#root-building

New Post has been published on https://www.crownofcompassion.org/2018/04/15/trying-to-get-you-off-assignment/

Trying to get you off assignment

“The Enemy is trying to get you off assignment.  He wants to distract you with something that God is not emphasizing in your life so that you will miss what God wants to teach you in that moment.”- Banning Liebscher

As Banning Liebscher continues Chapter 2 of Rooted

don’t feel passionate about what we’re doing

find the wall or task before us harder than we thought

judge the task as boring or slow

think we should be somewhere else

But, Banning underscores, that’s not how God works.  Hence, the author continues, we arrive at the second key to thriving in God’s root-building process.   That second key= pay attention to and accept the lessons God is trying to teach you in your current assignment and season.  As a result, Pastor Liebscher indicates, you need to show awareness of:

what God’s asking you to put your hands on

what He’s emphasizing for you

the season in which this is happening

God’ teaching of faithfulness in the mundane and difficult – those things that seem distant from your vision and fail to fuel you

In conclusion, Banning reminds us that:

“So many people get stuck in their process and don’t thrive because they constantly want to be somewhere else. . . .  They want the Lord to develp their root systems in the middle of their passions, where they feel most alive.  But it doesn’t alwys work like that.  We don’t get to take only electives when we’re building our root system.”

Today’s question: In what ways does the Enemy aattept to get you off assignment?  Please share.

New Post has been published on https://www.crownofcompassion.org/2018/04/13/the-first-key-to-thriving/

The first key to thriving

“The first key to thriving is to focus on building the wall in front of you.”- Banning Liebscher

“Above the Horse Gate, the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house.”- Nehemiah 3:28 (NIV)

In Chapter 2 (“Thriving in the Process”) of Rooted, Banning Liebscher believes it’s possible not only to thrive, but thrive in the midst of your embrace of God’s process and time for root-building.  Therefore, like Paul, we must find God our strength in every situation.  To do so, we must know where to look and how to continue to look in the face of Satan’s distractions.  Typically, Pastor Liebscher notes, the Enemy’s distractions try to get us to:

wish we were in someone else’s process

resist the lessons God’s trying to teach us in our circumstances

rush the process

skip steps in the process

Consequently, falling for any one of these distractions prevents us from thriving.  In addition, ultimately we find ourselves in dangerous places.  However, avoiding these deceptions enables us to find our strength – God.  And we grow regardless of the season or circumstance.

In conclusion, Banning underscores, Nehemiah 3:28 paints a powerful picture for how God works in our lives.  Yet, sometimes we miss what He’s doing right in front of us.  Because we gaze longingly  at other people’s portions of the wall.  We want to build in those areas.  As a result, we fail to see that God’s using what is right in front of us to develop the root system we so desperately need.  Thus, our need for significance makes us look at other areas that (a) feel more exciting or (b) more in line with our vision.

We must accept the place where God has put us or we’ll never thribe.  For that’s the only place God works with us.

Today’s question: How are you thriving as you focus on building the wall in front of you?  Please share.

New Post has been published on https://www.crownofcompassion.org/2018/04/11/pursuing-gods-call-how-strong-we-finish/

Pursuing God's call - how strong we finish

“Anybody can start a race.  The real question over our lives is not how strong we will begin our race to pursue God’s call but how strong we will finish it.”- Banning Liebscher

“Let us finish with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”- Hebrews 12:1 (ESV)

Banning Liebscher continues Chapter 1 of Rooted as he explains why finishers impress.  Finishers see what many people fail to see.  As a result, finishers understand the infinite superiority of God’s version of success.  In contrast,the world’s version falls far short.  While the number of warm bodies in the pews on Sunday morning or Facebook likes may reveal some aspects of fruitfulness, at best they’re temporal measures of success.

However, Pastor Liebscher observes, lasting fruit only blossoms through the long faith journey.  That’s when we put our roots down deep in Jesus.  Thus, the only thing to matter at the end of our lives is whether our hearts aligned with Jesus.  The success of our resultant long-term fruit must motivate us to embrace Christ’s root-building process.

Therefore, Banning expresses his passion over calling and equipping believers to not only embrace but thrive in God’s root-building process.  To that end, the author states that he:

wrote Rooted in order to take a look at Scripture and learn what to expect as God works to establish your deep roots

wants to free you in the knowledge that youre right where God wants you

plns to set you up to recognize and work with God as He builds you so that you dont resist Him

In conclusion, Pastor Liebscher notes that in Rooted we’ll study King David’s life.  Consequently, we’ll look at the different elements God used to develop his root system.  As you’ll read in the next blog, Banning observes that God prepared David in three different soils.

Today’s question: What Scriptures strenghten you in pursuing God’s call?  Please share.