IANN SCHONKEN.COM

James 1:2-8
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Have you become half-hearted, double-minded, unstable in what you do?

Believe God. Believe that He will give you the wisdom you need for your situation.

What is trying to pull the heart out of you right now?

Call it by its name and declare that the Name of Jesus and power of Jesus is greater than this thief, this robber and murderer of hope in your heart!

• Decide right now: I will not lose heart!
• Decide right now: I will encourage myself in the Lord!
• Position yourself in environments that will help you protect your heart.
• Fill your eyes and ears with encouraging promises from God’s Word.
• Fill your mouth with the prayers and praise that God wants to hear.

People are waiting on you to help them regain their hearts.

Don't lose heart ... consider it pure joy!

1. Call someone you trust and pray with them about the one thing that tries to make you lose heart.
2. Encourage everyone you meet today! Tell them to not lose heart!

In this time with so many people discouraged and overwhelmed, I share these thoughts on “not losing heart.” I preached from these notes last year in May after listening to a sermon by Pastor Brian Houston from Australia. I present these ideas in six subsequent posts.

WHEN DO PEOPLE LOSE HEART?

4. People Lose Heart When They Get Stuck In The Rut Of Merely Going Through The Motions Of Serving God.

Maybe you are still reading the Bible, praying and praising God. Maybe you are still faithfully serving His people in your local church, but it all has lost its spark, its passion, its heart. Almost like Martha, who lost her joy and became discouraged in the midst of serving the Lord. She even felt the need to complain about her sister to the Lord.

On the other hand, her sister Mary knew to seek His face first, and to sit in His presence long enough to find out what He desires. That positioned her to not become weary and lose heart, like Martha did. She considered Him first!

Hebrews 12:3
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Don’t get tired in the battle!

If you are feeling like Martha, with fatigue settling into your life, consider HIM!

Look at His life, His sacrifice, His example, His faithfulness, His promises ....

Consider Him, don’t just go through the mechanics of serving Him. If not, you will be defeated and overwhelmed by life’s many challenges.

2 Samuel 22:46
46 They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.

David had a revelation of what happens when people lose heart ... They will end up coming trembling from their strongholds (their place of refuge and safety) and they will submit to the opposition.

 That’s why David urged King Saul and the people to not lose heart at the sight of Goliath, the Philistine giant.

Maybe that is what is happening to many believers right now .... They are abandoning their Refuge, their Stronghold, namely the Lord. They are submitting to the opposition with trembling, because they have lost heart in the midst of the battle!

It is imperative, of utmost importance, to take heart in the midst of our trials, our tribulations, and to not lose our cheer, our courage, our zeal and passion for God, for His House or His cause! 

We must keep our heart, our zeal for the purposes of God!

Whatever it is that God called you to do ... don’t lose your heart for it! So many things in your life are trying to pull your heart out of your God-given purpose and destiny. You cannot allow this to happen!

You cannot afford to lose your passion, your fire, your zeal for God’s purposes in your life! The enemy wants you to lose heart, and to come trembling out of your Stronghold, surrendering to mediocrity and compromise.

Again, if you are feeling like Martha, with fatigue settling into your life, consider HIM! Look at His life, His sacrifice, His example, His faithfulness, His promises …. Don’t just go through the mechanics of serving Him.

Consider Him first.

 WHEN DO PEOPLE LOSE HEART?

3. People Lose Heart When They Get Emotional About What Is Happening In Their Nation.

Jeremiah 51:46

46 Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.

When you start looking at ...

    •    The forecasts
    •    The indexes
    •    The reviews
    •    The reports of the pundits
    •    The price of fuel
    •    The prognosticators

.... it is tempting to lose heart. You may even start to question all your beliefs and assumptions ….

    •    What is going to happen to us in these troubled times?
    •    Who will help us?
    •    Where will we go?
    •    What will we do?

Listen carefully. You cannot be swayed and ruled by every wind of change that blows through the land and around your life!

If you are going to live like that, your faith will go out the window and fear will walk in the front door!

Look at some the people in the Bible ... people like Joseph, Elijah, and Daniel who stayed faithful and powerful until the end, regardless of what was happening to their nation. They somehow believed that God can turn everything "right side up" again.

Don’t get spooked by the gloom and doom of what seems to be your tomb! It is not over yet! God can still show up and turn the tables on all the naysayers.

    •    Jesus said that He will never leave us or forsake us! If you are still alive, Jesus is right there next to you.
    •    Jesus said that He is the Resurrection and the Life. Even if you die, He will resurrect you into something better!
    •    Jesus said, “Don’t lose heart!”
 
Don’t get into listening to and spreading all the bad news rumors.

    •    Build faith, not fear!
    •    Faith stands, regardless of circumstances!

There would be no point to have faith if you were living in a perfect world!

    •    Have faith in Jesus! Don’t lose heart, take heart. Be of good cheer!

Question: Are you losing heart over the rumors of bad times in your nation?

Remember, God is not done with your nation yet!

by jaroslavd on flckrIn this time with so many people discouraged and overwhelmed, I share these thoughts on “not losing heart.” I preached from these notes last year in May after listening to a sermon by Pastor Brian Houston from Australia. I present these ideas in six subsequent posts.

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WHEN DO PEOPLE LOSE HEART?

2. People Lose Heart When They Get Overwhelmed By Their Circumstances.

It is natural and to be expected that whenever you see the size of your challenges, to be tempted to lose heart. Young David knew to resist the temptation to lose heart when he addressed King Saul regarding the giant Goliath:

I Samuel 17:32
32 David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."

David faced his big problems by depending and leaning on the strength of his even greater God! As the story goes, he defeated that giant and obtained the great reward of a champion.

However, David did not always have it easy in his life, yet he carried his experiences and lessons forward into his tough seasons. Even after a particularly devastating day in which his whole camp was plundered and all the women and children were carried off into captivity, David still knew not to lose heart. Instead, he made a quality decision to encourage and strengthen himself in the Lord.

1 Samuel 30:3-6
6 David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

After this he received a clear instruction from the Lord to pursue his enemies, and he gained back everything the enemy stole from him.

Today, we too can make a quality decision to not be discouraged, but to encourage and strengthen ourselves in the Lord. I believe that God will see our hearts turn towards Him to receive strength and wisdom, and that He will show us the next steps to victory, regardless of our circumstances!

via Philgarlic on flickrIn this time with so many people discouraged and overwhelmed, I share these thoughts on “not losing heart.” I preached from these notes last year in May after listening to a sermon by Pastor Brian Houston from Australia. I present these ideas in six subsequent posts.

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WHEN DO PEOPLE LOSE HEART?

1. People Lose Heart When They Listen To The Opinions Of Others.

It is so easy to listen to the wrong voices and to believe other people’s perspectives. These negative voices can drown out the promises of God in our hearts.

Although they knew what God promised them, the Israelites were adversely affected by the negative opinions of ten spies, and they perished in the wilderness, unable to enter the Promised Land. Their inability to shut out the opinions of men robbed them of their inheritance.

Listen to the language of fear as they tried to explain their situation:

Deuteronomy 1:28
28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, 'The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.' "

There is a challenge for us in this story: Are we more apt to discuss the opinions of people than the promises of God?

Look at the logic of their argument: They feel shorter and weaker than their opponents, while those are irrelevant factors in the battles ahead! In fact, in the next generation we see that God defeated their enemies in spectacular and creative ways. Their strength or size had nothing to do with their divinely ordained victories over their enemies!

Tall buildings? These were the exaggerations of faithless spies who tried to instill fear in the hearts of God’s people. God leveled those walls and buildings in one moment about forty years later! God squashed those cities and giants in a moment!

“THEY say!”
Who are "THEY?"

Don’t listen to what THEY SAY when it comes to the will of God in your life!

Remember how Jesus told needy people to, “take heart?”

Regardless of how imposing the odds against you and however unlikely victory seems to be …. be like Bartimaus, who did not allow people’s voices to stop him as he called out to Jesus. In fact, he yelled even louder to attract Jesus when they tried to “shhhh” him. It almost seems as if he believed that his miracle depended on his tenacity in pushing past those voices into the healing presence of Jesus.

Don’t lose heart because of people’s opinions. God’s opinion makes man’s opinion irrelevant! Focus on God’s opinion.

Don’t lose heart! Half-heartedness will never cause the purposes of God to come to pass in your life. Remember that without faith it is impossible to please Him! (See Hebrews 11:6)

Are you listening to the negative opinions of others? Or, are you considering God’s opinion to be most important for your life?

via creativesam on flickrIn this time with so many people discouraged and overwhelmed, I share these thoughts on “not losing heart.” I preached from these notes last year in May after listening to a sermon by Pastor Brian Houston from Australia. I present these ideas in six subsequent posts.
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 Genesis 12:1-4
1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you [your seed] all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.

It is clear from this scripture that God wanted to bless Abram. However, once God delivered His promise, many years passed before Abraham actually had a son. He had many years and many opportunities to doubt God’s willingness to honor His promises. It must have been difficult for this man to keep on believing God while the facts of his life contradicted God’s promises.

Likewise, it is possible for us to lose our cheer and to become double-minded in our pursuit of God when God seems to take His time. Trials, temptations, bad news, rumors of dread and gloom ... All these factors create an environment in which it is possible to lose heart, to become discouraged.

As we fast forward in the Bible, we find the four Gospels, where it is told how Jesus was interacting with many people who were in the grips of discouragement and despair.

Matthew 9:1-2
1 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."

At the very moment, right before the man was to receive his blessing, his miracle, Jesus encouraged him to “take heart” or to “be encouraged.” 

Isn’t it interesting that right before his breakthrough, that paralyzed man most needed to take heart, and not lose heart!

We can learn from this that our miracle will require heart; it will require faith and courage to obey God and to obtain the blessing.

Jesus encouraged others in the same way:

Matthew 9:20-22
20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." 22 Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.

He told her to be encouraged! “Hold on now, your blessing is here! Don’t lose heart!”

Jesus did not only require this from others, but He also exemplified it in order to inspire us. In spite of opposition and persecution, He remained positive and confident that everything will turn out good.

Hebrews 12:3
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Your heart represents your passion, your emotional energy and zeal. Don’t grow weary and lose your passion, your emotional energy and zeal!

In speaking of Jesus, it was clear that He had "heart" for His assignments in this world. In the following two instances, it is apparent that Jesus was whole-heartedly involved in what He did. He wasn’t half-hearted … He did not lose heart!

First, in the cleansing of the temple, He passionately cleared that place of worship of anything offensive to His Father.

John 2:17
17 His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."

Second, He had great compassion for hurting people as He travelled from village to village in Palestine.

Matthew 9:36
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus is our example. It is very important to understand that if your heart is no longer in your worship, your job, or your marriage, you have become half-hearted. You are becoming a liability to your employer, and you are losing your viability as an asset to your organization, group or relationship.

Half-heartedness is a robber of potential, of life, of relationships, and of your relationship with God.

 Know that half-heartedness in any area of your life may affect literally every other area of your life. 

Half-heartedness will ultimately affect your heart for ...

    •    God
    •    God’s House
    •    Your relationships
    •    Your job
    •    Your endeavors

In short, you cannot afford to lose heart!


Paul stated in his letter to the Philippians that he has learned, "in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased [humiliated, caused to feel shame; have my pride hurt] and I know how to abound [to be plentiful; to be very prevalent; to overflow]. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phillippians 4:11-13 [definitions added]

In our culture, under a constant barrage of advertising telling us we need more, we have to work especially hard not to feel discontented. If Paul had to "learn" how to be content in whatever state he found himself in, I believe that we really need to apply ourselves in this area.

I came across the article below which reminded me to guard my heart against wanting more and more and more, never being satisfied. The author writes about the "manufactured desires" that we wrestle with in our ad-driven culture, and how we ought to "manufacture contentment" as a defensive strategy against many of society's ills.

Many of the problems we’re experiencing as a society come from manufactured desire. Obesity, debt, financial crises, an overabundance of stuff, consumerism, global warming, and so on … they happen because we are never content, always wanting more, and can’t control our desires. These desires have been manufactured by advertising and chemicals (french fries having chemicals that make us want them, etc.).

Advertisers have studied the mechanisms of human desire, and have perfected the craft of making us want things. Children watching a cartoon, for example, will eat more snacks if there are ads for food during the cartoon (it doesn’t matter what kind of food), as opposed to ads for other products. People who see the iPad can’t control their desire to buy one, because they’re so cool! Cars, houses, clothes, gadgets, food, travel, you name it, we have been trained to want them by advertising.

How does a human being, or a society for that matter, fight such desires? It’s pretty darn hard. Try walking through an Apple store, or walking by the food court with its smells of fresh pizzas or cinnamon buns, or watching television, without desiring. Some people can control themselves, or have trained themselves to associate these things with negative thoughts (fattening, greasy, plastic, superficial, etc.), but most of us aren’t that disciplined.

The answer is that, just as the desires have been manufactured carefully and with much effort, we must manufacture content. In ourselves, and in society.

How would we do that? I’d start by removing yourself from places where advertising is so pervasive: TV, magazines, malls. Find ad-free content, or at least minimal advertising: public radio, or ad-less blogs, etc. Find ways to spend your time without having to go to the mall. Avoid shopping websites. But even beyond that, I think we can reach others to show them how to be content.

Manufacturing content means developing a strong, consistent message … something along the lines of “You already have enough”. Or better — I can’t say I have the answers here. We would want to reach people who are about to give in to their desires, perhaps on television or in the malls or on the Internet. We’d need a campaign that would drive this message home, and educate people about the dangers of manufactured desire, and show people how to find contentedness.

Imagine a big white billboard in Times Square with the simple message: “You already have enough.”

Imagine that we bought ads on Amazon, that appeared before people bought something: “You don’t need that, my friend.” OK, so Amazon would never allow an ad like that on their site, but you get the idea.

Imagine that credit cards came with the message “You don’t want debt” printed on them.

Imagine an iPhone operating system that detected when you’re about to go shopping on a website, and told you, “Be content with what you have. Let go of desire.”

Imagine if McDonald’s drive-thrus were lined with billboards that read, “Don’t be a glutton. Eat less, eat sustainably. Don’t supersize, simplify.”

Imagine if children were taught not that they need to go buy the latest Disney toys, or video game system, but to enjoy nature, to live life simply and fully.

Contentedness comes naturally, in the absence of manufactured desire. But getting back to that natural state might take some work.

With apologies to Noam Chomsky.

Article from http://mnmlist.com

My take-away from this is that I don't "need" the latest and the greatest. I have a lot to be thankful for, and I am surrounded by God's provisions every day.

So I will go about your altar, O Lord, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous works. Psalm 26:6b-7

You may not have everything you want, but you can thank God for what you already have!

Photo taken (Tuesday, April 20, 2010) with my iPhone 3GS and tweaked a bit inside iPhoto on my Mac.

What an amazing time in the presence of the Holy Spirit this weekend! David Hall was funny, energetic, inspired and anointed! Check out the video from Friday night below! [Please allow a moment for the video stream to load.]