Life Surge

Worship     Wisdom     Work     Wealth

Surge Your Life God’s Way

 The definition of Surge is a sudden, powerful forward or upward movement

 Saturday, October 14, I went to an all day conference called Life Surge.  It intrigued me to sign up with “Learn Why and How to Create and Multiply Financial Resources for Kingdom Impact”.  Not only have I been thinking about not having saved enough for retirement, I’ve been thinking that I will be living off a fixed income with nothing left to have fun or use for Kingdom impact.  So, this got my attention.

 It was a great day of various speakers and corporate worship.  The underlying theme was growing your resources to use them for the kingdom of God.  The day started with worship and then the Benham Brothers; twin brothers who were former baseball players and then started a company and invested in real estate.  They gave this illustration of riches and wealth: Think of riches as a bucket of water and wealth as a river.  If you remove a cup of water from the bucket, the water level goes down.  If you remove a cup of water from a river, the water is replenished. 

 Next was Nick Vujicic, a man born with no arms and legs. What an impressive testimony and life story.   He told us the three questions that he and his wife use to check in with each other monthly.  1) What am I doing that you want me to stop doing?  2) What am I not doing that you want me to do.  3) What am I doing well.  These questions can be used in any relationship, even our relationship with God.

Steve Champa talked to us about investing in the stock market.  He was flat broke at one point in his life and learned how to effectively trade in the stock market.  Life Surge offers a 3 day class to learn how to trade stocks.  I signed up for it.  Will this be a way for me to increase my wealth?  I don’t know but it doesn’t hurt to learn about it.

Then lunch was served to us in our seats.  How does Jason’s Deli prepare 6,000+ boxed lunches?   While we were eating lunch, Anne Beiler who started Auntie Anne’s pretzels told us how she started her business and part of her life story.  One of her statements that stuck with me was, “Alone we die, connected we live.”  I need to get her book.  She has quite a story. 

 Joe Johnson, the founder of Life Surge spoke to us next.  He was also broke and $1 million in debt at one point.  He invested in real estate.  Proverbs 4 Get Wisdom, Get Understanding.  Take Action.

James Smith talked to us about real estate investing, as well as other things.  He was quite colorful…..don’t ask me to define that.  😊  Life Surge also offers a class on real estate investing.  I don’t think I will take that class.  I’m not sure that is the right path for me at this stage in my life but it was all very interesting.

 Next up was Priscilla Shirer.  She was one of the reasons I signed up for the conference.  She spoke from Luke 5 which is the story of Peter fishing all night and not catching any fish.  Until, Jesus got into the boat and took him to the spot with fish.  Priscilla pointed out that Jesus knew that Peter was not going to catch any fish and that He would need to use Peter’s boat to talk to the people.  If Peter had caught fish, there would have been no room in the boat for Jesus. 

 Dave Seymour followed Priscilla.  He is from England and had an HGTV show called Flipping Boston.  He talked about God’s deliverance from alcohol.  He also talked about “faith without works is dead”. 

 Finally Tim Tebow.  He made these three points: 1) Believe God’s word.  2) Believe what God’s word says about me; I am fearfully and wonderfully made, I am awesome, unique and set apart.  3) Believe that God wants to use me.  Then he told the story of how he came to wear John 3:16 under his eyes when playing football and gave a powerful presentation of the gospel.   It was me who nailed Jesus to the cross.  We serve a God that loves us so much that He was willing to endure the cross for me.  And then He rose from the dead; He is not in the grave but alive.  Consider what we are saved from, saved by and saved for.

 What a day.  What did I come away with?  A sense that I can do more.  I want to do more.  I don’t want to be strapped in my retirement years living on social security and my retirement funds.  I want to be able to have some fun, but, mostly I want to be able to give to people and organizations that are doing kingdom work.  I'm not sure where God will take me with this but I am looking forward to finding out but I do believe that He wants me to do more and to live a life surged by God

 

Unsettled and Dissatisfied

 Have you ever felt like you were in a place where you didn’t belong?  Have you ever felt like you just couldn’t settle into your life?  Have you ever felt like there should be something “more” in your life?  I’m sure we all have.  That’s not a common experience for me.  I’m generally content with my life and where I am.  For the last few months, I’ve felt unsettled, dissatisfied, frustrated, envious of friends who are retired and going on adventures with their spouses, tired of being alone (singleness was never what I wanted) ….just overall not thrilled with where I am in life.  I thought it was a passing phase that vacation, a few days at the beach, would cure.  It didn’t. 

 I’ve been going through a Bible study called “Discerning the Voice of God” by Priscilla Shirer.   For too long, I’ve been listening to/for other voices.  Now, I’m working on listening for God’s voice. 

How do I get to where I can hear God’s voice? 

•  Obedience is key
•  Five “M’s” of correctly hearing God
• Look for the Message of the Spirit – intentionally listen
• Live in the Mode of Prayer – submit anything you think you’re hearing back to Him in prayer
• Search out the Model of Scripture – does what you think you’re hearing contradict the character of God or His Word
• Submit to the Ministry of Eli (story of Samuel) – seek the counsel of a wise, more mature believer who is practiced in discerning God’s voice in their own life
• Expect the Mercy of Confirmation – ask God to confirm His message through His Word, through circumstances, or even through another person
• Stop frantically searching for God’s will; start frantically searching for God Himself.
• The Holy Spirit is real and if we position ourselves spiritually, His voice will give us continued, personal direction.  He speaks as plainly and as clearly as you and I allow His voice to be in our lives.
• Knowing the character of God’s voice as opposed to the enemy’s voice
• Condemnation is the voice of the enemy; conviction is the voice of the Holy Spirit
• The enemy’s voice is cryptic and clever; God’s voice aligns with scripture
• When God speaks, it is in concert with His perfect timing to accomplish His prescribed plan. Waiting is a commitment to continue in obedience until God speaks.  Ask Him to give you the courage to fully engage in what he has put before you today, as well as the faithfulness to stay on the path until He gives you different or new directions.  Keep a firm confidence in His purposes, His plans – and His perfect timing.
• We must carve out time to purposefully listen for His voice (1) through prayer, (2) meditating on His Word and (3) lingering worshipfully in His presence.
•  Back to obedience – Obedience is not only the proactive posture we take to hear Him, but it is also the response we employ once He has spoken.
• God will speak to the hearts of those who prepare themselves to hear.  Approach my relationship with Him from an ongoing stance of anticipation, readied and expectant to hear His voice.

So, where am I on this journey to hearing God’s voice?  Well, it is a journey and a learning process.  I’m wondering if this period of unsettledness is because God is planning a change in my life and I need to be ready to make that change.  Or, is this the work of the enemy, trying to keep me from hearing God’s voice?  Guess I’ll just have to keep practicing the things I’m learning and wait…..the hardest part.