Life has a way of handing us opportunities, challenges and excitement! Jeremiah 29:11 is so true. I identify these transitional events as God’s continuous allowance for us to develop our full potential.  I am currently at one of those opportune times. So, with a full schedule of things to get done and closures to make here at CSU, I will make this my last post.  

Insights on Success and leadership:

# Listen and learn from everyone.

# Give credit where it is due. Always pass on praise and take the heat when things go wrong.

# Overcome your resistance to change. Change most always presents opportunities for growth. Change is constant, so embrace it with vigor and expectation.

# Keep personal integrity intact.

# Practice servant leadership because we are built to serve.

# Learn to be a good communicator.  

# Create a trusting environment realizing there will always be someone who suspects life in general.

# Be as transparent as the position allows. Have no personal or interpersonal hidden agendas.

# Speak up and share your ideas and insights. You just may be the key to new endeavors.

# Show initiative on a daily basis.

# Keep looking for new challenges.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,,,plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” How awesome is our God!

Prayer Du Jour: “Now unto Him who is able to keep all we commit to Him…both now and forever…To Him be glory for ever.” -Amen.

Dr. Stan Parker

May He send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion (Psalm 20:2).

“Help from the sanctuary”! In the Bible, the sanctuary is always a picture of the place where we meet with God. In Israel it was the temple, the place where the Israelites came to get their thoughts straightened out, to get their thinking corrected. There they met with God, and there they heard the Word of God, the mind and thoughts of God.

In Psalm 73 the psalmist is troubled by the prosperity of the wicked: Why do the ungodly prosper while the righteous seem to be downtrodden so much of the time? This had upset him—until he finally went into the sanctuary. There he began to perceive their end. There he began to see the whole story; he began to see the full picture, and his thoughts were corrected. This is what the sanctuary does.

For us the sanctuary, in part, is the Scriptures. There is where we get help:

• It is there that our minds are illuminated, that we begin to see the world the way it is, not the way it appears to be. There is not one of us who has not already learned that life is not the way it seems to be, that what looks to be the answer and what we are convinced at first is the way things are often turns out to be exactly the opposite. Life is filled with illusion, with deceit; things are not what they appear to be. Doesn’t your heart cry for somebody to tell you the truth, to tell you the way things really are, to open your eyes to what is going on? That is what the Bible does. And unless you are in the Scriptures, there is no help. “May you find help in the sanctuary, in the Scriptures,” is the psalmist’s prayer, “that your eyes might be enlightened and you might understand.”
• Help from the sanctuary and support from Zion. Zion is another name for Jerusalem, the capital of the kingdom. In the Scriptures it stands as a symbol of the invisible kingdom of God with which we are surrounded, made up of ministering angels sent forth to serve those who are to be the heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14). In other words, all the invisible help that God can give you in the day of trouble, in the hour of pressure, is made available by prayer.

Remember that in the Garden of Gethsemane, as Jesus was praying and sweating drops of blood in the height of His agony, an angel appeared and ministered to Him and strengthened Him. I believe that angel was made visible to Him in order that we might be taught a lesson of what happens when we pray. We all have gone into prayer depressed and defeated, but while we prayed we felt our spirits caught up, changed, and strengthened. We come out calm, at rest, and at peace. Why? Because we have received help from Zion!

Prayer Du Jour: Lord, there are far too many places I turn in times of trouble. Teach us to turn to Your sanctuary for the help that we need. -Amen.

And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters… Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away (Genesis 5:22, 24).

I love the story of the little girl who was telling her mother the story of Enoch. She said, “Enoch used to take long walks with God. One day he walked so far God said, ‘It’s too far to go back; come on home with me.’”

What does it mean to walk with God? Here is a man who, in the midst of a brilliant but godless generation, walked with God. What does it mean? Enoch did not literally walk with God; this is unquestionably a figurative expression, but a figurative walk involves the same thing today as it did then.

ONE: It means he went in the same direction God went. He was moving the way God was going. God is forever moving in our personal history. He is moving even now to accomplish certain things in human life, and He has been doing so for centuries. The person who walks with God is the person who knows which way God is going and goes the same way. Now what is that? Perhaps we cannot indicate it positively, but we certainly can negatively: “God moves always in unswerving hostility toward sin.” He is opposed to that which destroys and wrecks human life. And the person who walks with God is the person who walks in unswerving hostility toward sin in his or her own life and refuses to make up with it or permit it to rule or to reign.

TWO: It means to keep in step. You cannot walk with somebody if you do not keep in step with him or her. Sooner or later there comes unbalance, and one of you bumps into the other. Have you ever analyzed your walk? Every time you take a step you almost fall. You allow your body to go off balance, and then you catch yourself with your other leg. Then you shift to that one and you almost fall again, only to catch yourself. The man or woman who walks with God is the man or woman who lives on the verge of a fall. That is an adventurous life. That means if God is not there to support and strengthen you, down you go. You are counting on Him to come through and to keep you steady. A walk with God is always a walk of venturing out! It is forever moving at the same pace God moves. It means taking a step when God insists.

THREE: It means to be in agreement. There was no controversy between God and Enoch. They were in agreement. “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” says the Scriptures (Amos 3:3). This is how we must be. There must be no controversy between us if we are going to walk with God. We must agree with things as He sees them. What changes this makes in our lives!

Prayer Du Jour: Lord, may it be said of me as it was said of Enoch: “He walked with God.” I want to go in Your direction, keeping pace with You. -Amen.

Dr. Stan Parker

Newsweek ran an article this week: The End of Christian America - this study, fueled by the results of the 2009 American Religious Identification Survey. (see this interesting graph).

This is a time when many are experiencing high anxiety, trying troubles, and unsettling fears. Is it possible for someone to have a stable, unshakable heart in such experiences? Yes, when there are at least these three things present:

ONE: A relization that trouble is inevitable. We live in a fallen world. Trials and troubles will come. Unwanted storms have a way of happening to all of us. Don’t be taken by surprise and think some strange thing is happening only to you. God will establish and strengthen you as you allow Him. Read I Peter 4:12-5:10 again and take courage! It reminds us that the Lord is faithful and He will guard and keep us regardless of what is going on around us. Let your heart be established in that fact.

TWO: Have regular fellowship with other believers. There is a stabilizing effect that comes from being vitally (studying God’s Word together, worshipping together, praying together, fellowshipping together) linked to a Christian community and Christian peers. There is certain spiritual impartation (confidence, peace, comfort) in these surroundings that God uses to do His work of establishing our hearts.

THREE: Believe God’s promises. II Chronicles 20:20 says, “Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established.” God has promises for us in times of challenge and stress. There are promises of comfort, guidance, peace, protection, and provision. Search these out in His Word, meditate on them, speak them to yourself and others, act on them as appropriate, and the Holy Spirit will establish an unstable heart. Nations may rise and fall, but God’s words of promise will remain constant, impart courage, and stabilize a troubled mind.

Prayer Du Jour: Lord, we look to You and Your promises to establish our hearts today. You know the trials and troubles we face. Help us to be patient in adversity, faithful in our prayer and walk with You, and always trusting in Your promises. -Amen.

Dr. Stan Parker

Hey, want to pray? Join me in praying for the leaders of the nations of the world. Join me in praying for revival on college and university campuses around the world. Join me in praying for missionaries around the world. Join me in praying for President Obama and the decisions he and his cabinet are making. Join me in praying for our military forces at home and deployed abroad. Join me in praying for the orphans, widows, disenfranchised, and sick. Our God is an awesome God.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Being a self-made person is considered a good thing these days. All around us we tend to have an “I can do it myself” mentality. We somehow don’t feel we’ve really succeeded if we’ve asked for help. However, godly people recognize that they have weaknesses and are willing to accept their dependence on God and allow him to turn weaknesses into strengths.

When God called Moses to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt, Moses argued that he had never been eloquent and was slow of speech and tongue. But God wasn’t concerned about these weaknesses. He wasn’t depending on Moses’ strength - he was looking for his obedience.

Moses did choose to obey God and to trust him. God made him a great leader of millions of people. Moses’ slowness of speech became his strength because it helped him know that he couldn’t begin to do what God was calling him to do on his own - he had to rely on God. And God’s strength is unlimited.

Godly people turn weaknesses into strengths.

If God has called you to do something that seems impossible because of your weaknesses or you feel as though you are not smart enough … or experienced enough … or strong enough, then good! Now you know that you will have to depend on God to get the job done. And he is more than able.

Prayer Du Jour: Lord, I feel so inadequate to do what you’ve led me to do. I thank you for helping me recognize that I can’t do it on my own. I know that as I stop worrying about my inadequacies and start depending on your strengths … the job will get done. -Amen.

Dr. Stan Parker

How would you rate on the boss scale?In economically tough times jobs tend to become more challenging because more and more is expected of everyone, especially the front-line staff. Boosting morale is an important part of the work of a boss who wants to build a positive work environment. However, using the phrase, “Everyone should be thankful if you have a job” too often, will reduce morale instead of increase it.

People who never thought of standing in an unemployment line are doing so these days.  You can see hurt, shame, uncertainty, despair and many other emotions expressed through their eyes, their frowns and their posture.

If you are a senior pastor, senior supervisor, senior manager, or senior anything, here are some excellent ways to earn gold stars with your staff or employees. These practices will increase your rating on the Great Boss Scale and enable you, as well as your staff, to be more effective.

• Make yourself available
• Communicate clearly
• Remember “Please” and “Thank You”
• Praise a job well done
• Accept responsibility for your mistakes
• Pray for your staff daily and let them know you are doing so

Prayer Du Jour: Lord, help me to be the type of boss who demonstrates the fruit of the Spirit in the work environment. May I demonstrate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (See Galatians 5:22-23). -Amen.

Dr. Stan Parker