After all, as Creator, God too is a doer, and He created us in His image.  My challenge is where do I stop doing and trust in His guiding?  How do I know when He is telling me where to go?  When do I respond to His invitation?  These are all very real questions for me, and I think I recognize them in each of your comments during our discussions.  That is one reason that you are a blessing, I don’t feel alone as I wrestle for answers.

I really appreciated the question of one of our members when she asked “is the answer to be in the Word?” I’ve thought a lot about this during the night.  Today, as I researched the stresses that ministers endure and the failure rate among those who have answered the call to ministry, I found this article by John Piper about hearing God’s voice.  I urge you to listen to the whole article before you develop any opinion.  He shares the source of his strength.  I hope this article will bless all of you as much as it has blessed me.

In Him,

Dan

www.noblepurposeministries.org

——————–

Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today.

I couldn’t sleep for some reason. I was at Shalom House in northern Minnesota on a staff couples’ retreat. It was about five thirty in the morning. I lay there wondering if I should get up or wait till I got sleepy again. In his mercy, God moved me out of bed. It was mostly dark, but I managed to find my clothing, got dressed, grabbed my briefcase, and slipped out of the room without waking up Noël. In the main room below, it was totally quiet. No one else seemed to be up. So I sat down on a couch in the corner to pray.

As I prayed and mused, suddenly it happened. God said, “Come and see what I have done.” There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that these were the very words of God. In this very moment. At this very place in the twenty-first century, 2007, God was speaking to me with absolute authority and self-evidencing reality. I paused to let this sink in. There was a sweetness about it. Time seemed to matter little. God was near. He had me in his sights. He had something to say to me. When God draws near, hurry ceases. Time slows down.

I wondered what he meant by “come and see.” Would he take me somewhere, like he did Paul into heaven to see what can’t be spoken? Did “see” mean that I would have a vision of some great deed of God that no one has seen? I am not sure how much time elapsed between God’s initial word, “Come and see what I have done,” and his next words. It doesn’t matter. I was being enveloped in the love of his personal communication. The God of the universe was speaking to me.

Then he said, as clearly as any words have ever come into my mind, “I am awesome in my deeds toward the children of man.” My heart leaped up, “Yes, Lord! You are awesome in your deeds. Yes, to all men whether they see it or not. Yes! Now what will you show me?”

The words came again. Just as clear as before, but increasingly specific: “I turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There they rejoiced in me—who rules by my might forever.” Suddenly I realized God was taking me back several thousand years to the time when he dried up the Red Sea and the Jordan River. I was being transported by his word back into history to those great deeds. This is what he meant by “come and see.” He was transporting me back by his words to those two glorious deeds before the children of men. These were the “awesome deeds” he referred to. God himself was narrating the mighty works of God. He was doing it for me. He was doing it with words that were resounding in my own mind.

There settled over me a wonderful reverence. A palpable peace came down. This was a holy moment and a holy corner of the world in northern Minnesota. God Almighty had come down and was giving me the stillness and the openness and the willingness to hear his very voice. As I marveled at his power to dry the sea and the river, he spoke again. “I keep watch over the nations—let not the rebellious exalt themselves.”

This was breathtaking. It was very serious. It was almost a rebuke. At least a warning. He may as well have taken me by the collar of my shirt, lifted me off the ground with one hand, and said, with an incomparable mixture of fierceness and love, “Never, never, never exalt yourself. Never rebel against me.”

I sat staring at nothing. My mind was full of the global glory of God. “I keep watch over the nations.” He had said this to me. It was not just that he had said it. Yes, that is glorious. But he had said this to me. The very words of God were in my head. They were there in my head just as much as the words that I am writing at this moment are in my head. They were heard as clearly as if at this moment I recalled that my wife said, “Come down for supper whenever you are ready.” I know those are the words of my wife. And I know these are the words of God.

Think of it. Marvel at this. Stand in awe of this. The God who keeps watch over the nations, like some people keep watch over cattle or stock markets or construction sites—this God still speaks in the twenty-first century. I heard his very words. He spoke personally to me.

What effect did this have on me? It filled me with a fresh sense of God’s reality. It assured me more deeply that he acts in history and in our time. It strengthened my faith that he is for me and cares about me and will use his global power to watch over me. Why else would he come and tell me these things?

It has increased my love for the Bible as God’s very word, because it was through the Bible that I heard these divine words, and through the Bible I have experiences like this almost every day. The very God of the universe speaks on every page into my mind—and your mind. We hear his very words. God himself has multiplied his wondrous deeds and thoughts toward us; none can compare with him! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told (Psalm 40:5).

And best of all, they are available to all. If you would like to hear the very same words I heard on the couch in northern Minnesota, read Psalm 66:5-7. That is where I heard them. O how precious is the Bible. It is the very word of God. In it God speaks in the twenty-first century. This is the very voice of God. By this voice, he speaks with absolute truth and personal force. By this voice, he reveals his all-surpassing beauty. By this voice, he reveals the deepest secrets of our hearts. No voice anywhere anytime can reach as deep or lift as high or carry as far as the voice of God that we hear in the Bible.

It is a great wonder that God still speaks today through the Bible with greater force and greater glory and greater assurance and greater sweetness and greater hope and greater guidance and greater transforming power and greater Christ-exalting truth than can be heard through any voice in any human soul on the planet from outside the Bible.

This is why I found the article in this month’s Christianity Today, “My Conversation with God,” so sad. Written by an anonymous professor at a “well-known Christian University,” it tells of his experience of hearing God. What God said was that he must give all his royalties from a new book toward the tuition of a needy student. What makes me sad about the article is not that it isn’t true or didn’t happen. What’s sad is that it really does give the impression that extra-biblical communication with God is surpassingly wonderful and faith-deepening. All the while, the supremely-glorious communication of the living God which personally and powerfully and transformingly explodes in the receptive heart through the Bible everyday is passed over in silence.

I am sure this professor of theology did not mean it this way, but what he actually said was, “For years I’ve taught that God still speaks, but I couldn’t testify to it personally. I can only do so now anonymously, for reasons I hope will be clear” (emphasis added). Surely he does not mean what he seems to imply—that only when one hears an extra-biblical voice like, “The money is not yours,” can you testify personally that God still speaks. Surely he does not mean to belittle the voice of God in the Bible which speaks this very day with power and truth and wisdom and glory and joy and hope and wonder and helpfulness ten thousand times more decisively than anything we can hear outside the Bible.

I grieve at what is being communicated here. The great need of our time is for people to experience the living reality of God by hearing his word personally and transformingly in Scripture. Something is incredibly wrong when the words we hear outside Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to us than the inspired word of God. Let us cry with the psalmist, “Incline my heart to your word” (Psalm 119:36). “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Grant that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know our hope and our inheritance and the love of Christ that passes knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 1:18; 3:19). O God, don’t let us be so deaf to your word and so unaffected with its ineffable, evidential excellency that we celebrate lesser things as more thrilling, and even consider this misplacement of amazement worthy of printing in a national magazine.

Still hearing his voice in the Bible,

Pastor John

I am convinced that the greatest reason for Christians who fail to grow in relationship with Jesus Christ is that we lose our focus and become distracted by all of the things around us. As life happens around us, we sacrifice the only thing that will sustain our joy. We fail to study the Word of God, we stop praying, we don’t spend any time in His presence, we only think about God when we are “suppose to,” like coming to church. We wonder why we are not growing? What is the barrier that we can’t overcome?

The second mile is the place where barriers are overcome and records are broken. We look at all of the record holders. Guiness Book of World Records presents all kinds of strange barriers that people have overcome. But there is another kind of barrier that we cannot overcome by our strength or abilities. The only way to win over this barrier is to surrender to the One who promises to carry us through it.

One of my favorite scriptures is Isaiah 40:31,
“Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.”

Jesus said, “If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” Matthew 5:41. We have heard the explanations of Roman law allowing Roman soldiers to demand someone to carry their load. But we miss the point of Jesus words by looking at the technicalities. He message is simple – find joy in going beyond what is demanded. Jesus is saying “Come. Join me in the second mile.”

We can walk with many good people on the first mile. We walk with confidence that we can do good things. We do what we think is right while we walk the first mile. However, In the second mile, we realize that faith is not a one time decision to complete, check off the list and get on with life. It is making your plans and asking God to bless them. He is not some rabbit’s foot that you keep in your pocket. He is the Almighty God, sovereign, holy, and perfect. He is the only one deserving of honor and worship. And God wants to have a personal relationship with me??? and you??? Wow!

Another reason that we grow tired of Christian living is that we depend on ourselves to fix the problems. We are not patiently watching God work. That is because the story of faith is found in the Second Mile. In the second mile we enter eternity. Do you realize that eternity is not something that we are waiting for? It isn’t the next period which comes after Jesus’ return for His disciples. Jesus prayed to His Father, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” In the second mile we know God and Jesus.

In the second mile we find surrender. This is a hard lesson for me. I have been scarred by our western culture which encourages us to multi-task. I am very good at multi-tasking. I can work on six different major projects simultaneously. I am a good time manager and keep a calendar of my wife’s birthday, our anniversary, birthdates of my children, special events. etc. We are taught, and I’m afraid that we teach our children, to compartment our lives – this area is my work life, this is my social life, this is the place of my family life, and here we have is my Christian life.

However, we surrender all of these areas in the second mile. This is the place Jesus invites us to join Him in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Here Jesus tells us how to join Him for the second mile. Notice that we have three instructions here –Come, Take, and Learn. These are the steps of relationship building. No compartments, no hidden motives, no selfish agendas, just surrender and freedom. Sounds strange, doesn’t it. However, test it and see if it’s true.

In Him,
Dan

www.noblepurposeministries.org

Welcome to the NoblePurpose Ministries Blog!  I will be sharing various stories, comments, and opinions on this site.  However, I really would like to open this up for dialogue.  I would like to hear your stories, comments, and opinions that you wish to share to others.  This is the place to do it.  I am not looking to just publish opinions that reflect my beliefs and biases.  I would like to share the thoughts and questions you may have.  While NPM does reserve the right to select which blogs are published, selections are based on their appropriateness and value to the Christian community.  Therefore, please contribute to this forum.