Full Throttle

Recently I found that my car was running sluggishly. I can't imagine why since I only had about 190,000 miles on since I have had a tune up. The new spark plugs and wires changed my engine from a sputtering "clunker" to a purring lion. Why did I wait so long? I think it was because of what I call the "deceptiveness of the gradual". I got used to having low power level and inefficiency. Each day was a little worse but I didn't notice it. I forgot how it felt to run well. Now that I have been reminded of what it is like to be able to go full throttle, I have decided to maintain at the higher level.

I have also found that my spiritual life can have the same problems. I can get stuck in a sluggish gear and unless I pop the hood and let the master mechanic have His way, I waste energy and time on my journey. Time is too precious to allow that. My daily spiritual tune up needs to have priority. The Word of God and prayer will keep me from sputtering through life. His real power will propel me past my shortcomings and difficulties. God still offers "full service". Don't drive past the station entrance.

Peaking our efficiency

“Enemy-occupied territory-that is what the world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage”
C.S. Lewis
1952
It was a great weekend of reminders from God that the battle is His. The privilege of taking part in the cause of Christ is something that I do not take lightly. I am blessed with fellow soldiers who are interested in excellence of service but like me have found that we have tendencies for pride and greed that get in the way of our service. In yesterday’s sermon we looked at adjustments that are necessary if we are serious about accomplishing this task efficiently.
There are adjustments required if I am to accomplish God’s assignment
If I am going to pray to God according to His purposes I need to know what they are.
What happens when I make those kinds of adjustments?

The revelation of God to you is an invitation to tweek the adjustment and raise efficiency
The coming Grade will require more locomotion power.
I am not in a position to obey until I have made the adjustment
I cannot continue as I am and go to God at the same time
Enormous adjustments have to be made. Look at the following examples:
Noah ( Gen 6 )
Abraham. (Gen 12:1-8)
Moses ( Ex 3 )
David (1 Sam 16)
Amos (Amos 7: 14-15)
Jonah ( 1:1-2, 3:1-2, 4:1-11)
Peter, Andrew,James,and John ( Mt 4:18-22)
Matthew (Mt 9:9)
We are in good company.

From yesterday's sermon:

The reaction that the Apostle Paul had when he was on the damascus road is one worth emulating. When Paul received his sight he received spiritually an insight into the person of Jesus Christ and the whole of his life and preaching was nothing but Jesus Christ.

“I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

No attraction ever held the mind and soul of Paul except the face of Jesus Christ.

Oswald Chambers in “My utmost for His highest” says: “we have to learn to maintain an unimpaired state of character up to the last notch revealed in the vision of Jesus Christ.

The abiding characteristic of an efficient spiritual man is the interpretation of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, and the communicating of that to others. I want an efficiency that helps me be a man after God’s own heart.

An inventory of the things that facinate us will tell if we are effectively spiritual or not.

The human brain is one of the greatest marvels of God’s creation
Weighs about 3 pounds
Capable of receiving and storing trillions of separate bits of information

The Bible has much to say about our thought and minds:


If any of the world’s garbage has crept in, we can reprogram our minds by taking in the pure Word of God.

Rob Cunningham wrote: “Wandering thought can be captured, Unworthy thoughts can be arrested. We can train our minds to think thoughts that please our Lord.

Use the mind. ( Grandma told me: “use your head for something more than a hat rack” )
A boy once stated : “Thinking is when your mouth stays shut and your head keeps talking to itself”

Ephesians 4:14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.

Don't let the world brainwash you.

Romans 8:6 "So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace."

Ramping up

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit with a history buff. As we talked about efficiency, he brought up the efficiency of the industrial output duriong World War II. The concept of ramping up efficiency came into full force. I am told that the output of tanks went from 2 tanks a day up to 2000 per hour. The tire drives, aluminum foil drives and other material drives got the whole country involved in the process. The ramping up dynamic will work spiritually in our lives as well. If we will drive toward the truths of scripture and get everything out of them that we can, we will find mighty power is available. I am convinced that my efficiency level can go up every day if I make the effort. It starts with the decision to do so, then happens only when I act on that decision. When I start actually doing that which I have, up to this point, only said I will do, then I get the traction to move. I am making my list of things that need to move from thoughts to actions.

Up a Notch

Efficiency in our service for the Kingdom of God starts with purity in worship. Yesterday's sermon incuded the following information starting with John 4:23-24:

"But the time is coming-- indeed it's here now-- when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."

It was refereshing to see good altar response at the service yesterday as people really do want to raise their level of efficiency in worship.

To Worship rightly with our mind and our heart. To worship the one true God and to know who and why He is. We need an accurate understanding of Who God is.

In efficient worship we are agreeing with God about :

Who He is
What He can do ( and has done )
What is He asking of us?


His nature, His Character, His plans, His purposes.

Colossians 3:16 "Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts."

It does not require outward expression of emotion but it can be emotional. I choose to let God have my emotions in my worship time.

Greg Laurie wrote: "God has put in us the sense, the awareness, that there is more to this world than we can see, feel, taste or even imagine."

Isaiah 26:3 3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Great work must be created out of the inner peace of the artist.
In our lives, as in art, without tranquility there can be nothing great.

Edna St. Vincent Millay: “The troubled mind is a troublemaker.”

St. Augustine: “Our hearts are restless until they find rest in God.”

“a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God.”
- Isaiah 30:15

A Higher Level

Efficiency is “doing better what is already being done”
-Peter Drucker

I am starting a series of sermons this week on the concept of efficiency. The goal is to get to a place in our relationship with God that we are doing things at a higher level of efficiency with less waste of time. The urgency of the hour is such that spinning our wheels is a dangerous pastime because of all that is hanging in the balance. Many times that only happens at the expense of giving up enjoyment or fun. Actually, it has been proven that laughter and play actually will improve efficiency in general. The old saying that “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, stands true. The question becomes, how can we efficiently do life ministry and still enjoy the doing of it. God has made provision for this by offering strength in the form of the “joy of the Lord”. Just like all things spiritual, that joy goes deep into our being and makes inefficient material happiness fade in comparison. It is the same with peace. God offers a peace that passes understanding to replace the shallow peace that the world offers. The love of God is much more efficient than the love that the world offers. So- The first key to our efficiency improvement is to upgrade our walk with God. God always has a better level for me to attain. It only makes sense to go after it. There is no greater joy.

Collaboration

There are some words that stir me just by hearing the word. One such word for me is “collaboration”. Work is more fun and has higher efficiency if there is a co-worker with me. One of the “Leadership Challenge” commitments is to foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and building trust. Really, I have found that the ability to compete at a high level in this culture requires that we cannot do it alone. In fact, many of the things that need to be done today extend out to other locations simultaneously. I must have interdependence and trust with the person on the other end. We not only want to like our job, but we also want to feel supported. I believe this concept is built into us by our creator God. A very familiar verse of the Bible tells us that things working together for good is the way God operates.

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them"

I would suggest that finding someone to labor with today will build yuour life in a positive way.

Model it

I am finding that true leadership only happens when there is a willingness to model the behavior that is desired in the followers. Many years ago, as I was first going into the ministry, a very wise pastor told me that I was never to ask people to do for God what I was not willing to do. I think of that often as I ask people to pray, read their Bibles or to serve. A leader’s deeds are far more important than his or her words when determining how serious they really are about what they say. The words and the deeds must agree and be consistent. There are no unimportant tasks. I may not have time to scrub the floors of the office every day but I better be willing to do it once in awhile because it is an important task that I am asking someone to do. This all brings me to evaluate if I am “too busy” to be in the trenches when that is what God has called me to do. Administrative duties are time consuming but that time spent in the trenches builds the relationships that cause efficiency (and joy) to rise. This makes time spent in administration more fulfilling. It also brings me closer to God since He is all about “relationships”.

Shifting to a new gear

In my challenge to be a better leader, I find that there are innovative thinkers out there who need to be heard. I read this morning about a leader who took a struggling organization and turned it on its ear. The team questioned every paradigm that was in place. They looked at how each area was set up, how it was structured and how it operated. They found that the system in place had highly centralized production units. People were not able to do what they were brought on to do. The shift that changed all that gave ownership to all who were willing to be creative. It gave them a sense of empowerment and spirit. Rather than asking people to trust the system, a system was created a system that was trustworthy and the whole team gained efficiency. It required
management to connect beyond the surface level with those buying in. Of course there was risk but in this case the results were phenomenal.

I wonder how many people in my life are not given the room to do what God brought them in my life to do?

I wonder how much I could increase my efficiency by listening more today?

I wonder if my RPM’s are at the point where a shift is in order?

I wonder if I have the courage in place?

I think it is going to be an awesome day !

Take out the Trash

In Ron Clark’s book, “The Essential 55” there are 55 rules listed for encouraging excellence. It is a book for teachers. Rules like: Make eye contact, When you win, do not brag; when you lose, do not show anger, Do your homework every night without fail, Stand up for what you believe in. One that caught my eye as I was reading was rule number 30:

“After we eat, we will clean up after ourselves. This includes cleaning off the tables and making sure we haven’t left any trash o the floor or around the eating area. It is important to be responsible for your trash no matter where you are and to be sure not to litter.”

As I read that this morning in devotional mode, I began to wonder if I am correctly and efficiently dealing with the trash in my life. We all have trash. That Tootsie Roll wrapper that is on the floor after a meeting or that Kleenex that we laid on the night stand after using it. Neither one of those things will be used again for their intended purpose so I might just as well dispose of properly. I wonder f there are intangible things in my life that need to find their way to the trash receptacle. I find that my computer runs much faster if I clean up the files by trashing those I no longer need.

My Colossians chapter 4 verse about making the most of every opportunity becomes much more real if I have taken care of my trash along the way. Today, I am asking God to remind me of this concept every time I notice something around me that should be tossed. I think I will need to find some extra waste baskets.