The more we pray, the more prophetic we will become, the less we pray, the more pathetic we will become.  Batterism

Buzz Williams, basketball coach for Marquette, gets it!  He is coaching the way Jesus would coach if Jesus was a basketball coach.  He’s not just interested in how his kids perform on the court, he invests in their eternity.

I’m writing the book, or rather stumbing along in an unchartered wilderness, on being a real estate broker and property management company owner the way Jesus would if he were a broker.  It’s not easy and I don’t feel up to the task almost every morning.  But I’ve started asking myself every morning when I enter my office, “What can I do today to take one more step into this vision?” and then, “What can I do right now that will start momentum into that step?”

Prophecy is not so much predicitng the future as it is creating the future!

In our home, we teasingly, but sincerely refer to Tami as the “glass half full”.  Doesn’t matter what is going on, she has a God-given ability to find the positive, to find God’s hand working.  In fact, I say she’s the glass half full and filling fast!  For the past year I have been focusing on being like her.  I’m too quick to notice (and comment about) the negative, the lack of responsibility, the fail.  There can be 90% great work, and I will point out how we fell short of perfection in the 10%.  I used to think that was godly.  Doesn’t the bible say, “Be perfect, even as Your Heavenly Father is perfect”?

But what I didn’t get into my spirit is that Jesus was speaking to our “position” with God not our performance.  Our best efforts are “like dirty rags” compared to the Holy One, but He chooses not to see us that way when we are in right relationship with Christ, He only sees what good we are doing.  Correction and Discipline come as Conviction in our spirit that wells up desire to please our God.

Celebrate what you want to see more of.  Don’t worry so much about what falls short.  We all respond to encouragement, praise, and admonition… even a puppy.

God has given me a revelation that is hard to ignore or get away from.  I have known for most of my life that we are to be Christ’s ambassadors, but I never translated that into everything that I do.

My business, community events, dining out, when service technicians come to my home or one of our rental properties.  Everything, Everywhere, God will orchestrate people across our paths that need an encounter with Jesus.

We are called to be a prophetic voice to the people God places in our life.  Stop viewing any interaction as happenstance or chance.  You never know when the person you are interacting with in the normal course of your day may have just cried out to God that morning to know if He is for real or to lead them to someone who can confirm His voice in their life.  And if we will watch for them, God will quicken our spirit to know.  If we will listen to God, people will listen to us.  I don’t have a lot to say, but God has volumes to say to this world.  That is exactly what Jesus did.  “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” (John 5:19)

Like the Verizon installer that I gave a copy of In A Pit With A Lion on a Snowy Day.  I asked him to email me when he finished the book.  Maybe he hasn’t finished it yet or just forgot.  But God brought him to my mind today, so I pray that wherever he is that God will use my gift to draw that man closer to Him.

The more face-to-face time we have with the Father, the better we will hear His voice and see what He is doing.  Then His Word in our mouths will not only set captives free but will give us a platform to bring good news, through our families, through our businesses, through our lives and can catapult us into places of influence with leaders.  A man’s gift makes room for him, And brings him before great men. (Proverbs 18:16)

The worst thing that I can imagine happening is that we complete this 40 day family prayer challenge unchanged

I am different. Being changed every morning by a face-to-face encounter with Jesus and hearing from God.  He is changing everything around me.  How I look at myself.  How I partner with my wife. How I lead my children. How I honor my mother. How I run my businesses… or rather how He is re-doing everything about the businesses He has entrusted me to steward.

What does a real estate brokerage and a property management company look like that Jesus owns??

We know many things about the last 3 years of Jesus’ life, but His ministry began as a little boy in the temple.  What we don’t see is the fact that He grew up in a carpenter’s home, He inherited a carpentry business.  He had clients and commissions, He encountered problems and challenges that needed creative solutions, He had to market, and design, and manage, and build, and warranty and everything a business requires.  So, my prayer that He reveal to me just what a Brokerage and Management Company would look like if He had owned them.

His heart is for PEOPLE.  So everything I do, engage in, relate to needs to be about leading people to Him.  Forget about the profits.  Plant the seeds…. water them… but quit trying to manufacture the results because only God can give the increase.  He knows I need to provide for a family, He knows that we need to save, and invest, and pay our tithe and He knows how much we want to GIVE to the Kingdom and He knows that He is calling me to do something that not only can I not fund it, I can’t even finance the first step of it.  I have prepared myself intellectually, educationally, and obediently I have to take the first step and TRUST Him to provide the means for step 2, and 3, and beyond.  God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

We are going to change the way real estate is done.  We are all about establishing homes, not just selling and leasing houses.  Like Abraham, I am starting the journey not knowing where it will lead me, but if it is really His vision, then He is responsible for the provision and the results.  My responsibility is to start walking.  I have no fear of failure, I am not discouraged, I am not in doubt.  When I stepped down as CEO, it is no longer my reputation on the line, but God’s.

He has revealed to me several things to start doing, but I have no idea what this thing looks like yet.  World, GET READY! Something is coming your way that I cannot even imagine.

I am not a fan of halftime.  I don’t like being on hold.  I prefer to use self check out instead of the express lane – but I am a firm believer that there should be a qualification process in order to utilize the self-check out lane.  I got in the habit of doing my own letters even when I had administrative assistants because I could type (or keyboard for you under 40 crowd) faster than almost every assistant I every had except Sharon Pate.

While I love highlights shown during halftime because they appeal to my bottom-line nature, there is always a dissatisfaction in me while the game I am watching is on hold… especially if my team is behind.  I am a staunch supporter of the mentality that the most insignificant statistic in life is the score at halftime.  Roger Staubach, “Captain Comeback”, will always be one of my favortie people.  Not only because of his ability on the field but because of his stand for Christ on & off the field.  The half hour Tami and I spent with him talking about our families at a conference in Nevada will remain a high point for my life.  But No. 12 never let the score at halftime or the score with 2 minutes left in the game for that matter dishearten him.  In fact, it was almost as if he allowed the odds to get stacked against him so his particular expertise could be put in play.

This is day 20 of our 40 day challenge.  It’s halftime and God has put a holy thumb in my back this morning.

God doesn’t care whether I have the capital for the dream.  He doesn’t care if I have the websites in place yet or the agreements or whether the plan is laid out.  He only cares about whether I am willing to take a step in obedience and then another and another.  Just like the lepers that were healed “as they went”, God will make provision as I walk towards the vision… not before.  Otherwise, there is no faith required.  And without faith it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6).  You can’t earnestly seek Him sitting still.  God wants me daily dependent on Him.  Not relying on the revelaton, but the Revealer.

So, today… every day ask:

1. What can I do today that will be one more step into the calling?

2. What can I do in the next hour to create momentum toward the dream?

Nothing overcomes doubt and discouragement like action.  Any action in the right direction.  That begins momentum and as any fan of athletic competition can tell you, nothing is more powerful, more compelling, and more inexplicable than momentum.

God responds to obedience.  His eye is looking to & fro throughout the Earth to see who he can strongly support… and that person is the one who will start walking without having to know where God is leading him. (II Chron 16:9) (Hebrews 11:8)

In the 8th grade, I was the same height I am now.  I was one of the toughest kids in school and even the 9th graders didn’t mess with me much.  My teachers always said, “be a lover, not a fighter!” I just responded, “I’m both”.

Well, one day toward the end of the year I learned a lesson about picking fights that I have never forgotten.  Leonard was a year older than me.  He was not much bigger than I was and kinda quiet, but one day he made a remark I didn’t like much.  Don’t remember what it was, but probably a comeback to some cocky thing I said.  Anyway, I decided that after school he needed to learn to just keep quiet.  I followed him out of the building and tried to pick a fight.  He just kept walking.  So, I resorted to a little shoving and taunting.  When we finally got to the end of the grounds, he had had enough so he turned and was ready to fight.  By this time, a crowd had gathered and my reputation was on the line.  I had on a new shirt, so I took it off to show my chest and muscles.  What followed was a completely humbling beating by a kid named “Leonard”.  I don’t give up easily, so by the time he had decided I’d taken enough, my back and arms were extremely skinned up and I was a bloody mess.

I learned a lesson to never pick unnecessary fights, because you may regret the fight that comes back.

We should never be surprised by the level of retaliation when we pick fights.  As Pastor Mark said, “Prayer is picking a fight with the devil”.  Our enemy is fine to leave us alone when we aren’t doing much to mess with his principality.  But when we commit ourselves to 40 days of prayer and fasting to bring about God’s will on Earth, we are throwing boulders at the gates of hell and we shouldn’t be surprised that he comes out fighting.  He will hit us with discouragement and will attack us in our weaknesses and at the point of our identity.  He will get us to doubt ourselves and our God.  He will tell us we are asking for the wrong things or with the wrong motives.  He doesn’t fight fair.  But the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world, but have the power of God behind them to demolish his strongholds ( II Cor 10:4).

We can never forget this:  Prayer and God’s Word in our mouths have divine power!  (Rev 12:11) Satan likes to use deceit and get us to believe our prayers are having no effect because we are usually too impatient on answers.  But, if our prayers have no effect, then why is he bothering to mess with us or trying to discourage us???

The prayers we pray when we feel like quitting are the prayers that bring breakthroughs!

Don’t get sucked in.  For some reason God likes to let the odds get built up against us, let us get into a place where it looks like there is no way out.  Why?  So, we aren’t tempted to share his glory.  So when the bottom drops out, your finances and your health are attacked, when you feel like you are alone on the battlefield, Take Courage!  That’s when you are in a place where God’s power is revealed and God receives the glory.

Praying Hard is hard because it’s hard!

But like almost everything in life, the things that come easy are rarely appreciated and usually taken for granted.  We don’t want those kinds of answers or blessings!  We want God-powered God-sized victories.

So Keep Praying. Pray Hard… for as long as it takes and do not be afraid of the circumstances you see.  Trust God!  Recite His Word.  He loves to hear it and Satan can’t stand it!  Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world ( I John 4:4)  Demolish his strongholds by proclaiming God’s Word and do not grow weary.  This battle is not ours but the Lord’s (II Chron 20:15)

Paraclete is not a term we use every day.  But that Greek word is what Jesus used to refer to The Holy Spirit.

parakletos.  Looks like parakeet, but they could not be more dissimilar.  The definition is advocate, helper, intercessor, lender of strength.  But that really doesn’t convey a complete picture.  The Holy Spirit is indeed all of these, but this is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead!  This is the power of God not only to live the way He has called us to live, to endure the challenges and trials of this life, and that pleads with God for the pardon of our sins in the widest sense, but the full might of God that wages war on our behalf.

If I can ever get my meager mind to comprehend that our Paraclete is released to bring the victory we so desperately seek when I hit my knees   then I would spend more time and energy to be there.

I am really fighting discouragement this morning.  Trying to lead my children on a 40 day journey that will change the course of their lives, the lives of those around them, and the lives of those who follow them – but only my wife and my mother want to come along.  You know you can lead horses to water, but you can’t make ’em drink.

I’m discouraged by the fact that as soon as I commit us to prayer, the bottom falls out of my business, our livlihood.

How do I battle discouragement and take up courage again?  I hit my knees. I recount how faithful God has been. I Pray Hard and Think Long!  I ask for our Paraclete to lend me strength, to open my spiritual eyes, to plead my case, and to give me courage.

Discouragement means to have courage drained from you.

Encouragement is to be filled with courage.

So, Father, I pray that You will make TCG and me such an example of God’s grace, love, power, and provision that our kids can’t resist the immense desire to follow in our steps. Help me release control and let You bring the victory I am unable to bring. Be our God, we are Your people!

How do you make horses drink?… make them thirsty!

This is the truth God has been trying to get our family to understand in this season.

As the song says, “I don’t know how, but there’s power, when I’m on my knees”  It not only changes things, more importantly, it changes ME.  No man stands so tall as when he is on his knees – because that is the posture that places God between me and what I am facing.

The posture and complete worship is kneeling.  The posture of prayer – earnest prayer that puts us on the offensive – is kneeling.

When I’m on my knees, I’m in the posture of utter surrender – How in the world can I do battle??? How can I be on the offensive on my knees in surrender???  EXACTLY! I CAN’T!   That’s the point.  But until I’m in total surrender to God, He can’t act on my behalf, He can’t fight the battle for me.  As long as I’m trying to captain the army (be in charge), He can’t take charge.  That is hard for me… I’m a former college QB.  I know how to run an offense for crying out loud – but I am useless trying to Quarterback this game of life.  It is illogical for me to think we can win the game if I stay in the huddle on my knees.  I can fight a fight I can’t see.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Eph 6:12

Jericho’s walls, the Red Sea, Gideon’s killer lamps, Elisha’s Chariots of Fire, Jehoshaphat’s choir.  Joshua, Moses, Gideon, Elisha, & Jehoshaphat all sought God before the battle, and God told them to do things that had nothing to do with how men make war but everything to do with how the battle is won!  They stepped aside, obeyed, and God won the battle without them having to lift a sword.

The Battle is not Ours, but God’s.  The pattern is Ask, Hear, Obey and get outta the way!

As Pastor Robert says in From Dream to Destiny, “God’s thoughts for you are higher than your thoughts.  His plans for you are better than your plans.  He has a dream for you, and it is better than your dream.  He has a destiny in mind for you, and it is not only bigger than you currently imagine, it also is bigger than you can ever imagine.  You can’t dream a bigger dream than God can dream!

Family, if the dream you have in your heart for yourself is not bigger than you are, bigger than the resources you think are available to you, and are not so big you are reluctant to share it with someone else for fear that they might chuckle to themselves… maybe not to your face, but silently…, then IT IS NOT BIG ENOUGH!

I’m putting a godly, prophetic, challenge before you, loved ones.  Sit down before the sun goes down tomorrow… it’s Sunday and the babies are away, so you have the time… and write out your dream.  First, Ask God to give you a revelation about what HIS dream is for you.  What does it look like? What do you look like walking in it?  Then get quiet before Him and listen.  Then WRITE IT DOWN!

There will be a test!

First you think it, then you ink it.  A dream is not a goal until it is written down!  First God will you give you the vision then He will make the provision!  You need a vision that is beyond your resources or else you can take part of the glory for them when they are realized.  Don’t worry about how you get there from here, we will talk about that.  As you heard Pastor Mark share in today’s Draw the Circle, God can accomplish more in one day than you can accomplish in a lifetime.

You read his story about how God, in one day, can provide more than someone has accumulated in a lifetime.  $3 million in one day is more than most of the people you and I know have been able to accumulate over their entire lives.  But that is no big deal for our God.

Then we will pray circles around these dreams and start wading into the river and just watch what our God does.

Caution: do not start talking about what God has done “through you”.  God will not share his glory with anyone.  Just turn every blessing back to praise for Him alone.

When someone comments on your success and prosperity, just respond, “thank you, but you know, I could not have accomplished one thing without God!”

Blessings!

This morning I began my prayer time whining like an Israelite!

I told God I had to be honest.  I said, “God, It is impossible for me to pray circles around all the people and things You have placed on my heart when financial needs in my business are tyrannizing my thoughts, energy, and sleep.  Sometimes it seems like for me to have faith the size of a mustard seed, it would have to double in size”  But I asked Him to help me have faith to know He is aware and His answer was on the way the first time I prayed then I began to talk about His faithfulness (even when I’m not) and before I realized it, He was pouring out revelation on me.

I know you know the story about the man whose wife brought him in a magnificent meal she had worked on most of the day, sat down a Valentine’s card next to it, kissed him, said I love you, and laid a new watch down beside the card.  He said thank you! She said, honey do you still love me?… you never tell me you do.  He replied, when I asked you to marry me, did I tell you how much I loved you?  She said, Oh yes! He said, well I told you I loved you once, if it ever changes I’ll let you know…

My logic gets the better of me when I don’t see “how” God can come through… or, more accurately, come through in time.  But I don’t believe the Isralites or even Moses thought, “Oh, ‘No Worries’, God will probably just split the Red Sea behind us and dry the mucky mud out real quick so we can get away and then drown the Egyptian Army THAT IS ABOUT TO KILL US!!!”

And I don’t think it crossed their mind to draw a circle in the shore and tell God they weren’t moving out of it until He showed mercy to His children and parted the Red Sea.

No!  They thought like I do…  they complained, “So there’s not enough places to bury us all in Epypt, that You brought us out here so our dead carcasses wouldn’t clutter up Pharoah’s land??”

Parting the Red Sea and being able to walk on dry ground was such an improbability and impossibility that it was not even crossing their logical minds.  Their backs were to the sea and their enemy was barreling down on them to wipe them out  and God just told Moses, “You’re facing the wrong direction”.

Moses said, “Huh?”

God: ” Why are you crying to Me, Go Forward!”

Moses: “Toward Pharoah’s Army? Are you Nuts?! We took all their gold and jewels like You told us, but we didn’t take their weapons, they’ll murder us!”

God: “No, you dummy, I said your facing the wrong way!… Am I taking you back to Egypt or to the Promised Land?”

Moses: “Uhh…, to the Promised Land?”

God: “Right! so turn around and Go Forward!”

Moses: “Into the sea?? Are Epyptians afraid of water like the aliens in Signs or something?”

God: ” NO idiot! Llift up your rod, stretch out your hand and divide it! and the Children of Israel will walk through on dry ground!”

Moses: “God, have you ever picked up clay like what is on the bottom of that sea?”

God: “What d’ya think I made Adam out of? Now do what I say”

Moses: “That’s just stupid, how foolish are You really wanting me to look here?”

God: “Not as foolish as you will be to just sit here and get slaughtered”

Moses: “OK, right”

Did you catch it?  God didn’t say “I will divide it”, He told Moses to lift up his rod, stretch out his hand and divide it.  I never saw that before!

God said, “I told you I loved you once…”
Back in v. 4 of Exodus 14, God already told Moses, “I am going to gain honor over Pharoah and his army so they would knowI Am the Lord”.  Not sure if the “they” in that sentence was Egyptians or Isralites, but I think God may have meant both.

So God told me this morning, “I know you don’t have the capital to do what I planted in your heart, I know you are scrambling just to make the ends meet and how short you are falling if I don’t do something, I understand you don’t see how anything can happen in time to save your rear again, but I’m telling you don’t sit here and get slaughtered, go divide the sea and walk through… Go Forward!”

I said, “but if I do it, how are You going to get the glory?”

God said, “Seriously? Do you really think anyone would believe “you” divided this sea of red ink and delivered yourself?… when you read the story of Moses and the Red Sea did you assume “he” split the sea and dried out the ground immediately?  Do you think the Israelites walking through 50 foot high walls of water thought Moses did that?”

“Don’t try to sound pious and holy by being concerned about My Glory, just be obedient and believe Me, when the sea parts and you walk through on dry ground, you will find it impossible not to give Me the glory!”

I’m getting up, turning around, facing the wall my back is up against and Going Forward!

One day, I will need to encourage Pastor Mark to write a daily devotional book on “Batterisms”.  My friend and mentor, Dr. Edwin Louis Cole also spoke a wealth of “Coleisms” that eventually became a mini-book.  like, “the man who knows ‘how’ will always be the servant of the man who knows ‘why’.”, or “a ton of prayer will not produce what an ounce of obedience will.” and my favorite: “Manhood and Christlikeness are Synonymous!”

Batterism:  “It’s only when business as usual goes out of business that we’re in business –  the Father’s business”  (= don’t just pray about it, act on it!)

Batterism: “Maybe our normal is so  subnormal that normal seems abnormal” (= God never intended for us to be “regular people”, His aspirations for us are higher than our own!)

Batterism: “If we do the little things like they are big things, then God will do the big things like they are little things”  (= be cognizant of the resulting miracle of a harvest of fruit when you bury a tiny seed and pour water on it each day)

Batterism: “if you meet with God, God will make sure you meet the right people at the right time” (= pray, hear God, leave the results to Him)

Batterism: “if you pray to God regularly, irregular things will happen on a regular basis” (= secret to abundance in any relationship is time invested in the one you love)  In other words, IF YOU WANT TO WALK IN THE MIRACULOUS, PLANT YOURSELF NEXT TO THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN MAKE MIRACLES HAPPEN AND KEEP IN STRIDE!!

Selah