OUT OF THE BOX

Hebrews 4: 13 “And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” We have all heard about the dumb criminal who robbed the convenience store after filling out an application for employment and turning it in with his real name and phone number on it. The police simply read the application and went to his home and arrested him. Here are a few other situations illustrating the truth that “all things are open and laid bare before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." The men in the police line-up stood stood facing a mirror on the wall. Behind it was the victim who was about to identify the one who had stolen her purse. The men were being told to repeat the same sentence the thief had said to the woman when he robbed her. The officer addressed the first man, “Suspect number one, step forward, hold out your hand and say, ‘Give me all your money.’” The man complied. The officer then gave the same...

"When with rebukes you correct man for iniquity, you make his beauty melt away like a moth," Psalm 39:11 Discipline is often painful but is not harmful unless it is stubbornly resisted, despised, and rejected. Discipline has a positive purpose. Discipline is God's love providing us with incentive to obey, working to help free us from disobedience and harmful ways, and attempting to bring us closer to Him. Surrendering to God’s discipline results in strength, righteousness, peace, maturity, wholeness, and holiness (Hebrews 12: 12-17), but stubborn refusal to break leaves us stripped, bruised, and spiritually disabled (Isaiah 1:5-6; Psalm 38:1-5). David is a wonderful example of how to respond to God’s discipline. He was quick to humble himself with a broken and contrite spirit before God. He acknowledged his sin and attempted no excuses or self-justification. His prayer was, “Have mercy upon me…for I acknowledge my transgression.” (Psalm 51). Psalm 31: 9-10 ...

I am sharing from my journal a couple examples of how the Lord encouraged me with a word in season when I needed it. The entries go back to the beginning of 2001. January 29, 2001 I was sitting at my desk preparing to go to work one morning and struggling with frustration at where I was in my life. I had gone from being a successful pastor to facing the failure of a new church plant and trying to find a job that would provide for my family. Looking through a notebook I came upon a poem I had previously written to encourage myself to persevere and trust the Lord in the waiting process: “When it seems you are forgotten and your good days in the past, His grace brings forth a new song. He saves the best for last.” The poem was based on the words spoken to Jesus when He turned the water into wine: “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine…and then the inferior. [But] you have kept the good wine until now” (John 2: 10). Laurel and I believed this was God's plan for ...

In continuing our discussion of conflict and some of the problems seen in leadership I would like to briefly discuss manipulation. Your comments are welcome. Just click on "Comments" at the end of the article. To often leaders are guilty of manipulation. Manipulation is unhealthy in any relationship and is a violation of trust. It involves the dishonest use of influence to get people to do what you want them to do and is an underhanded means of controlling people. Leaders use manipulation when they lack the ability to lead by inspiration, when they have ulterior or hidden motives, or when they are trying to get people to do what the individuals most likely would not do if they had access to all the facts. Manipulation involves giving partial truth and withholding information that would be necessary for others to make an objective decision. It means distributing information selectively, giving little twists to the facts, and sharing only that which would cause other people to ...

Introduction The issues highlighted below are principles I learned while serving “as referee” (and in some cases a participant) in a few church “fights” and were originally written with the intention of helping pastors understand some of the issues that get them into trouble. Initially I was reluctant to share these with a broader audience, but then realized that the principles are apropos to any discussion of healthy leadership. Many readers will identify with one or more of the problems discussed. For every issue there is a flip side. There is always the “other side of the coin.” This “flip side” issue is especially true for some of the areas covered in this article. For example, pastors usually teach on gossip, and they try to prevent unhealthy and destructive communication within their community of believers. But my emphasis here is the other side of the issue, which is leadership’s unhealthy control of communication among members. Control of communication among members . A typical...

This posting is merely an introduction to the subject. In future postings I would like to share some principles that help us to understand the spiritual weapons available to us in relational conflict. Send me a short email if you are interested in this subject and in my continuing with this topic. blong8@sccoast.net "You got some fine children, but they will kill you!" I met an elderly lady named Rosalie on the street in Loris, SC. When I asked her about her husband, she replied, "I ain't married, but I do have me a boyfriend". She then laughed while telling me of a warning her children gave regarding the boyfriend. "If you get married and he don't do right, we'll kill him," they had said. This obviously made the boyfriend a little nervous, but he wanted to stay in good-standing with his sweetheart, so he told her, "You got some fine children, but they will kill you." Her boyfriend's statement would fit appropriately in many chu...