That Dang Number

This post is for all my sales rep brothers out there. We all know the pressure of hitting a number. When things are going well, we don't obsess over it. But when we are behind, it seems to consume our thoughts. We begin to think about, work for, and ultimately worry about the number and forget about the value of our product to our customers.

Even more importantly, we forget we are suppose to be working for our real boss, God. The devil will use your number to try to convince you that you aren't good enough. He tries to plant seeds of doubt that he intends to grow into worry. If you are feeling or have felt this, it is a straight up lie from the devil. God is good all of the time. Period. His plans are for us to prosper!

Tell the devil that he won't get a foothold in your work. Declare and rejoice that God has awesome plans for your life. God tells us not to fear, but to believe. Your faith and praise will pull you through. God bless your work this week!

Kings and Priests Event in Knoxville

Just want to bring awareness to an event next Tuesday evening in Knoxville called Kings and Priests. It is going to be an awesome night of fellowship for market and ministry leaders in our region. We are called to be leaders and influencers for God in our specific spheres. Tuesday is going to be the catalyst for many of us to begin our particular Kingdom missions.

Another thought for the week is about God's amazing love for us. I know I have said this before, but it doesn't hurt to repeat it. God's love never fails us. He loves us 100% all of the time...period. There is nothing we can do to make Him love us more. There is nothing we can do to make him stop loving us. Love is His nature. This topic may not sound macho, but our first 2 responsibilities in life are all about love. There is power and freedom in God's love...sounds a little more macho, right?!!! Allow God to love on you this week!

God Is Good All The Time

Jeremiah 29: 11 - 13
"For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Our Mission

There is a strong move of GOD among our young people today. It has never been more evident than now the lives that are being changed through Christ on university campuses across this country. My wife leading a ministry for the female athletes at UT allows me to see firsthand how GOD is becoming so important in the lives of these young people.

Roger "Chap" Woods is the Chaplain for the athletic department at UT. He, through Christ in him, has been instrumental in teaching these kids that living as an example of Jesus is what we are called to do. Go to www.rogerwoods.org and check out The X Movement. GOD has charged him with brining young people out of the darkness so they can reclaim their generation! This is a mission that will spread across this country, breaking young people from the chains and bondage of sin. Lives are being transformed!

You and I have a mission as well. It can be found in 1 Timothy 4 : 11-12. Let us be the Xample of Jesus to those around us!

The Love of God

There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. In the same way, there is nothing we can do to make Him love us less. God loves us 100% all of the time, and all the time He is good! So often I think we strive to win God's love in "doing." While works are a measure of our responsibility as believers, we are called to "becoming". We need to become the example of Jesus in every way, through our thoughts, words, and actions. We achieve this only in spending time with the Holy Spirit. The more we do this, our "becoming" will be the overflow of our time spent with Him.

God wants to delight in what He creates. The only way He can do that is when we step into the fullness of all he has created us to be. For us to find that out, we have to spend time in His presence and in His word. In our works oriented world, sometimes it is difficult to understand that our fullfillment is determined by our surrender, not our striving. When we get to the place where we allow God to do His work without interruption, and in surrender, we will begin to step into the wonderful promises He has for us. Let us become what God has intended us to be!

Abundant Life

John 10:10 "A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance."

Ephesians 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, in Christ;"

2 Peter 1: 2-4 "May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. For His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires."

Proverbs 3:16 "Long life is in her right hand; in her left, riches and honor."

Treasures of Darkness

I began my week doing something I had never done before, worshiping at 6:30 AM with 200 homeless people! God speaks to us in many ways, some by the Word, others through worship. I find that I often hear and feel from God when I worship. It was a humbling experience being surrounded by people who truly don't have anything. And the only way they are going to get out of their situation is Jesus. I could feel the desperation in the room.

It was a test of humility for me. I began to ask, "Am I desperate for Jesus?" I have realized that inconveniencing ourselves is a part of growing in our relationship with the Lord. This can come in the form of praying for someone, a pat on the back, even a smile. These actions, however, have to be a product of the overflow from our time with Jesus. We have to set aside time to be with Jesus. As we do this, we will be put in opportunities to express Jesus to others. In Isaiah 45:3, the Lord says, "I will give you the treasures of darkness". The treasures have always been people. As we grow closer to our Lord and Savior, we will take back the "treasures of darkness". We will be there to pull someone out of a pit, to give a word that only you can give, to provide love where there is emptiness.

The Kingdom is about relationships and love! Let us be the ones that inconvenience ourselves so Jesus can be glorified in our lives and the lives of those around us.