LESSONS LEARNED

 

Lessons Learned: 

It’s admittedly been a few weeks since my last post and life seems to have taken over a bit and that’s my fault. Pretty much since vacation I’ve been off my rocker a bit and over the past couple of weeks I’ve been working towards getting back to my early morning rise and shine habits of prayer, devotions, bible study and meditation and my evening reading. Between my FT job, the side hustle I'm working on, Insight 360, Church, Marriage, my daughters practices, games, teaching her to drive (Help me Lord),etc...Well frankly some days have been better than others. A lot of hills and valleys.

Have I been busy? Yes. Have I been lazy? Yes. Have been managing well enough. Nope. I have been learning to learn my lessons? Not well but striving to do so in HIS strength.

That’s life though right? There is a constant struggle between doing what you know you’re supposed to and giving into temptation or bad habits the ordinary daily routines that seem to take up every corner of your life. God is good though and thank goodness for his mercy and that my self-worth, righteousness, holiness, good works, etc…do not depend on my actions alone but on my faith in Christ.

So, here are somethings I’ve been learning along this short little journey of pot holes, hills and valleys. Some of this may feel random but they are things I believe the Lord has been teaching me. 

1.       Gods grace is big enough. In fact it’s bigger than anything I could possibly imagine. Bigger than my mistakes and much larger than my little grain of sand life. Every single day no matter how good of a day I have had it will never measure up to what HE wants from me. It doesn’t even come close. I do not measure up. I can trust though through what Christ has done for me that he has met all those expectations for me. Because of this my life is new every single day. Every morning when I wake up his Grace is new for me.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – BEHOLD !!! The new has come

2.       1Peter 5:10 GOD has promised to Restore me, Confirm me, Strengthen me and Establish me. God is changing me and making me more like Jesus. Better than I was yesterday. Through his sanctification I am being changed and renewed daily. I can engage in life, take risks and bear HIS image every day. My salvation is confirmed through HIS work and activity in  my life and he gives me the strength to do the work. With GOD as my foundation he has established me as a son and I can live my life fearlessly.

3.       Ephesians 5:15-16 / Psalm 31:15 / 1 COR 7:29 – I can Redeem the Time. I am called to a productive use of my time in the labor of the KING. “CORAM DEO” Live before the face of GOD.

All of my time is actually GODs time. He has given me each and every moment of my existence. What I think is “my” time is actually by Gods delegation. I have been granted a stewardship of my time and I must give account.

·         I can redeem my time with a focus and concentration. I need to be careful of Idleness because that is when I fall to the battles of temptations and inner struggle.

·         I need to be conscious of where my focus is

·         Redeem my time that is consumed by the ordinary by thinking of it as the eternal.

4.       THE RACE: You do not win the race by starting the race. You win the race by finishing the race. The question Paul asks the Galatians in his letter to them I should probably ask myself often: “You were doing so well, who made you stop obeying the truth?” and in 2 John 1:8 – “Watch out, that you do not lose what you’ve worked so hard for that you may be rewarded fully.”

To finish the race means you have to take initiative.  You have to start training and stick with the training and be consistent.

Place importance on Bible Study, Self-Examination and Prayer

5.       FAILUREs: Face them and then forsake them quickly. Let go of my focus on the bad habits and overcome them by focusing on the good habits. Focus my heart, mind, soul and strength on what I want NOT on what I don’t want. I am not the sum of my past. The past has influenced today but I am not defined by it. Yesterday is over and done.

6.       Rick Warren’s F.A.I.T.H goals

a.       F – Focus on measurable goals for yourself

b.      A – Attainable goals. Goals that can stretch you

c.       I – sett personal goals. Goals that are not attributed to someone else

d.      T – Trackable, set a date

e.      H – Heart felt, set goals that you can be passionate about.

Move on.

Have Faith, Live Free and Live Fearlessly

 

Here's a great song by Alicia Keys and John Mayer about Lessons Learned that I think is appropriate.

 

TALK IS CHEAP - Chapter 1 of the Book of James

 

 

 

TALK IS CHEAP

 

I love the book of James in the New Testament. Here’s why. James is a book of “action” and James doesn’t mince his words either he cuts right the chase with statements like “faith without works is dead.” , “Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.”,  “wash your hands you sinners.”, “you adulterous people...”.  Key words throughout this book are Resist, Submit, Joy, trials, sin, sinner and  or themes such as befriending the world means you’ve become an enemy to God. The language is strong and in your face. It actually reminds me a lot of Jesus which doesn’t surprise me given that most theologians and scholars attribute this book to the literal, earthly half-brother of Jesus Christ himself. Can you imagine what it must have been like to grow up with Jesus as your brother or having someone like that linked to your family. “Oh, James you’re the half-bro to that desert preacher Jesus...”.

 

James essentially says “talk is cheap...get to work. I want to see results.” He’s like my fitness instructor. It’s interesting as well that he starts out the letter by NOT pulling rank. He could have been like “Hey, it’s James, brother of Jesus, I’ve known him a really long time. I knew him long before you did...” but he doesn’t. He refers to him as LORD. Something to think about.

 

I just started reading the book of James again and it’s clearly about encouraging Christians to basically get to it and start acting like Christians and live a life that shows the world and proves to the world that the Good News of Christ is the real deal. That the Gospel does in fact change everything and if you are a true believer then the gospel is at work. Some view James's writing as a contradiction to Paul's teaching of justification by faith alone. The great Martin Luther even called it “The Epistle of Straw” feeling the book was indicating that you could only be saved by works when Paul clearly teaches the opposite. Most today will agree that really is no “issue” with Paul and James. Paul and James (having worked together) essentially stressed different portions of the same gospel.

 

Here are a few things that have encouraged me this week as I read and studied the first Chapter asking only three things as I read it. What does this chapter say about the GOD, The world and me?

 

• True faith takes ACTION with practical godliness when one is being tested (1:2-27).
• Faith again takes action by responding to testing with joy (1:2-4).
• You must ask God for wisdom in times of testing (1:5-8).
• True Believers must adopt God’s eternal perspective when confronted with poverty and riches (1:9-11).
• Someone with true Faith will persevere under testing and NOT blaming God for temptations (1:12-18).

I think it's interesting that James ends the first chapter by talking about Religion and what "true" religion is. He didn't talk about when to show up or how often to show up, he didn't break out into a discussion about the kind of worship music you should sing or not sing. He didn't talk about numbers or how many things a church should do. Nope, he said true religion basically is a reaction to true faith. It's taking action and striving to act out of our faith.

 

So as always folks, Have Faith, Live Free and Live Fearlessly. Enough chit chat...get to some living.