by David Delp | May 17, 2018 | Leadership, Podcast Episodes
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If only God included a blueprint design for our lives when we were born so the design could be meticulously followed. One of the greatest concerns for Christ followers and spiritual leaders is being faithful to the will of God for our lives, but it can seem so nebulous. God has hardwired a blueprint into your life. It is revealed though listening to his heartbeat, observing the passions emerging within us, paying attention to the paths of our lives, and established through our actions, habits and practices.
In this episode, and in the notes that follow, we discuss the blueprint God has provided us that we may faithfully follow his design for our lives.
Continue reading for the article and episode notes.
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by David Delp | Dec 21, 2017 | Grief & Disappointment, Podcast Episodes, Spiritual Life
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The promise of Emmanuel, God with us, is not only a Christmas story, it is our life and hope. Incarnation was and is about God presenting himself in our context to be with us and reveal himself to us. Christ in you is your opportunity to “be Jesus” in a world that needs him. Jesus is a friend to sinners and wants to be with them. The way he does that is through you. That is how the great and indescribable God reveals himself, through you!
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by David Delp | Jul 27, 2017 | Leadership, Podcast Episodes, Spiritual Life, Uncategorized
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Have you ever thought about getting an annual spiritual alignment? About once a year we take a week out of our schedule to align our life vision with our spiritual life. This spiritual and strategic retreat is essential to calibrating our listening to the Spirit of God and aligning our forward movement according to the revelation gained during that week. We have to do a lot of ongoing calibration throughout the year, but this retreat, without fail, sets the agenda for the next 12 to 18 months of our lives.
Continue reading for a description of how an annual spiritual and strategic retreat can be life changing for you. You may want to read the article, listen to the podcast, or both. (more…)
by David Delp | Dec 19, 2016 | Grief & Disappointment, Joyful Living, Uncategorized
I love Christmas; It’s the holiday season I’m not so sure about. No this isn’t a rant about shopping, but thoughts about the holidays for those who have recently, and not so recently, lost someone they love.
[shareable]Holidays are both joyous and challenging.[/shareable]
Losing someone is losing a piece of your world that you will never get back. It is a hole in your life that nothing else ever fills, because a unique and loved person is irreplaceable. There are two spheres of impact: (1) The more loved the person and (2) the more interwoven the person was into our life or “world”, the greater the disruption. Donna and I have started a new and joy-filled life, but neither of us is a replacement for the person we lost. We are coming more and more to realize and deeply desire newness, allowing old things to pass away, redefining our world, embracing tightly the people we love, and moving into a new, unique, and exciting world. Etc. (more…)
by David Delp | Jun 21, 2015 | Relationships, Spiritual Life, Uncategorized
Dad taught me the power of believing in myself. Mom taught me the power of believing in God. Mom taught me to pursue the Presence of God and Dad taught me how to develop processes to implement and execute vision.
I am so weary of those who focus solely on plans and strategies to sucessfully push and shove their own agenda on everyone around them through sheer willpower and transactional leadership skill.
I am also weary of those who criticize those gifted to craft a strategy to fulfill a God-given vision because somehow they think it more spiritual to camp in the euphoria of the Presence, never fulfilling divinely birthed directives.
I am thankful for a Mom who taught me to value and seek the Presence of God in my life. She taught me dependence on God and to always seek God’s agenda. I am thankful for a Dad who taught me how to think and how to believe in what God had put in me.
We need to seek God’s agenda, His purpose and plan, His direction. We need to seek his empowerment to accomplish what He puts in our hearts. We need to understand how God made us and how He wired us.
My calling is to place my ear on the chest of the Father, listen to his heart beat, and then do what I heard. (Quote inspired by Henri Nouwin)
Once we hear and know God’s agenda, then it’s time to act, it’s time to believe in the gifts and abilities God has given us, it’s time to have confidence in what we’ve heard and build out an inspired plan.
Sometimes our purpose or calling is complex, but it finds fulfillment in layers of simple steps.
I need to courageously attempt things big enough that without God’s help I will fail, but also understand He has uniquely developed within me the faith, courage, experience and abilities necessary to do what He is directing.
Thanks Mom, for teaching me to rely on God and not self.
Thanks Dad, for teaching me that God put good abilities and gifts in me.
The mix of these two, Presence and process, have made me who I am. I want to fully follow God’s agenda and I want to build structures and processes that will actually accomplish the vision.
On this Father’s Day I am thankful for strength in the two things I must have, the Presence of God and the process thinking to accomplish God’s agenda.
As a transformational leader, give attention to those two things in the lives of those you love and lead!
