All That I Have is Yours!

This was such a great post by Joseph Prince, that I had to share it with you.  You can follow Joseph Prince here.  Enjoy this post from his Daily Grace Inspirations:

‘All That I Have Is Yours’ Luke 15:31 31... ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. After running a few errands for his parents, a little boy went to his father and said, “I know why you and mummy had me.” “Why?” asked his father. “So that you guys would have someone to run errands for you!” exclaimed the boy. Like the little boy, do you see God as a Father who demands obedience and service from you? Have you ever felt that unless you obey Him and keep all His commandments, you don’t have a right to be blessed by Him? Jesus shared the story of the prodigal son to show how some of us call God “Father” and yet don’t know His heart. There are two sons in this parable. We know what happened to the prodigal son, but we can also learn something about the older son. This is what he said to his father when he discovered that his father had thrown a party to celebrate the return of his irresponsible, spendthrift brother: “Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.” (Luke 15:29) Now, this son believed that his father had brought him into the world to serve him. He saw his father as someone issuing commandments to him all the time. And he saw himself as someone who had to obey those commandments to enjoy his inheritance. But the truth is that the father had already given him his inheritance. (Luke 15:12) The father even reminded him lovingly: “Son… all that I have is yours.” And I am sure that that inheritance included more than one goat! Have you, like the older son, failed to understand your Father’s heart? Your heavenly Father already gave you a rich inheritance in Christ when you became His son. He wants you to know that you have received the Spirit of sonship. (Romans 8:15) So call out to Him, “Abba, Father!” and know how much He loves you. Because you are His heir, all that He has is yours to enjoy today!

Blame it on the Rain

Everyone leads something.  Maybe you lead the organization you work for.  Maybe you lead a small group.  If you are a husband and dad like me, you lead your family.  What we lead is our responsibility.  Not everything that happens in our organization / small group / family is our fault, but it is always our responsibility.  

I have found that our society somehow has fostered the idea that responsibility is an old-fashioned value...a thing of the past.  I see many people pass the baton of responsibility off to someone else on their team when something goes wrong, but when things go well they claim all of the success for themselves.  No leader will last very long acting in that capacity.

As leaders, we must realize that we need to lead out of love.  My friend, Johnny Roberts (you can follow Johnny here), told me recently, "Love well, lead well".  So how do we lead out of love?  Lets look at what our Authority says love is:

4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud5or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.  1 Corinthians 13:4-7

I love the part about how love is not proud.  As leaders, we have to swallow our pride and take responsibility when things go wrong.  We have to stop blaming others.  It reminds me of a song that was popular when I was a kid.  Any of you that were born before about 1982 will have heard the song, Blame it on the Rain by Milli Vanilli.  The lyris said:

Blame it on the rain

Blame it on the stars

Whatever you do Dont put 

the blame on you

If you remember the song, they were obviously being sarcastic.  Great leaders dont blame others, they love others and take blame.  I want to lead well.  I want to lead strong.  I need to love more.  How about you?

It's Been A While...

"Long time, no see" as we say here in southwest Oklahoma!  I've been on a blogging hiatus for a little over a month.  Since the last time we talked I have sold my house, moved to another house, packed half of my belongings in a giant storage unit, and had my third beautiful baby (that's her pic above).  Now that our life is getting back on a regular schedule, I want to get back to sharing with you.  To kick off this next season of blogs, I want to get some feedback from you, Ok?

So what I need to know is which of my blogs so far have you liked best?  Which ones did you like the least?  Why?  What would you like to hear from me about?  Are there any questions you would like me to answer in a blog post?  Are there any topics you would like to know my revelation about?.....You get the idea.  I want to know what you like :-)

Please post your comments below, share with your friends, and look for my responses coming soon!

Jason