Thrive with God at the wheel of your life

There's a wonderful irony to walking with God. To live in a growing relationship with God  is almost a guarantee that our lives will be turned upside down in some way. Joseph was sold to the Midianites for a mere 20 Shekels. Journeying away from family and familiar friends maybe he wondered does God hate me? While his soul was torn, while he wondered if God was worthy of his life allegiance; God showed up showing him His sincere concern for his well-being. God hand-picked Potiphar to serve as a pipeline of unrelenting blessing to Joseph in his darkest hours. Potiphar's house would be leadership training for Joseph, teaching Joseph to shoulder responsibilities in God's strength to guarantee God's outcome in all He did. Blessings pursued Joseph along  with the evil which came his way, and blessing followed those who were touched by His life.  Praise God for a God, who literally loads us with benefits. He is not a "Checklist God," constantly purveying our lives for our right versus wrong performance; contrarily, He is a gracious God, who is over-committed to wowing us with the reality that He simply cannot get enough of us. His love language is quality time. Nothing satisfies Him more than a reciprocated friendship with us, where we too can't get over Him. God would weave even more trouble into Joseph's life, landing him in jail for his righteous stand; but it would prove all good. Amazingly, our gumption through great trial is our qualification and vindication to serve in greater capacities. Each day of blessing and burden was equipping
Joseph to be the servant he was born to be. Servants aren't born in the ice-cream parlor; they must feel the fire of God's hot pot, if they're to ably fulfill God's purposes for them.
That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.Romans 8:28 MSG

God is Healer, but we must be intentionally moving toward healing.

 
Time passed. Judah's wife, Shua's daughter, died. When the time of mourning was over, Judah with his friend Hirah of Adullam went to Timnah for the sheep shearing. Gen.38:12
Time teaches us that we are very vulnerable to yield to sinful pleasures and dark escape routes after times of deep hurt or difficulty. On his daughter Shua's death, Judah mourned for some time then sought to return happily to work. As he journeyed to Timnah to shear sheep; he slept with a "prostitute," who he later found to be his daughter-in-law, Tamar. Giving in to the unthinkable, Judah slept with his close relation and soon was father of twins, Perez (Breakout) and Zerah (Bright). God would have you understand the need to move from mourning to healing. We need to handle our hurt and disappointment in a way that places us on path to healing; a steady spa treatment of Scripture, heart-felt prayer, legit recreation, and time with friends, who are good at listening and super empathetic is needed to help us get back to working diligently and not fail miserably as Judah did. Interestingly, his twins were named Perez (Breakout) and Zerah (Bright). They received these names because Zerah was on path to being born first but Perez beat him to birth, so the name (Breakout). When we fail to focus on healing well, depending on the Spirit and His options; we too will fail as Judah did. The "Bright" paths of right decisions will elude us as they did Judah and we will inevitably "Breakout" in sinful escape. Harm follows our failing to heal well.

Life's better, lived before the face of God.

But Esau ran up and embraced him, held him tight and kissed him. And they both wept.
 Then Esau looked around and saw the women and children: "And who are these with you?" Jacob said, "The children that God saw fit to bless me with." Gem. 33:4,5
I'm learning practically that living in God's presence is key to peace, soul prosperity, and daily favor; if there is one mighty motivator to living barnacled to Jesus, it's our enemies. As Jacob had his haters so do you. Jacob felt tangibly the hatred of Esau. He lived with the shadow of Esau in his rear view mirror, wandering when Esau would pounce destroying him, his wives and progeny; I believe Jacob's fear was his friend; for his helplessness against the hatred of his brother Esau, allowed him to find home in Beth-EL, God's house. Enemies are God's messengers to lead us into a life of trust, to knowing God intimately, they're a means to our growing the more close to Jesus. Jacob lived to see and be seen of God, he was impassioned with the possibilities he'd find for living in God's presence partly because of His enemies. Will you allow the dark realities of your life to fuel your passion to better know God. To prosper you within is God's desire; let Him do this. As you prosper within; you'll find the things you need as well and your enemies will watch in wonder and crave what makes you prosper within and without... Peace, soul-prosperity, and favor follow those whose delight is to live where the help is-in the presence of God.

Journey into true worship

They turned over to Jacob all the alien gods they'd been holding on to, along with their lucky-charm earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree in Shechem. Genesis 35:4 (MSG)
The place where we lay down our idols can be a place that moves us into a lifetime of worship. Shechem may not have been Beth-El, but it was so symbolic. There Rachel handed over her idols, which symbolized Laban and everything evil and moved toward Beth-El, the place her husband met with God and found his bad self (the Israel God-Wrestler, he was born to be). To Beth-El they would travel, where the man once Jacob (Heel, Cheat) would find a God so willing to take him damaged goods and make Him a man with a mission. Shechem though was so important to his finding his place; for without a Shechem (a place where we lay our idols down), we'll never make it to Beth-El, the place that bleeds with God's presence and authentic, soul-deep worship.

On kicking temptation

A bear chased after two men but one of them stopped suddenly to get his running shoes from his bag. When scolded by his friend for his sudden stop and what might happen next; he said, I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you. What a strategy for overcoming temptation. Victory over temptation is not a year-end event but a daily, moment-by-moment one. Choose to outrun your temptation to _______ by using the running shoes (way of escape) the holy Spirit provides you whether it's Scripture, holy grit, or the accountability of good friends.

The Skinny on Pride

I've learned a life-altering lesson from the death via suicide of a college mate Mark Rife and the many shallow, unknowingly heartless responses to it. Biblically pride and suicide are sins God looks on with equal disdain, Christ excoriated the Pharisees's empty, pride-driven religion,  Solomon extolled the virtue of a living dog over that of a dead lion. Pride, in a way, trumps suicide as a worse sin; for pride is a living suicide, ask Lucifer, his pride placed him on a roller coaster ride to ultimate destruction.

Balancing our online time

I've been silent for some time as my infant has become a crawler and cruiser and needs my complete attention; but the onslaught of moral corruption in the political sphere by a Republican senator from Georgia recently and confession today by a New York senator have called me out of the shadows. I believe we men need return to the simple life. Today's developments in technology and fascinating improvements in social networking make us close to stranger and friend alike in ways we've never known. Our ability to interface and interact with others has been heightened to unprecedented levels. I am very thankful for the technological upswing. It brings an opportunity to relate more personally with others, an access to information and opportunities unprecedented, and an accountability for our online actions as our activity is in the close purview of many. With these opportunities come great responsibility to ensure our part is not to get so engrossed in our never before known privileges that we become vulnerable to abuse or misuse of our internet time, poor stewards of the web. As men, we are prone to live in a world dominated by fantasies, far removed from the real-time marriages and child-rearing responsibilities God has graciously granted to us. Each fantasy we indulge draws us into a web of addiction, which draws us farther and farther from our spouses, leading us eventually into a marriage of convenience or eventual divorce, where each partner does his or her part to procure the children's well-being.  Two partners once close now engage in passionless sex, interact when necessary, and relate to each other as a matter of duty. You'd agree that a lot of the failure we've seen in the public square has its rooting in godless fantasies, indulged to the peril of each politician. It's time that we men get wrapped into reality. I feel my best and far removed from vile fantasies, when I'm passionately consumed with winning my wife (can't wait to take her to get her caramel highlights on Thursday), plugged into meeting my kids needs, and using the internet to exponentially further the kingdom of God in the lives of those who view my fruit of online time in the world of God's Word and self-growth. The call is to return to your immediate world; the time we spend with our families, workmates, and people in our sphere of influence, men,  is the most precious investment of our lives; God help us use our online time for self-growth and greater impact rather than self-indulgence.