Thoughts of Our Fathers (TOF)

“Everything is possible for the person who has faith” 

(Mark 9:23b GNT).

As a pastor, probably the question I’m asked more than any other is, “Why is this happening to me? I don’t understand it.” When you don’t understand God’s six phases of faith — the steps he uses to build your character — you will get discouraged. You may become resentful. You will certainly worry. You may become fearful about the future or get depressed. And most of all, you can’t cooperate with what God is doing when you don’t understand the process he’s taking you through. But when you understand the six phases of faith, then you can say, “Oh, right now I’m in phase four” — or phase six or phase two. You understand better what God’s doing, and you don’t get disheartened when times are tough.

The Bible says in Matthew 9:29b, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (NIV). That’s the key to the great adventure of following Jesus Christ. God says, “You get to choose how much I bless your life. You believe, and I’ll do it. You believe, and I’ll bless.”

Faith is like a muscle — it develops. It can be strengthened or it can grow weak, depending on how much you use it. God builds your faith with a very predictable process. If you understand it, you can cooperate with it.

First, God gives you a dream for your life. Then, you have to make a decision about it. The third stage is delay, where you wait for God to work in his time. The next stage is difficulty, where God tests you. Then, you might reach a dead end, which will make you want to give up. But in the end, God always brings you to deliverance, the final stage of his six phases of faith.

Mark 9:23b says, “Everything is possible for the person who has faith” (GNT).

Do you want to have a stronger faith as you go on this great adventure with God? You first need to understand the six phases of faith that God takes you through so that you won’t get discouraged when you don’t see results or answers right away. Over the coming days we’ll examine these six phases.

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“Each of you as a good manager must use the gift that God has given you to serve others”

 (1 Peter 4:10 GW).

Your abilities are for the benefit of other people. The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:10, “Each of you as a good manager must use the gift that God has given you to serve others” (GW).

Nobody is good at everything. You need me, and I need you. Nobody has every talent. There are no perfect people who can say to the world, “I don’t need anybody else.” We need each other. We were made to work in teams! That’s why you need a small group and a church family. We’re better together.

Here’s the key to success: Build on your strengths so that your weaknesses become irrelevant. Every successful person does this. Just work on what you’re good at, and make it better.

Here’s a second rule of success: Team up with people who are good at what you’re not good at. Team up with people who complement you. Everybody has something to contribute. Nobody has it all together. We need each other.

This, by the way, is one of the purposes of marriage. In marriage we’re put together to complement each other’s strengths and to compensate for each other’s weaknesses. What happens when we don’t compensate for each other’s weaknesses? We criticize each other. That’s not what marriage is for. Marriage puts two sinners together, so there can be no perfect relationships. But in a marriage, you know the other’s weaknesses, so you can help compensate for them.

For example, take bill paying and budgeting. Who should do it? The one who does it better! The Bible doesn’t tell us who should do one role over another. Just figure out who does it better, and in doing that, you compensate for each other’s weaknesses. That’s why I always let my wife, Kay, drive. She’s a much more careful driver than I am.

This also applies to your work. If you want your business to be effective, here’s the key: Staff by SHAPE. Help people discover their SHAPE — their Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences — and put them in the positions they’re good at. When you do that, you don’t have to manage them and you won’t have to motivate them. Why? Because they’re doing what they love to do, and they’re good at it.

God wants every person to use their abilities to help other people. We need each other!

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“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” 

(Psalm 34:18 NIV).

We’ve all had our heart broken in some way — maybe by disappointment, fear, shame, rejection, or ridicule. I would say to you, as your friend, I’m sorry. I really am. I care about the hurt that you have gone through, because God cares about it. He hurts with you. What was God doing when you were weeping? He was weeping, too.

In fact, it is in your pain that God is closest to you, whether you realize it or not.

The Bible says in Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (NIV). How does he do that? He saves us by giving us a heart transplant. It’s his specialty, in fact.

God says, “For the heart that’s guilty, I’ll give you a heart that’s forgiven. For the heart that’s resentful, I’ll give you a heart that’s full of peace. For the heart that’s anxious, I’ll give you heart that’s confident. For the heart that’s lonely, I’ll give you a heart full of love. The heart that has been bitter and angry? I’ll give you a heart that is forgiving and loving and generous instead. Let me do a heart transplant in you. I will set you free.”

Why do we need freedom? Because we’re all enslaved. We’re slaves to the expectations of other people. We’re slaves to past memories. We’re slaves to future fears. We’re slaves to current pressure. We’re slaves to the opinions of society, and on and on and on.

But all you have to do is open your heart to Jesus Christ and give him 100 percent of your heart. Say, like David in Psalm 119:32, “I run in the path of your commands, for you have broadened my understanding” (NIV).

We must stop limiting God! We can’t even imagine how much he wants to do with our lives. Open your heart to him, and let him transplant it for his own.

PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>

“There are different spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, and yet the same Lord is served. There are different types of work to do, but the same God produces every gift in every person” 

(1 Corinthians 12:4-6 GW).

When you know what you’re shaped to be, then you know what you ought to be, and you can start focusing on that and make better use of your life.

The moment you step across the line spiritually and begin following Jesus, you say, “I’m going to go God’s way, not my own way. I’m going to let him direct my life. I want to follow God’s purpose, not my purpose. I’m going to do what I was wired and made to do.”

When you take that step, God also gives you four major gifts:

Forgiveness. Romans 5:15b says, “For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ” (NLT). The first thing Jesus did was wipe out everything you’ve ever done wrong. It’s forgiven! There is no condemnation.

Eternal life. God has long-range plans for you. The Bible says in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (NIV). You’re never going to work your way or earn your way into Heaven. The only way you’ll ever get into Heaven is by God’s free gift that you accept by faith.

The Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5b says that God “has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (NLT). How do you know when you’re letting God live through your life? When you embody the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Special abilities. In the Bible, these special abilities are called spiritual gifts, which makes them different from material or physical gifts. They are the abilities you need to get the job done that God wants you to do. Most people who are believers don’t even know they’ve got spiritual gifts, much less what they are. But you have them!

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, “There are different spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, and yet the same Lord is served. There are different types of work to do, but the same God produces every gift in every person” (GW).

What is a spiritual gift? God has a purpose for your life, and your spiritual gifts are the equipment he gives you to do what he asks you to do. God will never ask you to do something he doesn’t give you the ability to do. It’s given to you the moment you accept Christ. You don’t get to choose your gift. You don’t earn your gift.

It’s also not for your benefit. Your spiritual gifts are given to you to help other people. And other people in the church family are given their gifts to help you.

When I use my spiritual gift of teaching, you get blessed. When you use your spiritual gift, the people in your church get blessed. It’s like a puzzle. If you have one jigsaw piece missing, what’s the first thing you notice? The one missing piece. When we develop and use our spiritual gifts, we all get blessed.

“My friend, I ask, ‘Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did?’” 

(Romans 9:20 CEV).

Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experiences — these are the five things that make you, you. I call them your SHAPE.

Accepting your SHAPE — the unique way God made you that brings glory to him — means to believe that God knows best. It all comes down to the matter of trust. Do you believe that God made a mistake when he made you? Or do you trust him, knowing that he has a plan for your life? Do you believe it?

Many of us make these kinds of statements: “God, there are things I don’t like about myself. I wish I had different hair or a different color of skin. I wish I were taller, shorter, skinnier. I wish I had more talent. I wish I could do ‘that.’ I wish I looked like him. I wish I had her smarts.” And on and on our lists go. This kind of thinking is basically telling God, “You blew it! Everybody else is okay. But you goofed up big when you made me.”

When you reject yourself, you are in essence rejecting God, because he’s your Creator. When you don’t accept yourself, it’s rebellion against God. You’re saying, “God, I know better than you. You should have made me differently, with a different set of strengths and a different set of weaknesses.”

But God says, “No, I created you exactly the way you are because I want you to be you — with your strengths and your weaknesses. All of it can give me glory — if you’ll just start doing what I made you to do instead of trying to be like everybody else.”

It’s actually quite arrogant to reject yourself. The Bible says in Romans 9:20, “My friend, I ask, ‘Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did?’” (CEV).

Whenever we doubt God’s love and wisdom, we always get into trouble. The root behind these problems is that you don’t trust God. You don’t believe God really loves you. You don’t believe that he really has your best interest at heart. You wish he had made you something different. As a result, there’s a spirit of bitterness in you that produces frustration and keeps you from being the person God wants you to be.

But you don’t have to live that way — there is hope! Job 10:10 says, “You guided my conception and formed me in the womb” (NLT). God wanted you, and he loves you. Believe it, and then trust it!

“Give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God” 

(Romans 6:13b NLT).

How do you start using the spiritual gifts God put inside of you? Here are four ways to get started:
Discover your gifts. You’ve got to know what your gifts are before you can use them. Stop neglecting the fact that inside of you are some dormant gifts that you’re not even using, and figure out what God has put in you. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 4:14a, “Do not neglect the spiritual gift that is in you” (GNT).
Dedicate your gifts to God. The Bible says in Romans 6:13b, “Give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God” (NLT). Maybe you already know what you’re good at, but you’re just not using it for the Lord. You’re using it for yourself. You need to humble yourself and dedicate to the Lord every gift you have. Push all of your excuses out of the way, and say, “God, I dedicate what you gave to me back to you.”
Develop your gifts. Gifts are like muscles: The more you use them, the bigger they get. You can strengthen and develop and grow what God has given you. Any gift that God gives you can and should be developed. You get better at it by practice, studying, and learning from other people who have the same gift. I’ve learned that when God gives you something, he will give you even more of it if you use it well — more talent, money, influence, relationships, or responsibility. He says, “I can trust that person. I’m going to give that person more and more and more.”
Deploy your spiritual gifts. “Deploy” means to put into service. You get out on the field, and you start doing something. Romans 12:6 says this: “We are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us. If our gift is to speak God’s message, we should do it according to the faith that we have” (GNT). What’s the best way to discover and dedicate and develop and deploy your spiritual gifts? In a small group. It’s a testing ground! If you are not in a small group, I encourage you to get connected to one this week so that you can test and develop your spiritual gifts in the safe and supportive environment of friends who will encourage you.

Would you pray this prayer today? “Thank you, God, for forgetting everything I’ve ever done wrong. I’m putting my trust in your grace. Today I accept your free gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ because of what he did for me. I know I can’t earn my way to Heaven. I accept this free gift of your Spirit into my life. Live through me, and fill me with your love and joy and peace and patience. God, I accept the gift of special abilities you put in my life. Help me to discover them, dedicate them, develop them, and deploy them to be the person you created me to be. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

“Accept God’s salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” 

(Ephesians 6:17 NCV)

If you want to be able to handle temptation, you need to claim the promises of God that he has given in his Word about temptation. Everybody ought to memorize 1 Corinthians 10:13b: “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (NIV).

I’ve had many people tell me, “I couldn’t help myself. It was impossible to resist. I had no choice but to give in.” When you say that, you’re calling God a liar! God says he’ll always offer an escape from the temptation you face. It may be tough and painful. It might even be embarrassing. But there will always be a way out. God makes sure of it! That is his promise.

Satan is constantly battling for your mind. That’s where the battle happens. When God gives us an idea, it’s inspiration. When the Devil gives us an idea, it’s temptation. You choose every day which thought you’re going to dwell on.

You can change your mind by replacing the temptation with truth, and truth is found in the Bible.

The Bible says to resist the devil. How do you do that? By preparing for the temptation. Ephesians 6:17 says, “Accept God’s salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (NCV).

There are two things you need to do in order to handle temptation. Salvation is the first step: “Accept God’s salvation as your helmet.” What does a helmet do? It protects your head and your mind, and that’s where the battle is going on. Before you can say “no” to the Devil, you have to learn to say “yes” to Jesus Christ. You’ve got to have his power through salvation.

The second step is to receive God’s Word to use as a sword. Truth is the antidote to temptation. You can keep your Bible on the coffee table at home, but when you’re at work and you are tempted, what good is it going to do you? No good at all! You need to get the truth that is in that book in your mind.

Without a doubt, the single most effective tool to combating temptation is to memorize Scripture. If you don’t have any verses memorized, you’ve got no bullets in your gun! When the Devil comes along, how are you going to counter him? He’s not afraid of your opinion, but he does fear the truth. The sword of God is God’s truth, but it only becomes a weapon when you memorize it.

“We are tempted when we are drawn away and trapped by our own evil desires. Then our evil desires conceive and give birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15 GNT).

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” 

(2 Corinthians 9:6-7 NIV).

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (NIV).

The principle of sowing and reaping applies to every area of life, not just your finances. Whatever you sow in life, you’re going to reap. Whatever you deposit is going to be returned to you. If you sow criticism in life, you are going to reap criticism from other people. If you sow kindness, you’re going to reap kindness. It’s the law of the harvest. If you plant apple seeds, you don’t get pears; you get apples. If you sow with generosity, you will reap generosity.

This is the principle of the harvest: Whenever you have a need, plant a seed. When a farmer looks at his barren fields, he doesn’t gripe about it. He just goes out and starts planting some seed. If he only has a little bit of seed, he has a choice. He can either hoard it, or he can give it away. If he holds on to it, that’s all he's got. If he gives it away, God will multiply it. The amazing thing is this: You don’t just reap what you sow. You always reap more than you sow!

God set it up this way because he wants you to become like him. God is a giver. The only way that you’re ever going to become like him is to learn to be generous. When you’re stingy, you’re like the Devil. When you’re generous, you’re like God. When you give it away, God multiplies it.

This sounds illogical — to give away when you have a need so that you will get more back. But that’s why it requires faith! God says the way you get is by giving, not by holding on.

“There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it” (1 Timothy 6:6-7 NRSV).

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” 

(1 Timothy 6:17 NIV).

The only thing in all of creation that worries is a human being. Plants don’t worry. Animals don’t worry. Only human beings act as if we don’t have a heavenly Father. When you worry about your finances, you’re basically saying, “I think God is a liar. I don’t really think he will meet my needs.” But God will, if you meet the conditions.

When I was a kid, I’d go to my dad and say, “Dad, I need some money.” Not once when I was growing up did I ever wonder, “Where is he going to get it?” It’s kind of an unwritten rule about money: Dads and moms make it, and kids spend it. Kids never wonder, “Where are my parents going to get this money?” I never worried about it.

Worry is really a form of atheism. Every time you worry, you’re basically saying, “I don’t believe there’s a God who is going to take care of me.” If you’re a Christian and you worry, you’re acting like an orphan. You’re acting like you don’t have a heavenly Father who has already promised over and over again in Scripture, “I will meet your needs if you will obey me and do what I tell you to do.” Trust forces you to live by faith.

Worry is a warning light. Every time we worry about our finances, it’s a warning that we doubt God loves us and will take care of us. We always get into trouble when we doubt God’s love. Always.

Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (NLT).

As long as you love anything more than God, that thing is going to be a source of anxiety. There was one thing meant for first place in your life, and it’s not your family. Anything you put first in your life besides God will create anxiety, because that thing can always be lost.

Your bank account is not your security, no matter how big it gets. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:17, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (NIV).

“It is better to be poor and honest than to be foolish and tell lies” (Proverbs 19:1 NCV).

“Let us love one another, for love comes from God” (1 John 4:7a NIV).

If you want to know how to be a good parent and build a strong family, you don’t have to look online or go to a bookstore. Look no further than the greatest book ever written on parenting: God’s Word, the Bible.

“Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge”

 (Psalm 62:8b NLT).

The Bible says when you go through a season of loss, the first thing you need to do is release your grief.

Tragedy always produces strong emotions — anger, fear, depression, worry, and sometimes guilt. These feelings are scary to us, and we don’t know what to do with them. When we have experienced a major loss, these enormous feelings bubble up within us. If we don’t deal with them now, it will take us far longer to recover.

Some people never directly deal with grief in life. They stuff it. They push it down. They pretend it’s not there. They play like it doesn’t exist. And that’s why they’re still struggling with emotional stress from losses that occurred 20 or 30 years earlier.

There’s a myth that says God wants you to walk around with a smile on your face all the time saying, “Praise the Lord!” The Bible doesn’t say that anywhere.

In fact, Jesus taught the exact opposite. In Matthew 5:4, he says, “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (NLT). It’s okay to grieve. When people are Christians, we know they will go on to Heaven, so we need not grieve like the world. Our grief can be different. We grieve because we’re going to miss them, but we can also be at peace because we know they are with God.

What do you do with your feelings? You don’t repress them or stuff them deep inside you. You release them — you give them to God. You cry out to God, “God, I’m hurt! I’m grieving! This is a tough one to take.” If you want a good example of this, read through the book of Psalms, where many times David spills his guts and says, “God, I’m in a tough time right now. I am really, really hurting.” You cry out to God, just like David did.

Psalm 62:8b says, “Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge” (NLT). If you are going through a loss right now, please understand that if you don’t release your grief, it will pour out eventually. Feelings that are pushed down fester, and eventually they explode in a much worse situation.

Release your grief first so that God can begin to heal your heart.

“It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18b NIV).

What you often call loneliness is really homesickness for God. You’ve just never recognized it. You were made to have a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, a relationship that God is dying to have with you. In fact, his Son did die so you could have it. Nothing is ever going to compensate for that — no person, no experience, no drug, no success, no thing, no possession. Nothing is going to fill that aching hole in your heart that God created for himself. He wants you to know him.

How do you get to know God?

Open your life to Jesus Christ. Say, “Jesus Christ, I want to get to know you. I want to learn to love you the way you loved me, even before I knew it. I want to have a relationship with you.” You were made for a relationship with God — not a religion of fear, rules, regulations, and rituals, but a relationship where you talk to God all the time and he works in and through you. That is the antidote to your deepest loneliness.