Personal Log 2.5.2018

Sometimes you just have to take a step back & look at things anew; see what the Lord wants… & sometimes there's a different or better way of doing things that were once a given or even a sacred cow (for lack of a better term).

You see this in: 

• the Us Stock Market in 2018: the way investing was done thirty years ago is not the way investing is done now, it's a completely different paradigm 
• The US Presidential Election in 2016 & politics in general from that point on: what worked in regards to campaigning & political rule before is not working now
• the way businesses were run & operated in the 20th Century is vastly different than they are in 21st Century: brick & mortar buildings taking a back seat to online shopping 
• the way social norms have morphed: in the 1950's the hub of social interaction was the local drug store & barbershop, in the 1980's the local Mall was were the bulk of social interaction took place, in 2018 it's 90%+ social media
• the independent musician industry: thirty years ago you needed to tour constantly & get signed by a record label to have any kind of success; in 2018 all you need is Youtube or Google+ Hangouts & an iTunes account & you can become an Internet sensation & make something of a living
• even in the local Church, many fellowships are discovering that the template/format for service and/or prayer that has “worked” for decades is not working now… 

I read a book a few years ago by grace teacher Andrew Wommack called “A Better Way To Pray” & he said this; “If you aren’t getting the results you know the Lord wants you to have, maybe it’s time to consider a better way to pray. I’m not saying that anyone who doesn’t pray as I do is “of the devil.” I wasn’t “of the devil” in the way I used to pray. I loved God with all my heart, and the Lord loved me. But the results weren’t there.”

About 15 years ago, when the Prayer of Jabez was the flavor of the year month, our prayer team was instructed by leadership to pray the Prayer of Jabez whenever we got together & that always bothered my spirit because in I Chronicles 4:10 Jabez was pleading for God's blessing “oh Lord, that you would bless me indeed”  when in Ephesians 1:3 we're told that we [as Believers] are “blessed with every spiritual blessing”; something wasn't jiving. So, I began really looking at the way I was taught to pray & how old-covenant prayers aren't for new-covenant people. The Lord began opening my eyes to the gospel of grace & all that entails.

Instead of: 

• pleading for God's blessing, I thanked Him for already blessing me w/ every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3)
• asking for God's anointing, I thanked Him that I was already anointed w/ the same anointing as Jesus (I John 2:27)
• asking God to be w/ me or go w/ me I thanked Him that He's always w/ me (Matthew 28:20)
• praying for victory I began praying from a position of victory (Colossians 2:15, Romans 8:37)

Things began to change, I started seeing more results not only in my prayer life but also in my daily life, interactions & decisions: the way I do ministry... the way I invest my time & money… the way I interact w/ people.

Now, I'm not slamming those who haven't changed their investment/management/ministry methods or prayers; if it's working it's working, if it's not it's not but the Lord may have something different in mind that may bring some different results...