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Joseph has a dream that he would have a position of authority. His dream is followed by 13 years of slavery and prison, in which he rises to the positions of authority. Each place has parts of his dream, but it never realizes until the day he is brought before Pharaoh.

David has an extraordinary experience of the chief religious leader of his time declaring him king of Israel after each of his brothers were overlooked for the position. He has some immediate successes with Goliath and advancement in Saul’s army, but it is 15 years before that word comes to pass.

Abraham gets a word from God, a promise that he would be made a great nation. He believes the word but has to wait 25 years before he even gets one son.

The thing that stands out to me is not necessarily the wait but the acceptance that the promise would come to pass. What assurances did any of these men have that what they were told would happen? How many dreams have you had at night were from God? How do you know what someone says to you is from God?

Even the story of Abraham doesn’t explain how God spoke to him. Did he hear an audible voice, or was it just God’s voice spoken into his thoughts?

I do not doubt any of these men’s experiences, but it makes me wonder how can I be so sure. Several months ago I started my newest walk of faith which I mentioned in my post, Does Your Life Make Zero Sense to UnBelievers. Now I face what Blackaby calls the crisis of belief.

• Abiding faith attracts the promises of God.
• Any area that doesn’t have an expectation of good is under the influence of a lie.
• Any revelation that does not bring us into greater encounter only trains us to be more religious.
• Anything you think you know about about God, that you can’t find in the person of Jesus, you have reason to question.
• Arrogance isn’t thinking too much of ourselves but thinking too little of others.
• Don’t grade yourself differently than God does.
• Don’t let the “how to’s” of worship distract you from the “Who to.”
• Don’t let what you didn’t get in your childhood keep you from what God provides for His children – a perfectly faithful Father.
• Evangelism is the overflow of worship.
• Every season of growth is rewarded with pruning.
• Everything we do for people is just to get them to experience the Father. Striving for a Christian only exists in the absence of realizing the Father’s love.
• Faith doesn’t deny a problems existence. It denies it a place of influence.
• Faith is generated in the atmosphere of experiencing truth.
• Faith is not the absence of doubt, it is the presence of belief.
• Faith is the offspring of grace.
• Faith moves Heaven, so that Heaven will move earth.
• Faith offends the stationary.
• Faith provides eyes to the heart. Faith sees.
• Fear often looks like wisdom to those in unbelief.
• For the believer most closed heavens are between the ears.
• Gifts are free, but their development is really costly.

David started out with great passion but in the end of his life, he allowed trauma to shock him into passivity. We all need to come out of passivity and speak life into our world.

For forty days the Israelites were kept in a prison of fear through the taunts of Goliath. One thing that is missed in this story is that the Israelites remained in fear because Saul offered no encouragement to their situation. His inaction led to a bubble of fear over his troops. David comes on the scene and bursts that bubble by speaking hope.

Some fifty years later one of David’s sons rapes one of his daughters. This sets up hatred between two brothers to the point one kills the other. The murderer flees to his mother’s hometown and hides for three years. Both the rape and the murder makes David mad and sad, but there is no record of him doing anything. His silence allowed things to fester. David’s children are left to figure out life on their own.

Joab wakes David from his slumber to go retrieve his son from excile. However David does not allow this son, Absalom, to see him. Left on his own, Absalom goes down the path of attempting to take the kingdom from his father. How much of this could have been avoided if only David engaged in their lives?

Avoidance does not make our problems go away. We only delay the inevitable and often make the confrontation larger because of the passage of time. God gave us the Comforter because His plan was to call us places where we would have to deal with things that were uncomfortable to us. If we are more than conquerers than we need to be in some kind of battle.

original image courtesy of Paul Martinez

Christians can be good at making laziness sound spiritual. Have you ever heard these statements?

• “I’m waiting on the Lord.”
• “I’m learning to rest.”
• “I don’t want to get ahead of God.”

These statements are meant to end the conversation. They are not meant for debate. How do you counter what someone feels that God have told them in their personal times with Him. But, are they really from God or just excuses.

Excuses make us feel better about ourselves when we know that there must be more there we are not experiencing.

What is Christian rest?

For the Israelites rest was the promised land (Joshua 1:13). The ones that came out of Egypt were not allowed to enter the rest due to disobedience (Psalm 95:8-11). Two-thirds of the tribes of Israel were given their rest (land), and had to help fight for the other’s rest (Joshua 1:14-15). Rest was not a lazy activity. It had to be fought for and was only attained be the promise of God.

Rest is also God’s presence—for the promise of the Gospel is an invitation to enter God’s presence (1 John 3:19, Psalm 62:1, Psalm 91:1, Hebrews 4:16, Exodus 33:14). This is the secret of not getting ahead of God. When His presence moves, we move. When it tarries, we set up camp (Numbers 9:15-23). But in order to do this, we must keep a watchful eye on His presence.

Passivity is not a fruit of the Spirit. It is not a synonym for patience. It is a deadening of your heart. It’s a sign of giving up or not caring.

I’m passive about golf, American Idol, and Greece entering the Euro zone. However, I am passionate about marriage, family, God’s love, and God’s view of business.

images courtesy of Getty images

Christians are not new to professional athletics, but with first Tebow and now Lin, you would get the impression that this is a new trend. Still Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin are similar in how they came in mid-stream and provided a needed spark to their respective teams. Both have weaknesses in their games that cause people to doubt them – passing for Tebow and turnovers for Lin. Ultimately, it is their quick thanksgiving to God for their opportunities that have linked the two together.

With the recent explosion of Jeremy Lin just after Tim Tebow’s rise a couple months ago, I have started wondering what God is up to. Is he media playing these two’s stories up because they know it will sell? Or is God trying to get our attention?

Since God is always trying to get our attention, I will choose that is what is going on here too. Therefore, what is God trying to say? Here is a list of possibilities:

1. Confidence is not pride. Both of these men are good at what they do. Tebow met with fans before each game using his platform to bless others. Lin has just started to shine, but he easily dishes out praise to his teammates building up the people around him. Pride is all about what you can get for yourself. Confidence is knowing what you have to strengthen those around you.
• Christians have too often been afraid of confidence for fear of being prideful.
2. Your biggest limitation is how you view yourself. Both have been criticized for what they lacked. Both had been overlooked in their positions. And yet, both prevailed when given the opportunity. They didn’t let the views of others hold them back. They believed in themselves and were ready when the time came.

Most of us if we are honest with ourselves, know that we are lacking in love. We may have the ability to love those who love us, but somewhere between that and our enemies we falter. This is not to discourage us, but just to show us we need supernatural help to fulfill what God has asked of us. We need God’s assistance to be able to love.

How do we pray for love?

The first thing to remember is that we love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). Any trouble we have in loving is directly tied to a lack of experience with God’s love for us.

• God open my heart to receive more love from you. Make me aware of what may be blocking my ability to receive from you.

The second thing to help you is to know that fear is the opposite of love (1 John 4:18). Your inability to love is directly related to an area of fear in your life. Are you afraid that person will hurt you, take too much of your time, or make you be someone you are not? Or, are you afraid that God will not take care of you?

image courtesy of Aaron Tesauro

While it can be very scary, transition is so good. Transition breaks you into a new level of trust. It allows you to dream what your life can be like. Transition brings life to your soul and spirit.

Transition makes you stare your beliefs in the face. Do you really believe that God will lead me? Do I believe that where He will lead me is somewhere I want to go? Can I trust that He loves me enough to not forget about me?

“We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” – Romans 5:3-5

In reality transition is no different than suffering. Transition brings pain. You have to learn new ways of doing things. You often have to learn to work with new people. But, because you have God, you hold on to the belief that God has something good (Romans 8:28). James expounds on Paul’s thoughts by showing the steps from suffering to perseverance.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” – James 1:2-4

Faith is to be tested if you want to attain to perseverance, character, and hope. The testing period is not God’s displeasure on you or Him giving you the cold shoulder. God is always thinking of you. He’s always planning good things for you. He loves you.

In my last post in What to Pray to Find the Right Spouse, I mentioned that there were two ways to get the perfect spouse: find the right person and allow them to become the right person. This post will tackle the second option.

When I got engaged, I loved my wife as best as I knew, but as I look back I think the major motivation was to find someone who made me feel loved. I had a deep hole and I latched on to the person that made even a small effort to fill it. I can see now how I set myself up for major issues in marriage, therefore I am constantly encouraged by the wife God did give me.

However, there have been several things I had done right after the wedding vows. Early on in our marriage we started the habit of praying together every night before going to bed. I also prayed on my own for our marriage, specifically that our marriage would reflect Christ’s love for His Church. We attended marriage conferences and read marriage books to give priority to getting all that God had for us out of our marriage. Therefore while my motives may not have been pure going in, we developed our marriage well. Here are some areas for your to consider as you develop your own marriage.

7 Ways to Develop a Perfect Spouse

1. Prayer

Spending time with God with your spouse and alone is the greatest thing you can do for your marriage. God delights in your marriage and offers help to make sure you experience every blessing He has hidden there. Commit your marriage to God.