Daily Crosses Lift Easier With Faith

July 28, 2013 by Phil Larson

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23

The Cross of Your LIfe:
The going home celebration of a friend of a few decades reminded me of the fragilility of life on this side of heaven. It is full of laughs and tears and comings and goings. None of us are guaranteed the next hour of breathing. None of us are guaranteed the next hour of financial prosperity. None of us are guaranteed the next hour of health. My friend lived with joy and endurance and love and all who knew her are stronger for it.
By faith, we embrace life with all of the uncertainty and instability.
By faith, we believe in a God that promises to never leave us or forsake us.
By faith, we hope in the glory of which we cannot see, but which changes us moment by moment.
By faith, we look to life and life more abundantly.
By faith, we are certain that He will see us through to completion.
By faith, we grasp the confidence that He is greater than any issue of the world.
By faith, we tackle issue after issue after issue.
But, there are no guarantees.
The cross of your life may include some time struggling through illness or disaster.
The cross of your life may include some days of uncertain financial footing.
The cross of your life may include some betrayals and unstable friends and family.
The cross of your life may include temptations to which you fall.
But, there are sure promises and continual blessings.
By promise, we understand that He owns this world and can move resource to our need at just the right momemt.
By promise, we hold to the faith of the Son of God, who loves us and gave Himself for us.
By promise, we have wisdom in Christ.
By promise, we are complete in Him.
By promise, we know those that follow Him will lack for no good thing.
By promise, we depend on His constant intercession.
By promise, we are filled with inestimable treasure of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control.
By faith in the promises of a Living God we live with and through our crosses stronger for each moment and more like Him. And that is life. Live it. My friend did and all of us who knew her are stronger for it.

Prayer: Father, when I started this morning life looked glum. I have to be honest with You.

In Your promises, I find life is a joy.

In Your love, I find life is happiness.

In Your support, I find life is enchanting.

Take me though this day with all the crosses to bear and let life be more abundant.

Life Can Be Frightening, Friend.

July 20, 2013 by Phil Larson

But then, God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of love and power and a sound, well-disciplined mind. The Father dispenses right knowledge and wisdom and equipage to get your life lived with a smile and a dance in your step. He does. Really, He does.

It is frightening to face life without a loving Father’s protection and insight. This morning as I prayed for my friends, my guideline was the book of Ephesians. Yes, I read through the entire letter and prayed. It usually takes about an hour these days, sometimes two hours or more. Martin Luther, the great reformation leader, and others are quoted as saying, “I had so much to do today, I had to start with 3 hours of prayer.” I get it. There is no time to waste. Every minute has to count and prayer puts the power in the punch.

It is frightening to look into tomorrow and realize the threats and opportunities to fail and opportunities to succeed. Failure and success are not distant partners. Each brings an element of pain and cleanup. Each creates a next step that has to be addressed. Plan for success and handle the failure.

It is frightening to go it alone. Living alongside the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is a fearsome task. He really does get things done. Boy, am I glad I don’t work in the kingdom alone. It would be hell. Yes, I believe hell on earth is trying to do the work of living without family and friends and partners in work and ministry and life. When I make a list of co-laborers, I never get to the end. There are thousands. What a blessing.

It is frightening to trust my own hand. Friend, never trust yourself to get it done. When you stretch out with God, you will find yourself in situations that are impossible. They take impossible strength, impossible faith, impossible love, and impossible energy. He has a ready supply of all four.

My prayer for friends.

Father take the hand of my friend and bring impossible strength, impossible faith, impossible love, and impossible energy into the path. As You walk with my friend enable with everything necessary to live abundantly, faithfully, and effectively. Let life be changed. Let fear be put into the street. Let faith shine so bright those around my friend will lose fear and find faith.

Other’s Need – God’s Supply – Your Hand and Heart

Remember to pray for the Community Transformation Initiative and all those that are helping and joining. After taking a few months of prep and collaboration, you would not believe the demands of the next six weeks at the Community Transformation Initiative. We are actively engaged in East OKC, North OKC, Stillwater, Del City, St. Louis, Matamoros, Mexico, and online around the world. Every one of these engagements results in life change. Our goal for 2013 was to impact 1000 families face to face. In the last 30 days, we’ve exceeded 300 and expect to pass that goal in the next six weeks. Much of this is 1-1.In the next six weeks, we will be presenting live for over 60 hours. The average pastor will present 10 hours in the same period. Much of our presentation will be bilingual and all of it will occur outside my personal cultural background. The average pastor/leader never does either of these because they are ten times more exhausting than staying within your personal culture zone or niche. The Community Transformation Initiative is not called to be average. Our aim is transformation.

Our commitment and high level schedule:

General Ministerial Conference – Dallas July 24-26

East Zion Men’s Leadership – July 26th 7pm

Telemundo Radio 33.1 – July 27th Interview on Matamoros outreach 2:30pm to 3pm

Rewrite – Mentoring – Life Church July 31st

Fearless Weekend – Tabitha Baptist East OKC Aug 2,3,4

Fearless Weekend – Regrese de Clase – CAREVI – Matamoros, Mex Aug 8-12

Watch DOG Launch – Back to School – Tulakes NW OKCAug 16

Watch DOG Launch – Epperly Heights – Del City – date tba

Outreach Planters Training – OKC Aug 23-25

Schools of Prayer – West OKC – Aug 7, Sept 4

Dad’s University – Online Fall Semester Aug 20-end of term

Champion Fathers Luncheon and Tourney – SW OKC Sept 16th

Total cost to get this done – $20,000. On hand funds $1500. Faith Commitments $5000. God’s Challenge To Be Met: $13,500

How to support.. <==click it

Impossible faith will see it to completion.

Impossible love will keep us motivated.

Impossible strength will bring us to perform.

Impossible energy will make this fun.

Meet Jesus: Conciliation Matthew 5:23

July 20, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 5: 23: Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24: Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

To Jesus the issue of treating our brothers with respect was powerful. It wasn’t just a matter of not killing each other and not calling each other names. His outlook was one of resolving differences. Jesus is tough on those issues that divide unnecessarily. Surely, 99% of what divides us today can be resolved with humility and the right approach.

In the verses before and behind this the issue is laid out. Don’t attack or be angry with your brother unless it is super serious. Settle a matter quickly, even if the person has set themselves as an enemy against you. Deal with it.

Workday Conflict: The conflict at work was intense. These two just could not get along. Every meeting was full of asides and stares. What could break the personality impasse? Work was not getting done because decisions could never be trusted.
One of the parties stayed after a meeting. Their demeanor was serious. Slowly, they admitted the problem was real and asked me, their manager, how to address it. Fortunately, they were Christian. The concept of grace was easily appealed to with them. We agreed they would begin to list out frustrations with the individual after every meeting and cross off all the ones that had no substance. Then they would follow up outside the meeting with the person to come to a compromise on ones that did have substance.

Everything did not get better immediately. But it sure made the rest of the week more productive. Maybe the other person would eventually respond to the extension of grace.

Community Clashes: A friend was frustrated as we ate lunch. As he worked with pastors, he noted many of them hated each other. They would make vile comments about other pastors and churches working in the same community and culture. How could this be?

We prayed for pastors and leaders. We agreed we would continue to offer love and acceptance to each one of them. Maybe our extension of acceptance to them could help break the bottleneck of competitive spirit we were finding.

ACT! Call someone who is testy with you. Offer them peace and acceptance.

PRAY! Wow, Father, You are really serious about Your family getting along. Surely, You created us to live together with peace as much as possible. Help me today to be a peaceful person and a peacemaker. Help me to move first toward peace with others. I love You, Father. I am glad You are always on my side for me to grow.

Meet Jesus: Dignity Matthew 5:21

July 10, 2013 by Phil Larson

www,examiner.com

Matthew 5: 21″You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Dignity is a key concept in Christ. Jesus did not assault the dignity of any human. There were times He directly challenged people to righteousness. He had no problem calling people to account for hidden agendas and false fronts. He did not attack the person as a person. He never called anyone a fool or an idiot or stupid or any such attack. That standard stands for us.

Interesting is the way Jesus looks at one of the ‘ten commandments’. There is a level beyond the surface to which He takes us. It is the heart intent that is most important. It is the beginning of the action in the depth of the heart that Jesus looks to identify. Lusting leads to adultery. Anger and contempt leads to murder. Stop the action at the point of the seed in the heart. That’s His message.

ACT! Look for any bad seeds in your heart. Take a few moments to sift through your thoughts over the last few days. If you have a mate, is there another besides your mate that has taken time in your thoughts in the wrong direction? Have you been unduly angered and contemptuous with someone? Are you miffed at God over something You think He should have done for you? Have you railed at a government official? Now is the time to uproot the seed before it germinates.

PRAY! Father, I’ve got to admit. There are times I am really upset with people acting out of my pattern. Yes, Father, I have my ways. Help me to not be so quick to call them right and others wrong. Help me to see the person separately from the action. Help me to protect the dignity of each human as precious. Help me to look at others as Your creation with an intention for good. Though they may be demonstrating wrongly, help me to look beyond at potential and design. Let me call out goodness for the lives of others in the midst of pain and problems. Help me to be like You.

Meet Jesus: Sorting Matthew 4:12

March 29, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 4: 12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali

Bad news can put a hard spin on life. Each of us has places to go and things to do. Jesus is no different.

John was Jesus’ cousin. He was the first recorded to rejoice at the coming King. He leapt in his mother’s womb when Mary approached for a visit. No one knew Jesus was coming. John knew. That is an early praise.

John prepared people for the coming of Jesus. He was ahead of Him getting the people ready.

News about John in prison was not good for Jesus. Scripture doesn’t say why he went to Galilee. Knowing the affinity Jesus had for John and the respect He had for him, it seems he needed time away to sort it out. He went where it was quiet and familiar. He went away. He did not despair. He did not become discouraged. He met the news with an action plan. He kept His confidence and went to people He knew.

This scripture coming up today is interesting. All week I have been taking in good news in multiple areas. Sometimes much good news can be as stressful as bad news. Family, friends, work, community, and other areas have been full of blessed news. The consulting business is prospering. The work on fathering is prospering. Many people want to meet and talk. At the same time, this coming week, I have some time away to write and reflect. I’ll be in my quiet spot at the lake. It is timely to go sort out the news and make plans. God is faithful. He gives us space.

ACT! Bad news? Much good news? How did you respond? Did you respond with faith and joy in Christ? Do you need time to sort out the next steps? Let Him give you a respite. He is faithful. It may only be a few minutes or a few hours, but He is faithful. He will not push you beyond His ability in you.

PRAY! Father, it is comforting to know You care so much for me. In the middle of the tempest, You cover. In the face of bad news, You allow a breath to come to take it in. How can I thank You enough? Help me to face every bad news with joy and confidence in Your provision. Help me to absorb the punches of life with joy and family and friends.

Meet Jesus: Taken Matthew 4:5

March 26, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 4:5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

The fact that Jesus would allow himself to be taken anywhere by the devil astounds me. What was going through His mind at those moments? Here he was, led by His own Holy Spirit, to spend time with evil. Here he was entering the beginning of His public ministry dealing with a defeatist devil. Our present thinkers tell us to feel good and be happy and then minister. Our present ideologies point to pleasure as the entry to ministry. Jesus allowed himself to be taken into the presence of evil itself. This was His entry point into public ministry. He allowed testing. He presented himself for inspection. He was taken.

Pushed to the max, Jim was about to pop. This was supposed to be his year to get the big promotion. It began with pain. Employees were livid with some decisions he had made. Every emotion in him was twisted. He had worked night and day and given himself totally on behalf of these. They turned on him. The year before, he had handled the torrents of accusations from a disturbed man. The threats had been against these very employees that now turned on him. For defending them, he now stood their accusations of being unfair and inequitable. Was this how to start his big year?

He resigned himself to stand through the accusations. He remembered that the name, Satan, really meant Accuser. He remembered, Jesus had stood testing before His big year. Surely, he could allow the Healer to live in and through him in this critical time. “Father, forgive them”, he whispered, “They don’t know what they are doing.”

ACT! Testing is never fun. When God has something big, He can allow life and, yes, even the devil a place to sort out our intentions and grace living. Is there a place of testing in your life? Is God preparing you, stabilizing you for the next big thing? Submit to the test. Let it prove you out. Don’t fight. Let God fight for you. Take time to pray Psalm 35 and see what happens.

PRAY! Father, I am not my own defense. When life and the enemy rise against me as a flood, You be the boat of my salvation. Carry me away from that which is too strong for me. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies. Cause in me conviction to repent of those weaknesses in me that could have led to this situation. Cause holiness to well up in me. Cause me to crucify any flesh that needs changed. Let these troubles be a directional that causes me to become closer to You in thought and word and deed. Cause me to be more like You than ever before. Then, in the next big thing, I will be able. I will be founded. I will be strengthened to do that to which You have called me. I surrender myself to be taken.

Meet Jesus : Pleasing God Matthew 3:17

March 22, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

When we connect with Jesus we connect with pleasing God. Jesus pleases the Father. When we are with Him, we are pleasing the Father. That is important. So often in life, we want to please our Father. When you meet with Jesus, you are in the environment of pleasing Him. You can’t miss pleasing Him.

Pleasing God may mean doing tough work. While working through some conflict mediation, we came to the point of closing in prayer. It had been a tough night. Everyone had spent emotional energy to embrace peace. It was the right thing to do. It is greatly pleasing to God to do everything that leads to peace and building each other. That does not make it easy. But it is pleasing. The scripture came to mind as we prayed from Zephaniah 3. God joys over us with singing. That word joy means to jump up and dance and pirouette. What a picture of God singing and jumping and spinning over us with joy! Doing the hard thing is pleasing to Him.

ACT! Take one item you are unsure about in your relationship with God. Examine it. Is Jesus involved in it? If you were doing it or being involved in it would you invite Jesus to be a part?

PRAY! Father, help me to please You. Help me to meet with Jesus when I plan an activity. I can always be sure it will be pleasing to You when I meet with Him to do it. Help me keep that focus, Father.

Meet Jesus: Fire Baptizer Matthew 3:11

March 21, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 3:11: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Be ready for change when you meet Jesus. John gets us focused in our preparation. Meeting Jesus can make you different from the inside out. He brings the Holy Spirit and fire to pour over you and change you. Think of it this way. It is like having chemical fire on the inside (the Holy Spirit) and liquid fire on the outside. However, the real you is strengthened not burned. The stuff that is between you and Him will be cleansed.

Conflict is one of those baptizers in the Holy Spirit. We want to avoid it, yet it is the right thing. God used conflict to cause us to dig deeper into understanding of relationships and life. The deeper we dig, the stronger we become. In talking to a leader, it struck me to provoke him that leaders love resolving conflict. They don’t love the conflict or the anger and frustration that may accompany it. They do love the process of resolution and the end result. Through conflict we are baptized in Holy Spirit fire. He strengthens our resolve and our ability to move ahead. He causes us to face hard items that need to be removed. It is one way He baptizes us with fire.

ACT! Pick an item that needs to be burned away in your life. Put it in front of Him for handling.

PRAY! Father, I am not afraid of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. I await continually meeting with Jesus to be continually cleansed. Let Your faithful and just character enter into my life as I confess my sin before You. Forgive me and cleanse me from all ways that are unlike You.

If we can pray for you regarding anything in your life, please let us know. Our greatest blessing is to bless others in prayer. www.prayermetro.com Phil

Meet Jesus: Nazarene Matthew 2:23

March 18, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 2: 23: And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

Later in life when brother told brother about Jesus, one replied, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”. Nazareth was just simple and probably had a more than ample share of troubles. There was nothing good or outstanding about being from Nazareth.

Jesus wasn’t who He was because of where He was raised or a tremendous good family name. He gives us the same opportunity to be the best of the best according to our calling and destiny. Hometown, family, community standing, and other accolades of men mean nothing when we meet Jesus. All of us can succeed.

ACT! Erase out of your mind the idea that some status to men makes the difference in succeeding in Jesus. If you take pride in it, put it out and stand tall in Him alone. If you take shame in it, stand tall in Him alone.

PRAY! Father of Birthright, you placed me in the time and circumstance of my upbringing. You will bring it to good in Jesus. You will bring me to success in Jesus, the Nazarene.

Powerful Healing: Righteousness: Path To Healing

July 25, 2012 by Phil Larson

Psalm 16:2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

Matthew 6:33 Seek first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness and all the rest of this will be added for you and into your care and pleasure.

Proverbs 21:21 Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor

Live prayer at http://youtu.be/lYZXjDHVnb4

Righteousness brings incredible blessing, restoration, and a sure footed path. Couple it with love and you find life, prosperity, and honor. Now that is a balanced and healthy life.

Life instead of disease and death.

Prosperity instead of poverty and despair.

Honor instead of disaster and depression.

Righteousness brings a powerful and balanced health to our bodies, our minds, our spirit, and our relationships.

Look at all of these promises at the end of the lesson of principle in Proverbs. There are as many that reference the righteous and we will cover those in another lesson.

What is the difference between living in righteousness and being righteous? One is a condition of principled living, the other is a state of being. In the next lesson, we’ll talk about the state of being righteous. It is attained through faith in Jesus Christ. He who never knew sin, became sin and suffered and died for our punishment so that we might be called the righteousness of God through faith in Him.

We have righteousness through our faith in God. We are accepted and stand before Him.

Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness and so it is with us.

We live righteousness when we allow the Holy Spirit to enable in us right living according to the principles and heart and mind and ways of God. It is not about law and legalism. Righteousness is a focus of the heart to follow after God’s ways. To love the Lord, Your God with all your heart and soul and might and to love your neighbor as yourself. Living in righteousness is not a condition of perfection but purpose and principle.

Righteousness is that attitude in Psalm 16:2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” There it is in the simplest form. When we say of God that He is the source of all good things and nothing else, we invoke righteousness by faith. Give Him all honor. Give Him all praise. Give Him all glory. Give Him and His priorities first thought when making a decision. That is righteousness.

Proverbs 8:20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,

Proverbs 10:2 Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value, but righteousness delivers from death

Proverbs 11:4 Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

Proverbs 11:5 The righteousness of the blameless makes their paths straight, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.

Proverbs 11:6 The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires.

Proverbs 11:18 A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the one who sowsrighteousness reaps a sure reward

Proverbs 12:28 In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.

Proverbs 13:6 Righteousness guards the person of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people

Proverbs 15:9 The LORD detests the way of the wicked, but he loves those who pursue righteousness.

Proverbs 16:8 Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.

Proverbs 16:12 Kings detest wrongdoing, for a throne is established throughrighteousness

Proverbs 16:31 Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way ofrighteousness

Proverbs 21:21 Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor

Father, here I am again and again and again. I will never cease to come to You for supply and answers and strength. Who else is there? Where else would I go?

In You are all the answers needed.

In You is all the health and life wanted.

In You I live and move and have my being.

You are all my righteousness. I am complete in You. I worship You.

Father, you have made this body of mine a temple of the Holy Spirit. Only because You call me righteous in Jesus can I live in such a manner. Cause the life of the Holy Spirit in which there is no disease, no want, no distraction from Your will and way, cause that life to stir in me today and every day and I will live complete in You and Your way and life and truth.