“Two beers please.”

“But sir,” the stewardess warned, “the flight is only 30 minutes.”

As he settled into the window seat by my wife, Casey replied, “I could down a six pack.”

Casey was clean cut, tattooed with matching earrings and an attitude to match! It was an early morning flight and I had planned to have some quiet time reading my Bible and didn’t want any interruptions. The Lord had other plans. Before long Casey and my wife were in deep conversation and she was trying to involve me. Judging by how quickly he was downing his favorite brew and by his seemingly carefree attitude, I didn’t perceive him as a ready candidate for to receive Christ in the 20 minutes remaining in our flight.

As much as I wanted to leave the chit chat to them so I could continue with some much needed time in the Word, the Holy Spirit kept stirring in me to participate in what He was doing. “But Lord,” I argued, “there are only twenty minutes before landing… that’s not enough time to do any good.”

As I opened the Scriptures, my eyes fell upon this passage in Proverbs 24:

“Deliver those that are drawn toward death, hold back those that are stumbling to the slaughter; If you say, Behold, we knew it not; does not He that weighs the heart consider it? And He that keeps your soul, does not He know it? And shall not He render to every man according to his works?”

I may be slow, but I’m not stupid! I immediately turned to Casey and told him how the Lord had been dealing with me to speak to him and how reluctant I was until He directed me to that passage. When I read it to him, he was visibly shaken.

Read the rest of the story…

As long as we love God, we will always desire both good and evil. But again, desire comes from two words… “de” which means “of the” and “sire” which means “to father.” Every desire has a father, a point of origin, a source. What is the source of your desires? Well, some of our desires are fathered by the flesh and others are born of the Spirit. Welcome to the Christian life on planet Earth! We have conflicting desires and will until the day we die. That’s our reality. The threshing floor is the throne of grace, the place of His presence.

Sometimes it’s hard for us to know which desire is in accordance with God’s will for our lives. I believe that when we spend time in the presence of God, something happens. The fleshly desires, even those with religious appearances, begin to lose their luster. God’s best for us begins to shine and the desire to walk in that moves us to lay aside personal preference and lay hold of that which we were apprehended for. (Phil 3:12)

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What a dangerous statement for Augustine to have made — or, for that matter, Martin Luther. When we truly love God and don’t just have the form of it, our desires will come into line with His. What about Jesus in Gethsemane? No one would argue His love for God, and yet it was put forth that Jesus desired to avoid the cross. (“Take this cup from Me“). So if Jesus desired something outside the will of God it was suggested, couldn’t we also even if we “truly love God”?

So what do you suppose held Jesus to the cross? Did God the Father force Him? No. It was His love that held Him to the cross. Of course He had conflicting desires. We all do. But in the end He went with His highest desire which was to do Father’s will, which is my point. Jesus had just spent hours with the Father, which was His custom. As a result of this, He received the strength to choose to endure the cross, despising the shame for the joy that was set before Him.

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After Michael’s earlier blog post (and e-mail) regarding the candidate evaluation tool from USA Today, we have received a number of comments and e-mails from concerned subscribers who were troubled by the fact that the 11 questions used by that tool did not include a question regarding the abortion issue and the candidates’ stances on it.

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I believe this is the most significant presidential election in my lifetime. There is so much at stake and I believe a lot of people sense that. We all see through a glass darkly and hopefully are doing our best to get the mind of Christ on this important vote coming up not only in the State primaries, but ultimately the November election.

I am going to help you make the right decision. Are you ready? Vote for… Well, go to this website and answer 11 questions on key issues. As you answer each question, the candidate who most matches your view will rise a little higher on the screen. It’s kinda fun to watch and quite interesting. Then, vote for the person who most resembles your values and viewpoints. Be sure to hit the Matrix view when you’re done.

The reason I am asking you to do this is because I believe the person you plan to vote for and the positions you hold may not match up. And worse yet, you may not know it. This is a real eye opener! It only takes a few minutes to answer the questions and the result is immediate. Please post on the blog your result. I am interested to know if anyone was planning on voting for one candidate but discovered that a different candidate most represented your views. And if so, who was it?

Next week we will continue our discussion on knowing God’s will for your life.

P.S. We’ve been discussing this election quite a bit each week on the Friday Wrapup Podcast from ChristianBusinessDaily.com. Click here to check out recent episodes (a new one will be posted today). No iPod required.

Did you know that you can be so obsessed with knowing God’s will that you can be trapped in paralysis? Afraid to step out because you are not sure if it is God’s will. I would wager that nearly everyone reading this post has struggled or is currently struggling with this issue and it’s something we need to revisit now.

Some people are so obsessed with knowing God’s will for their life they ask God what clothes to wear or what restaurant to eat at today. Can you imagine having adult kids that checked with you daily over simple matters like that? Now thankfully most of us aren’t stuck in that rut, but still we wonder if the dream we have is of God or not. We want three signs, a prophecy and advance payment just to be sure! Where is your sense of adventure?!?!

When Solomon dedicated the temple, he quoted God who had previously said that He had “chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, but I chose David…” (1 Kings ch.8) Solomon goes on to explain that it was David who had it in his heart to build a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. This was not something God ordered, but it was in David’s heart and David perhaps more than any Old Testament figure delighted in God’s presence and God delighted in him - and blessed the building of the temple.

Want to know if the dream you have or the work you are doing is God’s will for your life? Do like Augustine suggested… Love God, and then do as you please. When you delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart. The key is to truly love God, and then your desires will be in line. To be continued…

I Had Lunch With Zig Ziglar…
Thanksgiving week, I had something new to be thankful for. On the Monday before Thanksgiving I was given the honor of leading the devotions for the Ziglar Corporation. Seated in the front row was Zig Ziglar himself and that in itself was both an honor and bit intimidating. After all, he is the all time best at communicating meaningful messages in a powerful way. Millions upon millions of people have been positively and in some cases radically changed by the messages they have heard from Zig.

His Example Humbled Me…
One of the things that impressed me most and quite humbled me was the fact that Zig was taking notes and asking questions! Here’s a man in his early eighties that has forgotten more than most people learn in a lifetime and remembers more than most people have stored on their hard drive… and he’s still in learning mode! He later explained in our recorded interview that not only does he read the Bible and newspaper everyday so he knows “what both sides are up to,” but he spends an average of four hours per day reading materials to help him grow.

A Terrible Accident…
What you may not know is that back in March, Zig fell down a 21-step staircase onto a marble floor and experienced a serious concussion. Suddenly, life was very different for him at 80 years of age… he no longer moved with the energy of a 65-year-old man. His balance was impacted and his short-term memory was “really short,” as he likes to say, but he’s still as optimistic and loving as ever. Almost overnight he aged 15-plus years and began the struggle to overcome and live with a brain injury. The grace with which Zig has embraced the struggle is deeply moving and very inspiring. Make sure you watch the video or listen to the audio to see what I am talking about.

Tom Ziglar, the CEO of Ziglar Corporation has a powerful vision of seeing his father’s legacy bring about true transformation in the lives of millions of folks around the world and intends to spend the rest of his life working on that project with the many wonderful team members at Ziglar. He went on to tell me about a project Zig had recorded where Zig lays out all the Biblical foundation for his most popular teachings in an openly Biblical format. He calls it Christian Motivation for Daily Living and it is simply fabulous. As a Christian, I feel it may be the best collection of motivational teachings from a Biblical perspective ever recorded.

All for you…
In fact I am so impressed with the spirit I saw in Zig that we asked for a special offer package we could send to everyone on our list. I wanted the best offer possible and declined on any revenue share so they could offer you an amazing deal. It’s that important. The nice thing is that it includes THREE bonus gifts to send clients, friends or loved ones and the investment is still under $100! I suggest you don’t wait too long because the bonus gifts are for the first 200 customers who accept their offer. Click here for details.

We are beginning a new year, one that I predict will be the most tumultuous, exciting and challenging year to date for most of us. The stock market will make roller coaster rides at Disney seem tame and nations will rise up and be more threatening than ever. And God saw to it that you and I were born in this time. Do you think that was so we could find a cave and hide? Or is it possible that in the midst of the tumult, the trials and the tests, the Desire of the Nations (a term for the Messiah found in Haggai 2:7) who resides in us, may actually want to be found in us as one who brings hope and help in time of need?

But that conflicts with the theology most of us hold. We believe Christ’s return is imminent and it may well be, but that doesn’t mean we should rejoice as we see the darkness approaching, watching from the supposed safety of our fallout shelters as God brings judgment on the systems of this world. Believe me, there are few who abhor the evil systems we are all swimming in more than I. We use phony currency backed up by impossible promises made by unscrupulous men who profit from our collective misery.

But we were born for such a time as this! Let us arise and like the sons of Issachar discern not only the times in which we live, but apprehend the wisdom to know what to do! And you wonder if it’s God’s will to prosper and have tangible answers for a world that is beginning to be gripped by panic??? Now more than ever, the world needs to see the Desire of the Nations rise up in us and demonstrate wisdom in a time of collective ignorance and outright stupidity. The world is looking for answers and even more so as their pension funds disappear and stock portfolios diminish.

You don’t know what to do yet? Me neither. Not fully. But what I do know, I do. And so should you. Let us step out in what we do know. Let us launch out in the direction of our dream, the one we got when we spent time in His presence and not the one we got from “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” I have much more to say on this topic but that will have to wait till next time. Until then, seek Him like your life depended on finding Him. It just might!