The Life I Am Committed to Living

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day has dawned in my Sweet Home Alabama! I also sincerely hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones yesterday! May we all live every day with a heart of gratitude!

This morning, I want to share a scripture that convicted me in a powerful way this week and a quote that, to me, is tied to this scripture. I will share a few thoughts on each and then wrap this thing up.

The Scripture:

1 Peter 4:8-11

8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

I have found what I believe will be my life verse. I want to be a 1 Peter 4: 8-11 man, husband, father, leader, and friend!

Thoughts:

·       “Above all, love each other deeply.” No matter the season, situation, or circumstance, love. Whether you are like me, believe what I believe, or if I agree with what you are doing, love. This is also affirmed by Matthew 22:36-39 which says, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Don’t know what to say or do? Love.

·       “Offer hospitality to one another.” I truly believe that the things the Lord has blessed me with like a home and food are to be used to love, care for, and serve others. I can, and should, be more intentional about this one. When I was a coach, I used to have players over all the time for dinner. We would sit and visit for hours. There are so many opportunities…give me eyes to see and ears to hear, Lord.

·       “Use whatever gifts you have received to serve others.” What am I doing with the gifts and abilities God has given me? Am I simply using them for selfish gain? It is quite clear that they are to be used to serve others.

·       “Speak as one who speaks the very words of God.” Whoa, this one is powerful! The only way I can speak the very words of God is if I have a relationship with God, a mind that has been renewed by Him, and a heart that has been transformed by Him. There is no faking this one!

·       “Serve with the strength that God provides.” How many times have I tried to do things in my own knowledge, wisdom, strength, and courage? Sadly, far to many! When I serve with the strength God provides, the source is limitless, and the outcomes are transformational!

·       “So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.” Amen! Not that the light would shine on me but rather it would shine through me and that it would bring glory, honor, and praise to Jesus! It! Is! Not! About! Me!

Yes, I want to be, and I am fully committed to being, a 1 Peter 4: 8 – 11 man, husband, father, leader, and friend!

The quote I am going to share comes from the book I am currently reading titled, High Road Leadership: Bringing People Together In A World That Divides by John C. Maxwell. It is a phenomenal book, and I offer it my highest possible recommendation.

The Quote:

“This is something that’s super-important for young people to understand, and for parents to preach to young people. It’s really easy for a talented young person to take pride in their gifts. They say, “I’m really athletic,” or “I’m really smart,” or “I’m really good at math.” And that’s fine. You should celebrate your gifts. You should be happy. But you can’t be proud of them because they’re gifts, after all. They were given to you.

What you can be proud of is your choices. How did you decide to use your gifts? Did you study hard? Did you work hard? Did you practice? The people who really excel combine gifts and hard work, and the hard work part is a choice. You get to decide that. And that is something that when you’re looking back on your life, you will be very proud of.” – Jeff Bezos

Thought:

Whatever gifts God has given me I want to develop them to their fullest, to fulfill my potential in every aspect of my life, and then I want to use all that I am – time, talent, and treasure – to love, care for, and serve others.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

Kev

Hmmm

 Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! You do realize that we are never going to experience this great gift – today! – again, right? Let’s make it a masterpiece!

This week I want to share a few things that make me go, “Hmmm.” You know, those moments when you hear or think about something, it strikes you as profound, and you spend some time thinking about it. Yes, that is my hope; to share some thought-provoking things with you and let you think and pray about them.

We talk about “What will your influence be?” all the time. Let me ask you a question this morning; what is influencing you? What are you pouring into your heart, mind, and spirit every day? Perhaps, if you don’t like your attitude, the way things are going, etc., there would be wisdom in looking at what you are pouring into yourself every day.

Every morning, as I eat breakfast, my Beautiful Bride and I listen to Inky Johnson’s message of the day. If you don’t know who Inky Johnson is, I want to strongly encourage you to look him up and make it a habit of listening to what he has to say. A Christian, husband, and Dad, Inky is a former college football player who is an exceptional speaker and inspirational speaker. I love Inky!

To kick off my things that make you go, “Hmmm,” I want to summarize his messages of the last couple of days.

Wednesday

·       “The ability to learn is a gift, even when pain is your teacher.”

·       “Don’t miss the lesson. Get the lesson when you fail.”

Thursday

·      Be grateful for the problems that you have.

·       Your problems are specifically designed for you, your growth, your development, and the things that you need to possess as an individual in order to grow and become the individual you are destined to become.

I was listening to the radio earlier this week and one of the announcers was talking about a conversation he had with his young son. His son asked, “Are we rich?” I remember when my boys asked me that question. The announcer went on to talk about the difference between being rich and being wealthy. If you are a person of character, if you have someone you love and someone who loves you, if you have a place to call home…if you have these things, you are incredibly rich. If you have a lot of money, you are wealthy.

I have been thinking about this one for quite a while. During my prayer several weeks ago, I was thinking about Psalms 37:4. It says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Here is the thing that makes me go, “Hmmm.”

·       Does it mean that if I take delight in the Lord, he will give me the things I desire? He will give me the things I think I want.

Or

·       Does it mean that if I take delight in the Lord, He will give me my desires? That He will give me the things in my heart to desire.

I believe it is the later…I pray for that. That my heart would be pure, that my heart would be broken for what breaks His, that as I allow Him to lead me, He will inspire and convict my Spirit to fulfill the calling He has on my life, not my wish list.

I had an epiphany at my Bible Study on Wednesday morning. We listened to a Craig Groeschel sermon, and he was preaching on Daniel. Real quick summary: the king ordered that nobody could pray to anyone but him. Daniel prayed as he always had – that is a really key point…need to write a Happy Friday about that! – and therefore the king had him thrown in the lion's den. Daniel survived, without a scratch, because, according to Daniel 6:22, “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions.”

My epiphany was around the fact that Daniel was set-up. But here’s the thing, he didn’t worry about the set-up. I think of how many times I try to play it safe. According to biblestudytools.com, the term “fear not” is stated in the Bible 365 times. According to christianfaithguide.com, courage is mentioned 33 times in the Bible, and, according to multiple sources, “be strong and courageous” is stated 13 times. What would happen if we actually lived fearless and were strong and courageous? What would our lives look like then? As Pastor Craig said in a completely different sermon that I listened to last week, “At some point you have to determine, is He God, or are you?" 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

Kev

I Am Just Going to Leave This Right Here

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! I am so excited to live THIS day…it will surely be a great one!

This week’s Happy Friday is going to be short and sweet. I am going to share a quote and poem, place them right here for you to read, and let them speak to you however they will.

The quote:

“It is possible to be honest every day. It is possible to live so that others can trust us - can trust our words, our motives, and our actions. Our examples are vital to those who sit at our feet as well as those who watch from a distance. Our own constant self-improvement will become as a polar star to those within our individual spheres of influence. They will remember longer what they saw in us than what they heard from us. Our attitude, our point of view, can make a tremendous difference.” - Gordon B. Hinckley

And the poem:

Anyway

“People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you've got anyway. 

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;

It was never between you and them anyway.” ― Mother Teresa

Inscribed on the wall of Mother Teresa's children's home in Calcutta.

A couple of quick notes:

1.      With regards to the quote, What will YOUR influence be?

2.     With regards to the poem, I pray we will never forget that in the final analysis, it is between us and our God.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

Kev

Keep Living

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as this very special day begins to dawn! Let’s choose to live this day fully – being grateful for it, cherishing every moment of it, and emptying it of every last drop of potential that it contains within it!

I have two things in my heart this morning that I believe I will be able to summarize rather succinctly.

On Tuesday I took a trip to Memphis. As I was driving along, listening to Christian radio, a song came on that I have written a Happy Friday about before. It is titled Dream Small, and it was sung by Josh Wilson. Here are the lyrics to the song.

Dream Small

Song by

Josh Wilson

It's a mama singin' songs about the Lord

It's a daddy spendin' family time, the world says he cannot afford

These simple moments change the world

It's a pastor at a tiny little church

40 years of lovin' on the broken and the hurt

These simple moments change the world

Dream small

Don't buy the lie, you've got to do it all

Just let Jesus use you where you are

One day at a time

Live well

Lovin' God and others as yourself

Find little ways where only you can help

With His great love

A tiny rock can make a giant fall

Dream small

It's visiting the widow down the street

Or dancin' on a Friday with your friend with special needs

These simple moments change the world

Of course, there's nothin' wrong with bigger dreams

Just don't miss the minutes on your way to bigger things, no

'Cause these simple moments change the world

So dream small

Don't buy the lie, you've got to do it all

Just let Jesus use you where you are

One day at a time

Live well

Lovin' God and others as yourself

Find little ways where only you can help

With His great love

A tiny rock can make a giant fall

So dream small

Keep lovin', keep servin', keep listenin', keep learnin'

Keep prayin', keep hopin', keep seekin', keep searchin'

Add up the small things and watch them grow bigger

The God who does all things makes oceans from rivers

So dream small

Don't buy the lie, you've got to do it all

Just let Jesus use you where you are

One day at a time

Live well

Lovin' God and others as yourself (others as yourself)

Find little ways where only you can help (only you can help)

With His great love (his great love)

A tiny rock can make a giant fall

Yeah, five loaves and two fish can feed them all

So dream small

Dream small

Mm-mm

It is that part that I put in bold that really hit me; what if, no matter the day, situation, or circumstance, we really did that? What if you and I kept loving, serving, listening, praying, hoping, seeking, and searching no matter what? As I listened to those words my spirit convicted me strongly; these are the orders. This is how life is to be lived! Yes, we may have goals, dreams, hopes, and desires – and there is absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing them! – however these are the principles, the foundation, upon which all else is to be built…at least that is the way I understand it and how I am determined to live my life! How about you?

The other thing that is on my mind this morning is time…such a precious thing. It is all any of us really have, the most valuable of all our resources.

My oldest Tender Warrior, Payton, has been going through a pretty intense season of life for the last 13+ weeks. It has been so interesting to me to hear so many people say, “That went fast” or “It doesn’t seem that long.” I would offer that they are both right and wrong – just depends on what seat you were sitting in.

The thing I want to point out to all of us this morning however is this; God willing, time is going to pass. The question each of us must answer is what will we do with that time? Some never pursue goals or dreams because it will take too long…the time will pass anyway. Some choose to have a bad attitude because they have a busy day or a hectic week…the time will pass anyway. The only thing any of us have is this moment, this time…what are we going to do with it?

So, in an effort to put a perfect bow on this Happy Friday, I am going to say it this way; I intend to spend every day, the rest of my life loving, serving, listening, praying, hoping, seeking, and searching as I courageously and relentlessly pursue all that that the Lord created me to be. I don’t want to get to the end of this blessed journey called life and have anything left in the tank. I don’t want to have just been alive for a long time, I want to be fully alive and living every day! How about you, Friend?

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

Kev

What Do You Say to Yourself?

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!

Last Sunday Pastor Steve wrapped up our sermon series on the words we speak. This time, though, the focus was on the words we speak to ourselves. One of the best, most needed – at least by me! – sermons I have ever heard. The question is, what do you say to yourself?

I want to encourage you to go watch the sermon. You can find it here: https://www.igotofaith.com/sermons

I am going to share the notes I took and close with the homework that Pastor Steve gave all of us.

My notes:

·       Our words can be constructive or destructive

o   The words we speak over and to ourselves

o   Many of us speak words to ourselves that are mean, condemning, and hurtful.

o   Something HAS to change.

·       We should protest the negative words that we speak to ourselves but instead we profess them.

·       The words we speak to ourselves are either moving us forward in our purpose or pulling us back.

·       You can’t be who God has called you to be if you believe and speak the lies Satan says about you.

·       Some don’t have what God has promised because you are speaking lies over yourself.

·       Who is right? God or you?

·       How do you see yourself? Like God sees you or how the enemy lies to you?

·       To confess, homologio, is to say the same thing God says.

·       The most important thing you will confess out of your mouth is who Jesus is. The second most important thing you will confess is what God says about you.

·       It is not about what you think or feel, it is what God says.

·       If we speak truth to ourselves, it will be easier to speak truth to others.

Pastor Steve then gave us a homework assignment. He challenged us, before we get out of bed, to confess these 5 things every morning for a week. He stated that if we will repeat the truth, we will defeat the lies. So, here are the 5 truths, backed by scripture:

1.     I AM VALUABLE

I am fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image and worth Jesus dying for.

·        Genesis 1:27-28 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

·        Psalm 139:14 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

·            your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

·        Ephesians 1:4-5 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[a] predestined us for adoption to sonship[b] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

2.    I HAVE A PURPOSE

I am God’s masterpiece, with God-ordained plans to accomplish and He has given me gifts, abilities, and anointings to see them through.

·        Ephesians 2:10 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

·        1 John 2:20 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

·        1 Peter 4:10 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

·        Romans 12:6-8 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a] faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

3.    I AM NOT ALONE

God will never leave me nor forsake me and His Holy Spirit lives in me and is always with me.

·        Hebrews 13:5 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”[a]

·        John 14:17 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you.

·        Matthew 28:20 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

4.    I AM NOT CONDEMNED

I have been set free by God’s immeasurable grace that is greater than all my sin and I now have peace with God through Jesus.

·        Romans 5:1 5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

·        Romans 5:20 20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,

·        Romans 12:1 12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper              worship.

5.    I HAVE PEACE

I am not anxious or worried because I have a Heavenly Father that cares for me and will meet my needs.

·        Matthew 6:25-34 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

·        Philippians 4:6-7 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

·        John 14:27 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

·        Psalm 23:1 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

Friends, you, your life, and your purpose are far too valuable to believe or speak lies to yourself. Please, thoughtfully consider what you confess about yourself, and I sincerely hope you speak these Biblical truths over your life every day.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

Kev