I’m on the road with the eXtreme Tour in Las Vegas. Our bands are playing in the alley of a series of low income housing apartments only streets from the Strip. It’s an acoustic set to attract people to the main event that will take place tonight. A few people gathered on this night.
I was talking with the pastor who brought us. He was bummed at the turnout. He would do the exact thing in the past and hundreds would turn out. He lamented the fact that many he knew no longer lived here. After talking with a local businessman, I discovered that this was really transitional housing. People who come to get jobs at the hotels, need low cost housing at the beginning and then move out once they get on their feet. Thus, many of the people with whom he had built relationships with had already moved out. He was constantly starting over with new people.
He wasn’t feeling too successful. I asked him a series of questions. Using his answers, the Lord helped him see that though in his own eyes he was not successful, in the Lord’s eyes he was very significant. The Lord had him planting and watering seeds in these people’s lives. And when reaping time came, he would be rejoicing with the harvesters. He had listened to Jesus and was indeed following, which is real significance.
Don’t confuse success and significance. If you do, you will stop following Jesus out of discouragement. You keep listening to and following Jesus and you will be significant. Leave the success up to Him.
“S” ret Free Nowww

Colossians 2:9,10, “For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” This is a foundational truth of what it means to be a secure child of God.
Just Jesus is fully God (vs. 9). And when we place our faith in Him, we become complete, no longer broken (vs. 10). At the moment of salvation this is true, not when you get to heaven.
We sin, go to our drug of choice, to hopefully make ourselves feel complete. We feel we’re missing something; and then, seek out something to fill what we lack, even though this might only be a temporary fix (Heb. 11:25).
The truth is that we’’re already filled, complete, unbroken…in Christ. I didn’t or can’t do it as Jesus already did. We need to cleanse our flesh and retrain our brains to look inward to what we already have rather than looking outward for something we think we’re lacking. Drugs, sin, are not needed as Christ has already filled us up!
Let the Spirit, using the Freedom process, remove the lie to look outward for something you already have in Christ. Whatever you think you’re looking outside the One who lives inside will never satisfy for the Inside has already provided for what you’re looking outside to get.
S“E”t “FREE” Nowww

I was out on a prayer walk when I sensed the Lord telling me to deviate from my normal route. Instead of taking the longer route, He had me take a left up and over a small hill.
Did I have to know why? No. As Jesus’ slave (the biblical meaning of the term doulos), He has the right to tell me what to do, no matter the why. As Jesus’ sheep, He will guide me to the green pastures of peace. If I want to stay in that peace (one biblical meaning is to feel complete), I must go where my Owner and my Shepherd lead me. And then, rest in the truth that He knows and wants what’s best for me.
Oh by the way, because I went when and where Jesus said to go, I was able to meet and talk with a sheriff’s deputy to plant some Jesus seeds. I would have missed this opportunity if I had taken my normal route.
Knowledge is okay, but obedience is better.
S“E”t Free Nowww

A good friend used to say, “I lost my sock.” It was a code phrase that she was having a bad day. Her bad day wasn’t actually caused by losing a sock, which she hadn’t even lost in the first place. It didn’t matter what caused it; therefore, it might as well have been a sock she couldn’t find.
It’s been said, “The person who wants to be unhappy will find many roads. The person who wants to find peace must find the one.” If we want to complain about life, we can find all sorts of reasons to start bellyaching, which only drags us down. Yet, if we want to have a good day or be lifted up, there is only one path, one person who knows where that illusive sock is, Jesus Christ.
You choose what your day will be like based on the path you choose to walk. Jesus said He is The Way or that path. Hopefully, you’re choosing to walk with Him today.
S“E”t Free Nowww

A had the most interesting conversation with a six year-old. The subject isn’t as important as was the conversation. This precious young lady had a very bold opinion about the topic at hand, which mind you, she brought up. She believed God felt a certain way on this subject.
I asked her, “Did someone give you their opinion or did you get it from the Bible?” I told her that people, all who love Jesus, have many different beliefs on her chosen subject. The important thing was, “Was it their opinion or did it come from Jesus and the Bible?” As with any young child, the discussion quickly changed to something else.
How many times do we base our beliefs, and thus our choices, on opinion rather than doing the hard work of finding out what Jesus says in His Word? People’s opinions (including pastors!) can lead to separation from the Source of Life while following Jesus’ words can bring life to any and all life situations.
I recently followed a map that was to take us to a certain lake; only to discover the map was wrong! It was a tourist map, made by the local tourist industry, who apparently failed to check the topographical map.
Who are you basing your choices on today – people’s opinions or the Word of Truth that will only send you in the right direction?
S“E”t Free Nowww