“Everybody has a will to win. What’s far more important is having the will to prepare to win.” Bobby Knight, quoted by Clarence Thomas in My Grandfather’s Son.

I think the distinction is tremendously important. Too often we view our failures as a lack of will or even as an indication that God is not listening to our prayers, when the real culprit may be an unwillingness to pay the price of preparation.

Champions do not simply desire; champions prepare!

Dr. Lon Allison, director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, uses what he calls the 1-10 guide to witnessing:

1 - Lord, let me have at least one spiritual conversation this week

10 - (From John Maxwell) If I am in conversation with someone for at least ten minutes, I believe God intends me to raise spiritual issues.

I like that! It keeps me from thinking I have to move every conversation, regardless of how brief, to a spiritual discussion, but it also challenges me to be ready as conversations become more than casual.

In James MacDonald’s book, Downpour, he lists a second promise to be made by those who seek personal, radical, joyful, biblical revival:

I promise to set God’s Word high above human teaching and to handle it with the respect it deserves.

I see no prospect for personal revival apart from God’s Word being treasured! Today, once again, I commit myself to hearing and doing the will of God as He reveals it to me!

Debbie and I are enjoying and growing as a result of the teaching we are receiving at the Billy Graham School of Evangelism in Asheville, NC. One of the presenters, Dr. Lon Allison, is the director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. He and several others have recently shared this definition of witness: To witness is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and others to lovingly bring a person one step closer to Christ. That’s a definition that should encourage us all! It may take 7-10 witness encounters (or more) before a person steps over the line of faith, but every encounter can move them one step closer!

Lon also shared how he prays for God to allow him to engage in at least one spiritual conversation each week with someone outside of the faith. He quoted John Maxwell who uses a “10 minute rule:” If I am in conversation with someone at least 10 minutes, I will take that as God giving me an opportunity to raise spiritual issues.”  That keeps us from the error of thinking that every passing encounter requires us to force a spiritual conversation.

I am reading a book by James MacDonald titled Downpour. It is a call to experience God in personal revival. He defines revival as “renewed interest after a period of indifference or decline. In his introduction, he invites us to make and keep some promises. I have found these to be challenging. Let me share the first promise: A Promise about Dissatisfaction. This is a promise that I will be dissatisfied with anything less than a genuine personal experience with God. Let me quote MacDonald: “I want more of God in my life. I want more heartfelt worship and more measurable progress in personal righteousness. I don’t want to just hear I’m in God’s family; I want to feel it! I want true joy and peace that penetrates the conceptual and arrives unhindered at the center of a genuine personal experience.”   Is he focusing  too much on  “feeling” instead  of faith?  Perhaps , but I find his words  increase my appetite for  an encounter with the living  God, and  I think that is good! Apathy is an ever present danger for any believer, and spiritual appetite needs to grow if we are to experience revival.

Hosea

I read the following this morning:

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox (Proverbs 14:4, ESV).

It seems we can choose a clean stall or abundant crops, but not both. Here is the thought I thought: You have to make messes to reach the masses!

Hosea

This will soon be receiving regular updates. Stand by!

Hosea