“My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” -Hebrews 12:5,6

If we’re going to become everything that God has called us to be, we’re going to have to be corrected, a lot. We’ve already established that being corrected and coming face to face with reality in our lives can be very difficult and painful.

When correction comes we have two choices: Humble ourselves, become vulnerable, and make changes, or become bitter, ignore the correction, and refuse to change. One leads to life and one leads to living a mediocre & miserable life.

The only way you’ll chose to humble yourself and make changes is if you have the right perspective of correction. Keith Moore said something at Impartation that set me free in this area. He said, “It’s not just correction when the Lord corrects you, it’s preparation.”

The Bible says to not give up when we’re corrected, it wouldn’t say that if we wouldn’t be tempted to. Then it says that God corrects those HE LOVES. When you’re being corrected, realize that God is preparing you for the next season of your life. That should give you hope to press through no matter how hard it gets.

Choose to be humble and vulnerable. Ask people to speak into your life, if they say something you don’t want to hear, don’t get bitter, recognize that they’re speaking into your life because they love you unconditionally and want to see God’s best in your life.

Once you’ve received correction from someone, ask questions, set boundaries, set daily disciplines, and get accountability, and before you know it, God will have taken you to an entirely new level.

Correction does has it’s perks!

Thoughts?

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.” -Galatians 6:1

I heard Erwin McManus say once that all too often we read the Bible as though we’re always the protagonist, but never the antagonist.  We’re David as he fights Goliath, but not when he committed adultery,  we’re Moses leading Israel out of Egypt, but not when he killed an Egyptian, we’re Peter when he walked on water, but not when Jesus rebuked him!

When we have this outlook in life, it’s easy to slip into a mindset of thinking we’re doing all the good we read about, and aren’t even close to doing the bad. This mindset is dangerous. It hardens our hearts to God’s correction, gets us into pride, isolate us from people, and leaves us vulnerable. We can actually get to the place where we think we’re invincible and never in danger of falling.

When we always view ourselves as the protagonist, we’ll never build the character we need to sustain what God’s called us to, and ultimately, we’ll fall.

We need to recognize that we’re all just one choice away from becoming the antagonist.

If we’re humble enough to recognize this, we’ll start to read God’s Word and other books with a whole new perspective. We’ll start to ask ourselves questions like: Why did these people make poor decisions? Am I displaying similar attitudes or making similar decisions to these men that got them into trouble? Am I actually living out the Word of God that I’m reading?

Always strive to be the protagonist, but don’t be naive enough to believe that you’re incapable of being the antagonist. Ask God for the wisdom and grace to get in the Word and evaluate where you stand on every issue, how you can improve, and what attitudes of your heart you need to change.

Thoughts?

⁴⁶And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. -Luke 2:46

I’m recognizing that a key to growth and success is the environment you are in. The environment you were raised in,  the environment you work in, and the environments you choose to put yourself in.

The environments you position yourself in will be a determining factor on whether or not you succeed in life.

I’ve been so blessed to be in the leadership environment at Victory Family Church for the past few years. Here are some things I’ve noticed about leadership environments that work:

1.) They make you better than you really are -this can be a downfall. If we’re not careful we’ll think we’re amazing, when really, we’re just in an amazing environment where leadership is valued. We must be humble and learn as much as we can about why the environment works, so we can apply it when we enter a non-leadership environment.

2.)They Empower You to Lead – They don’t have micro-managers, they have leaders that empower you to make decisions, hear from God, develop your team, and leverage your creativity.

3.) They Don’t Let You Settle - There is accountability for results. They demand the best out of you, give you honest feedback consistently, and coach you when you need coached.

4.) They allow you to Grow - Personal growth is highly valued. Growth opportunities are available for you.

5.) They Allow you to Fail – If you’re in the right environment, you’ll feel safe failing. Just remember to learn from your failure and not to repeat it!

5.) They Teach you to Create Leadership Environments – It’d be easy to leave a leadership environment  think it will be just as easy to lead wherever we go. It won’t. We must learn how to create a leadership environment that works and the only way I know of to to do that is by seeing on modeled and being a part of it.

I know that one day, I’ll have to create a leadership environment on my own, and I’ll have to rely on what I learned while I was in one.

So, my question for you is:

Are you in a leadership environment? If you’re not, I’d consider finding one to be a part of. Find mentors who are currently in one, join a local leadership network, or visit organizations where there is a leadership environment.

I’ve been in leadership environments and I’ve been to places without them, there is no comparison. You’ll never be all that you can be unless you’re in an environment that will make you all you can be.

Thoughts?