The Seed of Hope

The Reluctant Leader

I was tempted to title this post “The Gift of The Holy Spirit II”, as it is a follow-up to the original post which was made on April 19, 2009. I changed my mind at the last minute, because until a few months ago, until the Holy Spirit took over, I was a reluctant leader, indeed…

I guess that at certain times of my life, better yet, for the majority of my life, I’ve been put in the position of being a leader. As an older brother, husband, father, and business owner, many have looked to me for leadership.

I don’t know exactly why that was the case…perhaps it was that, mentally, I was always older than my years. I think that I must have come out of my mother’s womb as an adult, because I can’t really remember the joy that should have come with being young. I don’t recall being just a kid, with no worries or cares. My family didn’t have a lot of money…didn’t have much money…okay, we were a couple of steps above being dirt poor when I was little, so I grew up at a young age. I had to grow up; there were no other options.

My early-age maturity set the table for people looking to me for leadership…for answers. By the time I was in my late teens and early twenties even my parents looked to me for guidance in some areas. And I must admit that I was flattered that people respected me enough to look to me for leadership.

BUT…

I didn’t want to be a leader; didn’t want any part of it! You see, I didn’t think that I was qualified to lead anyone. In my mind, a “leader” is defined as someone who can steer, direct, or take people to where they want to go, where they need to go. A leader should have a vision for what lies ahead, for what is to be achieved. A leader should be committed to making that vision a reality. One more thought about a leader…it’s not necessarily about the leader’s vision being right or wrong…it’s about the act of stepping up to be a leader.

I didn’t have a vision for my own life, so how could I have a vision for someone else’s? How could I possibly be a leader for others when I had no sense of direction and no burning desire to achieve anything, because I didn’t know what I wanted to achieve. Besides, I really didn’t think that I was good enough, or worthy enough, to achieve much, but that’s a topic best saved for another day.

For all those years, I was a reluctant leader, especially in business, until…

One day; the day I got my tattoo, the day that I committed myself to being a soldier of Christ, the day that I was born again. On that day everything started to change. My perspective on life, on people, on myself, and most importantly, on God changed. God began working in me and through me to reach out to others. I formed a vision for our business and made a commitment to make that vision a reality. Let me clarify something: My vision, oddly enough, was not for our business, but for the people working for us. I was becoming a leader.

But something was still missing. I was becoming a leader, alright, but it was out of a sense of obligation to those around me, and not because it was something that was really in my heart.

Catalyst

To refresh your memory, and for you first time visitors, Catalyst was a men’s retreat sponsored by The Church of The Highlands that I attended in March of this year.

On the second day of Catalyst I signed up to take part in Discovery 301, a class in which the participant (that would be me) answers a few hundred multiple choice questions as a way of taking a look “inside.”

The first section of the questionnaire defined my personality traits. Without going into a lot of detail, I’ll tell you that my results showed that I was an I-C personality, which basically meant that while I was competent, cautious, inspiring, and influencing, I wasn’t really a strong leader. This came as a surprise to the moderator, Pastor Joshua Canizaro, who knew that I had been a business owner for many years. It came, of course, as no surprise to me; I knew that I was a reluctant leader, and told him as much.

The second section of the questionnaire helped to determine my spiritual gifts. No surprises there…my gifts, in descending order, were evangelism, faith, and encouraging others.

I walked away from Discovery emboldened by the fact the results had validated the Evangelism that had been growing inside of me, but a little disheartened that I seemed to lack leadership.

Later that night I took part in a Baptism of The Holy Spirit; that is took say that I asked to receive The Holy Spirit into my life. If you haven’t read the post that I referenced at the beginning of this one, I urge you to do so because it will give you some insight as to what I’m going to tell you next.

Fast forward one month…

Jackie (my wife) and I were participating in Growth Track, a series of four classes offered to newcomers at Highlands. The third class in the series was Discover 301 (yes, the same one that I had taken at Catalyst). I decided that I would not only accompany Jackie to the class, but answer the questions again; just to see if anything had changed. Prior to taking the “test” I cleared my mind as best I could and asked God to help me answer all the questions from my heart…

Okay, let me just get right to the point on this:

On the personality profile, my strongest traits were “D-I”, which meant that I was direct, decisive, inspiring, and influencing. In other words, I was a leader inspiring others.

My spiritual gifts were, in descending order, leadership, evangelism, and faith.

I sat there, stunned by the new results, but not really surprised. You see, since that night at Catalyst, I had felt the presence of The Holy Spirit growing in me! Whereas before I enjoyed sharing the gift of God with others, I now want to stand atop the highest mountain and shout His praises. Before, I would ask God to open doors for me…now I’ll run through walls for Him! There is nothing, nothing that I wouldn’t do for Him.

With regards to being a leader? Oh, I accept my role as a leader in our salon, and, and it is more of a joy than it has ever been. As far as my personal life is concerned, I believe that my role, my purpose of being, is to enlighten people about Christ and lead people to Him. And as I’ve told you before, I do this with a boldness that has taken many by surprise.

More than a suggestion…

In the original post I suggested that you might want to call on the Holy Spirit the next time that you’re in prayer. I’m rescinding that suggestion. Instead, I’m imploring you to ask to be filled with Him with all that is in you. And I don’t mean once; every time that you’re in prayer I want you to ask to receive Him. Without fail.

As a rule, I don’t like to make promises, because quite often they lead to the promisor failing to deliver and the promisee being disappointed. BUT, I’m going to promise you this:

You keep calling on the Holy Spirit to fill you, and I believe with all that is in me that He will do it. It may not be that day, or that week, or even that month…but it will happen. You will receive His comfort and strength, and in doing so you will be filled by a sense of peace unlike any you have ever known. And those attacks from Satan? (He does come after you, even if you don’t realize it.) I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that they’ll stop, but I am gonna tell you that with The Holy Spirit the odds of you kicking his butt increase exponentially!

How do I know that this will happen for you?

Because that’s the way our God is.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

                                                                             Romans 15:13 (NIV)

See you next Monday!

sam@theseedofhope.com

Listening for God's Voice

Earlier this week I was having coffee and conversation with my good friend Freddy Guerra. The coffee was at Starbucks (they think a lot of their coffee!) and the conversation was about God and life.

Actually, Freddy and I have only known each other for four months, though it seems much longer. We met at a men’s retreat in March hosted by The Church of The Highlands, where both of us are members. Freddy also attended a small group that my wife Jackie and I hosted in our home this summer…

There’s something magical about sharing our faith and our problems with people that inextricably draws us closer to one another, enriches our walk of faith, and makes the problems that we face in life seem smaller, less insurmountable. I don’t know, perhaps it is through sharing in a small group setting that we come to realize that everyone has problems, i.e. financial, health, relationships, etc. I think that we take comfort in the knowing that we’re not alone in having a cross to bear. No, it’s not the “misery loves company” thing. It’s funny how this works…in sharing our problems and exposing our weaknesses with a group of people doing the same, we actually grow stronger!

So Freddy and I met to continue the sharing that had begun in our small group meetings. At some point in our conversation, the subject turned to listening for God’s voice to get “directions” in life.

HIS Voice…

Okay, I’ve got to tell you that I’ve never heard God’s voice, in the sense of having a conversation with someone. For instance, quite often during prayer I audibly ask God for advice or help in a certain situation…He’s never given me an audible answer.

But that doesn’t mean that He doesn’t answer me at all. I believe that there are several different means in which God may “speak” to us, and we need to be aware of what they are. I’ll preface what I’m going to say by telling you that I ask God to give me the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the awareness to know when He does decide to speak to me!

The eyes to see…

Okay, the most obvious place to hear God speaking to us is through the Bible. There are messages from God and references to conversations with God throughout the Old Testament. Turn to the New Testament, and what do you find? God’s Word, and His teachings, spoken here on earth by His Son! If you don’t use your eyes to read the Bible, you’ll never see it. And if you never see it, you’ll never know it! There’ll be more on the Bible later in this post.

Quite often God will speak to us through events that may or may not involve us. We may find ourselves in a situation, the same situation, over and over again, until we get the message and do things differently.  Or we may know someone that has been “called” to serve God in some type of ministry.

The ears to hear…

Many times God will put someone directly in our path to deliver a message from Him. The bearer of this message may be a pastor, spouse, friend, relative, or a song writer. Quite often, God will speak to us through a complete stranger! The important thing to remember is that we need to walk with the awareness that God may be speaking to us through someone else.

I’ve spoken quite frequently about the need for us to bold in our faith (most recently on July 20^th) so I won’t go into particulars on this subject. There is one thought that bears mentioning though, because I forgot to do so in the original post, and because I just want to!

I will speak openly about my faith, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the fact that I am a Christian anytime and anywhere; all the time and everywhere. I don’t know how I got to be this way…at first I felt very awkward talking about those things to a stranger, but now I feel awkward if I don’t take advantage of every opportunity to do so…I guess that the Holy Spirit has taken hold of me, and you know what? I love it!

So anyway, when I seize the opportunity to share my faith with someone that I’ve just met, and this individual has the same passion for God that I do, it’s, well it’s like throwing gasoline on smoldering embers! I’ve been told on several occasions that the fires of the Holy Spirit are dancing in my eyes…I don’t know about that, because I can’t see my eyes, but I can tell you that I certainly feel His presence in me…I’m always humbled, grateful, and overwhelmed that God fills me with Him. It is my prayer that in sharing your faith with others, you too will come to know this feeling.

That little voice…

During last week’s service, Church of The Highlands Pastor Chris Hodges made a reference as the Bible being a guide for us in life. I need to add that Pastor Chris grew up in Louisiana, and like many of us Southerners, isn’t afraid to tell you exactly the way it is…in layman’s terms.

There was one thing that he said that I wish I had taken the time to make a note of, but unfortunately failed to do so. I can’t quote him verbatim, so I’ll give you the gist of what he said:

You need to make a decision about something in life or some guidance on what to do in a certain situation? Holding his Bible high above his head for all to see, he provided us an answer to his question…If you can’t find it in here, it isn’t right. This Bible defines everything about the way we should live.

You know what? Three months ago I would have disagreed with my Pastor’s statement. Today, I agree with him 100%. So what happened? God gave me the eyes to see the Word, and the ears to hear the message. Consequently, I turn to the Bible quite often for guidance. This is a good thing, right?

Yes, yes it is. But it also poses a problem for me, and I suspect that it may do the same for many of us. You see, I don’t know all the lessons and guidance that the Bible has for me. I just started reading the Bible a couple of years ago, and there’s just so much to learn. When someone starts reciting Chapter and Verse right off the top of their head, I can only sit there in amazement…and admiration.

But I’ve come to realize something else: many of us may not be able to cite a specific passage in the Bible, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t know the overall message of the Bible. The lessons that we learn from our parents, churches, family, mentors, and friends instill in us the “guidelines” for what is contained in the Bible: love, compassion, wisdom, right from wrong, etc.

Here’s what I’m getting at…there are times in our lives when we can’t wait for God to speak to us. We may be faced with a decision that must be made on the spot, or find ourselves in a situation that calls for immediate action. What do we do?

Say a quick prayer, asking God for the insight, and clarity to make the right decision in accordance with His will. And ask for discernment that you may know His word from that of Satan (who will get inside your head the moment you let your guard down.) Then be still and listen…

You know that little voice inside your head that talks to you all the time? (It’s okay; we all have one of those!) It’s called a conscience, and I believe that our conscience is God talking to us through us.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying “This is the way; walk in it.: Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)

You see, among the many gifts that God gives to us is the ability to make the right choice, to do the right thing. And He trusts us enough to give us the freedom to make that choice.

Are you walking with Christ everyday, trying to know Him, love Him, and serve Him more? Trust yourself; you’ll make the right choice.

See you next Monday.

sam@theseedofhope.com

...about being BOLD

Do you ever wonder why I’m always encouraging you to be bold in sharing the news of Christ with others? This has been the topic of many of my posts, and I’m sure that it will find its way into many future posts as well. So, why am I so insistent that we share our faith with others?

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Mark 16:15 NIV

There it is…right there in the Bible. After Christ had risen this was one of the final directives He gave the disciples before His ascension into the heavens. Do you believe that His words were only for the ears of those first disciples and not for us? You’re not really gonna answer “yes”, are you?

Okay, if it makes you feel any better, I don’t know that many people follow the bible to the letter; I must admit that I don’t. I’ve “confessed” that I didn’t start reading the Bible until a couple of years ago, and there is so much of it that I still don’t even know, so I can’t sit here and tell you that I base my life on its contents…but I’m working on it.

If the fact that Christ told us to go out and tell the world isn’t a good enough reason for you, then…

Share the good news of Christ with others for others.

I know the difference that having a relationship with Christ has made in my life, and I suspect that the same can be said for you. How can we not share who He is, what He is, and His goodness with others?

Share the good news of Christ with others for yourself.

You read it correctly; do it for yourself. I’m sure that you’ve heard the old saying “It is better to give than to receive.” Trust me on this one…there is no greater gift than introducing Christ into someone’s life.

Contrary to what you may be thinking, the gift is not theirs, but yours. They receive the grace and blessings of knowing Jesus. You receive the gift of Christ’s Spirit, which is a feeling that, for me, has yet to be matched by any material possession here on earth! And believe me, once you have walked being filled with His spirit, you will never want to be without it again!

Share the good news of Christ with others for our country…our world.

Let’s get real for a minute. Have you taken the time to check out, I mean really check out the world in which we live? I’m not a pessimist, but we are teetering on the edge of disaster. I’m asking you to look beyond the economy, inflation, the housing market, the jobless rate, and health insurance costs. While these problems are real, and touch many of us, they are not the kind of problems that has Satan dancing in the streets.

I’m talking about things like corruption in government, overthrowing sitting leaders of countries, governments turning a blind eye to famine and disease, and the atrocities of genocide. Too far away? Other people’s problems, you say? Glad it’s not US, as in U.S.?

Okay, how about murder, rape, child abuse, suicide, pornography, theft, and an ever-fading sense of morality in our country? Oh, and you can probably throw in just a touch of political dishonesty. Are you lookin’ now? At U.S.?

Here’s a question for you…

• Do you think that the problems facing our country and our world are in some way a result of our crumbling moral values? Or do you think that it’s a coincidence that everything seems to be going “to hell in a hand basket” all at the same time?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that you’re a Christian, or that you’re here seeking to know more about Him. I don’t know about you, but for me, walking that daily walk with Christ is accompanied by accountability for my every thought, word, and deed. Come to think of it, even when I wasn’t a “devoted” Christian, my knowledge of Christ and His teachings instilled a set of moral values in me that I couldn’t deny.

Which leads me to a series of questions…

• Do you think that now, more than ever, the world would be a much better place with more Christians in it? That more people need to know about Christ? And because of this, how can you not share the good news of Christ?

And, finally…

• Could you imagine your life without Christ in it? What if you had not been born into a Christian family, or had never been introduced to Him? Think about that one for a minute…how different would your life be?

Just ONE.

Look, I’m not asking you to go out and save the world. I’m not even asking you to save your neighborhood! I am asking that you never pass up an opportunity to share your faith with someone. Anyone. Just one.

I know, I know…for some of us, speaking openly about God is a hard thing to do. We worry about others will think of us…and that’s understandable.

Here’s a suggestion: perhaps you should try sneaking God into the conversation! Oh, there’s a good way to do it…

The next time that someone inquires as to your well being, simply reply “I’m blessed.” If they question the source of your blessings…well, you’ll know what to tell them!

In the same way faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith: I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. James 2:17-18

See you next Monday!

sam@theseedofhope.com