No Missed Opportunities

December 3, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

One fear that can haunt us is the fear that we’ve missed an opportunity. The fear becomes even more acute when the opportunity we fear we’ve missed is an opportunity that we believe God has promised us.

That’s the fear that plagued Zechariah (Luke 1:5-13). He and his wife Elizabeth were both PKs (priest’s kids), they were godly people who were upright in God’s estimation. Zechariah was even chosen by God to offer the incense in the Holy Place of the temple. Yet one fear haunted Zechariah: He and Elizabeth were childless.

The Bible says they were well along in years; or as the King James Version more poetically says it, they were stricken with years. This literally means they had moved on—they weren’t in their prime childbearing years any longer.

Zechariah had almost pushed this out of his mind, thinking that he had missed his window of opportunity, when the angel showed up with God’s message to him—

Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son…. (Luke 1:13)

Did you notice this phrase: your prayer HAS BEEN heard? The verb tense really makes it say: “The thing you used to pray for—the child you used to believe for, the pregnancy you used to try for—has been heard. But you stopped praying, you stopped believing, you stopped trying to get pregnant.”

Zechariah let his fears speak louder than God’s voice. That’s why the angel called him by name. Zechariah means Jehovah doesn’t forget! 

What has God promised you? Are you still praying for it? Still believing for it? Are you still doing what you need to do to see it happen? Zechariah needed to sleep with his wife. What do you need to do? Do you need to go back to school? Make a phone call? Set up an appointment?

If God spoke it to you, He has not forgotten you! Don’t believe the lie that the window of opportunity has closed!

If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. (Habakkuk 2:3)

If you have missed any of the messages in our Fear Not! series, you can find them all by clicking here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments »

Watch Out For Pride

November 30, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

This post is especially for my fellow pastors, but it would be thoughtful reading for anyone in a leadership position.

Let me state it simply: Pastor, you need to watch out for pride.

Listen to the words of A.W. Tozer—

“A clergyman is a man, and often he has a proud little kingdom of his own, a kingdom of position and often of pride and sometimes with power.”

Pride is so insidious that it can creep into the hearts of leaders at anytime.

  • When things are going well. We think to ourselves, “Look what I’ve done” or we even spiritualize it a bit to say, “Look what God’s done through me.”
  • When things are going poorly. Pride causes us to look out the window at others, instead of looking in the mirror at ourselves.
  • When we’ve successfully handled a situation. We think, “Wow, I’ve really got it!”
  • When we’ve dropped the ball and we make excuses instead of asking for forgiveness.
  • And on and on it goes….

One of the things that has helped me immensely is the thoughts Kenneth Blanchard and Phil Hodges shared in their book Lead Like Jesus. They point out that every leader has an ego. The issue is what kind of ego is it?

It can be negative: E.G.O. = Edging God Out 

It can be positive: E.G.O. = Exalting God Only

So what do we do to make sure we have the God-honoring E.G.O.?

  • Look in the mirror. James says the Bible is the perfect mirror. So how does your life line up with the Scripture? Don’t sugarcoat it … Don’t make excuses … Say the words “Look at me” or “Wow, I’ve got it” out loud. Do you find those in God’s Word? If not, root it out!
  • Get some tough guys around you. You need some loving people around you that aren’t the ones writing your press releases. You need people around you that can boldly say, “Ahem! You appear to be getting off track.”
  • Monitor your gut-level responses. If you feel defensive, or if you feel the need to justify or make excuses, watch out because that’s pride’s signature.
  • Stay on your knees. Not only in prayer, but in service too. It’s awfully hard to get full of yourself when you’re washing feet, or scrubbing toilets. If you ever think any job is beneath you, watch out because you may have been infected by pride.

“Depth under depth of self-love and self-admiration. Pride! It was through Pride that the devil became the devil; it is the complete anti-God state of mind. Pride is essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not. Pride is a spiritual cancer.” —C.S. Lewis

I have two companion chapters in my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter that dive deeper into this topic: “A confident leader’s attitude adjustment” and “A humble leader’s attitude adjustment.” I hope you will pick up a copy.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments »

Heart Check

November 20, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Seven rules for self-discovery:

1. What we want most;

2. What we think about most;

3. How we use our money;

4. What we do with our leisure time;

5. The company we enjoy;

6. Who and what we admire; and

7. What we laugh at. —A.W. Tozer

Search me thoroughly, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24, Amplified Bible)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Giving Thanks For Gifted People

November 19, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Have you ever noticed how quickly we label people? We tend to give them a label based on their education, their socio-economic status, their race, their age, their job, even their choice of vocabulary.

We may not verbally express these labels, but we think them. And we will always treat people as we label them! In fact, it’s impossible to treat someone differently than you think about them.

What sort of label does God use? Well, He says that He knit you together in your mother’s womb; that He saw all of the days of your life before you were even a twinkle in your father’s eye; He knows the number of hairs on your head; He knows the thoughts in your head; He knows what you’re going to say before you say it. And then there’s this beautiful thought—

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

The label God puts on you:

My one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable, invaluable masterpiece!

When you are givingthanksgiving for people (that means you are always thankful for people), you will begin to see them as God’s masterpieces too!

Everyone you meet is God’s gift. He gave them to humanity to do the good works which He prepared in advance for them to do. You are surrounded by gifted people!

If you don’t see people this way—or if you tend to label them with less-than-flattering tags—perhaps you should begin to pray for them. Try a prayer like this:

I thank my God for you; in fact, I always thank God for you. And every time I thank God for you, I pray for you, night and day. In all my prayers for you, I always pray with joy, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. And this is also my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. So I urge you to join me in offering requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving for everyone. (This prayer is taken from Romans 1:8; 1 Corinthians 1:4; Colossians 1:3; 2 Timothy 1:3; Philippians 1:3-11; 1 Timothy 2:1)

Don’t just express your thanks for people on Thanksgiving Day, but be givingthanksgiving all the time. Remember: everyone you meet is a gifted person because everyone you meet is God’s one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable, invaluable masterpiece.

Check out the other message in this two-part series series here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments »

I’m Not In Control

November 13, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I am reminded again that my stressful feelings come because things are not going according to my plans. This can only mean one thing: Somehow I have let myself believe that I am in control of all my circumstances!

But I am not in control.

God alone is in control. He tells me not to be anxious, not to worry about tomorrow, but to come to Him to find rest.

Why, oh why, don’t I do this?!?

Enough! It’s time to once and for all give my concerns to the only One who can handle them.

“‘Come unto Me,’ says Jesus, ‘and I will give you rest.’ Do Jesus Christ’s words apply to me? Does He really know my circumstances? Fretting is sinful if you are a child of God. Get back to God and tell Him with shame that you have been bolstering up that stupid soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for Him. Ask Him to forgive you and say, ‘Lord, I take Thee into my calculation as the biggest factor now!’” —Oswald Chambers

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Your Spiritual Patellar Reflex

November 12, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

If you’ve ever been to a doctor’s office, you have probably experienced the patellar reflex test. It might be better known as the “knee-jerk reaction.” This is when the doctor taps your knee just below the kneecap to test your body’s involuntary response. How you respond (or don’t respond) tells the doctor a lot about your nervous system’s health.

Did you know that we have a spiritual patellar reflex too?

Consider this verse—

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6)

How you respond spiritually to stressful things says a lot about your spiritual knee-jerk reflex.

We see this spiritual knee-jerk reflex in the well-known story of Daniel in the lion’s den. Some of the guys who were jealous of Daniel trick the king into passing a law that forbids everyone from praying to anyone other than the king. Look at Daniel’s spiritual knee-jerk reflex:

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (Daniel 6:10)

Daniel’s knee-jerk reaction was to hit his knees in prayer!

This is because hitting his knees in prayer was a spiritual habit for Daniel. Check out this key phrase: he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. The verb tense here is one that means unbroken continuity. In other words, Daniel always prayed, so when anxious times came his spiritual knee-jerk reflex was to do what he always did: Pray, giving thanks to God.

It’s this lifestyle that prompted me to coin the word givingthanksgiving. Giving thanks shouldn’t just be on Thanksgiving Day. It should be a regular activity. And if it is, hitting our knees in prayer will become our spiritual knee-jerk reflex as well.

I want to do better at living this way. I want to pass the spiritual knee-jerk reflex test just like Daniel did. How about you?

Check out the other message in this two-part series series here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials, like this exclusive video in which I take my supporters behind the scenes of my thought process in designing my confrontation flowchart. ◀︎◀︎

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments »

Are You Content?

November 7, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

The dictionary defines contentment as—

Satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.

Does that describe you? Sadly, it’s describing fewer and fewer of us today. But saddest of all: Very few Christians describe themselves as being content!

The Bible says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. … If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” (1 Timothy 6:6, 8)

Godliness + Contentment = Great Gain

Both godliness and contentment are choices we must make.

I choose to be godly, and I choose to be content.

The default—the natural course for us—is selfishness. The pull toward my gain and my pleasure is strong. So I must exert great energy to pursue godliness; I must make the conscious decision to be content.

Give us this day our daily bread should be the prayer request in the morning (Matthew 6:11).

Thank You, God, for providing food and clothing for today should be the prayer of thanks in the evening.

Today if you have more than food and clothing, how much more blessed you are!

Choose godliness. Choose contentment. And watch and see how God provides great gain for you!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

You Must Care About Your Vote

November 6, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I’ve been encouraging people to join me in praying during the 40 days leading up to today’s Election Day. Now that the day is here, you need to do more than pray: You must vote!

Listen to these wise words spoken nearly a century ago—

All the opportunity for self-government through the rule of the people depends upon one single factor. That is the ballot box. . . . The people of our country are sovereign. If they do not vote they abdicate that sovereignty, and they may be entirely sure that if they relinquish it other forces will seize it, and if they fail to govern themselves some other power will rise up to govern them. The choice is always before them, whether they will be slaves or whether they will be free. The only way to be free is to exercise actively and energetically the privileges, and discharge faithfully the duties which make freedom. It is not to be secured by passive resistance. It is the result of energy and action….

Persons who have the right to vote are trustees for the benefit of their country and their countrymen. They have no right to say they do not care. They must care! They have no right to say that whatever the result of the election they can get along. They must remember that their country and their countrymen cannot get along, cannot remain sound, cannot preserve its institutions, cannot protect its citizens, cannot maintain its place in the world, unless those who have the right to vote do sustain and do guide the course of public affairs by the thoughtful exercise of that right on election day. —President Calvin Coolidge (November 3, 1924)

Please vote today for those candidates who most closely align with biblical values. And then don’t stop praying for our elected officials today, but pray every day that those officials would exercise God-glorifying, biblically-sound wisdom in discharging their duties.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , . 1 Comment »

The Height Of Arrogance

October 26, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Warning: this post may step on your toes.

Oswald Chambers wrote, “We have to find out God’s methods, not try to get God to approve our methods.”

Pastor, are you telling God what your church is going to do, and then asking God to bless your efforts?

Sadly, many churches innocently slide into this mode. But watch out: this is the height of arrogance!

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you know how to reach your community, or organize your church, or even accurately select your next sermon. You can’t do it!

But God can!

He knows your community and your church better than you do. So try a better approach by starting with humility.

Don’t tell God what you’re going to do and then ask Him to bless your plans. Instead, ask God what He is already blessing, and then go do that.

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—My Standard Of Conduct

October 25, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

My Standard Of Conduct

     Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 5:20)

     The practical outcome of these words is astonishing; it means that my standard of moral conduct must exceed the standards of the most moral, upright man I know who lives apart from the grace of God. … Instead of our Lord lowering the standards of our moral conduct, He pushes it to a tremendous extreme. We have not only to do right things, but our motives have to be right, the springs of our thinking have to be right; we have to be so unblameable that God Himself can see nothing to censure in us. 

From Biblical Psychology

There are some very moral people in the world, but their morality is of their own design, and not the morality that comes from a relationship in God’s grace (i.e. just like the first-century Pharisees). I cannot try to match their moral lifestyle, because my morality will not be God-centered.

My thoughts have to be perfectly moral. My thoughts about how I’m going to behave must be God-pleasing. This prayer of David needs to be my prayer as well if my thoughts and conduct are to be unblameable in God’s sight—

How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep Your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:12-14)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »
« Older posts
Newer posts »