My wife and I are both trying to get back to healthy eating.  Let’s just say we’ve had too much fun eating this summer!  (Too much ice cream mostly)  There are signs that you need to get back to healthy eating, such as clothes fitting snug, not as much energy and the scale. 

What about signs that you need to get back to healthy eating spiritually?  Here’s a few I thought of:  bad attitude, crabby, extreme sarcasm, negative outlook on life, lack of spiritual energy and desire to serve, selfishness.  You can make your own list, but I believe these reveal a need to push away from the TV, toxic relationships, gossip magazines, and other nonsense and pick up the Bible.  You know the adage – “Garbage in, garbage out.” 

So, what kind of diet changes do you need to make?  Have you had too much fun with things like ice cream over the summer and need to get healthy physically?  Or, are their mindless hours wasted in front of the TV, or discussions with “friends” that lead to negative thoughts? 

What are some things you need to take out of your life and what do you need to put in its place?

I love how the Bible sometimes uses humor to get a point across.  In today’s reading of the One Year Bible from Proverbs 22:13 it says, “The lazy person claims, ‘There’s a lion out there!  If I go outside, I might be killed.’”  Solomon is showing us an example of the laim excuses that people can use for not succeeding in life. 

Here are some I’ve heard:  “I would really be able to do something great for God if it weren’t for my kids.”  Or, “I’m just waiting on God right now to bring the right job to me.”  This 0ne is good for those not wishing to get involved, “I would love to volunteer, but I’m just so busy.”  What are these?  Excuses. 

Who are we trying to fool with them, ourselves, those we’re talking to, or even God?  Instead of making excuses, why don’t you step up and make some commitments?  Excuses won’t win a war, stop a depression, help a neighbor, or eradicate poverty and human suffering. 

I know actually doing something might seem harder than just making excuses, but it’s not near as rewarding.

You need emotional energy to be kind to someone who is not kind to you.  To really live life with maximum impact you must be careful to observe things that drain you.  If you’re not cautious you will drained down to empty and wonder why you got nothing accomplished today. 

There are certain things that pull from you and it is vital to identify them.  When you don’t know what they are, then your oblivious to the fact that energy and vitality is being sucked right out of you.  What happens is that after about 3, 4, or 5 months, you will find that you are really running on empty.  Before you know it, you are on the edge and you are living a margin-less life.  You are still going to work, church and school, but it’s not enough because of the constant drain on you. 

A marriage going bad, struggles with your kids, finances in a mess, or relationship issues can cause a major drain.  Even though you may not have an immediate answer for these, you must make sure you are replenishing from positive sources. 

What drains me?  Excessive counseling.  When I have to sit and do a lot of counseling, back-to-back, it just drains me.  Some of it is because I feel I take my time to give advice and then people leave my office and do what they want to do anyway.  Also, negative people drain me.  The constant complaining, griping and meandering through life with no desire to succeed.  I get away from these people as fast as I can.  

If God is saying that those are some drains on your life and you are not able to get rid of them right now, then you must be sure that you are having things that fill your tank.  Work it into you schedule so that you keep margins in your life. 

Do you know what your drains are?

What gives you energy?  Another way of stating it is, what causes you to feel juiced about life and ready to go?  Each of us have things that empower us and things that drain us.  There are certain things that drain me, not that they are wrong, but they just drain me.  There are certain activities that pull your emotional energy.  If you have none left, you will not be kind, patient, and understanding. 

So, What are the things that fill you up?  For me, I love worshiping God and engaging with worship music.  I also love my quiet time to pray, meditate and saturate in God’s Word. 

You need to know what fills you up.  It could be fellowship, reading, bike riding, riding your motorcycle, sitting on a park bench, or eating outside (my wife loves that one).  So, what is it for you?  Figure it out, then do it!

Is it hard for you to hang onto your dreams?  Can you imagine how difficult it must have been for Abraham to keep believing that God was going to give him a son for years before it happened?  Sometimes dreams come true in a matter of days, weeks and months.  Other times it takes years and even decades. 

Sometimes the dream is waiting on us to get positioned to bring it to pass.  One of the dreams I have is to become a writer, but every year it seems like something crowds it out.  Now, I’ve enlisted prayer partners to help pray for me to be able to put it together and make it happen.

What are you wanting to achieve that seems to be out of reach?  Who could you enlist to become a prayer partner for you?  Is there a step you could take today to get you closer to your dream? 

I’m taking a step by blogging to warm up my writing skills in preparation to write my first book.  I feel like I’m making progress, which is a good feeling.

I wish I was good at everything, but the truth is there are some things I’ll never be good at no matter how hard I try.  For example, I may dream of playing in the NBA, but no matter how hard I train, my chances of being on a team are about zilch.  On the contrary, there are some other things in which I’m pretty good at and could even become great. 

Every leader should discover where their strengths are and where they are not.  A good leader will then begin to develop their strengths and delegate their weakness.  In today’s reading of the One Year Bible, Paul explains this in Romans by comparing each of us a a body part.  Just like many parts come together to form your physical body, likewise we all come together to form one spiritual body (His church).  He further develops this idea by saying that if you have the gift of serving – then by all means serve.  If you have the gift of encouraging – then get out there and encourage someone. 

This principle works in reverse: if you are gifted to encourage then don’t spend the bulk of your time trying to serve because you’re not that good at it.  Plus, someone else around you IS really good at it and wondering why you’re doing it all wrong!  Dare to be what you are, what God created you to be and let others do what they are gifted to do and you do what you are gifted to do. 

Allowing those around you come along side and carry what you were never meant to carry makes you a team player.  Maybe not on the NBA, but for a championship team nonetheless.

Who you listen to is crucial in the decisions you make which leads to the outcomes you experience.  With that in mind, you better be careful where you get your advice.  The Bible is full of illustrations of this, for example: 2 Chronicles 18 tells the story of Jehoshaphat (King of Judah) aligning himself with Ahab (King of Israel) for battle.  Jehoshaphat wisely suggests that before they march into battle to “first seek the counsel of the Lord.”  However, Ahab invites 400 prophets to come who only tell the king what he wants to hear.  So, they all give the thumbs up!

Instead of being satisfied with this, Jehoshaphat suggests hearing from a “prophet of the LORD” for a second opinion.  Ahab reluctantly calls for a prophet that he despises because he never prophesies “anything good” about him.  Sure enough, this prophet tells that calamity awaits and sure defeat, and Ahab says “I told you he never prophesies good about me.” 

Rather than listen to this one godly prophet, they take their advice from the crowd and go into battle only to suffer great defeat.  The same thing will happen to us when we take our advice from a crowd.  I would rather listen to one wise person than a crowd of fools! 

Just because a number of people are saying the same thing doesn’t make it right.  We will only bring trouble into our lives if we surround ourselves with advisers whose only thought is to tell us what we want to hear.

I don’t know if you are like me, but it seems my life is full of potential distractions.  There are emails, advertisements, social networks, and countless other things screaming “Spend time with me!”  Charles Garfield once wrote a book called Peak Performers.  In it he wrote about his study of peak performers and he found that among their common characteristics was the ability to remain balanced.  They kept their lives in balance between professional and personal, vocations and hobbies. 

Distraction is a chief enemy of the Christian.  If we are not careful, we will allow distractions to deter us from the very object of our salvation, which is Jesus Christ.  How do you know if something is a distraction?  

Therefore…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith… Hebrews 12:1-2

 A distraction can be anything that keeps us from keeping God #1 in our lives and living out our life purpose.  God called each of us and gifted us for a divine appointment that will lead to fulfillment and inner peace.  The enemy will do everything in his power to provide another option.  The bottom line is: it’s not worth the trade-off. 

 Pray for discernment this week to determine what things may be distracting you from being as effective and fruitful as God intends for you to be.  Then ask for the courage to do something about it.

Last weekend we talked about How To Handle Stress in the first message of our ON DEMAND series.  So, how are you doing?  Any improvement from the week before?  I know for me, it’s been a real pressure week with still trying to catch up from my summer break and new things to accomplish.  With all that added together with other things in my life, it would be easy to get stressed out. 

Here’s what I did instead…I prayed more.  And guess what?  It worked!  I even did some internet research and discovered scientific data that shows that daily prayer reduces stress; boosts positive  energy; and promotes health, vitality, and longevity. 

When you are faced with the urge to be negative or are feeling stressed to the max, stop, be still, plug-in to the ultimate power, and recharge your batteries. 

I have too much to do, to not pray.  Wow, I can already feel myself getting poised for a great day!

Is there anything worse than listening to people who can’t sing?  I confess that my family and I get drawn in each year to many of the episodes of American Idol.  What amazes us most each year is how many people truly believe they can sing that carry a tune in a bucket.  I know Simon sounds cruel at times when he makes comments like, “Who told you that you could sing?”, but he is really doing them a favor.  No one wants to keep moving forward in a position that they are not skilled to do.

When David was bringing the ark back to Jerusalem in 2 Chronicles 15, it states that he appointed musicians and singers to be part of the celebration.  It even states in verse 22 that the head Levite was “in charge of the singing…because he was skillful at it.”  There, that’s it!  What’s wrong with allowing people to do things they are skilled at and the rest stay out of the way? 

I’ve grown up in the church world where people have been allowed to sing because they had a good heart.  My thought is that a good heart is not worth as much as a good ear in singing.  Besides the unbelieving world looks in and thinks, “Do these people not have enough intelligence to stop that person from singing?”  How can we be taken seriously when we do such foolish things?

Here’s my proposal, let’s allow those gifted to sing hold the microphones and the rest blend in with the congregation.  While we are on the subject, let’s allow those gifted to teach to stand behind the lecturn and share.  And, wouldn’t it be great if those gifted to help came alongside others to lift the load of ministry? 

This is actually the way I believe God intended it.  People doing what they are gifted to do in an area that they can serve with passion.  How do you know what this is for you?  Here’s some simple suggestions:  What are you good at? (let people help confirm that one)  What excites you or motivates you?  What do you do with more ease and enjoyment without having to be pushed?  The answer to these can give you some direction on areas in which to serve. 

A final word: get in the area of passion, giftedness and talent and then give it all you got!