Yesterday.....friend or foe?

During the years that I pastored a wonderful bunch of folks at Faith Mountain Church in Red River, NM I said on a number of occasions "Yesterday will kill you if you let it." All of us have "yesterdays" that we wished had never happened. I'm not talking about the inevitable days of illness or death. I'm talking about times when we preformed very poorly or worse. Actions that perhaps still haunt us....still bring pain to our hearts. In their book "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made" Dr.Paul Brand and Philip Yancey tell of amputees still feeling sensation in a phantom limb. Somewhere, locked in their brains, a memory lingers of the nonexistent arm or leg. For a few, the experience includes pain. Doctors watch helplessly, for the part of the body screaming for attention that does not exist."

For those of us you are followers of Jesus, we can and must move on from the pain of our yesterdays. In Philippians 3:13b we find these liberating words "....I've got my eye on the goal, where God is calling us onward- to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back." The Message. God is well aware of all of our yesterdays....Move on now. Forget(to lose out of mind: Strongs) and move on. We are not helpless.....
Grace and Peace

Do we pray......or do something else?

Been getting any emails lately that have a political theme? I haven't counted, but I would guess I receive at least 3-4 or more a week. Since we are entering into a "political season" I  suppose these emails are inevitable and perhaps even necessary.  I've begun to reflect on how I have been responding to some of these missives. Although we all are obligated to be informed, we are also accountible how we respond to these emails.......some of which press the standards of edification. You've seen them.
SOME REFLECTIONS IF YOU WILL:

"First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority( high position, superior in rank or character Strongs) , in order that we may lead a tranquil and quite life in all godliness and dignity." 1 Tim 2:1-2
As is always the case with our Father, the choice is ours. I am pressed to pray for Kings....or Presidents!
What could happen if there was a fresh wave of the body of Christ praying fervently for all those in authority?
Just a thought.......or perhaps more than a thought.

WHY LEADERS LOSE THEIR WAY

Wonder way folks in high profile positions sometimes fall.......? I remember a letter from my Mom when I was attedning Baylor a "few" years back tellng me that our pastor had fallen morally. I couldn't believe it .....no way! Well since then I have seen or read countless leaders who lost their way. From an article by Professor Bill George we can see some factors that might lead to demise.
Leaders have a high profile. Leaders are often held in high regard....maybe too high regard. In what Dr. George calls the leadership trap....when leaders begin to focus on external gratification instead of inner satisfaction. Little by little they can drift from the right path.
George's answer is accountability and shifting from being heroes to servants. Rings a bell doesn't it..."the first shall be last and the last shall be first." Let me close with this quote from former U.S. Senator  John Ensign who resigned after a moral failure: "When one takes a position of leadership, there is a very real danger of getting caught up in the hype surrounding that status....Surround yourselves with people who will be honest with you about how you really are and what you are becoming, and then make them promise to not hold back..from telling the truth."
Blessings dear ones.

GRACE

Grace! What a great word.....and even a greater reality for the followers of Christ.
                  "My grace is sufficient for you." 2 Cor. 12:9
The word sufficient carries with it the idea of a root thought of protection.....Wow! The word means enough, contentment. His grace is not only favor. but power. Power over lack, difficulty, worry.

"Never change God's facts into hope and prayers, but simply accept them as realities and you will find them to be powerful as you believe and live them out."  H.W. Peploe