Talk about hard hitting in the morning.  I hadn’t even had my coffee yet and He as asking me questions like this?

Oftentimes, its easy to forget who are real customer is.  It’s not the person handing you the money in exchange for your goods, its the God who created it all.

Jesus is your best customer.

Imagine if you treated every one of your customers like Jesus.  Would you get frustrated at them when they want a refund (would they even want a refund)?  Would you give them shotty goods or services?

If Jesus is your customer do you think He wants to send more customers to your business?

Ouch.

Talk about another hard one.

I believe that if we treat Jesus the way He deserves to be treated our customers, for the most part, will be appreciative.  As my Pastor says, “Your destiny is an obstacle course, designed by God, to maximize your potential for LOVE!”

Let’s take that into our business today, this week, this month, and next year.  Our business was meant for the glory and honor of God, not us.

Jesus just walked into your office, how are you going to treat him today?

In this scripture we see that God is able to do greater than we think.  The question is do we believe that He is willing to greater than what we think is possible?

In business, I often struggle with the notion of throwing the MBA analysis out the window to believe in my God who created the world, who sent His Son to die on the cross for my sins.  It’s easier for me to believe in the saving grace of Jesus, then to believe He is on my side in business.

Again, its Greek reasoning or agnosticism:  where we believe in God and His power and abilities, but deny His desire to do the same in our lives.

In my business, I decided to make the choice of believing that God is provider, that He is Provision.  In doing so, it has opened my mind to the point that my expectations of what God can and WILL do, have enlarged.  I believe that this thinking has given me room to expand my business and watch God continue to exceed my expectations of Him.

In life, you never start with a tree, but a seed.  The seed has to be planted, watered, and nutured so that it can become a tree.  That’s the journey we are on in business and life.  God has given us His faith.  Let’s plant it back in Him (put our faith and trust in Him) since He is the best soil ever.

One more thing.  The scripture above says, “according to the power that works in us.”  What is that power working within you?  I used to think that it was the Holy Spirit.  While that is true, there is another power at work within you.  The power that works in us is our faith in the Holy Spirit and God.

How much do we believe Him so that He can exceed our expectations?  Whatever you believe for, God is going to give you “exceedingly abundantly above”, but imagine if you believed Him for even greater than what you have  been believing Him for?

I think we’re just afraid to believe God for greater things.  Again, the Greek reasoning says to only expect that which is reasonable.  But, do we serve a reasonable God?

Let’s start believing God for more as this year comes to a close.  Let’s begin to watch Him exceed our expectations in 2012 and beyond.

I am with you!

For the first 55 minutes of the game, he only completed 4 passes and was sacked at least 5 times.  For most analysts and NFL junkies he didn’t even look like an NFL quarterback.

Lo and behold, with less than 5 minutes to go in the game, Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos came back from a 15-0 deficit to beat the Miami Dolphins, 18-15, in overtime with a field goal.  According to the Denver Post, no other team has come back from a that big of a deficit with so little time since the 1970, AFL-NFL merger.

How did it happen?

How did Tebow go from 3-11 to13-27 in passing with two touchdown passes and a two-point conversion?

Faith.

The Denver Broncos and Tim Tebow kept believing they could win.  What I love about this story is not just the amount of faith, talent, or execution of plays that won the game, but the fact that God was telling a story…

Isn’t that what life is about?  We don’t always play our best game, complete every pass, run the game plan flawlessly.  More often than not, we end up down 15-0, struggling, and wondering how in the world are we going to make it.

Tebow’s story is a story of redemption.  It is yet to be known whether he will make it in the NFL as a quarterback, but one thing is certain.  On that sunny Sunday afternoon in Miami, Jesus was telling us a story of staying in hope, believing, and giving everything you’ve got.

I believe in your success, just like Tebow’s.  When God sees you, He sees the potential that is within.  You may not have the physical prowess or athletic capability of Tim Tebow, but as a son or daughter of God, you have what it takes to overcome any deficit, to live life with honor, and to always come out on top – no matter what the score in the end is.

Jesus has already won the Super Bowl of life, all we gotta do is play our hearts out…

Thanks Tim for inspiring me to go after life with everything I’ve got…

Instead of tithing to please God, we tithe to get a return. Instead of believing God because He asks us to, we believe Him for the outcome.

So what happens when we believe and it doesn’t turn out the way we wanted it to? What happens when we tithe and our finances don’t change?

Our faith is in Christ because He is who He says He is, not because of what He produces. If you follow the cause and effect gospel I guarantee your faith will be shaken.

I believe Bob Jones says it best, “God is not a gum ball machine.”

One night in the hospital, Lieu. Dan snapped at Gump for saving his life because he thought he should have died on the battlefield.

Dan shouted that he was not Lieu. Dan anymore because he lost his legs and his dignity. Gump in his usual answer said to him, “You’re still Lieutenant Dan.”

Just because you’re legs might have been cut off, wounds have come your way, or life has taken you out, you’re still who God made you.

Your circumstances don’t define who you are.

Your situation doesn’t define who you are.

God defines who you are.

You’re still Lieutenant Dan.

Hope in Him and receive your choice. You are more than an overcomer because you have the choice that leads to hope.

Take it and run into Daddys arms.

The superstar is known for taking over games and saving the day. However, during the finals Lebron appears not up to par. This got me thinking about how I approach Jesus.

Many times, I think of Jesus like Lebron James. I’m expecting him to take over in the fourth quarter and save the game single-handedly. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus is our savior and He saves us from our sins, but Jesus seems to be more interested in playing this game of life with us, not by Himself.

In the NBA there is an award for the Sixth Man. Generally, he is the best player who comes off the bench to help his team win. These guys aren’t starters nor are they superstars, but they play well enough to have an impact on their team resulting in wins and clutch performances.

I believe that God is calling more of us to be the sixth man, not the superstar. You don’t have to be the superstar preacher to make an impact in the kingdom of God, nor be sitting idle on the bench while the rest of the body of christ plays to win.

We need more people in the body of Christ to stand up and be the Sixth Man. More people who will get off the bench and stop expecting God to do everything. Jesus doesn’t need us to play. He could win the whole game single handedly, but He chooses to use you.

Jesus wants to pass you the ball. He wants to see you make the game winning shot, but he cant pass you the ball if you’re sitting on the bench.

It’s time to be the man or woman of God you were meant to be. Heads up, the balls coming you’re way!

Which is to say that anything or anyone that tries to make you feel like you’re an orphan (on your own, no one to help you, have to pull yourself up by the bootstraps) is lying!

It seems that it’s popular these days to be credited for being an orphan.  We worship and adore leaders, business people, entrepreneurs, who have made a testimony of pulling themselves up by their “bootstraps.”

This has created an orphan culture, where “orphans” are worshiped.  Essentially, its cool to be an orphan.

This orphan culture will fall when Jesus, the King of kings, Lord of lord, and Father of all nations reveals Himself as the Father we so desperately need.

The draw of our orphan culture is the lie of lack.  The lie of lack says that we don’t have everything that we need in Christ, so we must go and attain it for ourselves.

Here’s the kicker:  It doesn’t matter what we feel because what Jesus did on the cross and through His resurrection, is more real than what we feel.

Thank God we don’t have to live by our feelings, but by what we know!  We are not orphans, we are children of God, heirs of the promises of God, and anything that comes against that truth is a flat our lie.

Let’s fiercely oppose the lies of lack and the orphan culture that we live in.  You are not alone, you don’t have to do it on your own…You’re a Son of promise!

I run to the next appointment…

I run to the next marketing technique…

I run to making the next sale…

and sometimes I run away from God…

It’s not that I don’t love God or want to spend time with Him, its that I allow the busyness of life and business take over.

“Is there an answer?”

Yes.

“Is it a 7 step system?”

No.

“Then, what is it?”

It’s hope.

“What?”

Before you can make a change, you have to have hope for a change.  By looking into the unseen realms of the heart of God, we begin to see the hope He has for us.

If we look into His heart, we will see that His hope is that we would stop running to everything else, and start running to Him.  You would see that He desires you above all.  You would see that He has hope for you…

Jesus has Hope, not that we can change, but that we will begin to receive all that He has for us.

Spending time with God should not be a drudgery or a punishment, like going to the movies with your parents when your a teenager.  It should be about enjoying our God for who He is, not what He does.

So the hope Jesus has for us is to embrace Him.  When we know we’ve been running, all we have to do is stop, turn around and fall into His arms.  As the Psalms tell us, His mercy is new every morning…

Stop running away and start running into Him (even if you’ve been running for a long time).

Most Christians watch these cultists and think about how sad it is they were deceived, but then figure they get what they deserve for believing a lie.

I feel like God wants to do something different in this situation.  After the end times prophecy did not come true, Mr. Camping was obviously stunned and humbled by his “miscalculation.”

I believe that through this situation, God wants to bring about a hopeful restoration for those who believed this deception from the enemy.  As a “good” Christian its easy to dismiss Harold Camping as a false prophet and his followers as misguided people, but I believe that Jesus wants to restore his hope and faith.

What if God wants to use this as an opportunity to show Mr. Camping and his followers that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah is coming back in all His fullness, but He’s coming back for a beautiful bride, filled with many nations, tribes, and tongues, not just a select few?

Let’s believe in the hopeful restoration of Harold Camping and his followers instead of allowing our “Christian” judgments to get in the way of our love for them.