The Monday Memo from John Stanko

770 - Invite Yourself to the Party

I am in the process of editing for publication my entire, verse-by-verse devotional study of the New Testament. The book of Acts is just about ready for the press, and this morning I was working on Matthew, when I ran across this commentary I wrote eight years ago on Matthew 10:1-4. I thought it would be appropriate to share that commentary with you for this week's Memo. First, here is that passage, and then my comments:

Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

When God calls you to a purpose, He calls you by name and He calls you to Himself. It isn’t just a task, it’s a relationship with Him. I have found that when I function in my purpose, God provides for me and takes care of all I need to fulfill my purpose. He speaks to me, and my relationship with Him is somehow closer and more intimate when I am going about my purpose. 

Here Jesus called twelve men to Himself and gave them authority. That was a question the Jews always asked Jesus; “By whose authority do You do these things?” Jesus did the things He did in the authority of His purpose. That is all the authority you need as well, for your purpose is your assignment from heavenly headquarters. When you move in your purpose, you don’t need an invitation to the party, so to speak. You invite yourself. Someone else said that you nominate yourself for the job.

If your purpose is to help the poor, you don’t need anyone to invite you to do so. You show up where the poor are and start helping them. I was reflecting on this issue of authority the other day, and came up with nine aspects of purpose that give you the authority to do whatever it is God wants you to do. Here they are:

1. The authority of results – your purpose helps you bear fruit. No one can question your authority when you can show them the fruit of your labors.
2. The authority of clarity – your purpose is a clear, concise statement of what you are on earth to do. People will follow and respond to you because you are direct, clear, and focused.
3. The authority of knowledge – your purpose enables and even drives you to be skilled at what you do. You will have more insight and knowledge about your sphere of purpose than others.
4. The authority of calling – God assigned your purpose and wants you to fulfill it even more than you do. He will open doors and create opportunities for you to succeed.
5. The authority of integrity – your purpose causes you to live by your values, the things that are most important to you. You don’t want to undermine your purpose, so you have added incentive to be an honest person of your word. 
6. The authority of courage – your purpose makes you a leader where you function. You face your fears because your purpose is more important than you are. There are people waiting to benefit from what you do and who you are, so you press through obstacles to be there for them.
7. The authority of success – your purpose gives you endurance to press through the barriers and endure long periods of suffering and frequent setbacks. You don’t only achieve short-term results; you do so over a long period of time, which constitutes some measure of success
8. The authority of humility – you know your source of strength, which is God Himself. You acknowledge your source, but you don’t deny that you are good at what you do because you know God helps you produce results. 
9. The authority of honesty – you do not engage in “false humility” (denying what you can do). You know and face your limitations and weaknesses with openness and transparency, and you do the same with your strengths.

Can you think of any results that I did not include above? If so, feel free to post them for others to read on the site where this entry is posted. Thank you, and have a purposeful week!

769 - Your Potential

We have heard it said about someone that he or she has great potential. We use that phrase when we see a glimmer of talent or giftedness in that person that is undeveloped. It is sort of like an old picture negative (if you are young, you have no idea to what I am referring!). We could hold it up to the light to get a general idea of what the picture was about, but we could not get an idea of what it was like until we had the negative developed. That is what your potential is like. Almost everyone can see its presence, but what it looks like is up to you.

What's more, potential is an open-ended concept, and by that I mean no one, not even the person with the potential, has any idea what that potential will look like when it is fully developed. That's true for a number of reasons. One of them is no one is certain of the exact circumstances into which a person with potential will be developing his or her potential. Take for example the case of Winston Churchill. He had great potential as a politician, but until his leadership was released at the time of World War II, no one could have anticipated just how great his potential was when they first saw it. His developed potential was not only due to his effort, but the convergence of his effort and history.

The other dynamic that is present when you begin to develop your potential is found in Ephesians 3:20-21: "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." When you develop your potential and rely on God's help, God is able to take your potential, breathe on it, so to speak, and multiply it, just like He did the loaves and fish in Jesus' ministry. What's more, God did not multiply the bread and fish only once but twice (that we know of), so when He increases your capacity to bear fruit, it does not diminish His ability to do it again and again for you and countless others.

So how many books are in you? You won't know until you start writing and publishing. How many orphans can you help? You won't know until you start helping some. How many languages can you learn? You won't know until you start learning them. How many businesses can you start of churches can you plant? You won't know until you start building and planting. Your potential is similar to what a pole vaulter will face in the upcoming  Olympics. You won't know how high you can vault until you try, and each time you successfully clear the bar, God can raise it again and when you clear that, again, and when you clear that, again—and on and on and on.

Eventually, you will knock the bar off, but my point is that you don't know at what height the bar will be when you do, and it may be—no undoubtedly will be—a lot higher than you thought possible, especially because God can empower you to do exceedingly more than anyone, even you, imagined. The only thing that will stop you from finding your maximum height is to stop vaulting, and that would usually be due to fear—not wanting to fail or cause injury.

Are you ready to start developing your potential? If you are, then abandon what you think it will look like when its developed and get to work. Count on God's help and see how high you can jump, how far you run, or how long you can swim. Of course these are all sports metaphors, but you get the idea. Go be the best you that you can be, and don't allow any limitations to that except for what God will set. Have a blessed week!

768 - Fear Review

I received two emails from people who are considering enlisting my services as a writing coach. Both emails were filled with fear as the people shared their fear of writing about themselves (fear of pride), of paying for the services (fear that God will not provide), and of whether their material was good enough to publish (fear of failure and inadequacy). One email talked about how it took all week to follow up on our initial correspondence due to "cold feet."

I have written in the past that the creative process is fraught with fear from beginning to end, and my experience of working with creative people the last two years has done nothing to change that conclusion. I am no longer surprised when I find fear in my own life, but instead I go looking for it, sort of like conducting a search-and-destroy military mission. I know my enemy is in there somewhere; I just have to find out where in my thinking my fear and shame are hidden and camouflaged.

Why are we so riddled with fear? There is a biblical answer and it's found in Genesis 3:7-10:

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

Adam and Eve were afraid and ashamed of being exposed, so they hid from God. It's ludicrous for them to think they could hide from God, but they tried, and you and I try to hide as well. Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves - flimsy coverings that would wither and die in a day or two - but we use flimsy excuses to hide our fear and shame. Those excuses sound quite rational, but they are nothing but fig leaves in our minds to mask the terror we face when we consider doing something creative or new.

You may be nodding your head in agreement as you read this Memo. Yet, you can be in agreement and still be steeped in and paralyzed by your own fears, denying their existence. Or perhaps you have learned to manage your fears by sticking to the beaten path of life, careful not to veer off into the jungle of the unknown, where you have never been before. Until you take that path less trodden, you won't have to face or even be conscious of your fears. What's more, if you can wrap your fear in spiritual-sounding excuses, phrases like, "It's not the right season," or "The Lord hasn't released me," or "I am waiting on a confirmation," then you can comfortably learn to live with your fear, convinced that it is God's will that you be content with your daily routine, medicating your mind with thoughts of what you will do "one day."

My dear friends, this is the day that the Lord has made. You are not guaranteed tomorrow, so I urge you to face your fears today and move forward. We are children of Adam and Eve, and we all must take steps to emerge from the bushes of fear and shame so we can show forth the fullness of the glory that is ours in Christ. If we don't take those steps, then we will live a life far below what God had in mind when He sent Jesus to die for our sins. The choice is yours: How will you choose to live today?

767 - Who Pays the Bills?

When I conduct a purpose seminar, which by the way I could do every week if I had the opportunity, I make this statement, "Jesus never recruited anyone to a paid ministry position. He recruited people to fulfill their purpose, and He promised to be with them no matter where they went or what they did." Let's look at that statement more closely.

Jesus did not approach His disciples and say, "Men, I have a job for you to do, and that is to be fishers of men. Now, I will pay you a certain amount, plus benefits, for your efforts. You will have two weeks off every six months, and I will put away a certain amount for your retirement." Jesus did not fully explain how He would take care of the men, but He did promise to do so.

The question that people raise with me when I talk about this is, "Well, that's because the disciples were in ministry, and that's how people in ministry are to live. But I'm a carpenter or a teacher or a nurse, and I need pay!" That, my friends, is the crux of the matter, isn't it? Does God have the right to ask you to work at any job and trust Him for your provision?

Let me give you an example. I have completed a full commentary on the New Testament, verse by verse. I cannot escape that fact that I am to edit and publish it in its entirety. That is my work that God has assigned me to do right now. No one is paying me to do that, and there are no guarantees of sales to support me. Yet, God has provided for me to work on that project, and I feel His pleasure as I do it. God has recruited me to write, and He has promised to care for me as I do. So far, all the bills are paid, money is being saved, health benefits are covered, and I have money left over to give away. Am I the exception or the rule where this issue of God's provision is concerned?

At some point in the discussion, people quote the verse that says the laborer is worthy of his or her hire (see Luke 10:7 and 1 Timothy 5:18), and of course that principle is true. A laborer should be paid by whatever entity benefits from his or her efforts. But isn't that verse also a promise about God's faithfulness? If God hires you to do something, won't he be true to His own promise and, as your employer, make sure you are taken care of?

People usually tell me that "I have a family to feed and support ," to which I respond, "Oh, so you are the one to take care of your family? God has no role in the process?" Do you think it's more difficult for God to provide for a family of five than for an individual? Do you think God needs a company to do that? God can use a company to feed you and yours, but God doesn't need one to feed you all. And ultimately, who is the real source of the provision—God using the company or the company itself?

As we close, it would be good to read and then reflect on Jesus' own words on this matter. Ask yourself, "Did He mean this for those in ministry or for every one of His followers?" If He meant them for all, then how can you apply them to your life and work? I have shared with you how they apply to mine. Feel free to share with me how they apply to yours on the site where this entry is posted:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:25-34).

766 - Cancer

I noticed a spot on my right arm a few months ago that did not look "right." I showed it to my doctor during my annual visit, who referred me to a dermatologist. When they did a biopsy, it showed up as skin cancer, although it was the size of a pin prick. They immediately did a test of the area around the infected portion, and found no trace of any more cancer cells, so I have only a four-inch scar on my right arm to show for the experience. I have that, plus a more resolute will to make the most of my remaining days.

My small encounter with the "big C" caused me to reflect on some of my life-defining verses from the Bible, such as:

• “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is" (Psalm 39:4).
• "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12).
• "My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies,from those who pursue me" (Psalm 31:5).

I don't know what the future holds for me - how many days I have left or what condition I will be in during those days. My faith and hope are strong in the Lord, but as the psalmist wrote, my times are indeed in His hands. If I am going to publish all my New Testament Bible studies, the time is now. If I am going to leave a legacy of purpose, the time to do that is now. If I am going to visit Ukraine, the home of my family's past, the time is now. If I am going to help others write their books and stories, the time is now.

One of the earliest songs I learned when I became a believer is "This is the Day." This is indeed the day to do what God has created me to do, not waiting for ideal circumstances. This is the day to love, to write, to travel, to encourage, to create, to minister, to teach, and to live. God gave me a scar to remind me of my own mortality and limitations, and to remind me to thank Him each day for the gift that it is.

What about you? If you are going to take the missions trip, plan it today. If you are going to write the book, start it today and write every day until it's finished. If you are going to take a family trip, take it today. If you are going to earn the degree, start it today. Stephen Covey suggested that you write your own funeral eulogy right now, and then realize if that's how you want to be remembered, you must begin doing and being those things today so you will create the memories for tomorrow.

I thank God that I found what I did when I did, and that it wasn't larger. I thank God that I have another day to do His will. I invite you to join me on this magnificent journey called life, as together we make the most of the days we have,so that we will all eventually hear those words we long to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." If I can help you on your journey in any way, let me know. Have a blessed week!

*****

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