2010: The Year of Cultivating

As a church, we take time to seek the Lord on what He would want to do in our lives this coming year. We then name our year what we believe He is leading us to do. This year for the church as a whole, the Lord gave me the name: The Year of Cultivating." I am really excited about this. The past few years we have seen God lead us through some tough spots and now we are beginning to see the fruits from the struggles. And He wants to do more.

Cultivate, in the dictionary, has this as its definition: to loosen or break up the soil; to foster the growth of; to imporve by labor, care, or study; encourage; make friends with. I love that definition. I believe God wants to continue to break the hard ground in our lives (Hosea 10:12) to foster more growth and He will do that as we work for Him (getting involved), care for others, and study His word (signing up for our small groups and personal Bible time). I recently read a quote that said... "Christians are like manure, spread them out and they help things grow. Keep them in a pile and they will stink horribly." So true. We must let God begin to spread us so that we can grow and foster growth in others. We must break the pile mentality and step out into the unknown where Jesus is.

There is going to be an increase in seeing people saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit (personal prayer language), and the gifts of the Spirit manifested in all of our lives as we let God do His work in us. There has been to much hard, dry, ground in our lives for far to long that has stunted our growth. But God is going to begin to break it up, as we let Him, so that we can continue to grow. It won't be easy. I mean, who wants something digging up areas that are hard? It isn't pleasant. But in the end, it brings about growth and that makes it worth it. So get ready for all that God is going to do in 2010. And be encouraged to personally name your year.

A Winner's Attitude

I am an ex-basketball player (I still play but my college and high school days are over and I am not a pro athlete). When you play a sport you develop a winning mindset. You either want to win or you shouldn't play. It seems that in today's day and age that has given way to "Winning isn't everything" or "We're all winners" and other quotes like that. The problem is that those thoughts are not true. Whoever said winning isn't everything never won nothing. Second place is the first loser, so how can we all be winners? Now those thoughts can be taken out of context and developed into pride and a bad attitude, but in the right context should propel us.

I want to bring those thoughts into the church. I have been reading a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. In this book, he challenges the reader on how much do we truly love Christ. It seems like we don't love Him at all if you look at our actions. And hidden behind a lot of our actions is the excuse of I can't do it the full way so I will do it half way. Or in other words, "Winning isn't everything" or "We're all winners." The problem with that is, we have just shrunk God down. In the scriptures, He calls us to some pretty strict standards that we have watered down all in the name of not thinking we can win and not wanting to.

But winning is hard. You don't win unless you train and work hard. Sure we can water that down so that everyone feels like a winner but not everyone is a winner. Only those who are willing to "count the cost." Read this. We must start counting the cost of what it means to be a disciple. There is only one way to win and that is through Jesus Christ. And winning in this area is everything. There is no second place.

I am challenged by this because I can see where I have not kept myself disciplined in the ways of God. There is no longer any room for thoughts of "that was in the Bible but can not be done today." If Peter and Paul and the other disciples walked in it, then I can as well. And I will pursue God more and more until I am a walking example of the Gospel.

Don't let yourself tell yourself you can't do it. Or that only a few people will ever live the way Jesus called us to. We all can live that life if we are willing to submit to Him, discipline ourselves, and keep a winners mindset. Losing is not an option. We don't want to lose. There may be set backs but I don't want that to hinder us from staying on the winners path.

May Christ change the way we think when it comes to being a disciple of Christ. That we would know we can do it through Him who gives us strength. May we cast off complacency, lack of passion and desire, and selfish ambition and may we clothe ourselves with Christ. He is the only one that matters.

Let me know what you think.