(Be blessed by this post by guest blogger Lance Wallnau)

What to do when a fragile but cherished vessel is broken? The world tries super glue, the devil suggests a trashcan, but God alone has a way of fixing things so that something greater comes forth.

God’s healing power is mirrored in the beautiful art form called “kintsugi” where broken vessels are repaired with gold in a way that goes beyond repairing – a more beautiful vessel is formed.

When a bone is broken it comes out stronger in the place where the original break was formed. In the midst of Jeremiah’s frustration with his nation, God reminded the Prophet that He alone is the Master Potter and has power to create and re-create when a vessel is marred. (Jer. 18)

The word “kintsugi” literally means “golden joinery,” and is a perfect picture of what the Spirit of God does when joined to our life in the very area that life seeks to break us. In this ancient Japanese art of repair the artist does not try to hide the history, rather the history is highlighted with veins of gold or perhaps silver, thus adding a new dimension to the vessel’s value and beauty.

The celebrated 19^th century preacher, Charles Spurgeon, once said an impromptu prayer someone captured in print. “Lord you have done more with us than You did with Thomas, for he was told to place his finger into the open wounds in your hands and side, but you O Lord God have done something greater with us for you placed your finger into our open wounds and healed them.” Indeed, God puts His finger into the wounds in our life and seals them with gold.

This explains a mystery regarding suffering.

In the final hours of Jesus’ life, He warned Peter that the enemy sought to sift the young apostle and rob him of his calling. (Luke 22:31) Why did Jesus pray for Peter to come through the ordeal successfully? Why not rather pray that Peter be able to sidestep the sifting in the first place?

1. It is because in some way, the warfare intended to be used by the enemy to break us actually make us stronger and of greater value! When we bring the brokenness to Jesus we are made stronger.
2. So it is in the stories of our heroes found in life and in fiction. All heroes go on a heroic journey where they engage a fierce struggle against a worthy opponent, only to become transformed as a result of their conflict.
3. Joseph was made stronger by the ordeal of betrayal and David was fashioned into a commander in the cave of Adullam. When a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it multiplies. (John 12:24)

I remember a story about a young believer with a physical feature he hated—a crooked nose. It made him self-conscious. The Lord was talking to him about self-acceptance. Once he worked through the issue, he was in an automobile accident. He came out unharmed but the insurance covered the plastic surgery and he ended up with the nose he always wanted. God is a good God and by no means the architect of accidents, but in this case the man got fixed on the inside and outside.

Consider this:

1. Given a choice between sparing you temporary  discomfort or letting you have a moment’s light affliction in exchange for an eternal increase in reward, which would you want Him to choose for you?      Deliver you “from” the process or deliver you “through” the process?
2. Many times you are delivered from the fire, but  when you walk “through” the fire God declares “I will be with you!” You will come out a winner on the other side and like Peter, Joseph and David, the new vessel will be able to contain and reveal a whole new level of  glory. God is the ultimate “kintsugi” artist.

 (Dr. Lance Wallnau is a world-class trainer and consultant whose students span the globe. From bestselling authors, pastors, and billion dollar CEO’s, he has helped to transform the lives of thousands. Please check out his resources at www.lancelearning.com)

(Be blessed by this DWOD for August 28, 2013 by guest blogger, Os Hillman)

 

“All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” (Proverbs 14:23).

Is there something you would like to accomplish in life but simply cannot find the hours in the day to get started?

Many of us suffer from procrastination. We justify putting our dreams aside because we don’t believe we have the time or resources to accomplish the task.

Many times people tell me they believe they are called to write a book. I tell them, “Great, if God has called you to write a book, begin to write it.”

Sometimes the response is: “But I don’t have a publisher.” “That has nothing to do with it,” I say. “That is not your problem. If God calls you to write a book, you are to begin to write. You may not be writing to get published. You may be writing for other purposes.”

“The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little” (Deut 7:22).

If God has given you a vision to do something, begin by taking baby steps toward that project. Begin to focus on the vision and take action steps toward it.

Many times people ask me, “How in the world do you have time to write? You travel so much and seem to have such a full schedule.”

My answer to them is that I have a specific time of day in which I commit to writing. It is usually between 5 AM and 8 AM. I have found this to be my most creative and productive time. Very little can get in the way of this time if I believe God has given me a project to do.

You will be amazed at what God can do with a little each day. Do not let procrastination prevent you from accomplishing what God may want to do through your life. Make plans today to take baby steps toward the vision that is in your heart.

(Reprinted by permission from the author. Os Hillman is an international speaker and author of 15 books on workplace calling. To learn more, visit http://www.MarketplaceLeaders.org)

(Be blessed by this post by guest blogger, Luc Niebergall)

Right as I began school, my teachers noticed that I learned differently than the other children. Those who taught me assumed I had learning disabilities and enrolled me in special help classes. I felt as though I was being placed in the category of being stupid.

This of course wasn’t true. However, when you’re told by people who you look up to that you don’t learn well, you will quickly take on that trait as part of your identity.

It is fascinating how we dismiss what we don’t understand. Uniqueness which was meant to be a gift becomes quenched until it is completely snuffed out. Genius is a common component of every person’s identity; we just dismiss it because it often doesn’t fit into our forum of comfort.

After embracing this false label, I immediately stopped trying to do well in school. When my teachers would begin teaching the class I would automatically tune out because I assumed that I wasn’t smart enough to understand what they were going to say. This false perception of who I was followed me through all my years of education. Throughout my 12 years of schooling I had actually never finished a book because I tricked myself into believing I couldn’t understand what I read.

By the grace of God I somehow graduated high school. A few years after I finished my schooling, I distinctly remember the Father speaking to me through an encounter.

I was walking with the Father throughout a library in heaven when He led me to a section of books. As I pulled one of the books off of the shelf, He began to tell me that these books were letters which were set aside for the last-day church. I looked at the book’s cover and saw my name where the author’s name was usually written.
The Father then spoke to me and said; “Luc, you’ve always believed you were stupid; but I’m going to show you how brilliant I’ve created you to be.”

From this point on every time I would begin to feel as though I couldn’t achieve something as an intellectual, I would start speaking over myself that I was brilliant. I did this because I wanted to receive the new name my Father was trying to give me. He took my false identity and gave me a new one. He burned away the chaff of all of my teacher’s curses and unveiled hope and purpose.

When the Father spoke this truth into me and broke me out of category by revealing my sonship, I successfully finished the first book I ever read; the Bible. Shortly after this I began writing my first book.

It was a challenge to write, to say the least. It would take me about 45 minutes to focus my thoughts enough to write a single sentence. Yet, since I knew what the Lord spoke to me, I continued to write. After hours upon hours of work, I wrote the first 50 pages of my book.

To be honest with you, when I reread what I wrote it sounded like absolute gibberish. But the Lord then spoke to me and told me to begin rewriting my entire book. As I did, writing became natural. I could actually formulate my thoughts and compose proper sentences. In the span of 45 minutes instead of only writing a single sentence I could write pages.

Since I was able to receive what my Father said about me, I was able to break out of a false identity which before that point I had embraced for my entire life. Now I have the great privilege of impacting the masses as an author.

Revelation concerning your identity is found within the secret place of intimacy with the Father; nowhere else. Your most profound training for ministry won’t be behind a microphone; it will be in the cave. It will be in the face to face encounters you have with God. It’s in this place where the world’s assumptions of who you are begin to burn away, revealing who you were truly created to be.

(Luc Niebergall lives in Calgary, Alberta with his wife Eline where he ministers as the assistant pastor of Imagine Church. Luc has a passion for revival and to see heaven invade earth across the world. You can order his first book here.)

(Be blessed by this DWOD by guest blogger, Barry Adams)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)

In Isaiah 9:6, Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. Romans 15:33 calls our heavenly Father the God of Peace. Galatians 5:22-23 says that the fruit of the Spirit is peace. Peace resides in the heart of the Trinity. There is no restlessness there. No anxiety. No fear. Just an abiding peace.

The Apostle Paul opens up his letters to the Galatians and the Ephesians with the same exhortation: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

God’s will for our lives is peace! His will for our lives is a deep inner rest. Jesus lives a life of peace because His Father is at peace. We can live a life of peace because Jesus Himself is our peace. The peace that God has for us is not something that we can muster up in our own ability. His peace is imparted to us as a free gift. Jesus told us: “My peace I give to you… not as the world gives.”

I believe that the only way that we can abide in this part of our birthright is to simply receive it by faith as a gift. We can’t earn it. We could never do enough to deserve it. But it is ours through the free gift of Jesus’ life for our life on a cross two thousand years ago.

In the midst of an orphan world that is screaming out thousands of media messages a day…in the midst of a religious system that is demanding that we do more in order to become acceptable…in the midst of our own guilty conscience condemning us… and in the midst of the accuser of the brethren that is only too happy to bring railing accusations…we can have a peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7) that is not rooted in our own self-effort, but imparted to us from the One who is Peace Himself.

Over 15 years ago I developed a stress-related condition that plagued me for some time. No manner of praying, rebuking the enemy, etc. seemed to rid me of this chronic disorder. It wasn’t until I had a vision of Jesus asleep in a boat in the midst of a storm, that I got completely healed in a moment’s time. Before that encounter, I thought that the key to reducing the stress in my life was found in managing my external circumstances.

It wasn’t until I saw Him who is Peace itself, sleeping even in the midst of crashing waves and howling wind, that I received my healing. It was at that moment, that the Prince of Peace imparted His peace to my weary soul and I was set free from the chronic stress disorder that was buffeting my body and soul.

My prayer today is that every person who has received the free gift of Jesus’ life would know that part of their inheritance is peace. Peace isn’t something we have to strive for, peace is part of our new DNA because we are sons to God and joint heirs with Jesus.

Jesus told us that ‘in the world, you will have trouble’ …But the good news is that we can rejoice because Jesus has overcome the world!  Our elder brother imparted peace into our spirits the moment we were born again. We don’t need to try to muster it up in our own strength, but simply yield to the God of Peace that resides in our heart right now.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. (Romans 16:20)

(Barry Adams is the humble vessel chosen by God to bless the world with the revelation known as the Father’s Love Letter. Along with his wife Annelise, Barry ministers the Father’s Love all over the world. Today’s DWOD is from a post he wrote for A Son’s Life Blog)

“Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica” (2 Tim 4:9-10).

Adversity molded the apostle Paul into the greatest warrior for Christ the world has ever known. But there were times when adversity and disappointment took its toll on this rugged warrior. We can sense Paul’s hurt and discouragement near the end of his second letter to Timothy:

Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica… At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me… Do your best to get here before winter (4:9-11,14,16,21).

Do you hear the pain in those words? Twice he urges Timothy to come to him. Do you feel his anguish when he twice speaks of being deserted by his friends?

In most of his letters, Paul seems to have an invincible spirit. Yet he was a man who suffered, felt betrayed, and was at times very lonely. However, Paul chose to look at life from a heavenly perspective. That’s why he could write:

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body (2 Cor. 4:8-10).

Paul had experienced a level of opposition and suffering that you and I can scarcely imagine. People said they would do things but did not follow through. He could not depend on certain people. Yet he was not crushed, and he refused to give in to despair. He viewed his life as a continual process of dying. His goal was to live in such a way that the life of Jesus would be revealed in his response to adversity.

Beware of placing too much expectation on others. Realize that people will let you down from time to time, but do not let that impact your faith. Trust God to work even through these disappointments.

(Reprinted by permission from the author. Os Hillman is an international speaker and author of 15 books on workplace calling. To learn more, visit http://www.MarketplaceLeaders.org)

(Guest blogger Lance Wallnau returns with an awesome post that is the DWOD for Aug. 10, 2013—be blessed, everybody!)

Ever consider that David was not God’s first choice for King? Saul was the first one chosen. Regardless of what people say about Saul, he was sent by God to Samuel as an answer to the prayer of God’s people.

YOU also are an answer to somebody’s prayer. David wasn’t the first choice – but he was the BEST choice.

If you are serving under someone else, “whatsoever you do, do it heartily as TO THE LORD, and not unto men.” (Col 3:22) Work as if you were working for Jesus because the Lord see’s your effort and “you shall receive the reward of your inheritance: for you serve the Lord Christ.”

David was a man after God’s heart and that is why he ended up in the role that Saul was originally given. He was a man after—in pursuit of—God’s heart. Your ROLE changes but your PURPOSE doesn’t.

If your passion is God’s presence and you stay focused on fulfilling your present assignment, you will discover that what you are doing now is actually preparing you for what your NEXT ROLE is going to be.

Esther was not the King’s first choice—she ended up replacing Queen Vashti.

You may feel like you are running LAST but the last are often FIRST before the story is over. The “first born” in the family were the ones with the Birthright and the Inheritance. However….

Isaac was second to Ishmael.

Jacob was second to Esau.

Joseph was 11th out of 12 and anything but the first choice of his brothers.

Moses was not the people’s choice for a deliverer—they drove him into a desert.

Jeremiah was not Israel’s first choice for a prophet, but he was God’s.

Peter and the rest of the disciples in Galilee were not the local Rabbi’s first choice. All young men went to Hebrew school, but by 13 were either encouraged to continue with the Rabbi and be further trained or were told to “go learn the trade of your father.”

When Jesus saw Peter, James, Andrew and John they were doing like the Rabbi said, working in their fathers fishing business.

NOW the CRAZIEST of all overlooks in history….Jesus of Nazareth was overlooked by the local Rabbi as a qualified recruit for the ministry.

Stay faithful to your present call, stay passionate about His presence and stay OPEN to the providential ways that God opens doors because YOU are an answer to someone’s prayer and your gifts are a solution to someone’s problem. Be an expert problem solver and you accelerate your positioning…it’s just a matter of time.

Remember, Disappointment Is God Saying “Better Is Just Ahead.“

(Dr. Lance Wallnau is a world-class trainer and consultant whose students span the globe. From bestselling authors, pastors, and billion dollar CEO’s, he has helped to transform the lives of thousands. To see how God is using Lance to influence the seven mountains of culture, please visit www.lancelearning.com)

(Be blessed by this post by guest blogger Lance Wallnau)

There are 3 storms you will encounter–The storm God sends, the storm that bad decisions create and the storm the enemy sends!

Each one is navigated differently.

The storm GOD SENDS is intense but designed to get you to the other side larger and more liberated than you ever would have been had you avoided the sea and played it safe. God sent a storm to chase Jonah out of resistance and into the perfect will of God in Nineveh, the very place he was avoiding. (Jonah 1:4) (and the fish spat him up–on location).

From the belly of the great fish Jonah cried: “those who regard worthless IDOLS forsake their own mercy.” An idol is something keeping you from God’s greater thing–His mercy. His undeserved blessing. An idol is anything you love more than God.

Many a storm is sent to break a hidden attachment from your life. It may be the fear of man, an addiction or a person or influence that does not belong there. The idol is almost always seeking something more than what pleases the Lord. Jonah made his own agenda greater than God’s. He was delivered when he yielded, and the entire time he was in distress, the fish was taking him to his destiny.

The storm of BAD DECISIONS may be choices you made or others made that affected you. Paul was nearly drowned in a decision made by others to sail when they should have stayed in harbour. Many Christians are downright frustrated with the choices of leaders in Government because they know the end result will be loss of cargo (economic) and the very ship of state (shipwreck.) Paul however prayed and fasted till an angel got involved and the ship was rerouted to an island where Paul took over…and made it safe to Rome. Adding new territory that wasn’t even in the original plan. (Acts 27:9)

God will overrule bad decisions to bring forth wisdom and get you where you need to be. Look at how Solomon the wisdom child of David came forth out of the disastrous decision David made to sleep with Bathsheba.

The storm you create becomes a storm God is in once you let Him take over the ship.

The storm the devil sends is an ATTACK that is designed to stop you, overthrow you and destroy God’s purpose for your life. When Jesus was with the disciples a great storm arose that threatened their lives. As experienced fishermen this was a type of storm they had never encountered before. Jesus arose and REBUKED the manifestation in the wind and the sea and there was an immediate calm. (Mt 8:26) Disease, financial attack, theft, violence are all works of hell.

Jesus challenged his disciples “Where is your FAITH?” The thought of their ship sinking while Christ was on board provoked Him to challenge what they were focusing on. He told them “Let’s go to the other side.” His Word was sufficient to give them leverage over the devil.

Find the Word God is giving you in your satanic assault and speak to the situation as Jesus talked to the wind and the waves. He talked to things, to trees that did not produce and to spirits invisible to the human eye. Thoughts are “things” when they take on the power of fear. Speak what God says and watch heaven back up your utterance.

GOD IS ON BOARD IN EVERY STORM and each one will BE MADE TO fulfill God’s Word over your life! “Fire, and hail; snow, and vapor; stormy wind fulfilling his word“ (Ps 148:8). The Holy Spirit knows the way through every storm–and He is on the inside of you. Hence God CAN NEVER LEAVE you nor forsake you to the stormy elements.

All 3 storms are common to man, but you, my friend, are an uncommon vessel. What you come through becomes a testimony to others. You are a storm-riding child of the Most High God.

(Dr. Lance Wallnau is a world-class trainer and consultant whose students span the globe. From bestselling authors, pastors, and billion dollar CEO’s, he has helped to transform the lives of thousands. Please check out his resources at www.lancelearning.com)

(This DWOD for July 20, 2013 by guest blogger Os Hillman continues the theme of yesterday’s revelation…be blessed!)

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. (John 11:17).

Mary and Martha were very close to Jesus. The Bible says Jesus loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Mary was the woman who came and poured expensive perfume on Jesus and the disciples rebuked her.

Lazarus, Mary and Martha’s brother, had become terminally ill. Jesus was away in Jerusalem during the time of Lazarus’ illness.

After Jesus heard the news that Lazarus was ill, instead of running to the aid of Mary and Martha, Jesus waited two days. Lazarus died and was placed in a tomb.

His response to the news was: “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). Jesus had to look beyond Mary and Martha’s current grief in order to fulfill God’s purpose for this sickness.

“When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home” (John 11:20-22). Mary was in deep mourning over the death of her brother. When she finally went to see Jesus, she immediately cried out to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

There was a pre-ordained plan for the purpose of Lazarus’ death. But only Jesus knew this. Jesus healed Lazarus that day after being dead four days.

When we experience sickness and do not see a breakthrough, we can only seek Jesus for our healing and leave the outcome to Him. We must trust that He knows the answer to our need and the timing for its solution.

There are times when we experience supernatural healing and other times that we simply do not know why Jesus chooses not to heal. In either case, our devotion to Jesus must not change.

God-delays are always pre-ordained for a greater purpose. If you find yourself in this place, bring your concerns to Jesus and leave them there. A day will come when Jesus will reveal His purposes in your situation.

The psalmist said, “My times are in your hand” (Ps 31:14b).

Jesus may have been four days late, but as is often the case, He was still right on time. Are you able to trust His timing?

(Reprinted by permission from the author. Os Hillman is an international speaker and author of 15 books on workplace calling. To learn more, visit http://www.MarketplaceLeaders.org)

(Be blessed by the DWOD for July 14, 2013 by guest blogger, Os Hillman)

“The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position” (James 1:9).

Most of us avoid pain. We keep our medicine cabinets loaded with pain relievers. We couldn’t imagine major surgery without an anesthetic. We are so averse to pain that we think God must desire that we will experience pain-free lives. After all, a loving God surely wouldn’t want us to suffer pain, would He?

Although God takes no pleasure in our pain, we have to acknowledge that He sometimes allows painful circumstances to occur in our lives in order to shape us and make us more like Christ. Sometimes our times of despair turn out to be a much needed light into our soul.

I once came across the following poem written by an anonymous Confederate soldier, a devout young man who fought in the American Civil War. The lines of this poem express the soul of a man who has learned to view his times of adversity from a different perspective:

    I asked God for strength, that I might achieve;
    I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
    I asked God for health, that I might do greater things;
    I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
    I asked for riches, that I might be happy;
    I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
    I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;
    I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
    I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;
    I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
    I got nothing that I asked for but everything I had hoped for.
    Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
    I am among men, most richly blessed.

Do we trust God to lead us even though we can’t see the pathway in front of us? Do we trust Him to be all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful? Do we believe He does all things well? As Paul wrote, “Everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). That’s why God leads us through the dark places.

Only in the darkness do we learn to walk by faith.

(Reprinted by permission from the author. Os Hillman is an international speaker and author of 15 books on workplace calling. To learn more, visit http://www.MarketplaceLeaders.org)

(Be blessed by this awesome reminder from our friend and guest blogger, Barry Adams)

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

We are all very familiar with these words that constitute the Great Commission. Of course, for Jesus to be able to give his disciples the authority to go, He would have first had to be given authority Himself. Verse 18 is the key to this charge that He gave them:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”.

For you and I to walk in our destiny as sons and daughters of our heavenly Father, we need to be convinced of the same revelation that Jesus was convinced of…that everything that belonged to the Father belonged to Him as well.

We read this clearly in Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17:9 when He said: “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.”

Jesus knew that He was His Father’s Son. Based on that fact, He walked in the authority of being the Son of the living God. He did not have to grasp for it or strive to earn it.

The authority that He received from His Father was based on the simple principle of inheritance. Sons and daughters who know the security of being loved know that they are heirs to whatever their parents have.

If someone struggles with an orphan mindset, they are not yet convinced that they are sons and daughters to the Father and joint-heirs with Jesus. If they aren’t yet secure in who they belong to, they will need to establish an identity and an authority that is clearly based on their own self-effort. What else can they do?

If they don’t know who their Father is, then how can they rest in the divine authority that He gives to sons and daughters?

Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 10:8 the secret to walking this out. He told them: “Freely as you have received, freely give”. The more that you and I learn to receive from heaven, the more that we will be able to give away to others.

In Luke 22:29, Jesus told His disciples that just as the Father conferred a kingdom on Him, He conferred a kingdom on them.

Because of the cross, we are now joint-heirs with Jesus and fellow citizens of the household of God. We carry within our own spiritual DNA our heavenly Father’s seed.

In Philippians 2:1-11 we read how Jesus did not consider equality with His Father as something that He had to grasp for. Instead, He was happy to humble Himself, take on the form of a servant and became obedient even to death on the cross.

He knew who He belonged to. He knew that He was His Father’s Son and this revelation gave Him the courage to walk in the humility of a servant heart, yet with an authority that caused His Father to exalt Him to the highest place above every name that is to be named.

My dear friend, I pray that this knowledge of the divine authority that the Father has given Jesus and which Jesus has in turn given to us would bring you into a deep rest.

May you know that you do not have to establish an authority apart from what has been freely given to you already–as a beloved son or daughter of the Creator of the universe.

(Barry Adams is the humble vessel chosen by God to bless the world with the revelation known as the Father’s Love Letter. Along with his wife Annelise, Barry ministers the Father’s Love all over the world. Today’s DWOD is from a post he wrote for A Son’s Life Blog)