“When we depend on man we get what man can do…when we depend on prayer we get what God can do.” Prayer changes things.
May your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In this prayer we’re asking for heaven to come to earth…we’re asking for what’s happening in God’s neighborhood to happen in our own…we’re asking for the mission launched by Jesus to continue in the present and to be consummated at his return in the future. There are two time frames that need to be considered: One is the present and one is the future. The power of God’s kingdom has already…invaded the world…it began with Jesus but it’s obviously not here in its fullness…that has to wait for his return. In this part of the Prayer we have to consider both the present work and the future win. In this episode, we shift our gaze from the future win to the present work of the kingdom in our world.  One of the great ironies of all this: Surprisingly, God seems to link his present work in the world to our prayers. Our prayers make a difference. Our prayers are not our only shot at changing the world, but they are our best shot. Two words that define the kingdom of God:

Surrender: There can be no kingdom without a king. So the kingdom starts when our hearts surrender to the authority and leadership of King Jesus.

Serve: Jesus is the Servant-King. Those posing as citizens who are not learning to serve like he did are imposters. Because he is a the Servant-King we are a kingdom of servants.

The kingdom of God has often been mis-understood and mis-represented. Here are three ways:

1st - The kingdom of God is not about a nation state, a political platform or a set of laws and rules. That’s because God’s kingdom begins from the inside out - it starts with a change in the human heart. So…pray not for laws to be passed but for hearts to be surrendered.

2nd - The kingdom of God is not just about surrendering to Jesus. It’s not just a spiritual agenda. The pursuit of personal piety to the neglect of loving our neighbor… is a sham. The kingdom starts with surrender but ends in service. So pray that hearts surrendered to Jesus will find effective ways to serve others.

3rd, The kingdom of God is not just a social agenda. There’s no kingdom in our lives without a king. There’s no kingdom of God without God. Service and surrender can’t be separated. To ask which is more important, surrender to Jesus or service to others is like asking which wing of an airplane is more important! Only a burning heart and a helping hand will change the world. To see the kingdom at work, don’t look to the stars look to the servants.

Prayers: Local church, other local and regional ministries, missionaries and mission organizations, those under persecution, family and network of relationships. May they all experience more of what only God can do. Can’t pray for everything, every time. “Let my heart break with the things that break the heart of God.” (Bob Pierce) What’s breaking your heart? This may be an indicator of how God wants you to pray. Take time to listen: How does God want me to pray?…how does he want me to participate? Often times, God’s kingdom comes… through us! Sometimes we are the answer to our own prayer. So as part of this prayer, you may want to ask for your own assignment. “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.” (St. Francis)

Summary Notes: Teach Us to Pray - Episode 14 (Part 4A)

No one is happy about the world the way it is. But turning back the clock is not the answer. The answer lies in looking ahead. And this is the focus of this part of the Lord’s Prayer: “May your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This part of the prayer expresses our longing for a better world.

Is this one petition or two? The two parts of this petition are saying essentially the same thing. Support for this conclusion can be found from the Gospel of Luke. His version of this prayer found in chapter 11 just has “Your kingdom come.” It does not have “your will be done.” This second phrase is not essential to the meaning of the petition. This part of the prayer is one cry expressed in two ways. Two ways to state one prayer.

It is difficult to over-state the importance of this “kingdom of God” theme in the Bible. If there is one phrase that could be used to summarize the plot line of the Bible it would be this one. It defines the very heart of Jesus message and mission. From Genesis 1 where “rule” over the world was given to Adam and Eve and then tragically lost to the last chapter of Revelation where that “rule” is restored, the Bible brings us full-circle. This part of the Prayer places us right in the center of this developing drama.

God’s kingdom is both here and still to come. It’s already present, but not yet here in its fullness. So as we pray this we have to consider these two time frames. Today and the more distant horizon. The present work and the future win. This episode is about praying for the future win. (Praying for the present work will be covered in the next episode.)

Can we, by our prayers for Jesus’ coming, make it happen any sooner? If God has already “fixed” a time for the kingdom to be consummated then what’s the point of praying for this to happen? This prayer probably doesn’t do anything to recalibrate God’s time-table, but it does recalibrate our hearts. It probably does’t cause God to reprogram His prophetic calendar, but it does reprogram our own world-view. The prayer is not so much for Him as it is for us. When we pray this, we are aligning our hearts with God’s heart and His declared destiny for the world. We’re lifting our eyes from our problems to His promises. Keeping this hope before our eyes gives us joy and keeps us planning and preparing for our ultimate future.

This hope gives us a baseline of joy and confidence. This baseline serves as an emotional buffer against the inevitable disappointments we all experience. So, the New Testament teaching about our hope, far from being irrelevant, is one of the most practical teachings. Hope like this gave the early church courage (2Cor. 3:12). It gave them the perseverance needed to get through hardships (Heb. 12:2). It inspired obedience and motivation to serve God (1Cor. 15:58). And it gave them comfort and encouragement (1Thess. 4:13-18). It’s one of the most life-changing teachings of the New Testament! No wonder one of the earliest cries of the first church was, “Maranatha!” Or “Come, Lord Jesus!”

In this episode, we looked at the future horizon, but in the next episode we will shift our gaze to the present. The invasion of our world which began with Jesus continues today through his “expeditionary force” - which is the church. “Thy kingdom come…” applies not just to the future win, but to the present work of the church. 

Episode 13 Notes - Teach Us to Pray (Part 3)

Top 5 prayers: family, guidance, health, forgiveness and thanksgiving

The trellis of the Lord’s Prayer helps our prayer life to grow up and in the right direction…it trains our hearts to pray differently…it breaks us free from the “treadmill list” of our top five concerns…it helps us to develop new spiritual muscle memory…it trains us to feel what is most important in the heart of Jesus…what should be our very first prayer.

What does “holy” mean? To treat with the highest respect. The Common English Version translates it well: “Help us to honor your name.”

What’s the fuss about a name? Names represent the whole person. So we are called to give supreme honor not just to God’s name but to him and to all he represents.

We find self-centered, ego-centric behavior intolerable. We have lots of labels for this: egotistic, vain, self-centered, conceited, narcissistic…and none of them are flattering! How do we escape our negative gut-reaction that God is doing exactly what we despise when we observe other people doing the same? How do we escape the distasteful notion that God himself is a narcissist?

Help from C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms - “A Word about Praising”

Summary:  Admiration and awe are the normal and correct responses of healthy people for things that are admirable and awesome….Worship is not for God but for us. In fact, we absorb something of the beauty and awesomeness of whatever we admire….We are constantly praising so many aspects of life in our world and urging others to do so. By what logic, then, do we deny validity to the writers of Scripture who urge us to worship that which is supremely valuable?…. Our delight is incomplete until it is expressed. To delight and express that joy in what is absolute beauty and goodness is to be supremely happy.

So…in the end, all the commands to put God first, to give him supreme honor are not symptoms of a narcissist - a vain, self-serving God. Far from it! God is eternally self-giving. And he knows that our highest good, our most sublime joy our supreme happiness will only be found in His presence. When we give supreme honor to him, there is reciprocity, he gives himself back to us - it’s a sublime and eternal feed-back loop - elevating us to a quality of life unimaginable to us now.

Two implications:

First, this prayer summons us to worship God. Find time in your own life to worship - both privately and with others.

Second, this prayer summons us to be an authentic representative of the goodness of God. Do something beautiful, be someone beautiful for God.

Paraphrase: “Our Father in heaven, may you be supremely honored. I now join with the angels in heaven and worship you…I also commit to live this day in a way that will be a beautiful advertisement for you and your kingdom.”

The brilliance of this first petition, however, is that it contains the seed of the answers to all our other prayers. In seeking his glory and honor…we find our own. Our God is no narcissist… far from it. But once he has his proper place in our lives, everything else, for us, will begin to fall into place - family, health, finances, decisions and so much more. 

Episode 12 - The Lord’s Prayer - We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

If God is in heaven and God is everywhere then heaven must be everywhere. In other words, heaven has no zip code.

Heaven is the world we don’t see. This invisible world is what the Bible means here by “heaven.” To paraphrase: “Our Father, in the unseen but ever present reality that surrounds me.”

Three implications:

First, “In heaven” invites us to exercise faith. Faith is our way of “getting a handle on what we can’t see.” To say the opening words of this prayer and mean them is a declaration of faith.

The veil that that keeps the realm of heaven invisible to us is thin, like gossamer fabric and very permeable. This allows for many comings and goings between our visible world and the invisible world of heaven.

Heaven invades our zip code - reaches into our world with regularity. In this prayer we are reaching back.

When these words are sincerely prayed we instantly transition from our zip code to the supra-dimensional reality that is all around us…from our room to God’s room…from our limitations to God’s unlimited potentiality. These two words can be a portal to another world and as Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”

Second, “In heaven” invites us to humble ourselves. In the presence of God…there can be ONLY one initial reaction - to fall to our knees in humility. It’s not the posture of our body. It’s the posture of our heart. This is a time to bow low… very low..

Our happiness before God as our Father and our sense of humility in his presence are not at odds. The opening “Our Father” invites us to be happy and comfortable in his presence and the next modifying phrase “in heaven” invites us to humble ourselves.

Third, “In heaven” invites us to worship him. J.I. Packer wrote, “The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either see yourself as nothing or you lose all thought of yourself in worship and praise.”

Our adoration does not add anything to the Grand Canyon. It does not add anything to the beauty of a Bird of Paradise or to a coral reef. And it certainly does not add anything to the goodness and glory of God. He does not need our praise so that he can feel better about himself. Our worship is not for him but for us. If we fail to admire the God of all creation, it’s not him who is diminished…It’s us! Every time we fail to acknowledge something of worth, we lose the opportunity to grow into something better - and we are incrementally diminished. But every time we admire something of worth, a little bit of that virtue becomes ours - and we become incrementally better.

 An extended version of this part of the prayer could go something like this:

• Hello, Dad…I have faith that even though I can’t see you, I know you are very close to me. I now reach through the thinnest of veils and enter your unseen presence - the invisible dimension of Heaven.
• Hello, Dad…I am humbled. I acknowledge that in every way you exceed the limits of my own understanding. Your ways are as high above mine as the heavens are above the earth. I bow low before you.
• Hello, Dad…I worship you. You are the fountain-head of all life and all that is good - the source of all that is praiseworthy - perfect love, perfect joy, perfect peace, perfect wisdom. You don’t have to travel to outer space to find God. You don’t have to move an inch from where you are right now. Heaven is as close to you now as the air you are breathing. 

Episode 11 Notes - Teach Us to Pray (Part 1)

God values our prayers, more than we may think! Jesus’ disciples never asked him to teach them how to preach. But they did ask him, “Lord, teach us how to pray.”

The Lord’s Prayer or The Disciples’ prayer is, in a sense, everybody’s chance to walk where Jesus walked - to put the feet of our souls where Jesus put the feet of his soul when he prayed. Each phrase of the prayer is intended as a focal point…or…a seed thought which can be expanded to a longer meditation/prayer around that point.

Jesus is instructing us to address God as “Our Father.” This is profoundly important. These two words confer upon us a new identity… a new destiny and a new confidence. They tell us who we are and what we can expect from God.

The Lord’s Prayer has been so familiar for so long that these words don’t startle us. But they would have in the time of Jesus! No individual and I mean nobody then, addressed God directly as their personal Father. To my knowledge, this invitation to address God as our Father in such an endearing way is utterly unique to the Christian faith.

Author, Wesley Hill put it this way, “Any picture of God as “Father” that leads us to think in terms of domination and cruelty rather than of humble service and unending love is not a true understanding of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ‘Who loved us and gave himself for us.’ ”

So when Jesus invites us to pray, “Our Father…Our Daddy” he invites us into a similar loving relationship that he himself has had with the Father from all eternity past. We are invited to stand in a place beside Jesus before his Father…younger brothers and sisters before a common Father. We are being offered a stunning privilege.

So, as you meditate and expand on this part of the prayer it could go something like this:
• Hello, Dad. Thank you for making me a part of your forever family - I’m humbled and profoundly grateful.
• Hello, Dad. Thanks that you are never too busy to give your full attention to me. That no need is too small, no circumstance too trivial that you do not care.
• Hello, Dad. I want to be a good son and make you proud of me. My deep desire is to bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart.
• Hello, Dad. I want to grow up to be like you…to reflect your goodness and your wisdom to all those who know me.
• Hello, Dad. I surrender to your loving and wise leadership over my life.
• Hello, Dad. I am confident that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate me from your love. • Hello, Dad. Thank you for the future you have in store for me. I know your dreams for my life . will one day become a reality.

One big misconception about prayer: so often people think prayer is talking. For me the most important part of prayer is just being still and listening.

I/you have a Father
He calls me/you His own
He'll never leave me/you
No matter where I/you go
He knows my/your name
He knows my/your every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me/you when I/you call
(He Knows My Name) 

Episode 10 - Book Review of Quiet, by Susan Cain

Episode Notes:

Quote: “If there is only one insight you take away from this book…I hope it’s newfound sense of entitlement to be yourself.”

TED Talk: The Power of Introverts Website: quietrev.com The Rise of the Extrovert Ideal - We went from being a “culture of character in the 19th century to becoming a”culture of personality” in the 20th…In a big city full of strangers, making a good first impression was a necessity for success. A magnetic, out-going personality was how you got your foot in the door.

Downsides of the Extrovert Ideal:

1. We marginalize a large and valuable segment of our population.
2. We devalue traditional virtues
3. We equate extroversion with good leadership.
4. We lose the benefit of large number of good ideas.
5. We practice methodologies which blunt our ability to think creatively and problem-solve.
6. We have neglected historic and rewarding practicers of the spiritual life.

Free-trait Theory - “Fixed traits and free traits coexist…we can and do act out of character in the service of ‘core personal projects.’ In other words, introverts are capable of acting like extroverts for the sake of work they consider important, people they love or anything they value highly.”

Our society is best served when we respect and give honor to both sides of this temperament spectrum.

Some Take-aways:

1. Operate outside your comfort zone but find ways to recharge in a “restorative niche.”
2. Invest in quality friendships with those you like and respect. It’s not quantity but quality that counts.
3. Find work where you can use your natural gifts and strengths - persistence, concentration, problem-solving and creativity.
4. f you’re a manager, remember that 1/3-1/2 of your work-force is probably introverted. Think twice about how you design your office spaces…ask employees to solve problems alone before sharing their ideas.
5. In conflict, tap into your empathy. Listening with understanding is the most natural place to start.
6. If your children are quiet, help them make peace with new situations and new people, but otherwise, let them be themselves.
7. Teachers, quiet kids do not need to be “cured.” Balance teaching methods.
8. Spend your free time the way you like, not the way youth you’re supposed to.

Note: In the back of the book there is Reader’s Discussion Guide and additional tips: Public Speaking for Introverts and Tips for Parents of an Introverted Child 

Episode 9 - Book Review of Grit by Angela Duckworth

Episode Notes:

The Grit Scale Test
1. New ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones.
2. Setbacks don't discourage me. I don't give up easily.
3. I often set a goal but later choose to pursue a different one.
4. I am a hard worker.
5. I have difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that take more than a few months to complete.
6. I finish whatever I begin.
7. My interests change from year-to-year.
8. I am diligent. I never give up.
9. I have been obsessed with a certain idea or project for a short time but later lost interest.
10. I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge.

Ten Take-aways:

Talent needs grit to succeed…Behind every success story there is a grind…Enthusiasm is common; perseverance is rare…Find something you love…Grit can grow…Live for something bigger than yourself…It’s about how you practice…Learn to think optimistically…Do hard things that interest you…Grit is contagious

Questions to Ponder:

Is success the same as happiness? Are spouses and children of the grittiest people also happier? Can you have too much grit? What might excellence look like for the average person? What does grit look like for a Type B personality? How does the grit attribute align with the Christian life?

Quotes:

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. Calvin Coolidge

Any successful person has to decide what to do in part by deciding what not to do. Duckworth

Whether you think you can, or think you can’t - you’re right. Henry Ford

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. James Baldwin

If forced to choose, I’d put goodness before greatness. Duckworth

If you define genius as working toward excellence, ceaselessly, with every element of your being - then, in fact, my dad is a genius, and so am I, and, if you are willing, so are you. Duckworth

Website: angeladuckworth.com

TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/ angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance?language=en

Episode 8 - The Slower You Go, The Faster You’ll Get There

Analogy with cross-country…It is important to run the right course. Is there a “course” we are meant to run?

An important clue is here: 1 John 4:12. God’s love is incompletely expressed only from the perspective of the visible world. The world we live in needs love “with skin on.” It is our job to be the visible expression of God’s love. This is the race/course we are meant to run.

This has been our “job description” from the beginning. It’s what it means to “bear God’s image.” We were delegated to be His representatives in the visible cosmos. Adam failed and Israel failed, but Jesus showed us how. God wants us to be like Jesus. We are still destined to be God with skin on! This life is training camp for our future role.

I seriously doubt that God cares as much as we do about what college we attend, who we marry, what we do for a living or where we live. But what God really does care about is what kind of student we are, what kind of husband or wife we are, what kind of employee we are and regardless of where we live are we good neighbors? Are we fulfilling the primary responsibility of our job description - to love one another?

Ultimately…spiritual maturity is about looking like Jesus. He bore God’s image, so should we. To the extent we do…we have grown. To the extent we don’t…we haven’t. And the litmus test of whether or not we are bearing the image is whether or not we are loving one another. We make the invisible God visible only when we are loving one another. Only then do we become God with skin on!

How do we get better?

First, Let’s Pretend

“When you are not feeling particularly friendly but know you ought to be, the best thing you can do, very often, is to put on a friendly manner and behave as if you were a nicer person than you actually are. And in a few minutes, as we have all noticed, you will be really feeling friendlier than you were. Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already.” Lewis

When we act as if we love other people something in our hearts begins to change. We get a little closer to loving them in reality…being like God…with skin on.

Second, Let’s slow down.

We are faced with a paradox: In the race that God has given us to run, our progress will be inversely proportional to our speed. The slower we go the faster we will get there. Conversely, the faster we go the slower we will get there.

Love takes time and time is the one thing that hurried people don’t have. Ortberg “God walks slowly because he is love…Love has its speed…There is a reason people talk about walking with God, not ‘running.’” Comer/Koyama

We’re not going to get our bucket list finished but we can do what is most important…The greatest thing in the world.

When John lived in Ephesus to extreme old age, he could only with difficulty be carried to the church in the arms of his disciples. He was unable to give utterance to many words. He used to say no more at their meetings than this: ‘Little children, love one another.’ At length the disciples and fathers who were there, wearied with always hearing the same words, said: ‘Master, why do you always say this?’ His reply, ‘It is the Lord’s command, and if this alone is done, it is enough.

Notes:
John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 

Episode 7 - Why Am I a Christian? Authentic faith is not something you inherit. Every person must make the choice for themselves.

John gives the single most compelling reason that was the tipping point for my own decision to invite Christ into my own heart (1John 4:9-11)

His act of self-sacrifice was undeniable. The love that motivated it, was unimaginable. His invitation to follow was irresistible. Why am I a Christian? Two words: The Cross.

Four big concerns I had about life.

The cross inspired my trust in God
What kind of a God runs the universe? The evidence from nature and history is ambiguous.

The cross gives us the unambiguous evidence we need about God’s character. God has not watched the world from the sidelines as we suffer. The cross speaks most eloquently about God’s solidarity with the world in its suffering.

The cross makes Jesus’ invitation to follow irresistible
How to decide which religion, if any, to choose? Jesus is incomparable. First my head was convinced, then my heart surrendered. There are good reasons to believe.

Jesus has unique credentials - Prophecies he fulfilled made 100’s of years before.

Jesus claimed to have a unique nature - C.S. Lewis: Liar, Lunatic or Lord?

Jesus exercised unique authority - In addition to his miracles, he overcame the power of death as demonstrated by his resurrection.

Jesus’ unique mission - Jesus glory was, paradoxically, the glory of unimaginable, breath-taking humility. The throne of the Servant-King was the cross. This was the kind of King I wanted to serve.

The cross answers my questions about my own destiny “The atoning sacrifice for our sins” - This tells me that somehow...at the cross, the damage I’ve done as a result of my sin has been fixed. This helps me with: What happens when I die?

Story of the barge full of garbage - the Khian Sea. Nobody wants our garbage, but it has to go somewhere or we’re going to be forced to carry it ourselves forever. We will be held accountable. The cross tells me that I don’t need to worry. My garbage has been carried away. Isaiah 53:4-6

The “atoning sacrifice” takes care of the past. “Living through him” points us to the future. Too often we only get half the message. The cross is not just about being forgiven it’s about starting a new life here and now which will last forever.

We’ve been restored to our original “career path” to “bear his image.” Our original job description: to look like God, act like God and rule the cosmos on his behalf - vassal kings and queens over planet earth. Jesus death on the cross leads us back to all this. We are now his apprentices. This helps me with: What is the purpose of my life?

The cross simplifies the way I approach my life in the world God’s action in Christ sets the precedent for us.

The cross simplifies a lot for me. In a world that offers us an overwhelming number of choices, the cross gives me a filter that works. Whatever I choose to do, I must do it out of love for others.

The pecking order should not shape my behavior. “No man is worthless for whom Christ died.” (Story of Muretus)

I am motivated by the need to pay it forward. “I owe it from a long time ago.” (Story of V.P. Menon)

A confession: Like everyone of us...I have not arrived. “If I know the way home and am walking along it drunkenly, is it any less the right way because I am staggering from side to side!” (Tolstoy) I do stagger, but I am convinced that this is the way home.

We can take no credit for ourselves. All we need to do is say “yes” Jesus. 

Episode 6 - The Big Mistake People Make about the Church
We overweight the bad news and we underweight the good news. We may be a lot better than we think! Love is the litmus test of an authentic relationship with God.

1st Question: Does this mean that it doesn’t matter what you believe or how you live as long as you are a loving person? No. John assumes that his readers are believers already.

2nd Question: How do you explain: the world is filled with loving people who have no connection to God through Jesus Christ? Yes, but all of us were created “in his image.” Every human being still carries some vestige of that original image. The attributes of God are residual in all of us.

3rd Question: How do you explain: there are professing Christians who are not loving people? Many are Christians in name only. They are posing as Christians so they are imposters who give the church a bad reputation. Many who are true Christians start out with serious character deficits. Various factors mean some people are not naturally loving. Everyone has a different starting point. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Miss Bates example. So, the question is, “Am I a better person than I would have been had I never met Christ?” All true Christians are still imperfect. “Please be patient, God isn’t finished with me yet.” We are not finished products. The church was never meant to be a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners.

4th Question: What does the report card of the church really look like? The big problem with the conclusions that are drawn from the often dismal public record of churches is that we don’t have the big picture. Will Durant: “Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people…doing the things historians…record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children…The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians…ignore the banks for the river.” To reject the church because of the history books and headlines is to ignore the banks for the river. There are countless acts of kindness which never make the headlines or history books. But I suspect…the cumulative value of such deeds completely dwarfs the darker side of more public church life. The banks, tell a different story than the river. Our big mistake about the church is that we overweight the bad news and underweight the good. Three examples: The Stephen Ministry…University of Pennsylvania study on the economic impact of churches…the impact of the Great Awakening. “there is almost no humanitarian institution in our society which doesn’t not have its roots in this movement and the message of Jesus.”

5th Question: What does MY report card look like? Is my own life a part of the good news? Love is the litmus test. Are we better today than yesterday?

Ten questions:
1. I regularly look for opportunities to serve others.
2. I am a generous and cheerful giver of my money, time and other resources.
3. I am patient with others when interrupted or inconvenienced.
4. I do not “keep score” when it comes to personal offenses, but I readily forgive others.
5. I do not insist on my own way but defer to others whenever possible.
6. I am a patient listener - I give other people the opportunity to talk.
7. I use my words to encourage rather than to criticize.
8. I honor all people regardless of different backgrounds, opinions or ethnicities.
9. I do not gossip or find entertainment value in the failings of others.
10. I genuinely rejoice when I hear about the success of others.

God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us the way we are. We are each more than what we have become.