The Monday Memo from John Stanko

Memo 992: Get Off Your But

It's time to start another series, this one named Unlocking the Power of Your Faith. Faith is the fifth of five Gold Mine Principles I have taught over the years, the five being purpose, creativity, goal setting, time management, and faith. Without faith, the other four principles are just hard work. Faith mixed in adds joy and adventure and of course involves the most important component in all that we do and the element is God Himself. Eventually, this will become the sixth in my Unlocking book series, which includes Unlocking Purpose, Creativity, Productivity, You(r personality), and Thinking. Let's get started.

A BAD REPORT

In Numbers 13, we read about the spies who Moses sent into the Promised Land as God directed him to do. It is interesting that Moses recorded each one of the men by name, so their mission is not only recorded for posterity, but also includes their role as well. When God sends you on an assignment, He is watching and knows your name. Moses commissioned the men and gave them the parameters of their task that included this twist: "Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land" (Numbers 13:20). Moses didn't want just a report, he wanted tangible evidence for all the people to see. The spies complied as we are told:

When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land (Numbers 13:23-25).

But that's not all the spies brought back with them. Unfortunately, they also brought a bad report:

"We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan" (Numbers 13:27-29, emphasis added).

The spies knew the word of the Lord as it had come to them through Moses, but they had also seen with their eyes the reality of the Land to which God was sending them. That word but made all the difference in how they framed what they saw. When they had to vote for one or the other, they cast their lot with their but based on their eyewitness experience.

NO BUTS

Caleb tried to talk some faith sense into the people and his comrades by saying, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it" (Numbers 13:30). However, the seeds of doubt had been planted and their fellows spies had a ready response;

“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 13:31b-33).

Of course, this story is recorded to teach and instruct us so we know how we should respond to the word of the Lord to us, and it is quite simple: If you want to unlock the power of your faith, there can be no buts. You cannot say, "Yes, this is what the Lord wants me to do but I am too old, but I am too young, but i don't have training, but I don't have the money, but my partner doesn't approve." Where has your but caused you to stop short in your faith journey? Where has your but prevented you from knowing the joy of faith fulfilled? Where has your but caused you to sit on a word from the Lord, content to roll it around in your spiritual mouth like a mint, enjoying its flavor without deriving any spiritual growth or sustenance from it? It's time to get off your but and be like Caleb who did not allow his but to deter him from having the faith that God could do what He had promised for His people. Have a blessed week.

Memo 991: The Mark

This is it, the last entry in the Unlocking the Power of Your Thinking series which we started last August. I have learned a lot and hope you have as well. We are ending in the book of Revelation, an appropriate place to end since God found it good to end there in His book as well. This week, let's look at a promise Jesus gave to the church at Philadelphia:

"I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Revelation 3:11-13).

People through the ages have been fascinated and even infatuated with the concept that something is going to be written on their heads, and of course the 666 of Revelation 13:18 gets most of the attention. Let's examine this concept to see what we can learn as it pertains to our thought life.

THE MARK

I find it fascinating that we have made so much of the 666 issue when we read in the next verse, "Then I [John] looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads" (Revelation 14:1). I have never heard a sermon or seen a book about the Father's name on our forehead but of course there is lots of material on 666. Yet what John saw in Revelation 14:1 coincides with the promise made to the Philadelphia church: God will write a new name on those who hold on, are victorious, and have ears to hear. They will be made pillars in the temple of their God.

What is the significance of the mark on the forehead? Jewish men often wear a small leather box strapped to their forehead (or arms) that contains a Hebrew text. They do this to remind them to keep the Law of God, to always have it on their mind. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit replaces the phylactery. Why would those who not know the Lord have the number 666 there instead of a phylactery? It is because the things of the world ruled by the evil one are always on their minds.

God empowers us through the Spirit to keep the things of God on our minds at all times. He has marked us as His. It was never intended to mean there would be a literal mark, but there would be something that separates the people of God from others. What is that mark? What distinguishes us from all others? It is faith, pure and simple. Those who have 666 will look for all sorts of means and formulas to provide for their needs. Those who have God's name "engraved' on their hearts and minds will look to Him. If they "forget," the Spirit will remind them.

WRAP IT UP

Do you think God needs a physical mark to distinguish between those who are His and those who are not? Of course not! He recognizes them by their faith, to which God always responds: "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). If without faith it is impossible to please God, then with faith it is possible. Without faith, people will be scrambling for crumbs that fall from the world's table. For those with faith, their God will set a sumptuous banquet table before them. So therefore, we could say that 666 is simply the symbol of unbelief while the name of God and His city given to those who hear and overcome are the marks of those who know Him by faith.

If you truly want to unlock the power of your thinking, don't look for a system or a formula. You should not pursue fads or copycat techniques (or bogus end time fantasies) that will get you what you want or need—or feed your need for sci-fi adventure. You are simply to strap on an invisible phylactery of faith and keep that before you at all times. Faith is what will unlock the power because faith invites God into any process. Your faith relies on the Spirit to empower your thoughts but there is one caution. This is not a passive process. You must work to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (see 2 Corinthians 10:5).

Unlocking your thinking is not simply "I have given it all to the Lord" so you then wait for Him to fill your head. It involves work when you wrestle some of your thoughts to the ground, pin them, and then replace them with new thought champions. As you learn and grow, you will live in the principle we discussed many months ago: "be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2). As you change your thoughts, you will transform your life and there will no need to worry about any mark except the mark of faith. Have a blessed week.

Memo 990: Your Word World

As we prepare to close out the Unlocking the Power of Your Thinking series next week, let's turn once again to the book of Revelation. I suppose it is appropriate to end this book with the last book, which surprisingly has much to say on our topic. Last week, we looked at Jesus' promise to the Ephesian church if they would only have ears to hear. This week, let's examine His promise to the church at Pergamum:

"Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it" (Revelation 2:17).

This promise always makes me think of what Jesus said to the disciples in John 4:32: “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” For Jesus, seeking and saving the lost was His "hidden manna," the purpose for which He had come. When He fulfilled it,it was more enjoyable and filling than actual food. The same is true for your purpose, but alas, I digress, for this week we want to look at what it means to have ears to hear.

THE WORD WORLD

I am teaching an online class on the four gospels for which students have to answer many essay questions. One of the questions goes something like this: "What are some examples of racism in the world?' I have had about 300 students come through the class and 297 of them have responded to the question by telling me about the situation in the United States. Only three have given me any international examples of racism. I am not mocking or criticizing the students. My point is that when they see the word world they think about the world that is within their reach made up of their culture and friends. Because they have conditioned their mind to think like that, when I write world, they think U.S. Don't be too hard on the students, for you have the same tendency.

Take the word generous. The Bible clearly instructs us to be generous. But what does generous mean to you? If you had two suits, would generous be to give one away? Would generous really be to give both of them away and go without? If you think it's the first, then giving the second one would not even cross your mind—not even if the Lord prompted you to do it. The same can be true for words like go, missions, forgive, pray, and give. We approach those action words with preconceived thoughts of what they mean and how they should be expressed in our world.

BE CAREFUL

Jesus gave the disciples these instructions right after He explained the parable of the sower:

“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them" (Luke 8:16-18, emphasis added).

Jesus was indicating that His parables were not intended to hide or conceal but were teaching tools to reveal God's truth. Once they understood those principles, it was their job not to conceal but to reveal them to others as well. If the disciples and crowds weren't careful, they would hear, celebrate, and go home in the same or worse condition than when they arrived. The same is true for us today. We can hear a "good message or word," and applaud, cry, sing, shout in response, but go home no different. Why? Because we were not careful how we listened. After Jesus said those words, His family suddenly came to visit. Jesus continued His lesson by saying,

Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice" (Luke 8:19-21, emphasis added).

If you are serious about unlocking the power of your thinking, then you must learn to challenge everything you know and hear. The challenge is not so you can shoot holes in shallow concepts but to determine if there is anything preventing you from comprehending and then doing something with what you heard. That is what it means to have "ears that hear." If we return to the church at Pergamum, we see that Jesus promised one more thing for those who heard and acted on what they heard: "I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it."

If you learn to hear and do, God will give you a purpose no one else can see (that's the white stone). It will be a term that others don't get but moves you to tears. To get that purpose, however, you have to learn to pay attention like my students to the words like world to ensure you aren't depriving or shortchanging it of its full meaning. If you learn to do that, you will have truly unlocked the power of your thinking. Have a blessed week!

Memo 989: You-Turn

Three more weeks to go in the Unlocking the Power of Your Thinking and I plan on finishing the series the way the Bible ends—by looking at the book of Revelation. You may think that's an unusual place to go to talk about thinking, and I thought the same when I had the idea. I believe it is God's leading, however, but you be the judge as we proceed to Revelation 2.

REPENT

After a brief introduction in Revelation, Jesus evaluated seven churches giving them specific feedback into the reality of their spiritual condition. He commended some but rebuked others, ending all seven messages with the same phrase, "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious . . ." He then made a promise for those who heard and were victorious. We will examine those promises in the next few chapters, but for now, let's look at His comments to the Ephesian church: "Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place" (Revelation 2:5). Let's look at the word or command used twice in that verse and that word is repent.

When you hear the word repent, what are your thoughts? For some, it represents contrition or sorrow for sin and if that is what you think, you are not wrong. Yet the literal meaning of the Greek word for repent metanoia is "to change one's mind or attitude about." What happens when you change your mind? It means you think differently about something. Another definition of repent is to "turn and go in another direction." So when you change your mind about something, it should impact your behavior and take you in a new direction. God told the Ephesians to repent and do the things they did at first. Their change of mind was to impact their behavior and deeds. In essence Jesus advised them to make a U-turn and walk a different path.

EARS TO HEAR

For the Ephesian church, having "ears that hear" seems to have been connected to their willingness to repent. If they were not willing to address their thoughts, their ears would be closed and they would not inherit the promise, which for them was "I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7). When we don't repent, we too become hard of hearing and we forfeit the benefits of the tree of life as it was portrayed in Genesis. When that happens, God does not direct our work as He did in the Garden. Instead, we pick and choose what we will do and how we will do it. We may be faithful but we are not flexible, and we only know to move in one direction.

Jesus had warned His disciples long before Revelation was written that they needed to be careful how they heard. We read in Luke 8:8, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear." That warning came at the end of the parable of the sower which taught that unless we adjust our heart condition, we will not be able to receive the word or to bear fruit from the word we receive. Like the church in Ephesus, we need to regularly repent of those things mentioned in Luke 8:

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature" (Luke 8:11-14, emphasis added).

Do you need a "you-turn"? Do you need a change of thinking or attitude? Have the cares and worries of this life choked out your thoughts of God? Has a recent testing of your faith led to a "falling away" of your zeal and enthusiasm, similar to the conditions in Ephesus? Are you doing the deeds you've always done but in need of getting back to "the deeds you did at first"? If you answer is yes to any of those questions, then the word for you is repent. You need to turn and go in a different direction but you won't be able to do that until you address your thoughts and attitudes.

This week, think about what it will take for you to make a "you turn." Whatever it takes, I promise you will not change direction until you change your thinking. If and when you do, you will unlock the power in repentance—and that will earn you all the promises of God in Revelation for those who overcome. Have a blessed week.

Memo 988: A Kingdom Mind

Let's continue the Unlocking the Power of Your Thinking series, this week returning to the New Testament where we once again find Jesus addressing His disciples' thinking. We read in Acts 1:3-6:

During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” (NLT).

We first see Jesus proclaiming the Kingdom in Matthew 4:17: "Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near." As He prepares to depart, He was still teaching and talking about the Kingdom. Yet it seems that the disciples didn't quite "get" it, for we see them asking, "Has the time come for you to free Israel and restore the kingdom?" Jesus answered them by directing them back to His promise: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere" (Acts 1:8). The Spirit was the key to unlock their thinking and He is the key for us as well. Let's examine what that means to see what lessons we can learn.

THE MIND SET ON THE SPIRIT

Paul wrote these words to the Romans:

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God (Romans 8:5-8, NLT).

Paul indicated "letting the Spirit control your mind" produces life and peace." What does it mean for the Spirit to control our mind? Are we simply radio towers that receive and then broadcast heavenly spiritual thoughts? Is it a description of the familiar scene in movies where the devil is perched on one shoulder whispering into our ears while God is on the other shoulder doing the same? Do all our thoughts have their origin in one spiritual source or the other?

Let's go back to Acts 1. Those men had been with Jesus for more than three years and they had just experienced a 40-day crash-course post-Resurrection overview of Jesus' Kingdom principles. Yet they still did not understand for they asked Him a political question about Israel being freed from Rome's control. When the Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, then they understood it all and could share it with power to interested listeners.

KINGDOM-MINDED

When the Spirit came, the disciples had the power and a new intellectual capacity to comprehend what Jesus had taught and shown them. Peter's sermon in Acts 2 explained Jesus, exalted Jesus, taught Jesus, demonstrated Jesus. The sermon clearly outlined that Jesus was the King of the Kingdom: “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!” (Acts 2:36). They did not preach against Rome, lay out a new Law, or preach holiness. The Spirit focused their thoughts and minds on Jesus.

What does this teach us? It teaches that the Spirit does not wish to control every thought, but to impart a new operating system that is Kingdom-minded which is all about Jesus—not about Jesus and politics, or Jesus and my career, or Jesus and my investments. There cannot be Jesus and anything else. It is only about Jesus. That was why the disciples had to wait for the Spirit. Otherwise, their presentation would have lacked proper focus. It is easy to say it's all about Jesus, but Jesus knew better. That's why He told His disciples they would have to deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow Him. That was what the Kingdom was all about.

What is on your mind? Is it how lonely you are? Are you asking why you aren't married or why you don't have a better job? I am not demeaning your loneliness or your poverty, but the Spirit comes to give you the mind of Christ about Christ and what that means for your daily life. Thoughts controlled by the sinful nature are "self" thoughts, while thoughts of the Spirit are about Jesus and His purpose and plan for your life that may or may not include spouse, children, Wall Street riches, or living where you want to live.

The Kingdom has a King and He is supreme—or "Lord of all" to put it in biblical terms. I urge you to invite the Spirit into your mind not to control your every thought, but to impart the proper foundation of the Kingdom that will enable you to evaluate your thoughts more effectively. When you do that, your old nature will no longer control your mind and you will be free to think the thoughts of God that will direct you where to work, what to do, and how to be a person of purpose. Have a blessed week!

Memo 987: As a Man Thinketh

I have not drawn much from the Old Testament in this Unlock the Power of Your Thinking series, but let's change that this week by looking at one of the best-known and oft-quoted verses pertaining to one's thought life. It's found in Proverbs 23:7 and for our purposes, let's look at it in its context:

Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies; for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, and waste your pleasant words (Proverbs 23:6-8 NKJV, emphasis added).

What we can learn about this verse and why Solomon penned it?

CONTEXT    

I have used this verse to corroborate the truth of what Jesus said, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man" (Matthew 15:18). Yet Proverbs 23:7 is not addressing the issues of the heart-and-mouth connection. It is talking about a man who appears to be generous and welcoming, but in reality is not. He's what's known as a miser so he is actually counting the cost of what he is giving others while pretending to be generous. He knows the value of what he is giving away and it is troubling him to share with you or anyone who partakes of what he has.

I had a friend who used to say, "People know the price of things but seldom consider the value of things." He used it when we would offer a seminar that had a registration fee. There were people who only looked at the price but did not consider that they could  receive great value from the seminar material; they were only looking at what it would cost them. It was interesting that those same people would often complain because their company would not invest in them but they would turn around and do exactly what their company was doing—not invest in themselves.

Instead of making the miser in Proverbs 23:7 someone else, let's examine it from the point of view that we—you and I—are that miser. If that's true, how would being like him impact our thinking and how could we then unlock that area to find new power in our thoughts?

IT'S HIS MONEY

When I was a church administrator, I used to encounter many miserly people. They would pay whatever the utility company said to pay, but wouldn't bless a staff member with a $50 gift certificate. When working with those people, I would often say, "It's not my money, it's the Lord's." When most people heard that, they assumed I meant what is usually intended: "We are frugal because God has given us this money and we are going to be careful, very careful how we spend it." That was not what I meant at all. My sense was this: "This is the Lord's money. What do I care if He wants us to give it to missionaries or someone on our staff or someone in the church who had a need or to something that could make life easier for our staff? If it's His money and He has plenty more where that came from, then why should I or we be tightfisted with it?"

You see, some of us feign generosity, but we sit like the miserly person in Proverbs 23 and we are nervous. We are nervous others are consuming what we want to hold on to, what we believe is ours to own. What's more, it's not about money really, it's about holding on to the testimony or gifts we have because it's going to cost us something—just like the miser. Jesus said, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give." (Matthew 10:8). What if that last phrase became your byline or motto for living? How would "freely received, freely give" change your thinking from where it is now? You would probably give more of yourself and that may or may not include money. Just as I said, "It's the Lord's money," it's also His testimony, His gift, His creativity, His life that you possess, not to own but to steward.

The problem with the phrase "as a man thinketh" is that it is potentially true for all of us, not just those we don't like or who don't do like we want them to. It is necessary for me to seek the Lord and inquire, "Where am I acting one way that makes people think I am in line with Your will, but in reality I am counting the cost and I don't like that it's costing me so much? Where am I being a miser with those around me and that is of no benefit to them or me?" Move across the table this week from the seat of the one eating to the miser and look at yourself from that perspective. Are you serving others a banquet of who you are and what you have, or are you pretending to do that a few hours a week, while secretly stashing away the best of who you are for your own consumption? If that's the case, then it's time to remind yourself that "it's not your money or life" and start thinking of how you can spread it and you around. Have a blessed week!

*****

$10,000 MATCHING GRANT! I wrote you about our need to purchase land for the Dr. Stanko last August in this post. Since I wrote back then, I have raised $38,500 of what is now the $55,000 we will need to purchase the land. I had arbitrarily chosen January 31 as a date to have the money raised and lo and behold, without announcing the deadline, today someone wrote to make a $10,000 matching grant challenge.

 

They will match every gift given up to a grand total of $10,000, which will help us reach our goal with a little left over. How fantastic is that?! Thank You, Lord, and thank you to the faithful donor who wrote that God has impressed them that "this is an eternal investment of His money" in a worthy project.

 

The challenge expires on February 7 so now is the time to give and double your gift! In the first week, $1,813 came in so we have a ways to go. You can give through the Cash App ($stankojohn), Venmo (@John-Stanko-10), my mobile app, my website, or by sending a check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 8882, Pittsburgh, PA 15221-0882. I am overwhelmed by God's faithfulness on behalf of my partners in Kenya. Now let's finish the job He has started.

$10,000 MATCHING GRANT! I wrote you about our need to purchase land for the Dr. Stanko last August in this post. Since I wrote back then, I have raised $38,500 of what is now the $55,000 we will need to purchase the land. I had arbitrarily chosen January 31 as a date to have the money raised and lo and behold, without announcing the deadline, today someone wrote to make a $10,000 matching grant challenge.

 

They will match every gift given up to a grand total of $10,000, which will help us reach our goal with a little left over. How fantastic is that?! Thank You, Lord, and thank you to the faithful donor who wrote that God has impressed them that "this is an eternal investment of His money" in a worthy project.

 

The challenge expires on February 7 so now is the time to give and double your gift! In the first week, $1,813 came in so we have a ways to go. You can give through the Cash App ($stankojohn), Venmo (@John-Stanko-10), my mobile app, my website, or by sending a check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 8882, Pittsburgh, PA 15221-0882. I am overwhelmed by God's faithfulness on behalf of my partners in Kenya. Now let's finish the job He has started.

Memo 986: "Spare Yourself"

We are in the homestretch with our series on how to unlock the power of your thinking with only four more entries after this one. Many of our lessons have come from Jesus' encounters with His disciples as He confronted and corrected their incomplete or erroneous thoughts, replacing them with new ways to think and act. This week, let's look at another instance of Jesus with His disciples, this time involving Peter in their well-known discussion that shocks us each time we read it.

THE RESPONSE

In Matthew 16, Jesus had taken His disciples far north of Galilee where they could spend some alone time without the crowds or spies sent from Jerusalem. While there, He asked them who He was in the eyes of the public but then asked them who they thought He was. Peter then gave His answer based on the Father's revelation that Jesus was "the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Jesus ordered the men not to tell anyone what Peter had just told them, and went on to the next level of their training so He could prepare them for what was ahead: "From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life" (Matthew 16:21).

When Peter heard this, He was concerned for his Messiah and himself, so he pulled Jesus aside and said, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” (Matthew 16:22), to which Jesus gave His stunning reply, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns" (Matthew 16:22). Peter thought he was protecting Jesus, in essence saying, "Spare yourself, Lord. You don't have to do or go through that ordeal." Yet in his ignorance Peter had unwittingly become a spokesman for Satan and Jesus recognized it right away. If the story had ended there, we would not have the complete picture, one that gives us lessons to apply today as we seek to unlock the power of our own thinking.

THE REST OF THE STORY

Jesus turned to all the disciples after He rebuked Peter and continued,

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done" (Matthew 16:24-27).

There can be no new thinking unless the power and concept of the cross are part of the foundation. Peter was protecting himself as well as Jesus when he said what he did, but Jesus explained that there can be no success in carrying out the will of God without denying self, taking up a cross, and following Jesus. In my own life, the cross has manifested in many ways. We moved 11 times in 33 years to follow what we believed was God's will. I turned down admission to Harvard and Carnegie Mellon to pursue ministry. I have suffered at the hands of church people for 47 years (sometimes through my own failures, other times at the hands of mean-spirited people and leaders). I have had to sit in silence when others were teaching things and had little idea what they were saying. One time when I was a pastor I opened our refrigerator and all we had in it was a bottle of water and a box of corn flakes in the cupboard.

Today, I flow in purpose and creativity but it wasn't always like this. I tried to spare myself the agony of some of the death-to-self experiences (and there are plenty more I did not mention) but to no avail. I am still trying to learn how to do what Paul wrote in Colossians 3:2: "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." How about you? Where are you avoiding the cross? Where is the deny-self thinking not prevalent in your plans?

Remember, Peter went from divine revelation to divine consternation in a matter of minutes, so your past insight and success are no guarantee your current thinking is sanctified and correct. The only way you can ensure it is unlocked is to lock on to the truth that if you want to find your life, you will not be able to spare yourself from the tough times. You are going to have to lose your life along the way and trust that it will find you again no matter where you are or what you are doing—sort of like Thor's hammer in the Avengers. Have a blessed week!

*****

$10,000 MATCHING GRANT! I wrote you about our need to purchase land for the Dr. Stanko last August in this post. Since I wrote back then, I have raised $38,500 of what is now the $55,000 we will need to purchase the land. I had arbitrarily chosen January 31 as a date to have the money raised and lo and behold, without announcing the deadline, today someone wrote to make a $10,000 matching grant challenge.

 

They will match every gift given up to a grand total of $10,000, which will help us reach our goal with a little left over. How fantastic is that?! Thank You, Lord, and thank you to the faithful donor who wrote that God has impressed them that "this is an eternal investment of His money" in a worthy project.

 

The challenge expires on February 7 so now is the time to give and double your gift!  You can give through the Cash App ($stankojohn), Venmo (@John-Stanko-10), my mobile app, my website, or by sending a check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 8882, Pittsburgh, PA 15221-0882. I am overwhelmed by God's faithfulness on behalf of my partners in Kenya. Now let's finish the job He has started.

$10,000 MATCHING GRANT! I wrote you about our need to purchase land for the Dr. Stanko last August in this post. Since I wrote back then, I have raised $38,500 of what is now the $55,000 we will need to purchase the land. I had arbitrarily chosen January 31 as a date to have the money raised and lo and behold, without announcing the deadline, today someone wrote to make a $10,000 matching grant challenge.

 

They will match every gift given up to a grand total of $10,000, which will help us reach our goal with a little left over. How fantastic is that?! Thank You, Lord, and thank you to the faithful donor who wrote that God has impressed them that "this is an eternal investment of His money" in a worthy project.

 

The challenge expires on February 7 so now is the time to give and double your gift!  You can give through the Cash App ($stankojohn), Venmo (@John-Stanko-10), my mobile app, my website, or by sending a check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 8882, Pittsburgh, PA 15221-0882. I am overwhelmed by God's faithfulness on behalf of my partners in Kenya. Now let's finish the job He has started.

Memo 985: Beauty of Holiness

As we continue to look at how we can unlock the power of our thinking, let's consider a verse from Psalm 96:9: "Worship the Lord in holy array" (NASB). The King James Version states the same verse, "O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." The King James seems to place the label of holiness on the Lord (or perhaps that is simply how we choose to read it), but this week, let's assume that the adjective of holiness is to be on the worshiper, not the One worshiped. What are the implications for the perspective that the status of holiness is conferred on us as we worship the Lord?

HOLINESS

There is an aspect of holiness that has little to do with avoiding sin. It does not speak to the state of sinlessness in which you do not watch bad movies or speak profanity. It does not pertain to praying and reading the Bible. Instead, it is more of the fact that when you are holy, you are set apart for some special service or expression. For example, my mother had special dishes she only used when company came. Those dishes were set apart, they were holy to her, because they had a special use. You are holy in the same sense that God has set you apart to do something only you can do, to be something only you can be.

What's more, you are set apart due to the fact there is, and there never has been or will be again, anyone like you. You have a set of fingerprints and a DNA code that have never existed. They are not recycled from someone who existed 100 years ago. You are holy unto the Lord, a unique creation with a distinct personality, gift mix, and way of processing sensory input. So far, you may be thinking, That's great, but what has this got to do with unlocking my thinking? The most important impact this fact can have on you is in how you view and think about yourself, which will in turn influence what you do with your life and gifts God has bestowed on you.

INDIVIDUALITY

If and when you are biased against yourself, you may attempt to become like others or simply distort who you are. Yet "who you are" is an important part of your creativity and purpose, for you must inject and invest who you are into what you do for it to be all God intends for it to be. For example, the writers of the four gospels injected who there were into their accounts. They used their vocabulary, style of writing, experience, heritage, unique insights, and relationships (Mark was Peter's assistant) to flavor their gospel accounts. They did not all write the same way using the same format or approach. They were unique and thus their work was unique, or should I say it was holy—set apart for a specific purpose.

Examples would also abound throughout the world of creativity. A master painter had a unique style and forgeries can come close but cannot exactly replicate what is being copied because those copying cannot capture the essence of the who the artist was. The same would be true for writers, sculptors, preachers, teachers, coaches, and any other expression of life and work. You have been set apart for a work only you can produce and that means you must be you to produce it. You can emulate someone else, but even doing that you will be providing your unique interpretation of what you are emulating. It will still be yours, but will never be mistaken for the one you are modeling.

This means you can stop thinking about being someone else even if you are trying to be like someone else, for you will be like them as only you can be and do. You don't have to fear expressing yourself as you express your purpose and creativity. In fact, you have a mandate to do so. As you serve the Lord in the beauty of your holiness as a unique expression of God's creation, you will then truly worship Him because you will confess that since you are good enough for God you are also good enough for yourself. Have a blessed week!

Memo 984: Locked On

It's time to return to our theme of unlocking the power of your thinking after a holiday break. Romans 12:2 states, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Since the business of the mind is thinking, then to experience the transformation we often seek, we must think new thoughts, confronting current ones to see where they limit us from doing God's will. This week, let's look at some thinking on the part of the Jews that caused them to misinterpret what Jesus did in Mark 3 because they locked on to the thought "God would never do that" and thus locked out other possibilities. Let's get started.

HEALING ON THE SABBATH

In Mark 2, Jesus had just violated the Sabbath, or so the Pharisees thought, when He and His disciples had picked some heads of grain. Then Mark reported another Sabbath incident immediately following:

Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus (Mark 3:1-6).

Jesus did not lead the man with the shriveled hand out the back door of the synagogue to heal him, nor did He request that the man come back on Sunday or Monday. When Jesus asked the observers a question, they remained silent, which angered Jesus because He knew what their silence meant. Therefore, He openly challenged the onlookers' interpretation of Sabbath regulations by healing the man right in front of everyone.

Today, we are a bit taken aback by the response of the people who were in "church" that day. They did not run home to summon a close relative who had a similar condition the man's had. They did not request that Jesus not heal on the Sabbath, but instead come back on Tuesday when they could assemble others who needed a physical touch. They did not shake the man's restored hand and rejoice in his restoration, Instead, they had a quick confab to process and discuss what had just happened and agreed that "Jesus must die!" What's more, they conspired with the Herodians, those who supported the presence of the Romans through their puppet king Herod, and put out a contract on Jesus' life.

GOD WOULD NEVER . . .

This story reveals an approach to the Sabbath that stipulated little to nothing was to be done on that day for fear of alienating and offending God—a noble thought. Yet once they locked on to their rigid interpretation, they locked out any other possibility. When Jesus healed a man, healed him right in front of their eyes by restoring a dysfunctional limb, the crowd did not see and could not appreciate what had occurred. Their thought was "God would never heal on the Sabbath" and thus they concluded Jesus was a Sabbath-breaker deserving of capital punishment.

Yet the stories in the gospels are not just an historical account for our entertainment. They are stories with lessons for our own lives, for we are just as susceptible to the thinking of the Jews who were in the synagogue. We can lock on to our thoughts and lock out any other possibility, thus opposing instead of appreciating what God is teaching us. For example, you may hold on to a job you hate or where you are mistreated because you think, "I need this job' or 'I've had this job 20 years and get an extra week's vacation next year." Thus, God's attempts to move you to something better are to no avail.

Your thoughts about yourself or your abilities can also thwart God's desire to use you because you demean or diminish the effect you could have on others due to your stubborn resistance to a limited or skewed perspective on who you are in Him. You have been told you're a good artist, but you have locked on to the fact that you are not. You would like to travel and do missions work, but have convinced yourself you don't travel well or are too poor to do so—locking on to your lack instead of your Source. Like the Jews, you think "God would never—fund my trip, or use me in that way, or use my creativity to bless and minister to others."

Where have you seen God move, in your life or the lives of others, yet you conspire with others to stay right where you are (listening to your friends tell you how that 'can't be God') so you can keep doing what you have always done? Where has your doctrine, which is nothing more than what you think about God's will, actually limited or frustrated God's purpose for you? How have you taken what you hear and worked it in your mind to conclude "God would never do or what that—in my life or the lives of others"? These are difficult questions to ask and the potential answers can be painful to face, but you must learn to confront and change your own thoughts and conclusions if you are to continue to grow in the wisdom and knowledge of God for your life. Have a blessed week!

Memo 980: Dull Thinking

These last few Memos have focused on Jesus' attempts to help His disciples have new thoughts that would enable them and us to unlock the power of our thinking. This week, we go to Matthew 15 and find another encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees, whose thinking was distorted by tradition and assumptions of what God would want in certain situations. As you read on, do not look to add to your already negative view of the Pharisees but with an eye to determine if you are like they were in this story.

WASHED UP

The Pharisees approached the finest teacher of their day who was impacting the entire nation to ask Him a question. Did they choose to ask something important that would contribute to a deeper understanding of God? They did not, but instead wanted to know why He didn't wash His hands:

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” (Matthew 15:1-2).

When the Pharisees washed, they scrubbed carefully all the way up to their elbows, but they never observed Jesus doing the same. Therefore, they approached the King of the universe to talk about their tradition of how far up their arm one should cleanse before eating. That is the power tradition has not only on your thinking but on your ability to discern God's priorities. You eventually assume your tradition is what God wants and should be observed by everyone.

Jesus summarized what they had done by saying, "Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition" (15:6b). Jesus then turned to the crowd and delivered a short teaching: “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them (15:10-11). His words had the double effect of teaching the people and rebuking the Pharisees, who were increasingly becoming "washed up" and irrelevant to God and the people because of their useless traditions.

"YOU DON'T GET IT"

The disciples came to Jesus and inquired, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” (15:12). Jesus then gave them some advice that you would be wise to follow as well: "Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit" (15:14). Jesus essentially told them to stop paying attention to the voice of tradition and listen to Him! At this point, I am sure you are thinking if not saying aloud, "Yes, that's right. Listen to the voice of God!" Before you get too smug in your appraisal, however, look a little farther:

Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.” “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them" (15:16-18).

The disciples did not get the real message because they were as steeped in the tradition as the Pharisees. They didn't get what Jesus was saying and He went on to explain that He wasn't referring to hand washing or foods to eat (or not) but the condition of the heart. What did Jesus do next? He took the men on a field trip to demonstrate His lesson, just like He is trying to do for you:

"Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, 'Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly'" (15:21-22). After hearing her request, Jesus said, "“It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs" (15:26). Isn't it interesting that Matthew connected this story in his gospel narrative so closely to the hand-washing, heart-condition lesson Jesus had just taught? He did so to clearly show them the bottom line of His teaching.

When Jesus spoke to this woman in what seemed to be such a harsh way, He was mirroring for the men their own heart attitude toward women, Gentiles, and people in need. They heard it, saw it, and saw Jesus' response in healing the woman's daughter, but still didn't get it." How do I know this? I know because in Acts 10:13-15, a vision of a sheet came to Peter:

Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

Peter had heard Jesus' teaching in Matthew 15 but still a few years later he was clinging to his kosher ways while also considering Gentiles unclean. Just like in Matthew 15 when Jesus took the men to the encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman, after his sheet vision Jesus took Peter to the home of the Roman centurion Cornelius. Even though Jesus had spoken to Peter and taught him face to face, he still didn't get it. There is a good chance we are in the same condition.

Where is your tradition, whether it be what you do or believe, keeping you from hearing and doing the will of God? Where have you assumed that your tradition is the absolute will of God for all people, not just you? Where is your thinking dull like Peter's was? Where is your prejudice keeping your from seeing others as God sees them? From seeing yourself as God sees you? 

If you are going to unlock the power of your thinking, you have to ruthlessly examine your thoughts and jettison any that you got from a bad teaching or the result of the way you processed a good teaching. Hearing from the Lord is not enough, as Matthew 15 shows us. We must hear and then examine all our thoughts and ways in the light of what we've heard to determine if we are walking in a way pleasing to the Lord or in the way of tradition. Have a blessed week.

*****

GIVE A KID A CHRISTMAS: I ask you to consider a $25 gift to help an orphan in Kenya celebrate Christmas this year. The money will buy one a new set of clothes, have a Christmas dinner, and perhaps received some candy. Please read more here and then give as the Lord leads. Thank you and Merry Christmas!