Remembering all God has done is the antidote to any fear or anxiety that we may feel. Recalling who God is and what He has done cannot help but lead us into worship of our awesome King! Then, as the words of an old chorus remind us—
I have shared a couple of other insights from Psalm 77 here:
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My leadership podcast partner Greg Heeres and I were discussing a leader’s epitaph. Greg asked me an unusual question: What did I want to be said on my own epitaph?
Take a listen to this snippet from The Craig and Greg Show—
The story I told about Enoch can be found in Genesis 5:3-24 and Hebrews 11:5-6.
I’ve also blogged a couple of times about Enoch: “And then he died…” and “Walking intimately.”
You can watch the full Craig and Greg Show episode that this clip from by clicking here.
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When we are going through something difficult or painful, we want to get counsel from someone who has some understanding of what we’re facing. In a word, we want someone empathetic.
Webster’s Dictionary defines empathy as the action of understanding, being aware of, and being sensitive to the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another. If you were telling me about your painful situation, to let you know that I “get you”—that I empathize with you—I might say something like, “I’ve been there, done that, and have the scars to prove it.”
But as I tell you my story, I need to really guard against one-upmanship. Webster’s defines that as the art or practice of outdoing or keeping one jump ahead of a friend or competitor. Saying something like, “Oh, feel your pain, but let me tell you how I had it so much worse” is one-upping and unhelpful!
In my book When Sheep Bite, I wrote this in the Introduction—
When you share a tale of real pain with a trusted friend, you don’t want them to try to one-up your story. Instead, you would want them to comfort you in your pain, to give you some helpful insight, or to even just cry along with you. On the other hand, you probably aren’t going to share your story of pain with someone who has no understanding of your situation. We want someone who “gets us,” someone who can relate, someone who can truly empathize with what we are feeling. …
I want to give you what I wanted when this happened to me: empathy, insight, a helpful perspective, and a manual of help that God has provided in the Bible. I don’t want to try to one-up your story of pain, because I’m confident that no one could truly know how deeply you’ve been hurt. But I do want to give you some assurance that I know what I’m talking about.
As I was discussing some of the ideas in my book with a group of pastors, I reminded them of the value of an iron-sharpening-iron friend (as Solomon describes in Proverbs 27:17) who is empathetic without crossing the line into one-upmanship.
I truly believe that When Sheep Bite will be a healing resource for shepherd leaders who have been there, done that, and have the sheep bite marks to prove it. If you are a pastor—or if you love your pastor—please pick up a copy today!
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Sometimes the way that we show our faith in Jesus is that we hit the road! Check out this important lesson in faith from a loving father.
Check out this episode of The Podcast.
This story of the faith-filled father is found in John 4:46-53, and the prayer that I shared from King David is in Psalm 5:3.
I wrote more about this prayer of David in Prayer Preparation and Prayer Expectation. And I wrote about another man’s faith-filled walking in When Your Walking is Your Praying.
Here are a bunch of ways to get in touch with me and follow along with other projects on which I am involved.
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“God, do not remain quiet; do not be silent and, God, do not be still. For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, and those who hate You have exalted themselves. They make shrewd plans against Your people, and conspire together against Your treasured ones. They have said, “Come, and let’s wipe them out as a nation, so that the name of Israel will no longer be remembered.” … Fill their faces with dishonor, so that they will seek Your name, Lord. May they be ashamed and dismayed forever, and may they be humiliated and perish, so that they will know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.” (Psalm 83:1-4, 16-18 NASB2020)
Even God’s punishment on the enemies of His people has a redemptive purpose: “So that they will seek Your name … So that they will know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.”
This is why we are to leave judgment in His capable hands. We humans are prone to desire the complete and immediate elimination of all our enemies, but our loving God knows how to dispense punishment in perfect proportion so that evildoers may recognize their sin and repent.
Yes, we should pray as this psalmist’s Holy Spirit-inspired words direct us. Pray for protection for God’s people, pray for punishment for God’s enemies, but also pray that all of this brings about the “so thats” that will lead these enemies of God to accept His forgiveness that Jesus paid for on the Cross.
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Jesus sent us to all nations—to all the streets in all the world (Luke 24:47-49; Acts 1:8). We are to begin in Jerusalem and move outward. As we have seen, Jerusalem is like out Main Street, where there are more similarities than differences between us and the people to whom we are taking the Good News of Jesus. Judea is our Lombard Street & Rodeo Drive, where we are starting to see more differences.
Then we move to Samaria where there are now way more differences than similarities. But still, let’s never forget that Jesus sent us and the Holy Spirit empowers us to be effective in our witness on every street—even those with whom we have very little in common.
Jesus literally traveled to Samaria in John 4.
Jesus was baptizing in the Judean countryside (John 3:22) and now He is heading back to Galilee. “The shortest route from Judea in the south to Galilee in the north went through Samaria. The journey took three days if one wanted to travel the direct route. The Jews often avoided Samaria by going around it along the Jordan River. The hatred between the Jews and Samaritans went back to the days of the exile” (Dr. Henry Halley).
There were wide differences between Jesus and this woman of Sychar:
Our first task is to find common ground with whoever we can. Jesus used the word “whoever” three times in John 3:16, 18, 36, saying that whoever believed in Him would have eternal life. We need to have this same mindset. It’s not His desire that any should perish—not even the Samaritans!—but that all should come to know Him as Savior.
In his book Winning With People, John Maxwell presents The 101% Principle: Find the 1% we can agree upon and give that 100% of your effort.
Jesus found the 1% and gave 100% to it. For He and this Samaritan woman their common connection was water and worship (John 4:9-15, 21-26). Jesus used both of those things to open a conversation about eternal matters.
Who are the Samaritans in my life? They are people…
But they are also people…
Our prayer should be this:
Holy Spirit, help me to notice the people to whom I have been blind or whom I have been avoiding. Help me to find the 1% on which we can agree, and then empower me to give 100% of my effort to that 1%. I want my heart to beat with the heart of my Savior: Whoever believes on Him will not perish but will have eternal life.
If you’ve missed any of the others messages in our Takin’ Him to the Streets series, you can find them all by clicking here.
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Shepherd leaders do know the voice of their sheep, and the sheep know the voice of their shepherd. Leaders, this is the value of regularly being around all the people on your team. Check out this full conversation Greg and I had on our leadership podcast. This idea is central to my book Shepherd Leadership.
I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“Alice Reynolds Flower (1890-1991), the wife of [Assembly of God] pioneer J. Roswell Flower, is a shining example of motherhood. Affectionately known as ‘Mother Flower,’ she preached, taught Sunday School, led prayer meetings, wrote articles, penned poetry, authored books, and lived a godly example in front of her six children and everyone she came in contact with. As Mother’s Day approaches, it is good to consider an article that Mother Flower wrote for the Pentecostal Evangel in May 1952.” Check out Alice Flowers’ article here.
Kenneth Blanchard discusses when it is and isn’t a good time for a leader to be a micromanager. He concludes this insightful post by saying, “The best leaders know how to continually adjust their leadership style to fit each situation, helping to develop individuals who will ultimately achieve each goal and perform well on each task with little direction or support.”
“The pre-Flood world had some truly massive dinosaurs, and the largest of them were in the group Sauropodomorpha. Within this group were titanosaurs, which include the gigantic Argentinosaurus that is estimated to have weighed over 100 tons.” Read more about titanosaurs here.
What is it about morality that points humans higher and higher to find the Source? J. Warner Wallace, in this video based on his book God’s Crime Scene, makes the case that objective, transcendent morality is good proof for God. This reminds me of C.S. Lewis’ similar argument: “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such a violent reaction against it?”
Pastors, listen to this call to revival from the pen of Jonathan Edwards. Let us seek in prayer for a revival in our day! “The Scripture gives us great reason to think, that when once there comes to appear much of a spirit of prayer in the church of God for this mercy, then it will soon be accomplished…Spiritual waters and rivers are explained by the apostle John, to be the Holy Spirit…It is now a time of scarcity of these spiritual waters; there are, as it were, none. If God’s people, in this time of great drought, were but made sensitive of this calamity, and their own emptiness and necessity, and brought earnestly to thirst and cry for needed supplies, God would, doubtless, soon fulfill this blessed promise.”
Selah means to pause and carefully consider.
“The God who is our salvation” is on each side of this sacred pause. What can we consider from this?
Let’s take time to slow down and truly savor the inspired thoughts when the Holy Spirit moved the biblical author to pause. There are powerful, encouraging, life-changing truths just waiting to burst into our heart and mind!
I shared more about this Selah pause in this message and this message. You may also be interested in our whole series looking at the all the Selahs in the Bible.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
The apostle Paul shows us how simply sharing the good news about Jesus opened a door for him to speak to a very influential group in Athens. I experienced something similar that I think will be helpful for you to hear.
The Scripture I reference in this video is Acts 17:16-34.
You can watch the full sermon this clip came from by clicking here.
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This is a book I wish I didn’t have to write, but far too many pastors are leaving their ministries too early because of the attacks they have had to endure. When Sheep Bite is help for hurting shepherds.
One pastor has called this book “a must-read for every pastor and ministry leader,” and another pastor said, “This is more than a good book. This is the difference between finishing your race and dropping out.”
Check out this book review by theologian T.M. Moore.
When Sheep Bite is presented in three sections:
Here is a recent video about When Sheep Bite. You can also check out the whole playlist of videos related to this helpful book.
Craig T. Owens 