I’m continually learning that people see things differently. Two people can be looking at the exact same object or situation and see two completely different things.

Perspective changes everything.

Throughout the bible we see glimpses of people who encountered challenges, struggles, obstacles and fights. Many times people were gripped with fear, overwhelmed with the “impossibility” of their situation.

Fast forward to today. People are still facing challenges. Even as Christians we come up against obstacles. We try to fight through the valleys of fear and see over the walls of impossibility that stand in front of us. Too many times I have not been able to see past the valleys or the walls.

What is getting your FOCUS?
What is shaping your PERSPECTIVE?

It’s natural for our first response to focus on the challenge, the obstacle, the struggle and the fight in front of us. But throughout the bible, God calls His people to not focus on those things. Instead, He consistently reminded His people to focus on Him.

Instead of focusing on what he lacked, God told Gideon who he really was.
Instead of focusing on how big the walls of Jericho were, they trusted God as they marched.
Instead of focusing on what could happen to her if the king was upset, Esther had a perspective that God was able.

What is the “impossible” situation in your life today? What has you overwhelmed?

Two questions I would ask each of us:

1) What does God say about it?
Maybe His perspective is different than ours.

2) How can I focus on Him instead of focusing on _______________?
When we get our eyes on the right thing it has a way of changing everything.

Few things are more exciting than getting a special delivery.  It’s exciting when someone shows up on your front door step with something specifically for you that someone took time to send.  Someone was thinking about you.  Someone wanted you to receive something.

Jesus said in John 20:21,

“…As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”

Jesus was sent with a purpose.  He delivered something to the world.  He brought hope.  He brought the solution to mankind’s sin.  He brought peace, strength, comfort, truth, joy and grace.

His message to His disciples: “…As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”  As His disciples we are sent with a purpose.

We are His chosen delivery system to bring Him to the world around us.  His hope.  His peace.  His strength.  His comfort.  His truth.  His joy.  His grace.  We are the delivery system to point people to the fact that He is the solution.

Living with an awareness that we are sent with a purpose is vital.  Who is waiting for that delivery from you today?  Who needs that hope that only you can deliver as you point them to Jesus?

You and I are the delivery system.  Let’s take what we have to our world!

Ever been guilty of believing a lie?

I think we have all been there at one point or another.  We hear something that maybe has a bit of truth to it and we believe it.  It sounds real enough, so we accept it.  The only way to break out from the control of a lie is when we see it for what it really is when compared to the truth.

Here are 5 lies I believe each of us need to reject…

I can’t change
No matter how entrenched you may feel where you are at in life, you can change.  By God’s grace, each of us can be transformed (2 Cor. 5:17-21, Rom. 12:1-2).

The Truth: God’s Grace and Power gives me access to what I need to change.

My best days are behind me
Way too many people are victims of the “rear view mirror” syndrome.  They are always looking over their shoulders to the glory days.  When they think about what is ahead they believe that the future is bleak.  Uncle Rico had an issue with living back in ’82.  God has a plan for each of us, and it isn’t just some distant memory.

The Truth: God has a plan for my life.  I’m going to embrace what is ahead!

There is no potential in me

If you are breathing there is potential.  Don’t allow your potential to be determined by what you see around you.  Allow it to be determined by what God’s Word says about you.

The Truth: Because of Christ in me, I have incredible potential.

I’m not valuable
God is in the business of taking things that are “useless” and making them “useful”.  Value is always determined by what someone is willing to pay for the object.  A great price was paid for you.  You are valuable!

The Truth: God sees me as valuable.

No one cares/I’m all alone
Loneliness can be a very real feeling.  At times we can feel like people, family or friends don’t care.  Even when you look around and feel completely alone, you aren’t!

The Truth: God will never leave me or forsake me.  He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

When I was in high school I had the chance to fly back to Washington D.C. for a student leadership conference because I was on A.S.B.  I was beyond excited to be able to go and see the different historical monuments that are scattered across that city.

I remember climbing the steps to the Lincoln memorial and being amazed.  It was incredible to see the effort that was put in to build something to honor a man who had profound influence on who we are as a nation and a people.  As I stood at that monument, it spoke something to me.

Isn’t that what monuments do?  They remind us.  They point us back.  The reason a monument is built is to declare something.

My life is a monument.  It declares something. 
Your life is a monument.  It declares something.

In Jeremiah 18:16 God gives this word:

“Therefore their land will become desolate, a monument to their stupidity.“

The people had gone their own way.  They turned their back on God and His goodness.  They decided to build life THEIR way, and in doing so they were building a “monument to their stupidity”.

The inheritance that God had promised and provided would become desolate – becoming a monument.

There are two monuments we can allow our lives to build:

My life can either be a monument to His glory or my life can be a monument to mine.  One declares His goodness, His abilities, His power to save and transform and change.  The other declares what I can do.  And when compared to what He can do, all I see is a monument to stupidity when I build it all around me.

Life takes a different approach when we understand that our only hope is in Him.  Our value is found through what Jesus has already done for us and declares about us.  When we are reminded that His ways are higher and His thoughts are higher, there really is no better way to live life than to live it in such a way that builds a monument to His glory.

About a year ago Amber and I made the switch to go from cable TV to just buying an antenna for our house.  Two great things came out of that.  One, we saved money in our budget.  Two, I got to climb up on the roof and try and be Mr. Home Improvement for a little while.

Before I got up on the roof I wanted to make sure the connection was good.  I didn’t want to go through the process of putting it up and then realizing its position wasn’t in the right place for it to be as functional as it should.  I realized I should do this AFTER I had already tried to bolt it to the side of our house…which didn’t work.

Long story short…I got it all bolted in on the roof after we had tested it and realized we were not getting all the channels we should have been…

The connection wasn’t right.
There was something missing.
The position was messing with the effectiveness of the antenna.

The solution was simple, but frustrating.  I needed to move the antenna so we could get the connection that was supposed to be there.  It was frustrating because I had already gone through the work of bolting it in, adjusting it to how I thought it would work best.  But when we turned it on, it didn’t accomplish everything it was supposed to.  The connection was affected by the position.

In John 15, Jesus tells His disciples:

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:4-5 (NLT)

Jesus reminds them (and us), that our fruitfulness is a byproduct of our connection.  We can’t do anything without Him.

The challenge that most of us face is that we try to be the VINE vs. being the BRANCH.  We want to be in control.  We want to call the shots.  We want to be fruitful, and we want to make it happen.

I’ve never seen a branch sweating or grunting to bear fruit.  It is simply what they do because of the connection that they have to their source.  I live near apple orchards.  I never hear trees straining to push fruit out.  It doesn’t happen that way.  I wish I could say the same about myself and other Christians that I have met.

We want to bear fruit.  We strain, we grunt, we push to make it happen.  That is the problem.  We try to be the source of our fruitfulness instead of allowing our connection to Jesus be the source of fruitfulness in our lives.

How’s your connection?