Your Dangerous Prayer!

You have a dangerous prayer you just may not know it yet. Even if you have never thought of it, your dangerous prayer is in your heart. And it is not just you telling God what you want. It’s about trusting that he loves you in the hard times and in the good times. He will let you know when its time to say back to Him what he has already in His heart to bless you. Yes it requires faith. Yes it requires a little boldness in the face of baroness, but what you see now is not everything there is to be seen.

Christ followers live in two worlds, the seen and the unseen. Since nothing happens until we prayer, prayer is the first thing that should happen. It does take a while to get use to a life of praying first…then doing. Prayer is following God’s heart and wanting more of His life to be our life. I know you might be saying, “What the heck does that mean?” Just spend more time with the “noise” of your life shut down. It may cost you time from your fun stuff, but do it. The more you do it the better you will be at hearing God and praying what He puts in your heart. Don’t worry your little head about getting it right the first time.

Just do it.

Just be off the chain? Even if you are wrong the first time you pray dangerously, God won’t let you be wrong for long. So what do you have just sloshing around in your heart that needs to pour out your tongue to God? Come on go for it. Write it down and speak it into the universe where you, the Angels, God and yes even the Devil can hear it. Don’t be afraid of what God thinks about it. Odds are the more outrageous it is the more likely God put it there.

Think about it, why would the enemy of your very existence, Satan, put something outrageously good for you and the kingdom of God in your heart to pray…wait for it…. wait for it! He wouldn’t!!! Yes you are very welcome…I just cleared it us up for you. No Satan wants you broke, sick or better off for him… you dead. In the gospel of John we read the words of Jesus himself and whatever you remember, please let it be this,

 “The enemy (Satan) comes to kill still and destroy, but I have come to give you life and that more abundantly.” John 10:10 KJV (emphasis added)

Don’t mix up who wants you dead and who wants you to live abundantly. If you get a wild hair of an idea to pray any shade of death over your life or someone else, that’s bad. And it did not come from God. It came from the other guy…the one who hates you. Yes…he can give you thoughts to. I know you might not like to hear that but it’s true. Now he cannot control you if you are a Christ follower, but he can give you some nasty stuff to think about.  

So if the stuff you are thinking is NOT good…replace it with the GOOD STUFF. Like the Snapple commercials, fill your mind with the good stuff and hang around Christ followers who speak life not death and listen to life-giving pastors and get fanatical and like read the bible everyday. You don’t stop thinking bad thoughts…you REPLACE them with the good stuff.

Over time you will start praying the good stuff back to your Heavenly Father.  And good stuff will began to happen to you. I know you’ve probably heard “Good things happen to good people”…wrong! “Good things happen to those who believe good things happen to them,” and you can quote me on that. This principle will happen even to people who are on the fringe like my friend crazy Harold. He’s not really crazy, he just has that one eye that won’t look straight at me when we talk...kind of freaks me out a bit.

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” ~Proverbs 4:23 NLT

Here’s an important, but little know secret about prayer, “You pray all the time.” Yes folks you heard it here first…you pray constantly. What is in your heart goes up to God. The good stuff He loves to answer, but the junk and we all have some, He cannot answer. Why…do you say? Cause He is crazy in love with us and will try to talks us out of the “the junk." How does He do it? Oh I don’t know, maybe like, have me write this blog? Yeah, that makes sense…stuff like that.

Anyway, we do… and… we have… and… we live… and…we pray what is in our hearts…there I’m out of breath, but I said it.

“…For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 ESV

So prayer is as much what you hold in your heart as what you say with your mouth. Like right now while I’m writing this I’m thinking about some knuckleheads that I know that get on my nerves. Now don’t sit there looking so holy, yes, pastors are human too and we have to decide what to do with those thoughts just like you. I can just let these thoughts ride and get more ticked off and think “Get ‘em God”, which He won’t do or I can replace these thoughts with what God really thinks.

“But I say to you, love your enemies and bless the one who curses you, and do what is beautiful to the one who hates you, and pray over those who take you by force and persecute you.” ~Matthew 5:44 Aramaic Bible in Plain English.

So there you go. God just told me what to hold in my heart and how to respond to the knuckleheads in my life. He did not say I had to like what they do, but how to deal with it.

The more you hold the good stuff in your heart the more you think like God so the more you…you got it…pray God’s will.

So let’s wrap here. 

• You have at least one dangerous prayer in rolling around in your heart so get it out so the universe can take a good look at it. Don’t be shy.
• Watch what you let bounce around in your noggin cause that stuff gets stuck in your heart and becomes a part of you. As I like to say, “Think about, what you ‘think about’.” A journal or an honest friend can help with this, ones just louder than the other.
• Replace the bad thoughts with the good stuff. Be patient with yourself. It takes a while, but it will happen. You’ll be praying God’s will out loud before you know it.

That’s it; now go get ‘em tiger!

Remember be life-giving!

Alex Anderson

Deal With The Fear, First!

Not long ago I asked my wife a drilling question, “What would be the most important advice you could give to another person who ‘just found out’ that they had cancer?”  She went completely silent for a few moments, then looked straight into my eyes and without a hint of hesitation said, “Deal with the fear first.”

She is now 4 years 7 months cancer free herself. When She and I found out she had cancer, it was a crushing blow. For a short time, we both went into a state of shock. At the time we were in our forties and very healthy people for the most part.  On the way home from the doctor’s office we were just silent. We sat letting all of the questions just run through our minds. What does this all mean? What were her chances of survival? How would it affect her daily life? On and on the mind-numbing thoughts just rolled…until it became obvious to us that we were letting ourselves be led down the primrose path of fear. Before we got home, somewhere on I-75, we prayed.

“Lord, we know we live in a ‘fallen world’ and that sickness and disease is prevalent, however we refuse to give into the fear it can bring. We now stand against not only this disease but also the paralyzing emotions that are trying to take over our minds. Give us courage and clarity to follow the steps that we are trusting that you will set before us. Health is a divine blessing. Now use our good doctors as well as your miraculous hand to bring healing and restoration to my wife’s body.”

What we have learned during this almost five-year journey is: “faith, hope and love” gives us an unfair advantage over fear. Fear doesn’t stand a snowballs change in the face of great certainty or faith. When you know inside of your heart that you are going to win, then hope springs us. Not like a daisy in the cracks of your drive way but like an oak tree in the backyard where the kids’ swing hangs. All this is possible when you have a loving relationship with God. I mean come on. Think of how you feel when you know that “special someone” is always calling and wanting to hangout with you. You know that love is strong with that one. It does bring confidence and puts a little spring in your step…a little “zippity” in your “duda.”  Well, when trouble comes your way, who you going to call, those who love you the most right? And the bigger your loved ones the bigger the mountain you can move with them. Well if you cultivate that kind of relationship with God, then when you have a big mountain then you have big help.

In our case, not to brag, but we have been hanging out with God in a loving relationship full of a lot of trust for decades. It didn’t happen overnight, the mountain moving kind of trust and love, but it did grow year after year as we would go to our God with stuff.

The point here is that some people try to rely on their own knowledge, wealth, contacts, and influence and most of the time it’s enough to navigate the rapids of life. But on rare occasions more is needed, a lot more, to handle the death dealing dirty little secrets life can throw at us. Sometimes we need God’s help and he loves to do his part.  

God got quite busy with us. He lined up some of the finest physicians as well as a host of others to help us. But that’s not all he did. The biggest miracle of all was his peace and guidance. I mean we could tell inside of our hearts when to say yes to that and no to something else even though logically it made all the sense in the world scientifically. You see what all our doctors and our friends and loved ones could not do was to “hear” from God for us. Nor own the mountain of potential life and death decisions “we” had to make.

We were some how able to see the end from the beginning with God’s loving help and that made all the difference when it came to dealing with fear and the disease that had viciously attacked my wife’s body. And we held on to it with all the faith courage and tears we could muster…and it worked. Not because we were magically directing our destiny, but because we trusted someone much bigger that us to who from His perspective could see it finished and in our favor. And we trusted Him with that. Our best interest is always His first interest.

You see we are no more special than you. If you just got “the news,” then stop what you are doing right now…yes in the middle of all the fear and emotions screaming in your ears and pray. Don’t pray a nice little Sunday school prayer. Pray a dangerous prayer. Like we prayed. It doesn’t mean you will instantly have all the answers, but by God it will put fear on notice that you will not give in to its trickery and you will not lay down and just let “this” whatever this is win.

“With God, all things are possible to him that believes”  ~Jesus Christ

And remember,

Be Life Giving

Alex Anderson

Maggie

While sitting one Monday at the beach I watched an artist. The artist came with their equipment and chosen medium on which to express their own personal thoughts feelings and inner self. I noticed that many of these particular artists seem to do some of their most impressionable work at the beach. They brought an umbrella, couple of chairs, various containers, sunscreen, a lot of snacks, towels and a few tools to dig into and shape the sand. 

The artist was not painting a picture of the beautiful Gulf Coast of Florida with its crystal white sand and tranquil translucent blue green water. They were not designing an intricate sand castle from the dark ages with moats, towers and bridges. Nor would they be writing a mysterious novel with lots of clues to lead us through intricate plots that bring us to heightened emotions as we are finally shocked with the jaw dropping discovery that the minister did it in the library with a 30 lbs Greek Dictionary (apologizes for the personal indulgence). Nope.  This artist was creating a “Maggie”.

This highly experienced professional had arrive at the beach around 11 am and had decided to set up their creative outpost with umbrella, chairs and coolers about 25 to 30 feet or so from where I had been for about an hour.  It did not take the artist long to get to work. After a little sunscreen and final adjustments to the umbrella, they started to work immediately.

“I am sick and tired of you always talking back to me. If you don’t stop wiping the sunscreen off your face you will spend the rest of the day back in the room. Do you understand me? Look at me when I talking to you. Don’t stand there and stare at me that stupid look on your face. I’m sick and tired of always having to tell you three and four times to do everything. Sometimes, you disgust me. Do you know that? You just disgust me. And quit wiping that dam sunscreen in your eyes. God, I can’t take you anywhere. Sometimes you can be such a pain.”

Off and on for over 2 hours the artist used their tools to created their masterpiece. They were very persistent and very focused. The artist was very skillful at their work and I could tell they had done this before, many times. I could also tell they had at one time been “worked” on by another well-trained artist. It doesn’t take long to create a “Maggie.” Most creations like “Maggie” are completed in a few short years.

The key is timing.

There is a special window of time when making the right impression seems to work the best. It not as hard of a job as it seems since the “piece of art” does most of the work by simply accepting everything the artist exhibits as the truth and them with perfection, expressing that truth over time.

Little “Maggie” was only 6 years old.  As I left the beach that day with tears rolling down my face, I wondered if twenty years from now, would Maggie become an artist and create her own masterpiece?

I prayed not.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21

All around us are “pieces of art” in the making. Everyone can leave a brush stroke on each other for life. The question is…will we be happy 20 years from now with our work? Will we be proud of the impact that our earlier days are having on others today.

The beautiful thing is that, every one of us can change. Today we can decide the type of artist we want to be for the next generation. We can choose or own themes and not be limited to our past.

Choose well…for tomorrows works of Art depends upon our “words and actions”…today!

Be Life Giving!

Alex Anderson

How You Make Them Feel

My son had a friend over one night, and they were discussing something about their college literature class. He remembered a book we had that might help. I was in my study in the middle of an online training when he knocked on the door. Stopping the training, I got up to answer the door.

In the midst of stopping the recording, I lost my place and would have to start over. It was not the kind of program where I could skip forward to where I was when he knocked, and it would take an entire hour to get back to where I stopped. I was frustrated, to say the least, and it showed on my face.

“The Look”

As my son entered my study he saw "the look" on my face and was immediately apologetic, even though he actually had nothing to do with it. It was my lack of tech savvy that caused me to loose my place. 

As I gave him the book, I could see the pain of feeling like he had disappointed me on his face.  Unfortunately, it was not the first time I had put that look there. I quickly tried to act like it was no big deal, just to soothe his pain, but the damage was done. And I realized I had done this way too many times over the years.

As innocent as all this sounds, it was a big deal...to me. 

I've experienced the pain of disappointing those you love way too many times in my life, and it hurts…a lot. Over time, that hurt turns into discouragement. Discouragement is one of those overlooked "slow death" kind of relationship killers. Once the numbness actually sets in, it slowly steals the joy of relationships.

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~Maya Angelou

Jack Could Do Nothing Right

My friend Jack knew this as much as anyone. Jack’s dad was an awesome athlete. He was ranked in the men’s top 10 % tennis players in his state. Jack was not very athletic. In fact, he was a terrible tennis player, much to his dad’s disappointment. His dad was very critical of him on and off the court. Jack once told me that he “could nothing right” in his dad or mom’s eyes. He often felt like a failure, even though in his chosen field of business he was an international success. 

Jack said their discouragement caused his heart to grow less affectionate towards them over the years. It happened almost automatically without much effort until he just about stopped thinking about his parents at all. For some reason, they just didn’t show up on his "radar" anymore as someone who "mattered" when it came to really important things, like birthdays, anniversaries, holidays or major life decisions. "They kind of went away,” Jack said.  Without realizing it, he had tuned his parents out. After Jack went to college he rarely returned home.  He was what he called a “CEO” family member; meaning he would go home on Christmas and Easter Only. It was many years later, after becoming a Christ follower, that he had a desire to spend some time with his parents. He had already missed decades of time with them that he could never get back.

God Help Me To Change

Remembering my friend Jack, I realized this was not the first time I had done this to one of my family members. I knew the price it could cost my relationships if I did not change. The very next day I took time to apologize to my son and let him know how much I loved him.

I knew I needed God's help to really change, so this did not continue to happen. This became my prayer: 

"Lord help me to ‘Be Life Giving’ towards my wife and children...to always smile when our eyes meet...to always greet them and their friends warmly and welcoming...to have kind and gracious words, full of encouragement, that add value to their lives…Father, this prayer is very important to me...thank you for your help."

How about you? Do you have a vague memory of someone who was once important to you? Could you, too, be slowly fading from the memory of those you love because of your critical nature? Don’t loose any more precious time. Pray the prayer above. Reconnect with them. Do it today. And remember,

Be Life Giving,

Alex Anderson

Montana Sky

Self Sufficient

Sukie was born in Japan to Buddhist parents. She was taught in her culture that she could achieve anything she wanted in her life if she only worked hard enough. “Be self sufficient and strong,” her parents told her. She began to have a desire to join a very well known and respected finishing school for young ladies in Japan. After finally deciding this was what she wanted, she successfully talked her parents into letting her attend. After being accepted and moving to the school, Sukie found out the school was actually run by a branch of the Methodist church. The school’s culture was very different from Sukie’s, but she decided to stay and complete her education there, simply because of the school's influential reputation.

Far From Home

After she completed school, she met an American man who was working for the United States government in Japan. They began to date, and soon got married. Shortly after they were married her husband’s job required him to make a move back to the United States.  They moved to Denver. Sukie loved her husband and was willing to follow him wherever he went, even if it meant living thousands of miles away from her family and the culture she loved. Not long after moving to Denver, Sukie gave birth to her first child, a little boy. With complications from altitude sickness, the baby was born prematurely and lived for only three short days. This left Sukie with an aching sense of loss, and no family to turn to.

Call for Help

A couple of months later, Sukie and her husband moved to Billings, Montana. To say that Billings was very different from Japan was an understatement, but Sukie lovingly followed her husband. After being in Billings for about six months, her husband needed a back operation. Complications arose during the operation, and a blood clot formed that traveled to his brain. Her husband did not survive the operation. Now, in less than a year, Sukie found herself completely alone. She had lost her baby, and now, her husband. She felt abandoned, alone, and very far from home. In the midst of her loss, a community of Christ-followers from a Methodist Church in Billings reached out to Sukie in love, caring for her, nurturing her through this traumatic time.

Not Alone

One day, while in her back yard, Sukie began to think about her life. Though she was trying desperately to make sense of her loss, she could not. She began to realize that she was not as “in control” of her life as she was culturally trained to believe. As she stared into the Montana sky feeling very small and alone she heard these words come out of her mouth; “If there is a God, I would like to know.” Something happened. Something in the sky responded back. As her heart began to search for answers to her pain and loneliness she began to feel love. According to Sukie, God was responding to her “call” for help.

She began to feel a warmth come over her. In her words, “I felt as though I had been wrapped in a blanket.” She knew that God, in some supernatural way, was responding to her need of Him. Instead of receiving answers to her questions, she received love. She was changed instantly. And somehow, through this undeniable loving presence, she knew that she was not alone and would be taken care of. In that moment of need, she met God, and found Him to be good.

Our life is, at every moment, supplied by Him: our tiny, miraculous power of free will only operates on bodies which His continual energy keeps in existence—our very power to think is His power communicated to us.

                                                      ~ C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Sukie now had a great desire to read the Bible. In her reading, she realized that she was a daughter of God and had a desire to be a follower of God’s son, Jesus Christ. She called the local Methodist Church and requested to be publicly baptized. The practice of baptizing adults was not normal, however, due to her unique situation, an exception was made. The Pastor of the Methodist church of Billings Montana, in a public service, gloriously baptized her with a great celebration by the congregation. It was a great time to be sure, but this was only the beginning of Sukie’s amazing life-giving journey with God.

Many thanks to Sukie for sharing her life with us. She and husband Bill live in West Bradenton.

Maybe you want to know if there is a God. If so you can go out to your backyard and, like Sukie, look up to the sky and say, “If there is a God, I want to know.” I bet He responds to you, too.

Remember, Be Life Giving!

Alex Anderson

I Want Your Job

 

Some years ago we had a young pastor who led our small groups ministry at Bayside. When T. J. first met our founder and lead pastor, Randy Bezet, Pastor Randy asked him, “What do you want to do with your life?”

T.J. responded, “I want your job.”

Pastor Randy replied, “Great, I’ll show you how to get it”.

 

Fast forward almost 10 years later, and T. J. is the founding pastor of Coastal Community Church in Coconut Creek, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale. Obviously Pastor Randy did not give his position of leadership at Bayside to T.J., but he did show him how to be the founding and lead pastor of his own church. In other words, he showed T.J. how to get his job, just in another church.

Permission To Fail

Not all leaders have the ability to mentor others. At Bayside Community Church, we call it, “giving leadership away.”  Only a confident life-giving person can enthusiastically empower others to take their job. It’s so counter intuitive to a culture that teaches us to “look out for number one.” For someone to so enthusiastically help someone else to get ahead, even when sometimes it seems at their own expense…well it’s just not normal.

But life-giving people are not normal. We are to be like Christ, and give our lives for others. It’s called being a “second mile Christ follower” (Luke 6:29 NLT). Anyone can be a one-mile advocate. It’s easy when it doesn’t cost anything, right? Giving others permission to fail at our expense, well… that’s rare.  The second mile Christ followers are actually not hard to find. They stand out in any organization, like my friend Steve.

Enjoy The Job

Many years ago, in my twenties, Steve was a vice president at a bank where I worked. On my first day on the job, Steve said, “Alex, there is nothing that you can mess up that I cannot fix. I want you to have fun and enjoy your job.” I cannot tell you how empowering that was. He took responsibility for my development, potentially at his own expense.

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who…have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.” ~Henry Nouwen

Life-giving leaders will truly empower others at this level. These leaders are not as easily intimidated or fearful of the actions of the ones they are empowering because they are less consumed with themselves. They are as interested in the success of others as they are their own success.  Those who have the courage to really do this create great leadership legacies that outlive them.

“I see my role as the chief talent officer of the company,” says Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald. “Leadership is the one factor that will ensure our success long after I am gone as CEO.” (The 40 Best Companies for Leadership 2012; Chiefexecutive.net)

Thoughts for 2013

It’s not surprising that as we work ourselves out of a job by empowering others, we soon find ourselves with more opportunity than ever. Healthy leaders lead healthy organizations. Healthy organizations are dynamic and always growing. Steve was the fastest promoted Vice President in the bank’s history. So, I guess the late Zig Ziglar was right when he said, “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”

How are you at giving leadership away? To who are you giving your job, your business, your church, or your life’s work? Will it die with you? I hope not.

Be Life Giving!

Alex Anderson is a Senior Associate Pastor at Bayside Community Church, Bradenton, Florida.

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©2012 by Alex Anderson

"Think About" What We Think About

Long periods of not worshiping our Heavenly Father, not reading the Bible, not praying and doing sinful things or just dealing with it; all of this will make a Christ-follower weak and sometimes sooner than later, depending upon a person’s age, history and physical surroundings.  These things seem to weaken the soul and make one more susceptible to fear, failure, doubt and physical sickness.

To stay strong in our faith requires regular and continued praise, prayer, meditation on scripture and the fellowship of other Christ-followers. It seems, for those I have talked with over the years and for myself, that we can begin to feel the affects of the dark cold discouragement of this world if we let more that three days pass without actively engaging our spiritual-life.   Holy Spirit is strong enough to encourage and keep us during times of temptation to sin or be fearful if we are consistent with these spiritual activities.

Satan, the enemy of all mankind, does pursue us like a roaring lion; stalking his prey. He roars or rather his messages of fear or temptation are meant to shock us and get us to panic. He is looking for possible weaknesses to exploit in our relationship with Holy Spirit and our Father in Heaven.   His primary weapon is “thought”.  We must “think about” what we think about. What we think about should match the scriptural test for our thoughts according to the writer of the book of Philippians. He says this, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” This is found in Philippians 4:8 in the New Living Translation. Fairly simple stuff but very powerful, however it does require us to “think about” what we think about. Maybe we take a day and just write down the most common thoughts we seem to be thinking over a couple of days. It might be revealing.

Those other thoughts, you know the ones that are not true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of praise; well I see them as “battery acid for the mind”. They eat away at the very things in our life that we value the most, like our commitments to those we love, our passion for life and even our self-esteem. They slowly destroy all the good if not checked on a daily basis.

To help myself, I like to practice the following. When I lay my head on my pillow at night, I like to think of at least 10 things that I experienced that day that caused me to be grateful for my life. I usually drift off to sleep with a grateful heart at around number 5 to 7. Try it.

It may work for you and remember,

Be Life Giving,

Alex Anderson

©2012 by Alex Anderson

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