Only God can Multitask

Welcome to the “age of distraction!” Are you good at multitasking – doing more than one thing at a time? Multitasking is all the rage in our 24/7 cultures but can it actually be done? Good question.

There have found in studies, the brain is unable to effectively focus on more than one thing at a time. So, just face it, Multi-tasking is one of those great lies! I heard a teaching last Sunday about the “Art of Resting.” He touched on Multitasking and this inspired me to look at this, a little closer.

Luke 10:38-42 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Jesus calls Martha out for trying to multitask. He calls her out because she is distracted. She is not fully present to his teaching. Are you distracted by your many tasks? Are you fully present to Christ?

We live in the 24/7 information age where the world appears never to sleep; work is no longer something you leave in the office; our homes are permanently connected to the Internet or have the TV on in the background, and we spend all our time multitasking and networking just to try and keep up with the pace of it all. There just seems to be no time to stop, be still, or even to pray.

Mark 6:31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

So here it is, multitasking is for God not men. Jesus whole life was filled with this distractive influence. Everywhere Jesus goes there is a crowd pressing on Him, a crowd jostling for position, some shouting out questions, and some straining to hear what Jesus is saying, some arguing with His disciples who are doing their best to protect him.

Yet Jesus makes time for people. And yet, Jesus was a man on a mission. His ultimate destination was a lonely cross on a hill outside Jerusalem where at just the right time He would die for the sins of the world. This is a point worth making as we think about our own busy lives, the Christian faith is ultimately about relationships, about God’s care for you and me.

When someone came before Jesus with a real and deep need, His response was never, “I’m too busy. I’ve got too many important things to do; when I’m finished; let’s arrange a date in a few weeks from now when my schedule’s free”. Jesus just stopped. He made time. He listened.

I wonder how you react when someone unexpected asks you for help or even asks you for prayer? In our stressed, multitasking and busy lives our tendency is not to see people as individuals, but see them as stereotypes or representatives of a particular group.

Jesus looks beyond our outward labels and to the individual underneath. In our busy lives, if we’re honest, we don’t make much time for the people who are on the edges, the people who have obvious and apparently intractable problems. They take up too much of our time, and they interfere with our schedules and our deadlines. Oh yes, we might offer them a short prayer or exchange with them a kindly word, but we still keep them at arm’s length before they really become a bother.

For Jesus all people are worthy of as much attention, for the very simple reason that all people are people of faith, and that when it comes to matters of faith there are no first-class and second-class believers. You either believe in Jesus, or you don’t. And how much money you earn, or the job you do, or the status you have in society is in this sense irrelevant.

The ways they express their faith may be very different, but we should never be blind to the fact in God’s sight they are equal. And I believe that if we really took this truth to heart, if we actually followed the example Jesus sets, that our life as believers and the way we live our lives day by day would be transformed and less stressed.


I wonder, how often do we let people tell the whole story about themselves? Listening to people can be a costly, time-consuming exercise. It is a process that can often be interrupted by the telephone ringing, or the e-mail arriving, or the sudden realization there’s another appointment to go to.

It would nice to imagine that one day we could be walking along and there is Jesus in front of us healing the sick, raising the dead, preaching the kingdom. But that’s not going to happen. Because, instead, Jesus calls us to be the body of Christ, His physical presence here on earth. And so if people are going to come to a living faith in Jesus. Do we really make space to form deep relationships with folk we meet or do people see a group of busy individuals who have no time to meet them at their point of need? Or are we too busy with our lives?

How much effort do we take to look beneath the label or to welcome those on the margins? Are we willing to listen to the whole of people’s stories and invest the time and love in them so that they too can come to a living faith in Jesus?

One thing about so called multi-taskers in the modern day. They don’t last. They burn out. Multi-tasking is God’s thing. It has the exact opposite effect on us. Keeping a heavenly perspective gives us the drive, the stamina, to honor God in our lives. A desire to honor God naturally leads to representing God through deed and truth. And honoring and representing God through our actions leads us back around to keeping our minds focused on heaven.

So keep focused on God, and let him do the multitasking.

Get some Ants in your pants!

Some of you may not like what I am about to write. I pray you have a open mind!

Proverbs 6:6 - 11 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!

It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.

You know we can go about our daily lives overlooking some very powerful lessons that can be learned in God's creation. I guess we need a little closer at the ants.

Proverbs 30: 24, 25 “There are four things which are little on the earth, But they are exceedingly wise: The ants are a people not strong, Yet they prepare their food in the summer;”

Does anybody really want to be like an ant, have their prosperity and their wisdom? Think about it, they learn to build colonies and build cities. Living under the earth and have survived since the beginning of creation by doing the things that comes to them by instinct.

You know, it's nearly impossible to stop them. They are always in your lawn; at the picnic, and I don’t remember giving them an invitation. They are some of the most industrious creatures on this earth. Have you ever seen a lazy ant?

Unfortunately, there's a lot more couch potato Christians than “couch potato” ants. One thing that we all must realize is that God did not create us to just sit around and do nothing. We were created to work to build and. God set example for us when he created the earth and rested on the seventh.

One thing that we all must realize is that God did not create us to just sit around doing nothing. We were created to work, to build, to grow and to continually learn to work and build more. God set an example for us when he began the Bible by saying that he worked to create all things and then rested from his work on the seventh day. Work is the very character and nature of God.

Work is a blessing! What could we accomplish without putting forth some effort? It can even be said that most of us are known by the “work” we do. Some of you are secretaries; accountants; construction workers; electricians; students; homemakers; electronics technicians; computer repair people; programmers and so much more.

I don’t believe that God created man to retire and quit doing any work. There has to be something out there to replace your work. Some hobby, some charity work, or something that will peak your interest and give you a reason to keep on living. People who give up and just go home to rock on the front porch without a dream or a vision for their future are not living, just existing, and it won’t be long until the body is so out of shape that it will begin to fail to function as it should.

As Men of Action, we must prevent this from happening to our brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s time to get a real life and realize that God isn’t finished with you yet. Serving the Lord in ministry is far more rewarding than going to the job but the bills must be paid. We just keep on doing what we have to do until God sees fit to change things.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goes."

That means that God expects us work, in every area of our lives, just as though we were working for him, because we are working for him. Everything we do reflects upon our Christian life.

An ant works because that’s what ants do. No one has to watch over him to make sure he is doing his job. He doesn’t have to punch a time clock because his work never ends. He doesn’t worry about how much he is being paid because he knows that all the other ants are doing their part too and that the needs of the colony will be met. Some of us humans are too busy chasing the dollar to give God the time and energy that he deserves from us.

If your boss on the job has to watch over you; if all you ever do is complain of the low wages; or bad working conditions, or you have a don’t care attitude about your company. That’s a terrible witness of the Love of God that is supposed to be in your heart. God expects integrity.

Again, viewing the ant colony, we can easily see that it takes hard work and strict discipline on the part of every ant to see that the colony thrives. The worker ants can’t go on strike because they don’t get paid more than the others. The queen ant can’t refuse to do her work, or the whole colony dies. It takes all of them working together to get the job done.

Teamwork is a necessary part of Men of Action towards our work for the Lord too. There are no unimportant people. I have never seen a colony of ants sitting in a motivational seminar in an attempt to get them to move. I don’t see an ant standing along the trail every few inches with a megaphone in his hand making the others keep moving. They just keep moving because they are self motivated by survival.

Have you ever tried to get a teenager to work when they don’t want to? Have you ever tried to make yourself get up and go take out the trash, rake the leaves or paint the house?
It’s been said that our problem is not so much a lack of motivation as it is the lack of a dream or vision. We can learn much from the ants if we would only take a close look at their habits.

We aren’t ants, I know. We don’t live just on the instincts of survival like they do. We are able to think and to reason and to change our lives and circumstances. The spare time we create, if it isn’t used for something productive, becomes a road block in our path to success because it tends to make us think that we can just sit down and do nothing but rest.

How many of you know that the more you rest, the more you need to rest; the more you sleep, the more you need to sleep; and the less you work, the less you want to work?

Proverbs 20:13, "Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread."

God calls those that love sleep, “sluggards”. I think that’s a pretty good description because there isn’t a more sluggish time of the day than when we first open our eyes in the morning.

Proverbs 19:15, "Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger."

Their whole life will lack for the things that they desire and need most. Financially, life would be a disaster. They can never satisfy their hunger for things of this earth and especially for the things of God because they aren’t willing to pay the price to have them.

Proverbs 10:4, "He becomes poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent makes rich."

They will ultimately live in poverty. Not only will they lack for financial wealth but, more importantly, they will lack of spiritual wealth. God will not honor those who refuse to seek after him and work to make their lives acceptable sacrifices to him.

Proverbs 18:9, "He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster."

This speaks of the fact that the lazy person eventually leads their own home into destruction. What man wants to keep a lazy wife or what wife wants to have to support a lazy husband? How about if your single and live alone. If it doesn’t get done than who does it? That marriage; that home is headed for destruction unless that one who is the sluggard wakes up and makes the determination to change.

Take a lesson from the ant and force ourselves to get moving, we shall eventually come out of that sluggish condition. Nothing creates a dream or gives energy like getting into action and making things happen. The sheer satisfaction of accomplishing something worthwhile is usually all it takes to cure the sluggard.

The hard part is that God won’t change you unless you want to be changed. God will not overstep control of your life. The decision and FIRST step must come from us. If we are determined to change, decide to change, and then take action to force ourselves to develop the right habits, then God will step in and help us to overcome our slothfulness.

Take a lesson from the ant. Observe their industrious nature. See how they plan for the future and never cease to work to see that the work is done. If we can fill ourselves with that kind of attitude, there is no limit to where God will take us.

So, ye Men Of Action, GET SOME ANTS IN YOUR PANTS and get moving!

Trash Day!

In December, God blessed me with a house. It has been about 4 years since I have had the responsibilities of running a household. It was going to be a challenge again to discipline myself in upkeep and maintain the house. As I moved in and started to arrange and decorate my new home, I realized. “I have accumulated a lot of stuff!”

A brother in Christ who helped me with the move made a comment that never really sunk in till last week. “Which is your stuff and which is trash?” A normal question that at first I took literally which was the way he meant it. But last week, I took it personally! In a good way of course.

In my life as a Christian man, what stuff is ‘stuff’ and what stuff is ‘trash’? How about you, have you ever asked this question of yourself? Read on…

Our lives, our time, and our minds–all get filled with more and more stuff. Some of it is good. But not all of it! A life is lot like a house. If you keep bringing stuff in without throwing something out, eventually it gets so cluttered that even the good stuff gets lost.

1 Thessalonians 5:21,22 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.

This passage calls for making decisions, keeping the right stuff and tossing the trash. That’s always good advice. The words “prove all things” mean: test everything. In the early scriptural times they used that expression to test gold or precious metals. Knowing the difference between fool’s gold and the real gold matters (ya think?). Also in this sense, spiritual discerning between spiritual truth and counterfeit religion. The same principle applies to ALL areas of life.

I hope you don’t believe everything you hear, especially spiritual stuff. It is not bad to have a certain kind of skeptical mindset. Be smart about what you believe and accept. Test everything. Don’t accept everything. If you do, you will end with a life and soul as cluttered as my house used to be.

“Prove all things and hold fast that which is good.” “Hold fast” means to be glued to, stuck on, crazy glued, nailed tight, stuck fast, inseparable, attached, conjoined, entwined, inseverable, yada, yada, yada, I think you get the point!. Some things are worth holding on to. But not everything. Knowing the difference is what counts.

Philippians 1:9- 11 “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”

I hope that you learn to test everything that comes your way in the future and that you hold on to the good stuff. Prove all things. Hold fast to what is good. Avoid every kind of evil. We ought to be so repulsed by evil that the very sight of it turns us away.

Romans 12:9 “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”

There’s a lot of trash out there. I hope you know it when you see it. I hope you can smell it. I pray that you are smart enough not to fill your life with it. But if you do, don’t let it just pile up. It will just get deeper and deeper.

Pretty soon, you can’t tell the good stuff from the trash. Bad memories, bad friends, bad habits, bad thinking, and misplaced priorities—that’s all trash that can mess up your life. Don’t start collecting that junk. If you do, clean it out. Get rid of it. If you need help, ask for it.


We all have seasons in our lives. The likelihood of your reaching the next, the one after that, and ultimately the end of a long, well-lived, happy life depends on whether you “Prove all things. Hold fast to what is good. Avoid every kind of evil.”

Mission Impossible

Duh, Duh, duhduh. Duh Duh, duhduhduhduh. Da na na, Da da na na…. (Theme to Mission Impossible: The series_)

"Your mission, Christian, should you decide to accept it, is realize nothing is impossible with God. As usual, should you or any member of your faith experience rapture or get killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your existence( but not the Boss). This blog will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Christian."
“What is impossible with men is possible with God.” Matthew 18:27

I don’t know if you have attempted the impossible for yourselves? …… I know it’s hard, but we can still attempt the impossible things— if it is for God. Most of us have seen God accomplish the impossible. Whether it is saving the hardest heart, delivering someone from the grasp of death disease or supernaturally protecting us from a natural disaster, God continues to show us that if we are faithful to him then He will be faithful to us.

The children of Israel entering the Promised Land went and conquered the town of Jericho. In Joshua chapter 6 we see the impossible take place.

Vs. 1 and 2: Jericho was a formidable city which had closed its walls and gates to the people of Israel. Jericho must have looked to Joshua like an “impossible” enemy. God promised, however, “I have given into your hand, Jericho, its king, and the mighty men of valor.”

(The wall of Jericho was 5 feet thick and 12 –17 feet high and created from stone. The city sat on 6 acres of land. Ref: Associates for Biblical Research)

I could just finish this writing right here. If God says it, that settles it! Now we have to believe it! He wouldn’t give us anything HE calls us to unless were ready for it. God knows, even if we don’t think so, that we have the spiritual ability to accomplish the task.

1 Corinthians 10:13: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

When faced with an overwhelming task such as overcoming a cities walls without firing a single offensive weapon; it is imperative that we trust the one directing us for his knowledge of the victory already won. Imperative! I like this word, gives me the masculine chills with a few grunts included.

What’s so cool about Vs. 2 is God told Joshua that he had already delivered the city to him and the children of Israel. Done Deal! No sweat! Get on with it Joshua and get over it! Pardon me, I’m really getting into this now. There is some more Guy grunting and praying coming.

Okay, so God’s order was pretty unusual, just look what happened next:

In Vs. 3 thru 11, God tells them to Encompass the city for six days, blow horns, shout and march. Pretty militarily crazy, huh! Having been in the Military, this would not a standard plan of attack, not in the least. But then again, if this were a normal attack then how could God get the glory?

So here’s the plan:
Go around the city six times, marching and preparing. The spiritual number for man by the way is , 6. This marching and preparation is a symbol of prayer and meditation. Pretty good idea if you ask me while doing what the Lord asks.

Matthew 21:22: “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.”

General Joshua never questioned God’s directive, he simply passed the information to those affected and followed through with the plan. “Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends.” Faith is the belief in God’s ability to accomplish the impossible.

Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

When God has tasked us with a specific ministry, we must claim the task as our own for God has already made it possible for us to accomplish the thing we are called to do. God has given us a mission; he will meet us at the mission but we must be willing to go ourselves.

We can overcome, as the children of Israel did, because we claim what God has already given us as our own through faith.


The seventh day is the day of victory


This Impossible mission from God has three instructive points:
1. If God says it, that settles it… consider it DONE!
2. Before and during this mission! … Surround it with PRAYER!
3. Walk on Faith… CLAIM IT!

How do you spell relief?

I was pouring myself a glass of Tea today when my son distracted me. I ended up filling the glass beyond capacity and it flowed on to the counter. What a mess and as I was cleaning it up, God instructed me.

He sometimes does that with me, he’ll put a thought in my brain and it just sticks there like somebody crazy glued a piece of paper to my forehead. Hanging in front of my eyes until I deal with it.

I looked at the glass then the mess in front of me. God has been granting me some interesting wisdom. Lately though, it has seemed to slow down quite a bit and I wasn’t sure why. Was I doing something wrong; was I listening; or was God just busy with someone else for a while.

Luke 8:18 Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.”\

It’s the Law of Use: "Use It or Lose It.”


Okay, so here is a Man of Action list of hearing aids:

· If the message goes in one ear and out the other you are a:
Care Less Hearer
Luke 8:12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

· If you hear the Word and it excites you but fail to count the cost of hearing it you are a:
Superficial Hearer
Luke 8:13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.

· If you hear the Word and honestly try to live it by being very active in the church but are unwilling to separate yourself from the world you are:
Works Hearer
Luke 8:14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.

· If you hear the Word you keep it in your heart. You walk by what the word says and honestly seek the word and understand the truths within you are a:
Truth Hearer
Luke 8:15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.·

If you hear the word and fill yourself up with it but never release or do what God asks for you to do you are a:
Constipated Hearer

That’s where the glass of Tea came in, I was filled up with God’s wisdom and truth but not sharing or giving of that which God has given me. Thus it overflowed and made a mess.

Yes, I served God and man with love, but I kept the wisdom God had given me for myself. Fellowship is the key to release in these situations, sharing God’s heart with all from what he’s given you.

God doesn’t give us wisdom so we can lock it away and keep it secret from the world. NO, he gives it to us because it’s part of his plan for us to release it into the world.

How do you spell relief?

A Measure of Success

When you and I came to Jesus – we were capable of making reasonably good decisions and had a good idea of what was right and wrong. BUT when push came to shove, we realized we were sinners. Part of the reason God gave us His word - was to change us…
John 17:17 "Sanctify them by your word…"

What is the measure of success of a Christian’s life? Let me give you a few of the top measurements that WE have today. We parade them around as honors to be achieved, medals to be won and glories to be had. Here are a few of our measurements:

1. Tithes: If a person tithes to the Church, to us, they are good Christians.
2. Church attendance: Unless you attend Church every Sunday you are not a good Christian
3. Dress Code: Now we tell people to come as you are to Church, but we don’t really mean it. If they don’t look right, if they don’t smell right, if they have bad breath, or if they just don’t look like we do, then they cannot be a good Christian
4. Misc. Service: Miscellaneous service includes feeding the poor (when it doesn’t interfere with the other things you have going on – like watching the game or going shopping); visiting someone in the hospital, making food for the elderly, etc.

By our standards, if a person did these well – they are a good Christian and will get into heaven. When we stand up and say all of the things about a “good Christian”, how they served, how they “did things” for others we are basing those comments on an action – not the heart.

This is our measurement of a good Christian, what they do – not their motivation or their hearts. We will parade someone around as a good Christian because of their ability to sing, teach or preach, even though everyone knows they are a cheat, liar and chasing every man or woman they come across. But if they are doing good works we tend to overlook their “mistakes”. We can overlook their little mishaps. Besides, aren’t we all just sinners saved by grace?
Your works will not save you. If you’re doing things to be doing them, for the approval of man, you’re wasting your time. If you’re doing them because you’re motivated by love, then it will last.

Want to know a secret, I woke up and sinned. I lit a cigarette before I read the Word of God and prayed this morning. I know, doesn’t sound too bad and God still loves and forgives me. How do you see this? When you read these last 2 sentences, did it make you think of ”Paul, the son of God” or “Paul the Smoker son of God?”

We must get away from this vision of what a real Christian should be. We must not use our own rulers to measure others; only God has that accurate measurement.

1 John 3:23-24: “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in Him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

1 John 4:7-8: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love, does not know God, for God is love.

God measures our life by our love. 1 Corinthians 13 talks about love and how perfect it is. What I love about that chapter is that it plainly states that our measurements mean nothing if we are not motivated by love, walk in and do all things in love.

We must realize everyone is important, each individual person. You don’t judge people based on their circumstances; you treat them, as you’d want to be treated. This is a quality of love in action. A quality of love for Men of Action!

Some people can be the most holy, sanctified and righteous people on Sunday. These same Christians can be the biggest devils Monday through Saturday. Some of you have not spoken to a family member in years because of something. If we treat family like that I can only imagine how we treat non-family members. And when I use the term “family”, I mean the family of Christ, which includes your blood and non-blood relatives.

Jesus told the disciples that we would be known as His disciples if we have love for one another. 1 John 4:20 says If someone says “I love God” and hates his brother, he is a liar, for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

You will be known by something. If you are not known as His disciple what are you known for? What measurements are you using?

The decision is yours and I pray that you make the right one.