Month: June 2021

Try these 4 things before your next battle
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Do you want to be strong? Do you want to win? I can tell you I sure do. And I want to win not just because I like winning, but because I strongly believe I’m in the most important fight in history and the results of these battles I’m in have impact on eternity. I don’t just want to win. I have to win. As long as I’m on God’s side (knowing the answer to this question should be another blog), I’m destined to win. That’s why when I was reading 1 Chronicles, I felt God speak to me about an urgent message for us: how to win every battle we’re in. He started by highlighting this word, “garrisons.” The following is a four part message about how to win the battle you’re in. I’m praying for you to be strong and win. Let’s go!

1 Chronicles 17-19 shows us the story of David defeating the Syrians and Ammonites. It starts with David’s time with God, where God makes a covenant with David, establishing relationship and identity. David keeps spending time with God in the place of His Presence. Soon after, they go out to fight different battles. As they begin winning battles, David strategically sets up “garrisons,” or places of protection and fortress to secure the places in which he’s already won. One of the last things I noticed was that because of David’s victory in one place, he didn’t have to fight in another place. I believe these three chapters outline at least four important principles in winning the battles you face: 1) identity, 2) Presence, 3) Discipline, and 4) Relationships. 

David knew his identity because of the covenant God made with him in chapter 17, specifically 17:8. Everything we do and don’t do should flow from our understanding of our identity. That’s why it’s so very, very important that we know God’s Word, specifically what it says about who God is and who we are. For me personally, covenant identity has shaped the way I see my relationships, performance at work, and need for control. These are areas from which I often want to get my sense of self worth. But covenant identity tells me it’s about what Jesus did for me, not what I can do for myself.  Do you know your identity? Do you know the places you’re susceptible to attack and how do you remind yourself daily of the truth of whose you are and subsequently who you are?

In the second half of 17, specifically 17:16, we read about David spending time with God. His time in God’s Presence strengthened him for the battles he would face outside. In the same way, our time with God is the most valuable thing we can do. In this time, we learn about who we are, we learn to discern His voice, we get questions answered, we grow in our love and other fruit of the Spirit. What does your Presence-time look like? How can you put an emphasis on your encounters with God in leading you to victory?

Next, as David started winning, he put up fortresses, or garrisons, as places of protection and security (18:13 among others). These safeguards and boundaries help maintain the ground he had gained in battle. In the same way, as we start winning small battles, we have to set up places of safety and protection. This could be safeguarding our time, how we relate to people, or even setting up specific boundaries around areas of struggle we see in ourselves personally. I have set up these garrisons in various places around me. For example, I have accountability software on my computer that sends a report to my wife. She has complete freedom to ask me about the content of the reports and go further. Additionally, I have an advisory team that I meet with quarterly. They have complete freedom to ask the hard questions and challenge me in places of weakness. I’ve noticed that I have a few strategic places I need to fight for (time with my family, exercise, time in the Bible), when those strategic wins happen, I see the domino affect. What garrisons can you put up so you maintain the space you’ve already won?

Finally, we see how David’s chose and won strategic battles against Ammon and Syria caused Syria not to want to help the Ammonites anymore. This shows how strategic wins and relationships can develop into further victories. We should choose strategic battles to win first and use those as momentum. Similar to the garrisons, strategic victories have helped me move forward. I see how when I invest in strategic relationships, they result in furthering of the mission. I remember years ago one relationship led to more than $100,000 in giving toward our work over the course of six years. I also remember one social media post resulted in a teammate joining our cause. What strategic relationships or tasks, what battles can you win that would lead to greater breakthrough?

It’s my prayer that you’ll live out 1 Chronicles 19:13: “Be strong, and let us use our strength for our people and for the cities of our God.” I know you can be strong, and I know you can use your strength to advance the Kingdom of God. There’s one more part to that verse: “and may the Lord do what seems good to him.” I pray this last phrase reminds you God’s in charge, and you have no need to worry, because in the end, He wins!

The F.A.R Out Loop
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If I’m honest, I often find ways to complicate things. I’m not doing it on purpose, but as I create more systems and structures, I see that I’m creating more work about the work instead of actually doing the work. I make things complicated. There are four different documents I need to track our progress as an org. Those four are fed by several other documents in each department. The other day, I was updating the documents for the next fiscal year and explaining them to someone who recently joined our team. He was having trouble getting the way the documents connected and pointed out redundancies from document to document. Subsequently, he said, “Back away from the documents and just draw it out for me simply.” I then went on to log all the steps in the process and one by one we cut out steps and fat until we came up with a three step process: F.A.R. This process of focusing, acting, and reviewing is going to help us as a team to stay on track and not inundate ourselves with too much admin in this next year.

Focus is about our big goal and vision. We need to look at that big goal and vision for the week, month, year, and 10 years. Putting the big goal and vision in front of us helps us to remember what we’re aiming for. It also helps us have one important step: being able to say no to things that aren’t directly relating to the big goal. If we’re doing it, but it doesn’t help us reach the vision we believe we are to have, we should stop it.

Act is about doing the work. For us, the problem has been that we have many different sources of tasks and projects we need to do. This Act step is about bringing all of that together in a way that helps each person to understand what they’re doing and how they contribute to the vision. In the process of setting up ACT I cut five reporting documents down to one. Let’s go!

Review is about making sure we learn from all the things we’re doing. During this step, we gather input from team members are various levels and analyze it to see what lessons we can learn and improvements we can make. Those lessons may lead to adapting something, starting something, stopping something, or creating space to catch up in some areas where we’re behind. Similar to Focus, how do each of these things actually lead to accomplishing our vision and reaching our big goal?

I believe by focusing, acting, and reviewing, we can position ourselves to go FAR! I hope this helps you think about how you can simplify so that you can go FAR!

Why Journaling is so powerful
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Have you ever tried journaling before? What did you think of it? Do you like to journal? How often do you do it? I have a friend who thinks deeply about life, but hasn’t done much journaling. So, I challenged him to give it a try. I said there are three positives that can come from journaling. This are the why and the how of journaling.

Discover what’s inside. I find that sometimes when I’m going through my busy day, I rarely have time to really process what’s going on in my mind or heart. Without awareness about what’s going on, I can go through life missing opportunities to grow or gain more freedom. Journaling allows me to get a lot of my thoughts and feelings out. I’m sometimes amazed at what happens when I allow some space to write freely. There are things in there I had no idea existed. Write a journal entry and discover what’s inside.

Process what’s going on. Now that I see what’s inside, I want to process why. There’s anger in there. There’s joy in there. There’s numbness in there. Why? What’s going on. Why did I have that reaction yesterday? Why did that person’s words bother me so much? This step is all about going a little deeper. By exploring and processing I can learn more about myself and God. Write a journal entry and process why.

Give all the junk to God. Wow, if I keep writing, I find there’s a lot in there. It just flows out. Here’s a time where you can allow a third party to come in. This is where I turn the discovering and processing to praying. It’s time for God to hear me out. He loves this (read the Psalms recently) and in offering it all to Him, I invite the guide that can take me further in all of this. He knows where I’m at. He knows what I need. His thoughts towards me are good (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). He’s been through it before (Hebrews 4:15).

I believe this three step process in journaling is a gateway to loads of breakthrough for you. Let’s pursue becoming the best people we can be!

But what if journaling could be done in more ways than just writing. I wonder if some people use a phone call with a friend, or even an instagram live to do some of this. I see the value, but I also see the potential danger. When you’re on social or talking a lot with friends, sometimes you can say things you regret. If you’re going to record a video, wait until you’re finished to hit the upload button.