Leadership Integrity

Leadership Integrity

If you were to describe your reputation as a leader, what words would you choose? What words would others choose? In the multitude of descriptions, would the word “Integrity” be one of them? A lack of integrity eats away at every good thing that is necessary for building a happy and healthy home. Integrity is the result of being honest about a set of morals you are upholding. Here are some thoughts to consider as you move forward with living a life of integrity.

One way to begin developing integrity in our relationships is doing what you say you will do. This sounds simple but like a church committee, we can fall into the old mindset of “when all is said and done, more is said than done.” Most relationships suffer because of a lack of “follow through” with commitments and promises. To make matter worst, we then make excuses to avoid taking responsibility. Remember that at some point or another, we all falter on our promises and commitments. However, these should be the exceptions and not the rule. When pride gets in the way and we act selfishly, sarcastically, and scar hearts. Tomorrow we will look at some of the impacts of this “excuse” based integrity.

Couples who turn to excuses for their lack of integrity quickly find the ground of trust they once enjoyed eroding beneath their feet. They are in no short supply of reasons for their shortcomings, infidelities, unkind words, impatience, and their selfishness. Like an attorney trying to convince the judge, the man or woman seek validation for their reasons. Without the full story, they can get their friends to support them, justify them, and cheer them on as they avoid accountability, and preserve their sense of pride, and rightness.

Because integrity is easier to disguise, it can only be measured by you. If you say you will do something but when it comes time to do it, you change your mind or bend the truth to get out of doing it, you have a situational based integrity. This means you will base your morals on the circumstance you are experiencing. If you want integrity that resembles a house of cards, choose this way. I want to warn you to watch out for the strong gusts of truth that blow through.

Have you ever felt like you were standing in a fire because of your Godly convictions? The fire, although intense, can be an integrity builder. The refining process for gold involves intense heat. Gold melts at a temperature of almost two thousand degrees Fahrenheit. That incredibly high temperature is required for gold to be ready to be used as it burns away all the dross (impurities). The life of integrity involves much the same process. Sometimes we are surprised when “bad things happen to good people.” yet James 1:2-4 tells us that fiery trials are part of God’s refining process for our lives. Remember, when integrity is tested by fire, it glows to become a beacon of truth for others to see.

Lastly, integrity is built or destroyed in the heart. Our heart feels something, then our mind thinks something, often resulting in our bodies doing something. It all starts in the heart. As an example, Matthew 15:18 states, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man”. In my marriage, I have come realize that I need to abide by a set of morals beyond my own cravings, desires, and impulses, in order for my marriage to thrive. Integrity is the fleshing out of what we truly love. When our first love is Jesus, those around us will have a deeper love from us and a life of integrity that takes our leadership to the next level.

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Protect Your Mission Trip Warriors!

Melissa D. of Atlee Community Church out of Mechanicsville, Virginia, wrote on the wall of her church’s Mission Trip to Ecuador Facebook page: I am just finding out that Tommy was hurt today while on his mission trip in Ecuador. He fell through a roof onto a concrete floor. The praise report is that he was not hurt any worse than he was. He has a cracked pelvis, a broken finger on his left hand and they also had to put pins in his left wrist. Now, all that sounds bad, but I know God protected him from it being much more serious! He will have to stay in the hospital for two days and then they will decide what needs to happen next.”

The chances that your church has taken a missions trip are high. The chances that they’ve had missions trip insurance when they did so are not so high. “We’ve been taking missions trips just fine since the church was founded and never had any issues,” you might say. “What’s the point in adding unnecessary expenses to the missions budget?”

In all seriousness, when you travel, especially internationally, there’s a good chance your health insurance or even your liability insurance doesn’t travel with you, and you’re therefore exposed to significant financial risk in the event something terrible happens. You could get really sick or you could be injured. You may have to be evacuated due to a medical event, a political event, terrorism, or a natural disaster (think earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, etc.)

Perhaps Tommy works a great steady job with awesome benefits here in the States, however, is that insurance effective overseas? Will Tommy’s doctor AND hospital bills be covered? Will he have to be moved back to the States with any added precautions, and if so, will those expenses be taken care of? Once he returns, will he be able to work at his job? If not, will his jobs benefits cover an injury he received off the job in another country in a volunteer situation? And never mind his personal insurance. What about the church insurance? Will their liability insurance take a hit?

These are all things that fall under the heading: stuff happens! No matter if your church is planning their 1st missions trip or their 100th, missions trip insurance is no longer an option; it’s a vital component, and you should customize your insurance for your specific needs – nothing more, nothing less.

Here are a few of the many options to consider:

  • Medical insurance for groups of five or more traveling abroad
  • Medical insurance for individuals involved in educational or cultural exchange

Travel protection program

  • First class travel protection
  • Medical insurance and travel protection for international travelers
  • First class travel medical insurance and travel protection for international travelers
  • Medical insurance for traveling executives
  • Medical insurance for organizations with five or more traveling executives
  • Long-term, worldwide medical insurance for individuals and groups of international students
  • Medical insurance for groups of two or more involved in educational or cultural exchange and study abroad programs

Quote taken from
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Atlee-Community-Church-Mission-trip-to-Ecuador/307652834933

This blog provided to you by Strong Tower Insurance, Inc. Strong Tower Insurance is pleased to partner with All Pro Pastors in support of pastors and their congregations by offering a variety of insurance solutions to protect the mission of the church!

Note: Earl and Carolyn Burkett owner’s of Strongtower Insurance specialize in Church and Ministry insurance. They are committed to serving Jesus in their business and we have asked them to provide articles and information that may help you. We can confidently say they care about those they serve!

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WIVES do you “REALLY” Respect Your Husband?

2 Corinthians 13:5
For self-examination, observation and
transformation, not condemnation.

1. Do you speak to your husband in a condescending “put down”
manner? For example:
A. “What’s the matter with you?”
B. “Anybody could have done better than you did.”
C. “My Dad would have never done that.”
D. “Can you do anything right?”
E. “What you just said is ridiculous!”
F. “You old fool!”
G. “You’re too slow, I’ll do it myself.”
(It’s better to live in a desert land, than with a contentious and vexing
woman (Proverbs 21:19).
2. Do you treat your husband in private as respectfully as you do your
pastor, your neighbor, or your friends in public? Honor all men, love
the brotherhood, fear God, honor the King (I Peter 2:17).
3. Does your countenance show disrespect by angry looks, looks of
disgust, crossed arms, rolling of the eyes, etc.? Then the Lord said to
Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen
(Genesis 4:6)?
4. Do you compare your husband unfavorably with other men? For I
have learned to be content in whatever state I am (Phil. 4:11).
5. Do you respect your husband’s requests by trying to do as he asks, even
if it doesn’t seem important to you? For in this way in former times, the
holy women also who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, being
submissive to their own husbands (I Peter 3:5).
6. Do you listen carefully to your husband’s opinions, trying to
understand him? Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to
take offense and get angry (James 1:19).
RESPECTING YOUR HUSBAND
(Page Two)
7. Do you inappropriately contradict your husband in front of others?
She does him good and not evil all the days of her life (Proverbs 31:12).
8. Do you bring up your husband’s shortcomings to others? Her husband
is known in the gates (Proverbs 31:23).
9. Do you try to intimidate or bully your husband by making threats,
verbally attacking him or in some other way manipulating him to
have your way? The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears
it down with her own hands (Proverbs 14:1).
10. Are you obeying God by being respectful to your husband? Let the wife
see to it that she respects her husband (Ephesians 5:33).
“Final Thoughts”
 Respecting your husband is not an option if you are going to be in the
will of God, where God’s blessings will pursue you and overtake you
(Deut. 28:1-2).
 You may be smarter, wiser, or more gifted than your husband, but you
must still respect him and the position God has given to him.
 If your husband is not a Christian, he is still to be respected because of
his position (I Corinthians 11:3, I Peter 3:1-2).
 If you are disrespectful to your husband, your children will likely
acquire the same attitude. It will be much more difficult for them to
honor their father if you are belittling him and speaking to him in a
harsh, sarcastic tone of voice.

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How to Double Your Prayer Power!

The power of prayer has changed the world many times! The Bible has countless examples of men and women who seek God on their face and on their knees and entire nations would crumble or be restored. Prayer is mankind’s expressed way to reach up to God. The children of Israel time and time again when they disobeyed God and strayed away from serving him always found his arms open when they humbled themselves and sought his face and prayed!

Have you ever prayed about something and it seemed that God is nowhere to be found? Does it appear that your prayers sometimes have NO Power at all? It is very easy to assume that all prayers are equal and each of us have the same connection with God, however you and I both know that this is not true. Some people pray for healing and it is done others pray for miracles and they are done and sometimes demonic oppression and possession is cast completely out from someones word/prayer of faith! Why do some people have great power when they pray and others do not? Why are some prayers answered and others are not? Some of this has to do with faith. Some has to do with obedience. Some has to do with intent. Some has to with knowledge. And some of this has to do with relationships! There are many reasons prayers go unanswered and some would say the answer could be NO but when we pray according to God’s Word the outcome is always fairly certain.

Today we are going to focus on one simple way to double your prayer power. Now let’s qualify this. This is for married couples. Married couples at the time of their union become one flesh according to God. The two shall come together and become one. When God says that we become “One” he takes this very seriously. From that moment on we enter into a new relationship with him. He looks at us as a unit or you could say a team of two,  one team called Family. When a husband and wife are at odds with one another, fighting with one another, criticizing each other, and looking for pleasures outside their marriage, God cannot bless their every action or request. Sure God hears you and will answer your cry for help or intercession for another but without oneness and unity in your marriage, which is sin, your prayers will hit a brick wall.

Think about this. If you and your wife make a whole, then when you are divided you are half of what God put together. You are not nearly as powerful in prayer as when you have wholeness in your marriage.

Dear friends, if you have a breakdown anywhere with your wife, if communication is strained or if you have a stagnant marriage your prayer life is suffering and thus your life is suffering. It is your responsibility to make it right, no matter how hard this may be.

Do you want to double your prayer power? Then include your wife and above all be sure that you have given NO place for the devil to reside in your marriage.

Pray together everyday and the enemy will flee and the walls will come down. Guaranteed!!

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Grow Your Church Spiritually, Numerically, and Financially

Here is a hard-core truth: “Healthy things grow. God has woven this principle into the very fabric of creation. The converse of this is true as well. When a living thing becomes unhealthy, growth stops and even reverses. Ask any farmer or gardener.” –Robert Morris, Pastor of 20,000+ member church

 

Here are a few facts for your consideration: According to the Barna Group, roughly 60 percent of the Protestant churches in the United States have fewer than 100 members and a full 98 percent have fewer than 1,000. In other words, small churches are the rule, not the exception. These numbers reveal the failure of our churches to effectively reach out into their communities.

 

Join the “2% Club”!

 

No matter the size of your church, I want to help you reach and break the 1,000-member mark so you can enter into the top 2% Club. I have spent the past fifteen years of my ministry in the trenches teaching and coaching Senior Pastors how to exponentially grow their churches spiritually, numerically, and financially. Over the years, I can’t even count how many times I have heard pastors say, “I can’t take it anymore! I know I need help, but I desperately want something more than just another good speaker or church growth program. I think I need some leadership coaching.”

 

I know firsthand what it’s like to hit what seem to be invisible walls of growth at the 150, 300, 500, 800, and 1,000 marks. The first church I pastored in a tiny town called Trillacoochee, Florida, faced these same challenges. However, a very successful megachurch pastor coached me on how to break those “perceived” barriers. The result—my church grew larger than the community in which it was located. For the past fifteen years I have helped many pastors break these barriers.

 

Crisis among Senior Pastors

 

Why do so many ministries stagnate, marriages fail, strange doctrines appear, sinful behaviors become commonplace, and leaders quit? Why are so many pastors and ministry leaders overwhelmed, burned out, frustrated, and contemplating quitting? I believe there is a very simple yet profound answer: because they have not been properly developed and trained with the leadership intelligence (LQ) necessary to grow a thriving church.

 

LQ Deficiencies—We Should have Seen it Coming

 

We should have seen the tragedy of September 11, 2001, coming. We had warnings; the first bombing of the World Trade Center, the Kenyan Embassy, the U.S.S. Cole, etc. We can say the same thing about the tragedies we have witnessed in ministry. The following statistics about pastors have been available from pollster George Barna for years:

  • 1,800 pastors leave the ministry every month
  • 40% will not be in the ministry in 10 years
  • 15% contemplate leaving the ministry every Monday morning
  • 65% would leave their position for a similar paying position
  • 50% feel unable to meet the needs of the job
  • 80% believe that pastoral ministry has adversely affected their families
  • 40% will have an extramarital affair during their career
  • 70% say they have lower self-esteem than when they started in ministry
  • 89% say they do not have the gift of leadership

 

As America’s #1 Confidence Coach, I have provided more than fifteen years of consulting, vision facilitation, and strategic planning to Senior Pastors. I have also trained over 335,000 church leaders in conferences, workshops, and Bible schools throughout the world. I know that these statistics can be turned around. There are many faithful and committed pastors and church leaders worldwide who need to know that they are not alone—there is help.

 

For years, pastors and ministry leaders have been asking:

  • How can I gain significant ground, sustain vigorous and healthy growth, and be uniquely able to accomplish all that God has given me—and survive?
  • How can I get to the point where I’m not dealing with my ministry alone?
  • How can I stop living my life at full bore before I burn out and forget who I really am?
  • How can I feel once again close to my first love, Christ?
  • Where do I go from here? I am frustrated, overwhelmed, and weary. Life seems like a cycle of endless work.
  • How can I remain strong and maintain my health, enthusiasm, zeal, supernatural love, and compassion for people?
  • How can I have confidence that I can say someday before the Lord, “I have finished the work that You gave me to do”?

 

My own personal research and the research of other successful consultants reveal that these questions stem from FIVE universal leadership deficiencies:

  1. Lack of Direction – Most pastors lack the clarity and proper structure needed to build a successful church and to leave a legacy. Result: Unfulfilled ministry dreams.
  2. Wrong Work Ethic – Because most pastors are operating out of their leadership position, they get so caught up doing the menial tasks of ministry that they do not have time to practice the two most important principles to growing their churches. Result: Church membership stagnates, morale decreases, and finances dry up.
  3. Lack of Time Management Skills – Most pastors, due to hyper-business, tend to fly by the seat of their pants and are unorganized. Result: Leader stagnates, lives with an unprotected anointing, and with a lack of intimacy with God and family. Result: Quality people leave the church, leader experiences burnout.
  4. Crisis and Change Management Skills – Most pastors have so much needless crisis and chaos going on around them. Rather than facing the facts, they avoid them, at great cost. Result: Leader becomes delusional; major ministry opportunities are missed and major mistakes are made.
  5. Lack of disciples being made through Leadership Development – Most pastors do not lead or properly disciple, coach, teach, train, or mentor those God has entrusted to them. Result: Lack of qualified and strong leaders to carry the load. We have been busy developing professional church goers instead of strong leaders needed to carry the load.

 

What Caused the Tragedy?

 

The principal reason for the dysfunction that manifests in frustration and eventually quitting the ministry is that leaders have never learned the following:

  • The wisdom to achieve all of God’s mandates while maintaining the quality of life He prescribes.
  • The understanding and practical application how to properly structure and build a ministry organization.
  • The methods, systems, strategic planning, and processes required and how to execute them.
  • The practical tools that must be worked versus falling for the clever slogans, sayings, steps, ideals, and theories that don’t work.
  • The skills that must be practiced so that the art of execution is passed down.

 

Pastors and ministry leaders have said to me repeatedly, “I’ve read all the church growth books, John Maxwell’s leadership books, have gone to conferences, and have listened to all the CDs. Can you please show me how to do this?” Most Senior Pastors have never been taught and trained in the foundational principals, personal development processes, and behavioral performance proficiencies of building a successful and efficiently functioning church. All they have been taught is “Preach the Bible, worship God, pray, stay positive, build a big building and they will come.” This philosophy worked in the “authoritarian autocratic one-man -show” leadership style of the ’80s, ’90s, and the beginning of the 21st century.

 

“My [Senior Pastors] are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” (Hosea 4:6, paraphrased).

 

However, times have changed, the culture has drastically changed, and the problems we face are more complex. Without a doubt, leading a church in the 21st century demands a higher level of leadership intelligence (LQ) than at any other time in the history of the world. The old models of leadership are obsolete. Now, leadership is less about titles, positions, or how good you can preach—and more about influence and impact.

 

Learn how I built a bigger church attendance than my cities population—and you can too! FREE for Senior Pastors, my new book called The LQ Solution- Influence, Impact, and Increase. Simply click this link: http://ow.ly/6kCo30bwCEV

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Operating in Social Media Denial

Is your organization suffering from social media denial?

Despite 60 percent of Americans using some form of social media, according to the Pew Research Center, the prevailing belief by businesses is that social media is a fad, a phenomenon, just another version of the Internet.

In fact, 72 percent of businesses don’t even have a clear strategy or goals for social media activities, according to study by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM).

Darla Moore School of Business researcher Rob Ployhart is working to change that. The management professor is conducting some of the first studies on social media and its use as a business strategy. To help executives struggling with the issue now, Ployhart provided guidance in a report released late October by SHRM.

“There is a lot of hype that goes along with technology,” Ployhart says. “After doing this review, I’m convinced that social media is radically different and that existing theories about communications can’t be applied the same way. It puts incredible power in the hands of employees and customers. One person sharing on social media is more powerful than 50 or more people saying it.”

Ployhart says one of the main reasons businesses haven’t pursued a social media strategy is the lack of data tied to return on investment.

“Usually people think about social media from the employee issue part of it – for disciplinary, firing and hiring – by establishing social media policies for what employees can and can’t do. They’re not looking at it from ‘how can I use this to drive results for my business?’” Says Ployhart, the Band of America Professor of Business Administration in the University of South Carolina’s Moore School.

He says a social media strategy for an organization must be supported by a set of company-wide policies that then are implemented as necessary throughout each department.

“In today’s world, we are all interconnected. Companies that are thinking about this proactively are the ones that are probably going to have an advantage in leveraging this technology,” Ployhart says. “I’d be surprised if the first few companies that get in there don’t have a lasting competitive advantage.”

“Many employees are reaching retirement age. So, how do we push knowledge down to younger employees?” he says.

“Social media and networking is exactly the way we should start thinking about it, and it is not even on the radar screen for most managers because they themselves are not comfortable with it or use it or see it in that kind of way. What they don’t understand is that the younger generation expects to use it and expects employers to use it, too.”

Information taken from www.insurancejournal.com

If you’d like to contact Strong Tower Insurance, we’d love to hear from you!
1.800.329.0093
www.mystrongtower.com

This blog provided to you by Strong Tower Insurance, Inc. Strong Tower Insurance is pleased to partner with All Pro Pastors in support of pastors and their congregations by offering a variety of insurance solutions to protect the mission of the church!

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The Command to “Love and Respect”

The Command to Love and Respect (Ephesians 5:33) “Nevertheless, let everyone of you in particular (speaking to husbands), so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence (respect) her husband.

(1) A husband is to obey the command to love, even if his wife does not obey the command to respect.

(2) A wife is to obey the command to respect, even if her husband does not obey the command to love.

(3) A husband is called to love a disrespectful wife.

(4) A wife is called to respect an unloving husband.

(5) There is no justification for a husband to say: “I will love my wife after she respects me; nor for a wife to say: I will respect my husband after he loves me.”

(6) When a husband feels disrespected, it’s very hard to love his wife.

(7) When a wife feels unloved, it is very hard to respect her husband.

(8) When a husband feels disrespected, he has a natural tendency to react in ways that feel unloving to his wife.

(9) When a wife feels unloved, she has a natural tendency to react in ways that feel disrespectful to her husband.

(10) It is very important to understand – When someone reacts toward you, respond to them.

a. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).

b. Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not (Galatians 6:9).

c. Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord (Ephesians 6:8)

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Seven Reasons Not to be a Champion

  1. I don’t want to buy your breakfast
  2. I have a whole congregation of close friends
  3. My church runs smoothly
  4. I don’t want to invest in anyone’s life 
  5. My family is fine 
  6. I don’t have problems 
  7. I don’t need accountability I have my spouse

So, tongue and check out of the way, I love meeting with my table mates every week!  I am human and have real needs, not just as a woman but as a pastor’s wife that takes hits from all sides that could use a friend that truly understands things from every side.  So yeah, some weeks when money is tight I might need to buy her breakfast.  My table mates have become a place where my marriage and family have been prayed over with earnest, sweet blessings and in confidentiality. It’s wonderful to see the fruits!  I love having a place to run and share.  Ultimately, I’m not the champion, my table mates are my champions!  That’s what being a part of a table is about.  I could have gone on and on, listed a scripture for every point!    What is holding you back?     Become a Champion! Be someone’s Champion!

 

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Developing Leaders vs Gathering Followers

Developing Leaders vs. Gathering Followers

Your ultimate long‐term success as a leader will be determined by your ability to develop a team of leaders…those who know how to lead to the future and not just manage the present. In order to fulfill the vision, you must be able to guide the way the team works together in order to deliver the desired results.

Team success is the ability of their leader to rally all the team members to commit to the vision and common goals ‐ not because they have to, but because they want to.

Forming a team of mentally, emotionally, and spiritually mature leaders is worth your time and effort. The greater challenge is getting them to lay aside personal ambition and ideas for the sake of becoming a team centered only on the mission and vision. A group of followers working on the same effort is far different from a team of strategic‐thinking leaders focused on the same goals with a clear understanding and commitment to the same outcome‐based results.

Independent thinking team members normally focus on their own strengths, abilities and promote their own ideas of what success should look like. Most of the time, this leads to everyone pulling in different directions and momentum is lost, if it was ever there to begin with. As a leader, it is your primary task to inspire individual team members to check their ego at the door, set aside personal agendas and cultivate a passion for teamwork, team solutions and team wins. Look at yourself first.

Your top priority as a team leader, leader of leaders and most of all as a senior leader, is to have your team understand, focus and commit to the outcome‐based goals of the mission, vision, values and strategy. Without clarity about these four key elements, buy‐in by the team and commitment to work together as a team will never happen in any significant with developing leaders out of the followers you have gathered happens best when working together as a team is the only option. Team dynamics cannot develop in solo situations. Lone rangers, overbearing personalities and divisive behaviors have to be overcome and not tolerated for very long. As the leader, you must have the emotional strength and maturity to help clarify non‐productive behaviors in both strong‐willed and weak‐minded individuals. Somehow you must be able to persuade them to see the big picture; how every individual effort is not only valuable, but also vital to the team’s success.

Five principles critical for developing a team of leaders:

Provide adequate and accurate information; clarity about desired results and the rationale used to shape your views.

Anticipate and resolve conflicts quickly. As the leader, it’s your job to make sure overly competitive or domineering team members don’t exploit another’s vulnerability when discussing either positive or negative issues as they relate to the team’s on‐going efforts or final results.

Recruit, teach, train and deploy the right team members. Be slow to appoint so you won’t have to disappoint. No matter how talented they are, if their ego, personality and effort cannot complement the team, you have to decide what’s more important to you —individual contribution or the team’s success.

Provide prompt and adequate feedback. Waiting until the annual performance review means many significant coaching opportunities may be lost. Feedback for both individuals and the team as a whole is most effective in written form. And, I don’t mean the small and big wins on a regular basis.

Recognize and deal with promptly those that I refer to as “Vision Drainers.” The single biggest reason for teams not performing effectively and winning often is the emotional maturity of the leader. It often lies in the discomfort and sometimes the fear of giving honest feedback necessary to develop a group of followers into a team of leaders who win on a regular basis.

Remember, leaders who turn followers into leaders on a consistent basis are leaders who know what they are doing and why. Many times, there are those who give promise of being great leaders because of superficial personality and character traits. Intelligence, confidence and the ability to communicate are important. However, having all these does not mean they have the emotional maturity and ability to make good judgments, which are invaluable in turning followers into leaders.

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The Power of CIA!

I know you are wondering what I am talking about. CIA is one of the first benefits we receive upon accepting Jesus Christ as our savior and exercising our faith by believing Him. Consistent CIA is required for every Christian to maintain a productive growing relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. CIA is Christian Identity Assurance. It is the clear fact of a Christian completely believing and being who God says he or she is.

The word Identity is defined as the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. God made us to be who and what He said we are. In Galatians 4:6-7 the bible says “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ”. This scripture and fact is absolutely clear. We as Christians are to refer to ourselves as sons of God with undeniable comfort in our spirit. We must exercise complete identity assurance in the facts of who God says we are. This means believe and behave as who God says you are. A son who sees his human father return home from work runs to the door to greet and embrace his father. A son of God should willingly want to greet and worship God without a pastor, leader or brethren asking him or her to do so. Church leaders would not need to call anyone who has Christian identity assurance to come to church. They would already know they are supposed to be in church.

We are taught in Psalm 8:6, “You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet”. This is a fact of the authority given to us. Anyone given authority is accountable for the use of the authority. Brothers and Sisters don’t leave your authorities resting in the pages of the bible. Scripture teaches us to whom much is given, much is required. Partner with the Holy Spirit to properly use the authority God has given you every day. The bible teaches us in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. This is a fact of the duties (good works) given to us. Anyone given duties is responsible to be available, flexible, teachable and trainable to perform the duties. Let Godly good works be our way of life at home, place of work and all other areas of our lives.

Finally, a believer who has consistent Christian identity assurance is a Christian who truly believes and behaves as who God says he or she is consistently. Such a person has begun the successful journey of pleasing God. It is written in Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Pleasing God is about first believing who God is and then who God says we are. Once we accept who God says we are, we know to yield and partner with the Holy Spirit to fulfill God’s purpose. Let us not allow the world to turn us into people who doubt, fear, complain and worry. None of these are pleasing to the Lord. Remember Apostle Paul said “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7. Rise up beloved and constantly walk in who God says you are. Be the salt, be the light, be the blessing, yes, be the breakthrough for those waiting for you.

Shalom and Glory to you.

 

Ps: Come by next month to check out suggested consistent CIA prayers.

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A Regret-Free Marriage

“Everyone has experienced regrets at sometime in his or her life. Sadly enough, they seem to be part of

the cold realization that we all do things we wish we hadn’t done or fail to do the things we should

have. Nonetheless, if we allow regrets to keep our focal point on the past, we are setting ourselves up

for trouble. Someone once said that living with your focus on regrets is like trying to drive a car while

looking in the rear-view mirror; there’s no doubt about it—you’re going to crash.”

One question asked many husbands and wives was to “share some of the regrets they harbored.” Later,

those surveyed indicated that “these feelings have affected their personal lives, and, in some instances,

have had a derogatory impact on their marriages.”

Here’s just a partial list of what some of the husbands and wives said. Please read them carefully—

we’re hoping that we’ll learn from them so we won’t continue to make the same mistakes and

eventually live with the same regrets:

THE WIVES SAID 2

:

• I wish my husband and I wouldn’t have argued in front of the children.

• I’m afraid we got married too soon. We were counseled to wait, but we didn’t.

• I regret not making “our relationship” more of a priority over the children. Now that the kids are

older, I feel like my husband and I don’t really know each other.

• I wish we hadn’t lived together before we got married.

• I would have asked Jesus into my life sooner. I regret the wasted years.

• We should have changed the way we conducted our financial situation. We’re so far in debt, I

don’t think we’ll ever be financially secure.

• I wish my husband and I would have prayed together. Whenever we’d hear someone preach

about having prayer time as a couple, we’d talk about it but never follow through. I feel like

something is missing between us as a result.

• I regret never really enjoying my children. I wanted them to grow up quickly. They kept me

from doing things I wanted to do, got in my way, and drove me crazy. Looking back, I feel

foolish for being so short sighted. I wish I could do some of it over.

1 Anderson, Roger & Ponceti, Anthony – Love is a God Designed Hunger © 2011

2 Hot Topics for Couples: What Husbands and Wives Aren’t Telling Each Other By Steve & Annie Chapman

All Pro Pastors A Regret-Free Marriage Page 1 of 3

The Husbands Said:

• I regret raising our children in a spiritually unfit environment.

• I regret buying a house that was too large for our income. The financial stress is suffocating me.

I feel the pressure all of the time.

• If I could change anything, I would have been a nicer person to live with. I regret being so harsh

and mean to my wife and kids.

• I regret hitting my wife.

• I wish I had not had an affair and betrayed my wife.

• I regret straying from the church.

• It makes me sad when I think about how much my wife and I have drifted apart.

We can conclude that husbands and wives aren’t telling each other about the pain from their past. What

they can’t say is:

“I love you and want to show you how I feel. However, there’s a part of me that can’t reach out to you

because I’m holding on to merciless regrets. My emotional paralysis has nothing to do with what

you’ve done. I’m the one who must deal with the pain from my past. As you pray for me and support my

pursuit of God, I’m confident I will find peace.”

Scanning the list we realize:

That all of their regrets could be resolved using three remedies:

1. Avoid the Avoidable

2. Change the Unacceptable

3. Forgive the Unchangeable

Avoid the Avoidable:

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with

the same person. 3

The first remedy is to admit that many of the regrets were actually avoidable. In most cases, the

regretful things that were done by the men and women who responded to these questionnaires were a

product of yielding to temptation. For that reason, the individuals were wearing the “handcuffs” of

guilt.

For example, many of the couples voiced sincere remorse for a variety of ‘sexual indiscretions’ (the

politically correct jargon for the word sin). Some had guilt feelings about living together outside the

bonds of marriage. Others regretted their unfaithfulness toward their spouse. Obviously, all of these

failures could have been sidestepped by better choices.

Yet the sins were committed and the feelings of shame the people feel are very real and debilitating to

their marriages. But as devastating as these downfalls may be, there is hope for all spouses who feel

‘cuffed’ by condemnation. As grievous and horrible as our sins may be, they’re no match for the

boundless love and grace of God, through Christ.”

3 https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/248519.Mignon_McLaughlin

All Pro Pastors A Regret-Free Marriage Page 2 of 3

We feel it’s important to remind us all of what God’s word says about His willingness to forgive us:

• 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse

us from all unrighteousness.”

• Psalm 32: 5, “I said ‘I will confess my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.’ I said, ‘I

will confess my transgressions to the Lord’—and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

These are just two of hundreds of verses in God’s word that speak to His willingness to forgive us. So,

if you’re struggling with guilt and can’t forgive yourself, turn to the Bible and begin a word study on

forgiveness.

Change the Unacceptable:

A perfect marriage is one in which “I’m sorry” is said just often enough. 4

Take a few minutes to look over once again the regrets revealed by the husbands and wives. As you

reread them, make a mental note of how many regrets fall under the category of ‘changeable’.

They make an excellent point. Just because you were bad at handling finances doesn’t mean you have

to stay that way. That can change. If you’ve drifted apart that doesn’t mean it has to be that way today.

You can rebuild the relationship.

Forgive the Unchangeable:

A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers. ~Ruth Bell Graham

While changing the unacceptable may be achievable in most cases, to forgive the unchangeable is a

goal that may require more strength than a person feels they possess. Yet it can be done. Because the

events or issues that cannot be altered are often the regrets that seem to do the most damage to a

relationship, it is worth the effort to gain resolution. And sometimes, accepting the unchangeable means

accepting God’s forgiveness.

Matthew 6:9-15 Matt 6:9-15 (ASV)

9 After this manner therefore pray ye. Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. 11 Give us this day our daily

bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And bring us not

into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your

heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will

your Father forgive your trespasses.

If any of you find yourselves stuck in a place of not being able to forgive yourself or your spouse or

don’t feel anything can “change” for the positive, I recommend you seek the counsel of a neutral third

party. It can be a pastor or Christian counselor, or maybe just another couple whom you both trust and

feel they have the understanding and compassion to help you through a difficult place in your marriage.

The key here is to not let any issue or problem in your marriage just “sit there” like the proverbial

elephant in the living room—everyone knows it’s there and making a mess, but nobody does anything

to get rid of it.

We pray you’ll start today to un-harbor the regrets of your past leaning upon Christ as your guide. Do

this as a love gift to the Lord and also to each other. In doing this your marriage will bring honor to

God in every way. And as you apply yourself to this huge task, we are “confident of this, that He who

began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

4 https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/248519.Mignon_McLaughlin

All Pro Pastors A Regret-Free Marriage

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Reaching the Lost with the Gospel

Jesus final command was “Go Ye” into all the world.  We have to be careful we don’t practice “Sit Ye”.  Jesus was pro-active when it came to the harvest.  He was forever empowering and sending.  “After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, ‘The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’”  (Luke 10:1-2)  Jesus held the shortest “School of Evangelism” in history.  First He “Appointed” them, then He “Sent” them, and finally He told them to “Pray” for the harvest. This appointment was so important that Jesus, for the rest of His earthly ministry, never went to one city or place, but that His front teams from Luke 10 had gone before Him to prepare the way. We know what they did, by what they reported.  “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.  And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.’”  (Luke 10:17). When we go, we release His authority!  When we sit, we watch Satan take over nations.  Jesus came into the world to “manifest” two things.  First, the power to take away our sins, for He was sinless.  Second, to destroy the works of the devil.  The first is evangelism, the second is discipleship.

1. What is the need?  Jesus said there was only one TRUE sign on earth before His return.  “When this gospel of the kingdom is preached in all the world, unto all nations, then shall the end come”.  Matthew 24:14 We can hasten the coming of the Lord by finishing the harvest.  Jesus, by the way, said he will not return until this is done.  Kinda threatens our eschatology views doesn’t it?  

  1. Where do we stand in completing this mandate from Jesus?  The JOSHUA PROJECT gives us the best global reports on the progress of the world harvest.  I quote directly from their front page of their website:  Number of people groups in the world… 16,584.  Number of unreached people groups… 6,733.  Percentage of unreached groups 42.2% of world population.  The world’s population is currently 7.39 Billion.  The world’s unreached population is 3.11 Billion.  A people group is defined as a “dialect” or “Nation” in Matthew 24:14.  “Unto all nations” means “distinct dialectic people group”.
  2. What is Action Evangelism doing to make a difference? We have been working the harvest of the nations for over 40 years.  Nations like the Philippines, Romania, Singapore, India, Africa, etc. have all been hotspots for Action Evangelism. Not only have I traveled to those nations, but have set up our Kingdom Life University remote mission campuses to train nationals to help finish the harvest.  They are doing a magnificent job!  Nations like Northern India have seen 132 churches planed in remote villages.  Some churches running into the hundreds.  

I will be sharing, on Pastor Paul Pickern’s request, a monthly article outlining the need for your church to mobilize for the world harvest.  We have some practical ways you can partner with us, or if you like, do it on your own.  

https://vimeo.com/pioneersusa/unreached

Video of the need… well done!  

Dr. Jerry Brandt   Founder of Action Evangelism/ Kingdom Life University, WATV network  

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