From the Overflow….

Have you ever been mesmerized by someone speaking? (This can be in conversation or up in front of a crowd.) Have you ever felt captivated by someone’s words? Have you ever wanted to be in on what someone else was getting fired up about?

Those are the times where you are listening to the heart most present.

I love listening to the heart. I love listening, and responding, to people who are so full of passion. Passion makes the heart overflow.

I smile so big when the person speaking recognizes they have just had a “carried away” kind of moment.

Maxwell has a great quote that I love – “Leaders must hear from God before they speak for God.”

There is such a marked difference when someone is speaking from the heart. I am always captivated by someone who has experienced, and wrestled through, what they are talking about.

Experiences that are so a part of us are easy to talk about. I know for me, there are some things that are so easy for me speak about. This can be both topics of passion or pain. Things of the heart do not need a script.

I want to be this kind of a speaker and communicator. I want to be the kind of person who speaks from what is in my heart. Always. I desire for people to experience the overflow of my heart. I know this can go both ways with negative things as well, but it’s my desire nonetheless.

I want to encourage you to wrestle first before speaking. Maybe this is what James meant when he said, “be quick to listen, and slow to speak.” I want us to be passionate people about really knowing God. I desire so much for us to be a people who offer out of the overflow of intimacy in wrestling with him.

Wrestle with the hard things. Wrestle with your story.

Do you know how the disciples were recognized? They were seen, and heard, as people “who had been with Jesus.” I want that for you and me!

I value the heart so much. I value what the overflow is saying. So in my own version of Maxwell’s quote, internalize it before you verbalize it.

What can you talk about that needs no script?

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False Advertising

I feel like my gifts and talents are being refined every day. Development is so crucial to stepping into any role. The desert is a great time for preparation and development

John Maxwell states that, “the role of the wilderness in the prepartion for a leader cannot be overemphasied.” The desert is a place where transformation and development happens. When we make the choice to step out of our every day routine and into a place of surrender, change will happen. In order to do anything well, I think development needs to take place.

The second temptation in the devil’s deck was challenging Jesus to go outside of God for his glory, power, and authority. The devil led Jesus up to a high place and showed him, “all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And he said to him, I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”

The devil challenges Jesus in core areas of what he is about to do. He challenges Jesus by first showing him the world. The world is who Jesus was here to die for. I think the devil’s first mistake was presenting the wrong perspective “giving.” Jesus would go on later to make light of this temptation by saying, “whoever will lose his life for my sake, will gain it.”

The devil also offered authority and glory in exchange for worship. I see clear examples of this temptation in my life as well as the culture we live in. The devil is presenting some pretty strong false advertising. We are all wired, made, and created to worship. If we don’t worship God, we WILL worship someone or something else. This also includes the temptation to worship ourselves.

All too often God is redirecting me back on the path of surrendering glory and worship to him. I tend to fail quite a bit when I choose not to surrender authority to him. Hoarding authority and glory for myself reflects acting out of self-sufficiency, self-protection, playing savior to someone else, satisfying my own needs/wants, stepping up to satisfy someone else’s needs/wants, and being filled with pride.

Jesus knew that all of authority and glory come out of worshiping the father. He knew that authority and glory were not dependant on his gifts, but dependant on who the father is.

How often do I look at the tangible? I have to ask myself the question, am I tempted by the false splendor of this world? Do I believe God to be the authority and glory my life depends on? Do I depend on my own gifts and name over his? I wish I could honestly say I respond with the confidence that Jesus did. I cannot. I teeter too often on the side of immediate results or comparing myself to others.

Jesus looks at all that is presented to him and simply states, “it is written: worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” I can almost hear Jesus saying, “next.” Jesus understood that everything he was about was for the worship of the father. All of his gifts and talents were meant to serve the Lord and give him glory.

My heart has some work to do

What are your temptations in the areas of authority, glory, and worship?

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