Thursdays With Oswald—Yielded

March 3, 2011 — 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.

Yielded

       There is a distinct period in our experience when we cease to say—“Lord, show me Thy will,” and the realization begins to dawn that we are God’s will, and He can do with us what He likes. We wake up to the knowledge that we have the privilege of giving ourselves over to God’s will. It is a question of being yielded to God.

From Facing Reality

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)

Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. (Psalm 139:14)

God has a plan for my life. He prepared me in advance to fulfill His will and plan for me. Will I yield to Him? Or will I continue to try to find my own way?

What a supreme privilege it is to yield to His will for my life!

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Getting Back To God

February 28, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

An important reminder from Ella Wheeler Wilcox—

All the aim of life is just

       Getting back to God.

Spirit casting off its dust,

       Getting back to God.

Every grief we have to bear

Disappointment, cross, despair

Each is but another stair

       Climbing back to God.

Step by step and mile by mile—

       Getting back to God;

Nothing else is worth the while—

       Getting back to God.

Light and shadow fill each day

Joys and sorrows pass away,

Smile at all, and smiling, say,

       Getting back to God.

Do not wear a mournful face

       Getting back to God;

Scatter sunshine on the place

       Going back to God;

Take what pleasure you can find,

But where’er your paths may wind.

Keep the purpose well in mind—

       Getting back to God.

(Song Of The Spirit)

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Have A Cookie

February 28, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Do you like cookies? I do! In fact one of the main reasons I workout is so I can eat more of the sweet treats my wife makes.

I’d like you to consider some of the ingredients in my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe:

  • Butter
  • Chocolate chips
  • White flour
  • Wheat flour
  • Oatmeal
  • Sugar
  • Brown sugar
  • Baking powder
  • Baking soda
  • Salt
  • Vanilla

On their own, some of these ingredients are sweet, some are rather bitter, and some don’t have much flavor at all. Now keep this list of ingredients in mind as you read this:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Really, “all things”?!?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had some pretty bitter things happen in my life. But the Bible says that God is using all things—the sweet, the bitter, and the bland—to make something good.

I’d never eat a big spoonful of baking powder or salt or vanilla extract as a treat, but my favorite chocolate chip cookie would be terribly lacking without those key ingredients.

You may not like the bitter things in your past, but God is using even those—part of the all things—to make something good out of your life.

So the next time you are questioning how the bitter fits into your life, ask the Holy Spirit to show you. And while you’re waiting on the answer, have a cookie and think about the bitter and sweet ingredients that went into making something so good.

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What Gift Are You?

February 21, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

In our Living In The Zone series yesterday, we looked at the gifts God gives to us. These gifts are to help us find the “sweet spot” where God wants us to operate. They are specifically given so that God can use us.

I love this thought from Craig Groeschel: “God’s gifts in you equip you for your gift to the world.”

You are gifted to be a gift to the world.

Check out this video we showed yesterday morning…

Did you catch this exchange near the end?

“Do you think you’re a role model?”

“I hope so! I wanna be an encourager. To encourage people to do something with their lives, instead of doing nothing. Because so many people in the world in this day and time have no gumption, have no purpose, and they don’t want to get off the couch. They wanna sit there and say, ‘Woe is me! My back hurts, my this, my that,’ and wallow in themselves, when they could get out. The more you do for someone else, the more God’s going to bless you. Even if means giving someone a cup of coffee, or a hug, or something like that. That’s what it’s all about.”

What gift(s) has God given you? What gift are you being to the world?

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Closed Door = Open Window

February 16, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Yesterday God closed a pretty significant door in my life. It will mean some short-term changes, but I am confident that it also means some great long-term rewards! I’m not worried; just prayerful for the next steps I need to take.

Here’s where I base my confidence:

This didn’t take God by surprise: All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

In fact, God was the One who closed this door: A man’s steps are directed by the Lord.

And now I’m just waiting: Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Or as Corrie ten Boom so beautifully said it:

“When God closes a door, He opens a window.”

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Purposefully Living In The Zone

February 11, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

“It is the paradox of life that the way to miss pleasure is to seek it first. The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.” —Hugo Black

I believe God has a unique purpose for your life.

I believe God has uniquely gifted you to fulfill that purpose.

I believe God wants you to know His gifts and His purpose for you.

When you and I know what God-given gifts are implanted in us, and we know how God wants us to use them, we are living in a place of fulfillment, passion, and joy. We are Living In The Zone.

So excited to see how the Holy Spirit is going to help people move to their unique “sweet spot” as I start a new sermon series this Sunday. Hope you can join me.

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Chazown (book review)

January 3, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I’m a huge Craig Groeschel fan, and Chazown didn’t do anything to diminish my respect and admiration for what Craig has to say. Chazown may be a funny-looking word (it’s pronounced khaw-zone, by the way), but it is vitally important to a successful life.

Right at the beginning of the book, Craig defines the importance of Chazown this way:

Where there is no Chazown—no dream, no revelation, no vision, no sense of our created purpose—we perish.
Where there is no vision that you were created to have a growing, lifelong, and personal relationship with your Creator, your inner being withers and dies.
Where there is no vision that you have been placed on earth to matter deeply to people, and reveal God’s love and power to them, you live in loneliness and your relationships perish.
Where there is no vision for a godly family, you have a 50 percent chance of ending up divorced.
Where there is no vision that your body is the temple of God’s Spirit—property on loan from Him—your physical health slips away. Your exuberance fades.
Where there is no vision for a financially wise lifestyle, you can live in the richest country on earth and still be drowning in debt.
Where there is no vision for meaningful work, people live for five o’clock. They really just exist. Their goal is to survive—to pay bills, stay married, keep the kids out of jail….
But you and I were made for so much more.

Chazown is easy to read (most of the chapters are very short), and the “You Are The Author” exercises throughout the book make the message of chazown applicable to your life. And Craig’s transparency about his own struggles and successes makes the message of chazown real to your life.

A key component in making your chazown work for you is accountability. The back of this book contains study guides for small groups, and there are plenty of team resources available on the chazown website.

This book is especially timely at the beginning of a New Year when so many are making resolutions. Chazown can help you make meaningful life changes that make a real difference.

I am a Multnomah book reviewer.

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Beat Up

July 2, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

Some snippets from a few conversations I have had the past week—

  • “What’s the point?”
  • “My life doesn’t make sense.”
  • “I probably deserve this.”
  • “I don’t know how I got here … I don’t know how to get out of here.”
  • “Why me?”
  • “I feel beat up.”

C.S. Lewis got it exactly right when he wrote, “If satan’s arsenal of weapons were restricted to a single one, it would be discouragement.”

Have you ever worked with someone whose attitude changed after giving his 2-week notice? His job performance slips … his attitude stinks … he does things against company policy … and he justifies it all by saying, “What are they going to do, fire me?” He’s got nothing to lose by acting like a complete jerk!

satan has already been “fired”—he knows he’s got a terrible end coming. And all he wants to do is make other people feel rotten … beat up … discouraged … defeated. He wants to take you down. He’s a jerk!

Did you know that the word devil means slanderer? By his very nature, he only tells lies. Everything he says is intended to harm you. He slings mud at your character, tries to get you thinking you’re no good, turns your attention to anything that’s dark, picks on your faults, jumps on your weaknesses. Like a jerk, he beats you up and beats you down until you start believing his lies.

He is a LIAR!

You are invaluable.

You are a masterpiece.

You are desperately loved by God.

You are integral to God’s plan.

I know you may want to ignore satan’s slandering, to tune out his lies, but can I suggest something else? Listen to them. Listen very carefully. If you are listening closely, you will be able to identify the lies and then demolish them. satan is hoping you will simply accept what he’s saying without analyzing it.

Here’s the next step. After you’ve identified the lies, you have to speak the truth OUT LOUD that contradicts those lies. The Bible says that we defeat satan’s slander by the power of Jesus AND the true words from our mouth. If you’re not sure what biblical truth counteracts the lies that are discouraging you, email me and I’d be happy to help you.

You are so very valuable! There’s a bully who wants to intimidate you, but your Big Brother Jesus is ready to take care of him!

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No Regret Living

May 30, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

Today’s my birthday. It’s not really a “big deal” day for me, except I enjoy being able to get together with my family and friends.

The Bible tells us that God has set the length of our life:

You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer. (Job 14:5 NLT)

I woke up this morning singing the lyrics to Mark Schultz’s song Time That Is Left:

What will you do with the time that’s left?
Will you live it all with no regret?
Will they say that you loved till your final breath?
What will you do with the time that’s left?

I want to live until I die.

Duh, right? Not really. There’s a lot of people who coast to the end, who check out long before their last day. But life is too precious to me … I have too much to do … too many to love. If God has given me a set number of days, I’m going to live everyone with excellence.

A great way to celebrate a birthday is living with no regrets!

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