Coaching Connection – Prayer

Posted by Bill on September 29, 2012

Here’s a powerful prayer to use on a regular basis. It’s a good ‘all-rounder’ that will keep you on track with the Lord.

Teach me, O Lord, to follow every one of your principles.

Give me understanding and I will obey your law; I will put it into practice with all my heart.

Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found.

Give me an eagerness for your decrees; do not inflict me with love for money!

Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.

Reassure me of your promise, which is for those who honor you.

Help me abandon my shameful ways; your laws are all I want in life.

I long to obey your commandments! Renew my life with your goodness (Psalm 119:33-40).

It doesn’t matter if you can’t discern ‘what’ the Lord is doing in your life at a particular time.

As His reputation with us is perfect, trust Him!
Trusting Him when we can’t ‘see’ is faith.
Faith is what enables you to move forward with Him.

Videos from Destiny Kids

Posted by Nick on May 19, 2012

We’d just like to share with you some great videos made by the young people of Destiny Kids International in Cairo Egypt.

Take a look – pray for them – it will make a huge difference in their lives.

Please visit the new Destiny Kids website and support them.

Here are the individual links too

http://youtu.be/-ein5B3WJZA
http://youtu.be/QzfVvK8Sr10
http://youtu.be/qorXbyviiR4

If you would like to make a donation to support Destiny Kids, just click on the PayPal button below.

A critical distinction

Posted by Bill on November 26, 2011

One of the most important lessons I’ve learnt from following the Lord is to distinguish between sinner and sin. The Lord has helped me in situations of disappointment and hurt by others to carefully separate sinner and sin in my mind before reacting. I’ve learnt not to throw out the baby with the dirty bathwater … the baby is the object of God’s love!

A great example for me with regards to this is the incident where Peter denied the Lord, three times, after His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:69-75). After the rooster had crowed, Jesus didn’t show Peter a look of rejection, nor did the Lord withdraw His love from him. To the contrary, after His resurrection, the Lord cooked breakfast at the Sea of Galilee for His dear friend, Peter, and reaffirmed His unconditional agape love for him (John 21:15-17).

In restoring Peter from his mega-failure and guilt, the Lord demonstrated the importance and power of making the distinction between sinner and sin. Through this undeserved act of grace, Peter was able to rise from his failure and follow His Lord, and became one of the greatest church leaders of the New Testament era.

Friends, with more than thirty years of discipleship experience behind me I still feel I am no more than a novice in the area of modelling the Lord’s practice of making the distinction between sinner and sin. In this matter, I have failed many times with those in my family; with friends; work associates; and others in the church. My natural default is to reject both sinner and sin, denying the sinner of the love of Christ through my life. However, my desire is to be like Christ in every way … my desire is to love sinners, no matter what they do to me. (“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8).

The Lord succeeded in His earthly mission through practicing the importance of making the “critical distinction” between sinner and sin – He died to save us, not our sins!

The view gets better as we climb higher!

Posted by Bill on November 19, 2011

I have chosen to stand on a rock-solid belief that the view gets better as we climb higher with the Lord. With that belief I am determined to do all that is within my control to climb higher to the next level … and the next, and the next. From where I presently stand, I am excited by the amazing things I believe the Lord has in store for His old, but not worn out, servant.

Now, before I make the mistake of racing ahead, enthusiastic and emotionally charged, to take hold of the blessings that have been reserved for me I need to pause for a moment to remind myself of a critical principle of the upward climb … the principle of cost. Truly, I don’t expect to progress in my climb without having to pay something. Jesus, our go-ahead God, came into our world to elevate us with Him, in life and ministry. Although most people in life are happy to see their lives moving forward and higher, only few are prepared to pay the price.

For those who are serious about journeying with Jesus to the top, He says from the Book of Luke … “If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.” “So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me” Luke 14:26b, 33. Twice in this passage, Jesus says we cannot follow Him unless we are prepared to meet the necessary demand – to love Him more than everyone and everything in our lives. Loving Jesus “more than …” is the principle cost of climbing higher in your faith.

How do we prove to Jesus that we love Him more than anyone and anything, including our own lives? He says in the Book of John … “If you love me, keep my commandments” John 14:15. Before we can “keep His commandments” we must sacrifice whatever stands in our way.

Friends, at no stage of our climb with Jesus should we entertain the thought that pushing on to the next level is going to happen without having to pay a high cost. The Lord never asks from us anything but that which is necessary to accomplish His will in our lives. He wants to take us up to the summit of our climb. And, loving Him more than anyone and everything else is the bottom-line cost of our rise. The Lord sacrificed everything, including His life, to come down to where we once were; that place where were held captive and blackened by our sin – to free us and lead us up to the summit of our potential in Him. Why? Because He loves us, more than His own life!

Would you like to go to the next level of your climb in your relationship with the Lord (in your marriage, parenting, leadership, ministry, and mission) where the view is tons better than from where you presently stand (John 10:10b)? If your answer is “yes”, you must sacrifice whatever stands in your way, and obey Him.

Dear friends … the view gets better as we climb higher with Him!

Striving for a Son-ripened harvest

Posted by Bill on September 2, 2011

Experienced farmers work respectfully and harmoniously in their fields in partnership with the sun. They know the critical role the sun plays in giving and sustaining life in their fields, pastures, livestock, and orchards. They know that without their cooperation with the sun; growth, maturity, and reproduction could not take place. As the sun is critical to their livelihood, farmers submit their farming ways to the sun. They keep their ways in subjection to the sun. read on →