The Monday Memo from John Stanko

752 - A Matter of Perspective

I trust you had a blessed Resurrection celebration, and are recharged and refreshed to pursue your purpose. We took a week off from our study of Joshua, but let's resume that series this week with this archived Memo.

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Are you facing difficult, even seemingly impossible obstacles in your life right now? Have you given up before you even started on a dream or goal?  Is discouragement clinging to you like cat hair on wool fabric? If you answered "Yes!" to any of those questions, then you need to read the Memo below. (If you answered "No!", you can read on as well.)

A SCOUTING EXPEDITION

When Israel was on the verge of entering the Promised land, Moses sent twelve men to spy out the territory as the Lord directed him to do (see Numbers 13). The men went and saw some spectacular things. They beheld a land flowing with milk and honey, so to speak. Everything in that land was large - the cities, the inhabitants, and the fruit. One cluster of grapes was so large that it took two men to carry it back to Moses.

This was the land the Lord had promised to give the people, but there was only one small problem: The people panicked! They saw the good but they also saw the bad and they allowed the bad to overshadow the good This is the report they brought to Moses:

But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them" (Numbers 13:31-33).

The people who listened to them bought into their report and decided that there was no way they were going to enter that Land. They also talked of rebelling and even killing Moses and anyone who sided with his strategy that they should proceed.

A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

It was then that Joshua and Caleb, two of the spies, stepped forward to rebuke and encourage the people:

Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them" (Numbers 14:5-9). 

So what can we learn from Joshua and this story?

1. Joshua saw the giants as too big to miss in battle, the people saw them as too big to overcome.
2. When you share a gloomy perspective, it is contagious.
3. The people lost perspective on how big God is when they saw how big their problems were.
4. The people did not go forward and saw it as reasonable; God saw it as rebellious.

What is the personal lesson for you from this story? Where have you allowed your perspective to affect your judgment to act? Have you bought into someone's pessimism instead of the Lord's optimism? It is a matter of perspective as to how you see your problems and challenge? I urge you this week not to be like the people but to be like Joshua and keep your problems and opportunities in proper perspective and act like God is as big and powerful as He truly is.  Have a great week!

    Feel free to write your comments to this entry on the site where it is posted.

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KENYA THANKS: I posted some thank you notes from the children at the EOTO Orphanage, and they are touching and worth reading. You can access them here.

751 - Relevant Easter

Easter Sunday is next week, so I thought I would represent my Memo I have written in the past concerning the Resurrection. I hope you spend some time meditating this week on the significance and implications of Easter for your PurposeQuest.

A PACKED HOUSE

My church has six weekend services every week, and we are getting ready for overflow crowds next weekend.  People who don't darken the door of a church throughout the year will come to church on Easter Sunday along with some who have returned to the area to visit family, which will make for a packed house. They all sit with the regular attenders, family and friends, and pay homage to the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead. It is probably the same in your church.

We will assemble next week and say by our presence, "Yes, we believe Jesus was dead. Furthermore, we believe that He was in the tomb for three days.  Yes, we believe that God raised Jesus, who was both fully God and fully man, back to life. And yes, we further attest to the fact that Jesus ascended into heaven, and that our flesh, Mary's boy, intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father." I hope you agree that those affirmations summarize the truths of Easter. But is that all the relevant truth where Easter is concerned?

It always intrigues me that many will come and attest to these truths yet all too often those truths have no meaning in or implication for their daily lives.  Stop for a minute and ask, "So what if Jesus was raised from the dead?  What difference does that make in my life?" Those are good questions; let's try to come up with some answers so you can enjoy Easter every day of your life.

MAKING EASTER PERSONAL

If you believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, then you can believe God for anything! If God raises the dead, which He does, then He can cure cancer. He can provide for your business or ministry. He can transform you into the person He intended you to be, that person you want to be. If God can take a dead body and give it life, then nothing is beyond His miracle-working power. What's more, you have the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead living in you!  It is not a replica or a portion of that Spirit.  You have the Spirit that raises the dead living in you. Here is what Paul had to say about the implications of this Spirit-resident:

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you (Romans 8:9-11).

I trust you plan on being at your local church fellowship next weekend. Don't go as someone merely giving mental assent to the historical fact of the resurrection, go celebrating the truth that God is alive in You  Then find how to release that resurrection power into your life, relationships, work and purpose. If you can believe that God raises the dead - and you should - then you can believe God for anything. Have a great resurrection-power-filled week filled with a daily Easter!  Happy Resurrection Day!

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KENYA CHRISTMAS UPDATE AT EASTER: I posted a wonderful thank you with touching pictures from the Each One Touch One Orphanage in Kenya. Please read the update and then remember the children in your giving.

750 - A Number Two Man

Last week we finished up Deborah and this week I would like to begin looking at Joshua for a few weeks with a possible interruption for an Easter Memo next week. We will then finish off our study of Joshua in April.

NUMBER TWO   

Joshua is one of the few men in the Bible (Joseph, Daniel and David being others) who was a number two man who eventually became a number one man. He served Moses from his youth and then, when it was time for Moses to die, Joshua became the leader in Israel. It was Joshua who led the people into the Promised Land and it was Joshua who has a book in the Old Testament named after himself. That is a quite and honor and accomplishment for a man who knew how to serve and how to lead, something rare in number one men.

We know little about Joshua. He appears on the scene in Exodus 17 when Moses ordered him to go to war while he, Moses, stayed behind to pray.  That tells us a lot about Joshua. This conversation did not occur when Moses gave the order to go to battle:

Joshua:  You want me to go to battle?
Moses:  Yes.
Joshua:  What are you going to do?
Moses:  I will pray.
Joshua:  You mean I will risk my life in battle while you stay behind to pray?
Moses: That's right.
Joshua: That's not fair, so forget it.  I'm not going unless you go.

Joshua went, understanding his role in his partnership with Moses, and what's more, he led the people to victory. Yet it was Moses' prayers that made the difference in the battle (see Exodus 17), and Joshua learned an important lesson about prayer and authority that played a major role in his development as a leader.

PERSONAL PURPOSE DEVELOPMENT   

And that reveals an important step in finding and fulfilling your purpose: You must allow God to put you in some tough, demanding situations where you will learn, grow and develop trust - in God and in those whom He puts in your life to develop and train you.

You see, many have ideas and dreams and that's a good thing.  You probably have them, too. Yet the proof of your mettle isn't in expressing those dreams. It is enduring and devoting yourself to the preparation process. The higher the building, the deeper the foundation must go. The same is true for you. Once you have the blueprints for your vision, you must allow God to lay and dig the foundation that will be able to handle the weight of His glory in your purpose.

Joshua was faithful to the preparation process and one day his time to lead came. He was ready and he did a fabulous job for the Lord. He wasn't a perfect man, as we shall see, but he was faithful. He learned faithfulness by serving God, Moses and the people, and God was pleased. Joshua's promotion did not come from Moses; it came from God. That is where yours will come from, too.

Do you sense that God has something purposeful for you to do? Are you ready for the testing and preparation process?  I hope you are. I am at a point in my life where I can look back and see God's hand of preparation and it has been a good work. Now I am engaging so much of what I once dreamed of doing. I urge you to be faithful to God's preparation plan for you and not to give up because it is difficult. Hang in there and I know that you will come into your own, whatever that may be, in the fullness of time. Thank you and have a great week serving the Lord and your purposeful preparation for service.

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KENYA UPDATE: I am on my way home from two weeks in Kenya, and you can read a brief summary of my visit in today's blog entry.

 

749 - Wake Up!

Greetings from Kenya. If you haven't checked out my travel blog chronicling my time here with a team of 12 others, you can check it out here. There are plenty of photos and videos from our time in the schools and from our safari. This week I want to finish up our study of Deborah that we began two weeks ago.  You can read the first installment here if you missed it. You may want to read Judges 5 also before we go on from here. 

INACTIVITY

When I read Judges 5, I get the sense that Deborah's main role was encouraging and influencing the people of God to act. She urged God's people to do something about their oppression and they did it. Without Deborah's influence, they could have remained in bondage much longer than they did. Here are some of the verses that give me the notion that Deborah's purpose was to stir people to action:

• "When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves—praise the Lord!" (Judges 5:2).
• "Village life in Israel ceased, ceased until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel" (Judges 5:7).
• "My heart is with Israel's princes, with the willing volunteers among the people. Praise the Lord!" (Judges 5:9).
• "'Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, break out in song! Arise, O Barak! Take captive your captives, O son of Abinoam" (Judges 5:12). 
• "Why did you stay among the campfires to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart" (Judges 5:16).
• "Curse Meroz," said the angel of the Lord. "Curse its people bitterly, because they did not come to help the Lord, to help the Lord against the mighty'" (Judges 5:23).

Deborah  encouraged the people to wake up and act. They were tolerating a bad situation and had even become accustomed to it. It was time to put a stop to it and Deborah saw that it happened. Those who did not help or act were "cursed of the Lord." 

WAKE UP!

Maybe it's time for you to "wake up"? What situation have you accepted as normal that you have the power to change? Where has inactivity led to complacency? Where do you need the Spirit of Deborah to call you to action? Then again, it may be time for you to wake someone else up, to stimulate the people around you to action through your action. If you have ever said, "Someone needs to do something," have you considered that the someone may be you? The writer of Hebrews had this to say: "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Hebrews 10:24-25). Perhaps it's time for you to spur others on to good deeds as they observe yours.

Deborah called the people to arms and then she accompanied them to see that the victory was secured. You can do the same and, when you do, you will follow in the footsteps of a "mother" in Israel who knew that the situation was unacceptable and needed changed.Why not impact your world this week the way Deborah did hers? As you do, I know you will have a great week!