by David Delp | Sep 12, 2016 | Spiritual Life, Uncategorized
Donna and I have both had to walk through a rebuilding of our faith. Our former definition of faith was something like, “believing that God will do anything you direct him to do because you are his favorite person.” Ummm… not exactly… The Scriptures are always quite clear that we are to be seekers of God’s will and not ours—because His plan is better, even when it looks like his plan stinks!
This isn’t a theological discussion, it is about our lives and the way we’ve grown to be at peace with something that we cannot fully understand. God is who he is, he is “I AM.” We, as the creation and not the creator, do not have the prerogative to create God in our own image, but it is ours to open our lives up to him that we may know him, as much as God is knowable, for who he is.
Some believe faith is based solely on the statement of scripture. Our experiences must be discounted in favor of scripture. If scripture says God performs miracles, then he does whether or not we ever actually see a miracle.
Others say faith is experientially based. While honoring scripture as our “all sufficient rule for faith and conduct,” our experience proves God’s miraculous ability. A person with a testimony is more influential than someone with merely an intellectual argument. A weakness of experiential thinking comes when our experiences do not jibe with our belief or knowledge. When we believe that God can perform a miracle, say… a healing, and he does not, then our experience informs us that God does not perform miracles.
Some others say that God performs miracles according to our faith, and when we ask without result the “fault” lies with us because we were not faithful enough, prayerful enough, or good enough. We didn’t pray the right way.
Yep, Donna and I have waded through all of that stuff. We’ve been on a journey of rediscovery and trust. As a result, our faith has grown to previously unknown levels. Now, rather than basing my faith on my own strength, ability, intellect, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, education, etc., my faith is based upon a simple trust in God, as it should have been all along.
I have come to think of faith on four practical levels.
Level One Faith: A Belief that God CAN Do the Miraculous
Both Donna and I grappled with faith questions as we navigated the disappointment of grief. I never deeply doubted that God could do anything, but I wasn’t sure he WOULD do the miraculous. A level one faith questions whether or not God is active on this earth. We observe pain and suffering in this world and we pose temporal explanations for the seemingly miraculous. We believe God can, but will he?
Level Two Faith: A Belief that God DOES do the Miraculous
The testimony of Scripture, the testimony of people we trust, and our own personal observations and recollections reinforce that God does do mighty things. At level two, a doubt remains as to whether or not God will move on our behalf, because we may not deserve it, but God does do miraculous things.
Level Three Faith: A Belief that God will do the Miraculous In and For Me
This has been a journey of trust. I do not know why God chooses to release his power to miraculously heal a dying person in one instance and withholds the power in another instance. I can think of a hundred reasons why he might, but I choose to make it simple—I choose to walk faithfully with God and trust him. A level three faith brings me to the place of daring to believe that not only can God do great things, and not only does he do great things, but he does great things in my life. We will not understand everything, but God is motivated by love toward us.
This third level of faith requires trust. What I see or don’t see may trouble me, but when I place my trust in God, my perspectives change and my faith stabilizes.
Level Four Faith: A Belief that God will do the Miraculous Through Me
God and I are still working on the perfecting of a level four faith in me. A level four faith is NOT about seeking the miraculous, it is about being the miraculous. It is about being an instrument in God’s hands and participating in the simple yet miraculous transformation in the world around us.
Level four faith is living in the belief that God accepts me; he actually likes me, even when I do not. He is gracious and merciful. Discovery of a level four faith opens huge doors of opportunity, because it is only when I believe, truly believe that not only will God do great things, he calls us to participate in his divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). A level four faith requires obedient trust in God.
Donna and I want you to know that when you are shaken you don’t have to be destroyed. God really does work through the tough stuff to prove himself faithful. When you’re feeling beat up, challenged, hurt, or disillusioned, dare to believe that when we trust and grow in our faith we discover that…
… God CAN do mighty things,
… God DOES do mighty things,
… God will do mighty things in your life,
… and God will do mighty things through your life so you can realize his purpose and plan for your life.
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!
by David Delp | Jun 12, 2015 | Spiritual Life, Uncategorized
How do you know if you are following the right agenda? I want to follow “God’s agenda”, but sometimes what I really want is God’s approval of my own agenda. Funny how God’s voice and my voice can sound a lot alike.
(NOTE: Spirituality is important and is one of the big 5 for this blog: Spiritual Life, Self-Leadership, Life-Management, Relationships, and Vocation.)
I’ve been slowly working my way through the book of Joshua (Bible: Old Testament) in my personal reflection times. It is the story of Joshua leading a million former slaves into a new life, into their “promised land.” In chapter 3 they come to the Jordan river at flood stage and they must strategically cross. The priests were leading the people carrying the Ark of the Covenant, which represented God’s Presence. When the priests put their feet in the swollen Jordan river the water dammed up some distance upstream and the priests and the people walked across the Jordan River bed on dry ground. They walked into God’s agenda for their lives.
They stepped into the water and a miracle happened. The river dried up so they could strategically walk across. Some thoughts:
- They moved forward in God’s agenda
- The miracle didn’t happen until they took a risk
- They moved with the Presence of God
I’ve spent my life trying to discover the perfect path. I’ve cycled through a lot of different thoughts:
- Maybe God has a perfect plan for my life and it will just happen.
- Maybe God’s plan will only be fulfilled if I aggressively make it happen.
- Maybe there is no real plan for my life and out of my spiritual intuitiveness I need to just craft a plan.
- Maybe there are a lot of good paths for me to walk and I just need to pick one.
- Maybe “stuff” just happens and it really doesn’t matter what I do.
I’ve had good things happen over which I wanted to “high-five” God and say, “Yeah, we did it!” I’ve had bad things happen (such as the untimely and sudden death of my first wife after 33 years of marriage) where I just looked at the sky and said, “What the heck was that!” These things have caused me to ask all of the bulleted “may-bes” above.
Here’s the deal:
We must discover the difference between our agenda and God’s agenda.
How do I then differentiate between my agenda and God’s agenda?
- I must first determine why God’s agenda is important or relevant.
- I must act on what I believe and take risks.
- I must move with the Presence of God
God’s Agenda is Important and Relevant
We are part of a bigger picture. We can become so individualistic in our thinking we discount the importance of community and how we all interface together for the common good of all. Sometimes it seems there is no plan and we are all on our own, but my faith and experience tells me otherwise.
Our relationships make us rich, without them life loses meaning.
There are good things to experience, things and relationships that bring so much meaning into our lives. I don’t want to leave my future to chance. I don’t do it in my strategic thinking and planning for organizations, processes, and leadership, and I don’t want to leave it undone for my personal life and those I am leading.
It takes a measure of faith to believe life has a purpose beyond the “dash between the dates”. God’s agenda, His plan and purpose for my life, is relevant to me and I want to discover the right paths to walk in my life, because I desire the right destination.
In Joshua’s story the river did not stop for the people, it stopped for the Presence of God. The river did not stop for Joshua’s agenda, or the people’s agenda, the river stopped because it was God’s agenda.
Arrogance leads me to expect miracles to take place to fulfill my agenda, faith leads me to expect miracles to take place to fulfill God’s agenda.
God’s agenda is both important and relevant because if I operate out of a grand and divine purpose I am going to approach mandates with a God-confidence instead of a self-confidence.
Question: How do you discover God’s agenda for your life? How do you help those you lead discover and pursue God’s agenda for their life?
Act on What you Believe and Take Risks
To take the most important national treasure (The Ark) and step into a river at flood stage is a risk. Remember all the stories of those who try to drive across a flooded road and their 2-ton car is swept away by the current?
I need to anchor in a few things I believe so strongly that I am willing to take huge risks. If it is about me, then I’m a little uncomfortable with that. If it is about what I believe to be a divine direction, then lets step in and do it.
Here’s the thing: We need a duel preparedness. If we step in and the river dries up, cool! If we step in, get swept down river, lose the ark and nearly (or completely) lose our lives, at least we stepped out in something we truly believed to be the right thing–and I’m good with that!
Stop being afraid of making the wrong decision, just have a pure heart, do the best you can with the right motives, and go for it!
Question: How do we help those we lead become risk-takers?
Move With the Presence of God
The ark represented the Presence of God. They followed God. This is key.
We must give attention to the development of our spiritual lives. As transformational leaders we need to give as much time and attention to the spiritual development of those we love and lead as to their professional and temporal development. Sometimes that takes the form of setting an example, or being transparent with your own spirituality in a way appropriate to the relationship.
I position myself daily to quiet my spirit, to get in the Presence of God. Rather than talk endlessly about all of the things I want or need, or the things I just want to get off my chest, I get quiet and I listen. Oh, the insights that come when you listen and journal.
How do we move with the Presence of God:
- We quiet ourselves and listen for insights and impressions.
- We look for the activity of God around us, what does He seem to be doing?
- We listen to the insights of people in our lives we trust.
- Most of all, we seek to have a pure heart with the right motivations so we can trust our spiritual instincts.
I want to be a risk-taker. I want to move forward with what I believe to be God’s agenda.
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