What’s Your Life’s Goal?

Proverbs 29:18 says that where there is no vision the people run wild…they wonder aimlessly. What is your goal in this life? What is it that you value most? If there is no destination you’re never lost. If you have no target you’ll never miss. Our first value is that we are Christ centered. Are your decisions based on the Word of God? How do you make your decisions and then justify your actions? Our eternal salvation was paid for by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ himself. The gospel of Christ is why we’re here. In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I am come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” However, the abundant life comes by dying to self and living for him. This doctrine flies in the face of the “American Dream” of material abundance. The truth of the Word of God is often counter intuitive to the doctrines of the World. What’s your mission statement? What is your core value? Where is your identity and your reason for living? What motivated you for your accomplishments in life? Every worthy accomplishment is the result of a goal. What you do is reflected by your values…the things that you hold dear. According to Galatians 6:7-8… If you sow to the flesh you will reap corruption but if you sow to the spirit, you will reap eternal life. Life is worth living only if you’re living for that which is worthy of life. Most men lead lives of quiet desperation. If you’re living life without purpose, your life will come to naught.

Jesus’ plan was to sow his life into twelve men who would change the world through the gift of the spirit and use the fruit of the spirit to serve him in love. One turned away from him. However the world has been forever changed by the disciples who were dedicated to “choke in their Master’s dust”… Those to whom he committed his word.

Athletes must train for the race in order to win the trophy. They have to seek after the goal in order to accomplish the goal. A goal is the end to which energy and purpose is directed. What’s your mission statement and the ultimate goal for your life? Many of us have goals that are ends in themselves. If your goal is to be married, what happens after the wedding? Marriage must be a means to an end.

A worthy goal is to influence men for Jesus Christ, then fan their flame, and then choke in their dust. My goal is that when I meet someone, I want them to be hungry for the Word of God and the fruit of the spirit. What’s your life mission statement? How do you see those in your family, your church, your work? Are your relationships an end in themselves or a means to an end?

Influence is not standing in front of people and telling them how great you are. Influence is doing what John the Baptist said, “I’m not the bridegroom, I’m just here to introduce the bride to her bridegroom. I must decrease that he may increase.” Our job is to introduce the bride, Christ’s church to the bridegroom Jesus Christ.

There are five pillars for Influencing others. A pillar is a load-bearing super structure. Pillars are support structures to build the Lord’s temple…his dwelling place. What we do become platforms to spread the gospel of the good news of Jesus Christ. He’ll take everything we think we mess up and use these failures to his honor and glory. Jesus Christ says, “I’ve got a plan and you’re it.” He turns our failures and our weaknesses into his accomplishments in us and through us. As Mother Teresa said, “God works best with nothing.”

As a man of God, I understands five things: that Jesus Christ is lord of my life… That I’m grace driven not works driven… That the Word of God is the final authority in my life… That I want to live my life in relationship with likeminded believers… That I want to give away the gospel of Christ in me the Hope of Glory. These values keep me Christ centered and grace driven. My prayer is to die to self in order to live for him…to prove with my life that Jesus Christ is who he said he is… Owner, Savior, Redeemer, and Lord… My all in all.

May God richly bless you!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Ignite!

We look for the mountaintop experiences in life. However, we’re built for the battle in the valley of human need to which God has called us. It’s the staying quality that matters. From life’s valley of humiliation we reach up for God to rescue us from pain and shame. From the valley of humiliation God will remove all doubt…His power is made perfect in our weakness. According to Psalm 34:18-19, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.”

Peter Kling’s grand daughter Leslie, a police officer, was recently murdered in the line of duty. She and her family Jack, and Zachary, had just bought a new home in Hemet last year. Peter shared a message about seeing his grand daughter again in her “father’s mansion” where he as prepared a place for her.

The catastrophes of life drive us to our knees. These trying times cause us to run to the Lord and not away from him. Humiliation steals our sense of value that our earthly life amounts to anything. In the valley of humiliation the adversary will beat us down. The devil will remind me that in my flesh there is no good thing. However, Jesus said, come to me all of you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest. God made children to be afraid of the dark. However there is nothing worse than grown men who fear the light. For the light came into the world and men rejected the light because their deeds were evil. God sent his son to rescue us from the darkness.

The theme of this weekend’s men’s retreat is “Ignite.” Prayer, studying the word, and fellowship with our brothers in Christ provides the fuel for igniting our hearts. The spiritual warfare gives us the purpose for prayer. Prayer and the Word of God are God’s offensive weapons in the spiritual battle. Spiritual revolutions are worked through the power of prayer. Praying men are God’s mighty men, empowered with hearts on fire ignited by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When a nation defies the truth of the Word of God, the only thing that will save the nation from destruction is God’s mercy and grace. Men of God must stand in the gap to lead and to shepherd his people through prayer. Intercessory prayer allows men of God to forge spiritual bonds as families and as churches in the body of Christ. As men respond in prayer, God will intervene with the power of his might. Prayer is God’s force multiplier. Prayer is God’s offense in the spiritual battle. Praying in the power of the Holy Spirit wields the sword of the spirit of truth and allows God to intercede against the powers of darkness. The golden bowls of incense in the book of Revelation is the prayer of the saints. God’s prophet in the Old Testament said we have no plan and we have no power but my eyes are upon you, Lord. In prayer, the power of God is loosed upon earth to bring about his purpose and his will. May our prayer be, “here am I Lord, send me.” Prayer is aligning my heart with his heart, my will with his will, his purpose with my purpose. As we pray, it is God who works within us to will and to do of his good pleasure.

We are the ones whom God has called to link heaven and earth. Prayer is the communication… The co-Union between God and men. We have been called a Royal priesthood to stand in the gap…to intervene on behalf of God’s people. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. The riches of the Glory of the mystery is Christ in us the hope of glory. He has called us to lead others from darkness to light. There is no one in the dark so deep as the one who thinks he’s in the light but he’s really in the dark. Therefore quench not the spirit. May we be like John Wesley who said when someone asked him why people came from such great distances to hear him preach, “I light myself on fire, and people come from miles around to watch me burn.”

Through prayer…let your light so shine before men that they see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. O Lord, ignite me, set me on fire so that the light of your Holy Spirit will lead others from darkness and into the glorious light your gospel of Truth.

May God richly bless you,
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Blessing Israel

A man of God’s prayer should be, “Lord break my heart for what breaks yours.” Be careful what you pray for. God broke Phil Hanlen’s heart for the nation of Israel. Phil has been to Israel several times on mission trips to bless the people of Israel by building bomb shelters to show the love of God. His next mission is to bless the soldiers of Israel.

The story of God’s redemption was revealed through the children of Israel. God’s plan for Israel is still ongoing. In this day and age, the plan for Israel is that the Church of the body of Christ would bless Israel. God said in Genesis, If you bless Israel I will bless you. Israel’s story is a story of redemption…of God’s grace, mercy and deliverance. The Old Testament story concludes with four hundred years of silence before the coming of the Messiah. At Jesus Christ’s first coming, Israel missed him completely. However, in the gospels, Jesus proved over and over that he was the Messiah, the Christ, the son of the living God. Israel, instead of believing in him, crucified him. The religious leaders of Israel were in such darkness that they put Jesus on trial for “treason” for the claim that he was the “king of the Jews.” They crucified him and the powers of darkness rejoiced. However, Jesus Christ triumphed over death by the resurrection. Despite Israel’s rejection of the Savior, God’s grace and mercy still prevails. Jesus defeated death even though they did not realize that they were dead in their trespasses and sins. Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and is set down upon the right hand of God.

In Romans 11, God reveals the answer about Israel’s role after the first coming of the Messiah. God’s plan for Israel still exists and the Church of the body of Christ has a role in reaching Israel. Our role as the body of believers is to “provoke them to jealousy” by example that we are disciples of Jesus Christ and sons of the living God. In Revelation 7 after the Believers in Christ have been “gathered together” in heaven at the second coming of Christ, the defendants of the Children of Israel will be the Messianic Jews who realize that Jesus is the Messiah. These will be the 144,000 “apostle Pauls” and countless others who will be lead by these believers prior the great white throne Judgement.

Ezekiel talks about a Great War coming during the end times prophesied in the book of Revelation. The world will focus on the land of Israel, a tiny plot of land about the size of New Jersey. Israel will stand alone in this war against the rest of the world. Our role in preparation for these last days is to follow the Lord and to bless Israel. For the nation that blesses Israel will be blessed. Those who stand against Israel will be cursed. Our calling as Christians is to love Israel…not because they are deserving of love, but because love is the nature of our Heavenly Father…The promise that God gave to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3 still rings true today: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:”. “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

May God richly bless you,
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

A Man of Prayer

Beware of the man who has nothing to lose. In Luke 9:24 Jesus said, “he who loses his life for my sake shall save it.” What the church needs today is men of the spirit who are mighty in prayer. O Lord, if there is anything I have left undone, let me be perfect in prayer. A man of God is a man of prayer. When the spirit of the Lord opens the eyes of our understanding, our heart is open to him in prayer. Jesus’ prayer was that others may see God’s good work in us and glorify our Father in heaven. Despite the distractions of this fallen world, the challenge is to set our affections on things above not on the things of earth. In order to focus our minds on things above, meditate on the word, fellowship with men of likeminded faith, and become a man of prayer and thanksgiving.

Men often struggle with prayer. Prayer is aligning my heart with his heart…it is setting our affections on things above and living a life of thanks giving and thanks living. Prayer succeeds when everything else fails. In the midst of the darkness of the politics and fallen nature of this world, prayer succeeds according to God’s righteous standard. Prayer works… It allows God to work in us and through us to will and to do of his good pleasure. The government may try to silence prayer. However, the powers of this world cannot stand against the word of God in our hearts. Though they may take away our “human rights,” we can always draw our hearts to the Lord in prayer.

We can never do enough for God in our own power. However, prayer is God’s force multiplier. Our Heavenly Father is not concerned about our busy-ness. He is, however, concerned about our heart. Prayer aligns our heart with God’s heart. Prayer allows us to walk in close proximity with Jesus Christ as a true disciplined follower.

The devil will allow you to do anything except pray. Prayer is the most essential value of a man of God. Prayer reminds us of whose we are. Prayer aligns our relationship with Him…prayer fuses our will with His will… Our heart with His heart. Failure to pray means that other things are more important than our relationship with Him. It means that our will is more important than His will and that we love our own pleasures more than our fellowship with Him. Prayer is communion…co-Union with Him. Fellowship is joining our heart with his heart. Prayer focuses on our righteousness in Him and takes our mind away from an insidious preoccupation with self.

The prayer “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” begins with our own hearts. Prayer allows God to transform our hearts from the inside out. Prayer is assuming the posture of receiving and downloading His revelation. The greatest revelation is that he loves us unconditionally.

Prayer reminds us that He is the source of our sufficiency…that we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. He reminds us that we are His servants…patient when wronged as God’s agent to correct others gently and in love so that those who are held captive by the adversary against their wills can escape the snare of the devil. Only when we pray can we hear the voice of the Lord say, “I’ve got this.”

To approach the throne of grace we must come through faith with a broken and a contrite heart. He doesn’t want your offerings or your gifts…he wants your heart. We must come humbly and meekly, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. We run to our Heavenly Father meekly yet boldly as his dear sons, not because of our own goodness, but because of the supreme sacrifice of his first born son, our Lord Jesus Christ… For he who knew no sin was made the perfect sin sacrifice on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him. Because of Christ’s righteousness in us, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

May God richly bless you,
Your brother in Christ,
Michael