If He Is The "Great Arranger", What's Our Part?
I've been thinking about God as the "Great Arranger" lately and seeing evidence of it all around me, in Scripture, in history, and in my life. He sets things in motion even before we ask. Just this morning, I was talking to a pastor who made an announcement about shifting youth ministry to a different night, and after the service, a mom came up to him and shared that her son was just saying on the way to church that it would be so much better if youth were on a different night. That pastor had been working on that shift for weeks, maybe months, and yet the Great Arranger set it up so that the announcement would come that day! :)
I could tell you stories of how God provided housing for us in miraculous ways - more than once. There are stories of financial provision and relational connection that could not have happened without Divine guidance.Â
So, what's our part? Do we even have a part?
If He is the Great Arranger, do we simply need to let go of doubt, believe, and wait for somethi...
Passion Week Devo - When did Jesus move? [Wednesday]
If I oversaw Jesus’ timeline, I would have made a couple of significant timing decisions differently.
First, what was up with his ministry not going public till he was thirty? Was he not ready? Did the world not need him till then? What was the holdup?
And then once he started forwarding the kingdom full-time, Personally, I think he should have stayed around a little longer. If I were on the leadership team determining whether the disciples were ready to “take it from there” I would have voted, “No” quite adamantly.
Good thing I wasn’t in charge!
Galatians 4:4 shows us the Father was in charge of the timing. “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.”
John 5:19-20a says, “So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing.”
Jesus moved when the Father showed ...
Working Genius & Coaching [Discernment]
Discernment is noteworthy for several reasons.
- It's the third letter/step in the Working Genius process. (Wonder and Invention are the first two.)
- Discernment may be the most neglected part of the process while at the same time the most important.
- Discernment is likely the most difficult genius to describe and also to trust.
Let me explain.
The official Working Genius definition of Discernment is "The natural gift of intuitively and instinctively evaluating ideas and situations."
It's a gut thing. And personally, that is hard for me. I'm a facts person. I value logic and reason, so when someone with the genius of discernment just isn't "feeling it", I have a hard time accepting that.Â
And yet - I have paid many a steep price for skipping this step.Â
I'd like to think I have this genius, but the truth is I just want to move things along. I tend to go straight from invention to implementation and skip D and G altogether. (More on G next time.)
Once I start something it is re...
What's A Gal To Do?
It's not easy to figure out what to do.
We've been digging in to the word "Discernment" as a church staff lately and looking at what it means in our everyday lives. The Bible gives us overarching guidelines we need to adhere to - like "Don't kill people" in the Old Testament, and "Don't even hate people" in the New Testament.
But, you can't just say to do what the Bible says. Sometimes the Bible isn't so clear. Fairly often even it forwards two completely different responses. Here are a few examples:Â
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- Share the truth in love ~ Love covers a multitude of sins
- Judge wisely ~ Don’t judge at all
- Give to everyone who asks ~ Don’t throw your pearls before swine
- Don’t take anything with you ~ Prepare well
- Be the head and not the tail ~ Be the servant of all
- Be angry and sin not ~ Be at peace with all men
You get the picture. Even the same situation in a different season of your life will require new discernment
The Bible points us to a personal relationship with God ...