Christian Blog

Creativity is the activity of our God; Creator of all things.  Therefore, our “inner circle” needs to have creative influencers.  In other words, you need to include highly creative people in your circle.  These folks will bring a wonderful portion of God’s creative Genius–Christ–to your inspired visions and efforts; expanding a good vision to a great reality!

I love surrounding myself with creative people; the sky is the limit with these folks.  Their motto is: pull out the stops and dream BIG in Christ!  Personally, I can be somewhat creative.  That is not good enough when it comes to manifesting a creative vision or project from our God.  Why?  God loves the “family” context; enjoys when His family works together. The Spirit brings inspiration and power as we connect to Christ in one another. Therefore, we need to include creative people in our inner circle who will add and build to our ideas and plans.  If you are not especially creative, don’t worry.  Simply invite creative people to join your efforts.  It is exciting to work together in manifesting the inspired work of God in this world.  The Church–the Creator’s family–ought to be the most creative people around. So connect!

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.  He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.  He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see…everything was created through him and for him.”  1 Colossians 1:15-16 

I have been seeking to encourage you to understand the value and importance of the people within your “inner circle.”  Carefully choose the people you allow to influence you.  Within that circle you need a great mentor.  Christ wants to be your Ultimate Mentor; one on one times with Jesus cannot be replaced.   However, God also brings mentors who will help to bring growth and development to you and your life dream.  Let’s look at an example from the Bible.

Every Christ follower is also required to be a leader or mentor of others; it is how the Good News is spread throughout the world.  Elijah was the mentor of Elisha (1 Kings 19; 2 Kings 2)).  It was God’s plan to spiritually groom Elisha through this strong prophet, Elijah. What types of things did Elisha learn through this connection?  Elisha began to understand his leadership call in life, how to wait patiently for the right leadership timing, and the necessity for surrender to divine Lordship.  It is the way we grow and develop into all God is calling us to be as His people.  A mentor is someone who takes a great interest in you and is willing to share and release things in his/her realm of spiritual influence to allow you to grow in character and develop as a leader. Be careful when choosing your mentor; choose someone who really models the love and grace of God. An immature and self-serving mentor is of little value in your inner circle, because he/she will halt your spiritual progress. 

When Elijah had completed everything God had intended him to do on earth, he said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.” Elisha said to Elijah, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.” (2 Kings 2:9)  In the will and purposes of God, Elijah’s spirit rested upon Elisha as he continued living a powerful life in connection with God.

The Holy Spirit gives every believer amazing spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:4).  These gifts are unique and diverse.  I like to think of them as complementary gifts.  You might ask, “Complementary to what, Mary?”

The gifts God places within the people around you are to be complementary in their relationship to you.  As well, your gifts are to be complementary in relationship to others.  God works in different ways; the gifts we each have also work in different ways.  We need to make sure we bring people with diverse gifts into our inner circle.  Warning!  The enemy is very crafty; great as a Liar.  Many times the enemy will stir up your soul by getting you to second guess the intentions and motives of the people around you; to get you to be jealous of the spiritual gifts of others. People who can offer you pros and cons to your thinking are valuable to you.  Celebrate them; avoid feeling threatened.   Don’t buy in to the work of the enemy; he’s divisive and doesn’t want God’s gifts to unite.  Why?  Because there is great power in that place.  So, be excited about the gifts people around you have and find a way to allow them to personally help you to grow and develop.  Your life is about “your” journey.  No one can take or rob you of your value and place in God’s kingdom.

God views us as many pieces of love that should fit together to make one in Christ. The Bible says it this way, “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.” 1 Cor 12:7 

Agape–the pure and passionate love of God–seeks to heal everyone who pursues our Maker.  This love has been given to those who believe in the human manifestation of Love–Jesus.  Jesus lived the passion and now teaches us how to love.  We, too, must live to release the passion.  It is essential, therefore, that we spend time with passionate people; people who love God, as well as love and value other people.

Frankly, when we say we love and belong to God and we cannot even love the people around us with whom we disagree, we are babies in agape.  We need to learn from people who better understand God’s love.  Let’s look closely at the people around us. If we choose to spend time with some who are more mature in living agape, we will grow and flourish.

“All who love me will do what I say.  My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.” John 14:23 

Sally jumped up as soon as she saw the Surgeon come out of the operating room. She said: “How is my little boy? Is he going to be O.K.? When can I see him?”

The Surgeon said, “I’m sorry, we did all we could.” Sally said, “Why do little children get cancer? Doesn’t GOD care any more? GOD, where were you when my son needed you?”

The Surgeon said, “One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes to let you spend time with your son’s remains before it’s transported to the university.” Sally asked that the nurse stay with her while she said good-bye to her son.

Sally ran her fingers through his thick red curly hair. The nurse said, “Would you like a lock of his hair?” Sally nodded yes. The nurse cut a lock of his hair and put it in a plastic bag and handed it to Sally. Sally said, “It was Jimmy’s idea to give his body to the university for study. He said it might help somebody else,” and that is what he wanted.

I said no at first, but Jimmy said, “Mom I won’t be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy to be able to spend one more day with his mother.” Sally said, “My Jimmy had a heart of gold, always thinking of someone else and always wanting to help others if he could.”

Sally walked out of the Children’s Hospital for the last time now after spending most of the last 6 months there. She sat the bag with Jimmy’s things in it on the seat beside her in the car. The drive home was hard and it was even harder to go into an empty house.

She took the bag to Jimmy’s room and started placing the model cars and things back in his room exactly where he always kept them. She laid down across his bed and cried herself to sleep holding his pillow.

Sally woke up about midnight, and laying beside her on the bed was a letter folded up. She opened the letter and it said:

Dear Mom,

I know your going to miss me, but don’t think that I will ever forget you or stop loving you because I’m not around to say I LOVE YOU. I’ll think of you every day mom, and I’ll love you even more each day. Some day we will see each other again.

If you want to adopt a little boy so you won’t be so lonely, he can have my room and my old stuff to play with. If you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn’t like the same things as us boys do, so you will have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like.

Don’t be sad when you think about me. This is really a great place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see everything here. The angels are so friendly and I love to watch them fly.

Jesus doesn’t look like any of the pictures I saw of Him, but I knew it was Him as soon as I saw Him. He took me to see GOD! And guess what mom? I got to sit on GOD’S knee and talk to Him like I was somebody important. I told GOD that I wanted to write you a letter and tell you good-bye and everything, but I knew that wasn’t allowed.

God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter with. I think Gabriel is the name of the angel that is going to drop this letter off to you.

God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him about — where was He when I needed him? God said, “The same place He was when Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children. ”

Oh, by the way Mom, nobody else can see what is written on this paper but you. To everyone else, it looks like a blank piece of paper.

I have to give God His pen back now. He has some more names to write in the Book Of Life. Tonight I get to sit at the table with Jesus for Supper. I’m sure the food will be great.

I almost forgot to let you know — Now I don’t hurt anymore and the cancer is all gone. I’m glad because I couldn’t stand that pain anymore. And God couldn’t stand to see me suffer the pain either, so He sent The Angel of Mercy to get me. The Angel said I was Special Delivery!

Signed with love from:

God, Jesus and Me

Acquaintances are nice.  Friends are better.  We all need to surround ourselves with people who really care for us and want us to succeed in life.  The people in your “inner circle” need to be chosen carefully.  As we recently discussed, bringing folks in who have experience to share will make your circle powerful. The people who will make your circle solid are those who have a heart for God; people who are built on the Rock.

God desires to be first in our lives; life came from God.  Therefore, when you invite people into your inner circle, make sure he or she is a person who has placed God first in his or her life. They will serve as role models in their relationship with God.  Remember, your inner circle is made up of people who are going to help you become all that you were created to be; they celebrate your potential and are willing to make the journey with you.

So, be very selective with whom you allow to influence your life.  You need people who place God first and uphold His values.  These people will ignite your faith and hold you accountable to the necessary spiritual growth and development.  If you surround yourself with people who have no passion for God; your dream will dwindle.

People watch people; others are always watching us.  It is a little scary if you think about it long enough.  That makes us influential regardless of our position or job.  Certainly, this knowledge puts a great deal of personal responsibility for our choices on the line, doesn’t it?

If we are calling ourselves Christ followers, people will be looking for Jesus to show up in our choices and decisions. Our choices make us credible Christians.  Jesus was all about making choices that were other-focused;  making decisions based on how they benefited the people around him. He went from one “life moment” to another thinking about how he could bless others with God’s love.  You might say, “Mary, come on that was Jesus.  He was the God-man. That was his purpose.”  Yes, but if Christ lives in us, do we really think his ways and desires to touch lives has changed?  I believe Christ in us still wants to stop along the way of our days to touch lives.  You and I will need to make the necessary choices that allow Jesus those moments.

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” Matthew 9:35  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

We are influential whether we realize it or not; others around us are watching. We can be influential in good ways, or poor ways! We must choose; make a decision.  It is a personal responsiblity. We are called by God to be a credible people; our life needs to match our words and our motive should be to add value to others.  As Christ followers, are we soaring in credibility?

To answer this question, it might be good to examine our “consistency” meter.  God calls us to “be” authentic people; the same person no matter who’s with us. It is human nature to want to impress some folks; we can compromise our testimony when we seek to be a people pleaser.  Be consistent no matter who you are with and live right before God.

“Even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure, and whether it is right.”  Proverbs 20:11

We have been discussing how to “connect” with difficult personalities; people who are a challenge to love.  God’s grace is always available to give us the strength to be loving to others.  Now, whether we respond and receive that grace is another thing, isn’t it?  As important as it is to learn how to positively influence and minister to everyone around us, it is essential that we pay attention to the people we invite into our relational inner circle of connection because they will influence us.

A challenge for you today:  Do you bring people into your inner circle who have positive and rich life experience?  These folks have been down the road a piece and contain great wisdom and tools for your life.  Set yourself up to learn and gain essential understanding from them; invite them in and connect.  Tap into Christ in others and you will find a great treasure.  “In him lie hid all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge.”

God is the Creator and he has made many kinds of people; many different personality types.  Some people can be a challenge when it comes to making relational connections.  These challenges can be good as they cause us to work toward unity.  God calls us to be One in Christ Jesus.  Well, that certainly will take some work!  Because we are more powerful together than in isolation, we need to press through the difficulties to find a way to “connect” with one another.  Today’s difficult personality is a drag to the emotions: The Downer.

No matter how full the glass seems to you, The Downer will not be able to see it.  This person struggles to entertain a positive thought; negativity is the benchmark.  Life’s challenges have robbed his/her ability to grab hold of the greater Hope. Sadly, although this person might have great potential to be a leader, no one will allow him/her to lead because they would drag everyone around them down.

Possible Coping Strategies:  Extend compassion and seek to paint a new picture of life for The Downer.  But for the grace of God, the Lifter of our heads, we could all wind up living life as The Downer. Can you testify that life can rob you if you allow it?  It is only when we set our focus on things above that we have Hope; live for eternity.  If you and I only looked at our circumstances, we would be BLUE…too.  Honesty is really important when dealing with The Downer; he/she may not realize how negative they sound.  It has become a lifestyle; a comfort zone.  Put on the love of Christ, call forth a heart of compassion, and tell those who tend to be negative how that spirit affects you; tell the Truth. Don’t cater to the negativity; confront it.  God just might be calling you to be a positive mouthpiece that brings discipline to another of His children.  Will you be God’s mouthpiece to lift The Downer?

“No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening-it’s painful!  But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.” Hebrews 12:11.