SERVANT ATTITUDE - July 12 Today's Perspective

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS

Chapter One, “Bring on the Giants,” pp. 1-2

THE SERVANT 

ATTITUDE    

                 

The truth is, we like the idea, but throughout the day we really do not think of ourselves as servants.  We want to be the leaders, the proprietors!

The thing is, if the top business owners or managers, the top salesman, the most famous singers, or most recognized actors or athletes had a servant attitude, people would be astounded and work harder or admire even more.  It’s a strange truth.

When you consider the greatest person who ever lived, the servant attitude does come to mind.  Jesus talked about it and even acted it out for his disciples to emulate.  He said in Matthew 20:26-28, “…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”  Then a couple chapters later in 23:11 he repeats, “The greatest among you will be your servant.”

Later at the last supper He washed His disciple’s feet as an example for them to do likewise.   I have seen and heard of many Continental directors who did the same, and washed the feet of their tour members to help them realize none were any better than the other.  The spotlight operator was as important as the finest soloist.

David’s title for Psalm 18 and 36 were as follows, “For the director of music. Of David, the servant of the Lord.”  Wow, how cool is that!  Then, in Psalm 143: 11-12 he writes. “For Your Name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life…for I am Your servant.” And in Psalm 144:9-10 he says, “I will sing a new song to You, O God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to You, to the One who gives victory to kings, who delivers His servant David from the deadly sword.”

In 1978, we recorded a song by Larry Norman that really dug deep into the hearts of all The Continentals that toured that year, developing the servant attitude in each one.  The last verse says… 

“I am a servant getting ready for my part. 

There’s been a change, 

a rearrangement in my heart.  

At last, I’m learning, 

there’s no returning once I start.  

To live’s a privilege, 

to love is such an art.  

But I need Your help to start, 

O, please purify my heart.  

I am Your servant.”

HAVE A SERVANT HEART

ATTITUDE - July 11 Today's Perspective

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS

Chapter One, “Bring on the Giants” p. 8

ATTITUDE IS 

EVERYTHING                

Mine is good today.  The weather is perfect, had some time for a few sets of tennis.  I can feel the Lord giving me direction.  I am extremely grateful and I’m letting Him know about it.  As things fall into place, today is easy… so far.

It’s when things get hard or out of hand that we seem to lose our good attitude.  Frustration, anger and impatience rise to the surface and spill over on everyone around us.

Some days when you realize how really hard it is for most people in the world, and you look at your friends or acquaintances suffering with physical or financial difficulties, then you can put your situation in a proper perspective.

David understood that the Lord knew everything and was totally in charge of his life when he wrote, “O Lord, you have searched me, and You know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways…You hem me in, behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me….” Ps. 139: 1-6.

Here’s how Jesus said we should handle the things coming our way, “Do not worry saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink’ or ‘What shall we wear?...But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore, do no worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Consider this, God may have interrupted your schedule or your plan to save you from grief or trouble.  Sometimes disaster is averted because our plans got temporarily disrupted and the Lord was behind it all the time!

Come to grips with the fact that the Lord must be in control or we are out of control.  Like our friend Andrae Crouch wrote - 

 “I’ve got confidence, God is gonna see me through.  

No matter what the case may be, 

I know He’s gonna fix it for me.”

He’s got your front and your back, so be ok with that and do your best to…

KEEP A GOOD ATTITUDE

PATIENCE - July 8 Today's Perspective

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS

Chapter Two, “Sit At God’s Round Table,” pp. 23-25

PATIENCE…. IS NOT MY VIRTUE!

Well, that’s being harsh on myself, but I have to admit, I have stepped through doors believing I had the perfect plan before there was a clear “ok go for it” from the Lord.  This goes along with my feelings about waiting in lines, as well as being in traffic, when I know the Lord wants me somewhere at a certain time and there is just no way without wings.

Small stuff for sure when you think about David.  He was anointed King as a teenager and had to be patient for 20 years before it really happened. Most of that time he was running, afraid, and fighting for his life.  Just the same, he was able to say in his Psalm 40:1-2, “I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit…He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”  And as hard and terrifying as it must have been, he lived what he said, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” Ps. 37:7.

When you want a decision right now, and have to convince someone over you like a boss, a manager, an administrator, a government official, or a lead pastor, take heart from Solomon’s wise words in Proverbs 25:15, “Through patience, a ruler can be persuaded….”  David, his father, adds, “Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord.”

Patience really was one of David’s 10 virtues, and one each of us should aspire to. So, don’t wait around and think about it,

BE PATIENT RIGHT NOW!

MOVE OUT - July 7 Today's Perspective

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS

Chapter One, “Bring on the Giants” pp. 6-7

STAND UP, MOVE OUT

“Don’t ask the Lord to guide your steps unless you are willing to move your feet.”  I didn’t create that line, but I really believe in that directive.  Yesterday we blogged about it being time to take our stand, here’s more….

In 1993, The Continentals recorded an album by the title of this blog. We actually sang Michael Jackson’s, “We are here to change the world.”  The song is not as important as the message.  God has us here as His ambassadors to do just that, to change the world for Him.  “We are, therefore, Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us..." 2 Cor. 5:20.  The Lord is counting on us to stand up for Him. We can’t do that without moving our feet.

David was all action.  When the enemy knocked on the door, he was quick to answer it. He believed God led him every time because he prayed for God’s leadership and His will before he even answered the door.  “Since You are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your Name, lead and guide me.”  Ps. 31:13

There is a verse in Ezekiel that is one of my life scriptures.  It was written many years after David’s life, when the country had turned from worshiping the Lord.  He said, “The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.  I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall, and stand before me in the gap, on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”  Ezekiel 22:31

God is still looking for people like you and me who will stand in whatever gap for Him. Paul’s confident message in Roman’s 8:31 is our backup.  “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

In that 1993 recording was a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called, “For the Sake of the Call”.

“We will abandon it all, for the sake of the call.

No other reason at all, but the sake of the call.

Wholly devoted to live and to die, for the sake of the call.”

This is our reason to stand.  Now it time to….

MOVE OUT!

STAND - July 6 Today's Perspective

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7  SECRETS

Chapter two, “Sit at God’s Round Table”... (Courage… pp.12-13)

                                

 TIME TO TAKE YOUR STAND

                                                                                                              

Did you ever hear the phrase, “If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything?”  In today’s world we Christians need to stand strong for our beliefs, not only before our families, but also our friends; those we socialize with, those we work with and those we just have fun and do sport with.

David stood for the Lord and let everyone know about it starting with Goliath.  After Goliath taunted David with words about giving his flesh to the birds and beasts, David said, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the Lord will hand you over to me and I’ll strike you down…and the whole world will know there is a God in Israel.”  I Sam. 17:45-46

The problem is we are living in a world where we are supposed to be “politically correct” whatever that means, but it can get in the way of “telling it like it really is.”  People today don’t want to be noticed, or ruffle feathers, they just want to tread easy and waffle through like marshmallows not making waves. I call it the Laodicea complex, neither hot or cold.  Peter, Jesus disciple, said this, “…always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect.” I Peter 3:15

Being argumentative isn’t good either, Solomon David’s son said in Proverbs 25:15, “…a gentle tongue can break a bone!”

I really think we have to do what Paul said in Ephesians 6:10-17. It’s a lot of scripture, but it gets my juices and my heart tensed up and ready to go.  “Finally, be strong in the Lord and His mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can TAKE YOUR STAND, against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to STAND YOUR GROUND, and after you have done everything, to stand, STAND FIRM THEN, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith…. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God….with all this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying….”

                      

IT’S TIME WE TOOK OUR STAND!

CELEBRATE! July 4-5 Today's Perspective

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS

Chapter Seven, “Cry Out and Shout” pp. 88-90

CELEBRATE THE LORD                    

If you are an American, I hope you had a great time this past weekend celebrating our country’s birthday and freedom.  And wherever in the world you are, I hope you had a fabulous time celebrating your special freedom in Christ, and that with enthusiasm and excitement.

“Enthusiasm covers a multitude of sins.”  Is that a verse in the Bible?   Nope!  It’s reality though if you want to convince someone about… well, just about anything!   And, when you are excited, people are drawn to your joy!

So much about worship in the Bible has celebration as part of it. Remember Jesus riding a mule into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday?   “The whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to Praise God in loud voices.  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’  ‘I tell you,’ He replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out!’”  Luke 19:37, 39-40.

Worship can get really exciting!  Psalm 47:1-2 says, “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.  How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth.”

David celebrated this way so often.  In 1 Chronicles Chapter 15, David appointed 818 Levites to lead worship as he brought the Ark of Moses into Jerusalem.  There were unnumbered instrumentalists accompanying 288 singers with trumpets, flutes, harps, lyres and cymbals, all dancing and praising before the Lord.  Now that was a big worship band!

David wrote about such a celebration in Psalm 68:24-25, “Your procession has come into view, O God, the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary. (Can’t you just see them coming down the aisles like the Continentals!) In front are the singers, after them the musicians, with them are the maidens playing tambourines…”

Wow… getting some tingles.  We call it “chicken skin” in Hawaii. Whatever you call it, next Sunday, or any day you like this week, just celebrate with excitement and enthusiasm and let your joy spill over onto everyone as you….

CELEBRATE THE LORD

NOTHING COMES EASY - July 1 Today's Perspective

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS

Chapter Two, “Sit at God’s Round Table” p. 30

EASY COME, EASY GO

Every great athlete has to train beyond hurt, past a normal, reasonable effort to achieve greatness.  The same goes in building a great company, a strong military, or a powerful effective ministry.  Nothing comes easy.

To achieve all that is possible for you, and all that God has in mind for you, you must have this attitude as expressed by Jesus in Luke 9:62 when talking about the cost of following Him.   He said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God.” Total focus, going above, beyond, and to the sides, to pass and overcome obstacles is what it takes.  It is not easy.

For David it was never easy either.  When he was winning battles for Saul, he was accused of aspiring to the throne.  When he finally became the King of Judah, he was greeted with two huge battles with the Philistine army and civil war with Israel.

When he had finally defeated all his enemies, his son rebelled and tried to take the kingdom, and David’s best friend went over to the wayward son.  In one of his final outings with his army, another giant, Ishbi-Benob, tried to kill him and he had to be rescued by one of his mighty men.

It was never easy and never really over for David.  All along his journey he wrote and prayed these kinds of prayers, “I cry out to God Most high, to God, who fulfills His purpose for me.” Ps. 57:2 and “You are my God. My times are in Your hand…” Ps. 31:14-15.  We cannot get ahead of or change God’s plan for us either.  Every step, hard or easy, needs His direction.

If things come easy, they could also go away easy, without the right work ethic. Paul had it right in order to accomplish what he did.  He was all in!  “We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.  To this end, I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me.” Col 1: 28-29.  And then in 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”

It is easier to quit, to stop, or leave! But, when it really gets hard or everyone seems to be against you, remember what Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world, you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world!”  So it is true….

NOTHING COMES EASY

But it is a lot easier when the Lord is in control