Blog by DJ McPhail.

Here to Honour God, Help People & Live it up! DJ and Karen McPhail are the leaders of Liberty Church - a Jesus centred church that is passionate, dynamic, multi-cultural and multi-generational with a heart for seeing Righteousness and Justice being extended to all people in our world. DJ leads the church, is the primary preacher and leads the Exec. & teaching teams. For more info about Liberty Church visit http://mylibertychurch.org

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Trigger points for Transformation

Trigger points for Transformation

Sundays are trigger points for miraculous interventions of a mighty God in the affairs of anyone who would look to Jesus!

#whyiloveChurch

I once met a man on a Sunday morning at church. Although he had recently committed his life to Jesus, he was advised to find a church other than the one his ex-wife attended after their divorce proceedings. 

Not only was he faithful to the activities of our fledgling church plant, but he started serving .. in children’s church! He devoured the word, made progress in our discipleship lunches and soon, we started to enjoy each other’s company. Once, after a day of prayer and fasting, the men in the church all went away for a night, broke the fast with a braai and I forbade anyone from going to sleep before 2am in the morning. We stayed up and prayed, chatted about sport, spoke nonsense and then, as tiredness set in, men started opening up. This friend of mine told us of his incredible aggression, abuse of his wife (which cost him his marriage), his racialistic and homophobic behavior .. and all the time I thought ..’this is the leader of our children’s ministry.. what was I thinking? What have I done?”

Despite the ‘horror’ stories of that night with regard to his past, I knew this man was a ‘new creation in Christ’ (2 Corinthians 5:17)

About a year later, I had the honour of re-marrying this man and his wife in a Sunday morning church service. Today, both he and his wife serve on staff, he is an elder and successful business man with a terrific reputation in his industry and they are about to embark on a mission that God has been preparing them for, for the last 4 years.. to come along side and strengthen church leaders in Bulgaria and to lead a foundation that will serve in what is one of the worlds epicenter’s of people trafficking. This couple have a huge heart for Righteousness (relationship with Jesus) and Justice (human slavery) all through the local church.

Q: What was the trigger point for his transformation? 

A: A passion for Jesus lived out in a faithful commitment to His church from Sunday to Sunday permeating his everyday life!.. Only God!

Find out more about Grant & Peta-Ann’s Mission to Bulgaria at grantandpeta.com 

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Our purpose INChrist!

Te bible has so much to say about our purpose but we often syncretise our passion for personal purpose with Gods purposes when very often they can be at odds. The way to clarity around purpose is to ask the right questions. Watch this clip for clarity on our purpose INChrist.

- DJ McPhail

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You're a monster INChrist

Over 30 times in Ephesians Paul the Apostle emphasises the exotic mind blowing truth that we are INChrist .. and that means that although we are IN this world we are not OF this world .. we are different because we live for a different cause. In this clip taken form part 1 of our series MonstersINC dj shares the power of our identity INChrist starting with the Apostles Paul's understanding on his calling.

- DJ McPhail

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Teach

Everything we do teaches something to someone. When this thought first entered my mind many years ago, I didn’t appreciate how true and difficult a reality it would turn out to be. Especially in this world of “always on”, one can feel stressed having to measure every thought, word or action. On the other hand, if I live with this knowledge as a tool in my hand, my “everything I do” can be a source of blessing and help to others. And it makes me more responsible and mature. Good leaders are happy to shoulder this burden.

- By Lorenzo Agnes http://lorenzoagnes.com/

- Lorenzo and Delray have led a church in upstate New Your for 15 years and While Delray remains the Worship Pastor at Cal Tab. Lorenzo is now President of the Shakaba Foundation and is the Catalyst & Architect of the Global Family of churches who plant local churches all over the world with the core values of Righteousness and Justice. http://shakaba.net 

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You’re a piece of work!

You’re a piece of work!

… is usually an accusation or comment one person makes in relation to another’s character flaw. It can also be a declaration of someone’s disappointment in another.

What gripped me, as a youngster, was the new beginning to life that Christ offered me. When I first heard 2 Corinthians 5:17, “..if anyone is in Christ they are a new creation, the old has gone the new has come,” it was the best news I had ever heard! Even though I had just arrived in my teens, and up until then had done very little worthy of major regret or shame, I instinctively knew that I needed to BE new!

My new faith in Christ offer me new life .. so new that I was a new creation, had received new birth (John 3:3) and, as Paul put it in Ephesians 2:10, was a new "piece of work”.

“..we are God’s handiwork,created in Christ Jesus to do good works,which God prepared in advance for us to do”

I was not merely the fumbled, fudged and fractured result of the limiting and damaging forces and personalities that made up my environment … but now, in Christ, I was God’s handiwork!

The KJV of the bible says God’s ‘masterpiece’… I was a piece of work designed by the Master Himself! What an honour..how exciting.. what possibilities lay ahead for little insignificant me? .. for despicable me?

This awakened in me a quest for my purpose.. that I was not just any ‘piece of work’, but I was God’s handiwork.. created in Christ for good works! God made me to DO something .. something GOOD .. that He, with foreknowledge, had already prepared for me to do before there was a me to begin with!

This realisation flooded my soul with a sense of awe and poured huge meaning even into the most mundane of tasks!

I am ‘a piece of work’ to do good works and I know it will all work for good as I centre my life on loving Him and His purpose which He purposed for me in Christ! (Romans 8:28)

- DJ McPhail

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When living doesn’t suck and dying is success

When living doesn’t suck and dying is success.

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed,  but will have sufficient courage so that now as always  Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:20+21

Paul, one of my great heroes in the faith, penned these words that are simultaneously haunting and incredibly inspiring!

To honour Jesus, both in life and in death, is incredibly challenging!

“.. in death” .. I can begin to cope with. For death to be gain is to be with Christ in the ultimate place of healing, wholeness and fulfillment.. no more pain, frustration and death. Yet to ‘gain’ in dying, there is huge loss! The loss of the ones I love, my marriage, kids, grandkids, friends .. the loss of my job/calling (if I enjoy it), the loss of physical pleasures such as eating and drinking, sex, exercise, entertainment, reading ..the list goes on…

“..in life” .. this is even tougher! For life to be gain, he counts the things of this world .. all life has to offer .. garbage in comparison to Jesus!

Paul says in Philippians 3:8 I consider everything a loss because of thesurpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ

Here is the challenge ..that the courage, Kingdom productivity and deep joy Paul experienced was with and in Jesus above all else, beyond anything else and in comparison to everything else in this life!

We then, with Paul, will experience exquisite joy and everlasting satisfaction when.. .. we live and count as loss all the world still has to offer, or .. we die and lose all this world has offered.. to gain Jesus!

Lord have mercy .. I hope to live and die for your glory!

- DJ McPhail

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What leading a church has taught me about leadership.

I never wanted to lead a church.. I just wanted to step up and do the next thing God asked me to! In fact, I wanted to be an eternal Youth Pastor .. recycled teenager .. and then the demotion.. Senior Pastor. ;)

God has a purpose for everyone! God’s purpose for you has nothing to do with what you do or who you are .. it has to do with who He is and what He is doing .. any other mission outside of His mission is omission and vanity!

We are all leaders! God’s purpose thrusts us all into leadership! Every one influences someone and thus, we are all leaders – get used to that!

Always encourage people to lead! My responsibility and privilege is to respect every person, irrespective of their age or gender, as a leader and to inspire them to lead in life!

My family is my responsibility! Family is the first* arena of leadership that carries the most profound consequences when it comes to a person’s joy and sense of significance. * in terms of priority & opportunity 

Most people are not thinking as much about you as you think. Among those you lead .. some people will love you, most will like you and few will criticize, appose and resist you. Be grateful for those who love and support you, be gracious to those who like you and don’t worry nor waste any energy or time on the others.

Hold people lightly. People come and people go. They are God’s children, not mine! 

Never be a threatened leader! Encourage people to make decisions, show initiative, take responsibility and lead. No one can threaten my job or position as I don’t have a job. I have a call from God and there is more than enough for all of us to do!

Only God. When I do what I can do ..for His Glory .. then He will do what only He can do.. and that makes all the difference!

Never complain! So often church leaders complain that they are tired and feel used.. but they forget that when we met Jesus and were consumed with His love, grace and mercy for us, we prayed.. “Lord use me” .. so stop weeping and start sweeping, serving, leading!

- DJ McPhail 

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What I have learned about leadership. Part 1

Ever since I committed my life to Jesus, leadership has fascinated me. I was born the eldest of five children and my parents were not ‘leaders’ in any formal capacity. We never spoke about leadership at home, but as soon as I started to follow Jesus, the Leader of all leaders, who initiated a revolution of changing peoples lives, who in turn, change their worlds.. I was mesmerized! I became a student of people and willing under-study of leaders whether up close or from a distance.

Dr. David Yonggi Cho – Man of prayer.  If you want to lead people, first be led by God.. if you want to have something to say.. first listen to God.

Dr. John Maxwell – Leader & Communicator. Leadership is influence and if you want to influence people.. don’t seek to be a teacher, rather seek to be a communicator .. keep it simple, memorable and practical and whatever you do .. just lead!

Bill Hybels – Leader of Leaders and Visionary extraordinaire! A compelling vision, brilliantly and consistently communicated with intentional and excellent execution, will honour God, who gives the vision, and inspire people, who will line up to make it happen! 

Jim Cantelon – Bold pioneer! God never front loads vision but will always pay the bills for those who step out in faith! Just show up, do your best for His Glory and have an ice cream or a beer if that’s what you enjoy! 

Drs. Paul & Carol Alexander –  Missions motivators who keep giving it all away! Generosity has nothing to do with how much you have, but how light you hold all God has given you! Nothing can replace passionate service when done for the glory of God and the praise of His name in the nations!

Murray Kilgour – Life Coach. Your happy place is where your passion and talent/gifts meet.. give 80% to that ‘Sweet Spot’. Each day/month/season needs an equal share of Focus time .. Fix it  time and Free time.. never feel guilty!

Amy, Josh & Murray – My kids Hear them all, listen to mom, obey God, be yourself and keep it real!

DJ McPhail

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The ultimate downgrade!

We so enjoy upgrades.. whether it is every two years when we get to choose a newer, faster, slicker cell phone, or when you get to a hotel and your room has been upgraded, or your ‘half-loaf’ rental car has been upgraded to a bigger luxury model.. it’s a buzz.. because we are receiving more than we expected!

Despite this, we as human beings have mastered the ultimate downgrade.. Paul says we have exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped & served created things rather than the Creator Himself! – Romans 1:25

This exchange is the ultimate downgrade because the truth we have dropped in place of the lie we have picked up is .. that ever increasing joy and everlasting satisfaction can be found in anything other than in God!

Despite the buzz and happiness a new

car , phone, pair of jeans .. brings

friend, prospective man/woman of my dreams .. brings

extreme experience and adrenaline shot  .. brings

we have yet to really experience the depth of joy, satisfaction, peace and confidence that God has in mind for us!

Our persistent pursuit of joy in anything other than in God and His glory .. i.e. His greatness and goodness .. secures for us certain suicide for any real lasting joy and satisfaction! 

Temporary pleasures secure temporary satisfaction 

.. and that’s  is ok ..for now .. but there is a hunger and thirst in each one of us for much more.. for an enduring and life building joy that is anchored to the eternal!

Real pleasure and the legitimate pursuit of joy comes alive when it is partnered with our passion for God’s glory..  and worship, as well as service that elevates the truth of God’s greatness & goodness, will always deliver a joy that’s unspeakable and satisfaction that is unshakable.. and this is the ultimate upgrade on what this world & created things offer us!

- DJ McPhail

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The Pastor’s on Vacation .. come join us on Sunday

Our media department recently launched our 2013 street pole advertising campaign with 3 posters. The first one had a photo of me preaching with the caption “the pastor’s on vacation”. The second poster invited people to church and the third showed a young bass guitarist… all very colourful, catchy and well designed with church details.

There has been quite a buzz around about these adverts ..

“I don’t get it!”  .. “What does it mean?” .. as well as

‘I think they’re cool’ .. ‘that’s funny’.

They definitely got our church members, as well as Christians from other churches, talking and evidently, many non-churchgoers too. These discussions seemed to have taken place in meetings, at work, around braais, and on twitter, instagram and Facebook.

… they are refreshingly different to usual church ads!

The thought behind the ads was ‘.. the cat’s away .. the mice will play’. i.e. when the authority is away, everyone takes advantage of their absence to have fun!  This line of thinking is so alternative to the typical ’bible-belt’ semi deification of pastors who are usually represented as slick CEO authority types who are the king pins in running their churches, and therefore above any kind of ‘dig’. I think this ‘tongue in cheek’ sentiment.. that ‘hey church is fun when the Pastor is away’.. sends a message that we don’t take ourselves too seriously and we have a sense of humour.

… they send a good message!

I like the message we are sending out in this campaign and that is.. Liberty is not built on a superstar pastor or celebrity preacher!

In most church promotional and informational material, the pastor, and often his wife, are ‘posited’ as the ‘designer magazine cover wannabe celebrities’ who are amazingly gifted, successful, wealthy, good looking, well dressed and ever so suave! I think most un-churched people find that portrayal of ‘picture perfect flawlessness’ unreal, unrelatable and, quite frankly, false, especially in the wake of so many pastors who have been depicted this way in the past and have been ‘found out’ for their ‘suspect’ lifestyles and vices!  I just don’t like that message and portrayal of church leaders.

  Just the other day, I saw a huge billboard near our church advertising a church conference with two Armani suited, jewelry dripping, ‘Colgate’ smiling pastors posing as ‘the’ draw cards of the conference.. the caption..

“Teaching on the power of the Kingdom Priesthood”

My immediate thought, “wow that will really get people to church.. not!”

At Liberty, we are not building the church on the reputation or gifting of a celebrity pastor!  We celebrate the amazing gifts and ministries of all the people, young and old, fulltime and volunteers, who worship and serve, week in and week out, to facilitate the activity of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men, women and children!

… they got people talking!

No other advertising campaign at Liberty has got so much reaction, even from our own members. As of writing this blog, we have yet to ascertain the short term impact in terms of how many people attended Liberty as a direct result of the ads. The long term impact is presence in our community and city.

I think we need to risk more to engage our world.. we have had great success from street pole ads close to our three South African campuses in the past.

.. I think we can do even better

.. maybe we need to get a number of the members at Liberty who have a wicked sense of humour around a table and brain-storm our next attempt.

Whatever we do ..

..we can not hide our light and remain hidden or silent ..

..we need to practice His presence and publish His presence in all we do!

 .. I need a vacation!

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What can you do when the pressure is on?

Yesterday, I was under the whip and I was behind in getting back to my e-mails. If I have a ‘screen full’ of e-mails, I am on edge.

at the moment I have a list of four screens, roughly 53 emails to attend to.

I am 3 months behind an online preach course I am doing.

Our new series 2nd draft is waiting for me and in 4 days I need to present it to the teaching team and then.

in 20 hours I need to have my sermon ready for a DVD shoot so that our other Campuses can hear our vision update from me first hand!

As I was pouring over my sermon, hardly having left my office all day, and despite resisting taking calls, my phone rang and I saw it was a Pastor friend of mine from Mpumalanga ..I thought “this will be quick”.

As I answered, he asked for a favour. He was scheduled to speak at what he originally thought was a small meeting and had turned out to be an oversubscribed meeting with key government and business leaders in attendance. He was driving straight to the meeting at 6pm and asked me to send him some visionary & leadership notes and text them to his phone.

Great, he is under pressure and now I must help him?!...

In 5 minutes, this is what I came up with.. I will keep it and use it some time:

Draw or describe 3 circles that intersect. One on top and two below, one on left, one on the the right!

The bottom left circle is LEADERSHIP

The bottom right circle is CULTURE

The top circle is SUSTAINABLE EFFECTIVENESS

We all want SUSTAINABLE EFFECTIVENESS in our lives, families and work .. For success to continue long after us!

Success is not what you achieve, it is what you set into motion! 

So what drives SUSTAINABLE EFFECTIVENESS?

LEADERSHIP (1st circle)  drives/influences CULTURE(2nd circle)  & CULTURE drives SUSTAINABLE EFFECTIVENESS! I Learned this from Murray Kilgour.*

To lead and to drive/ inform/ influence culture, you must..

1) Speak words  that build people! 

Words do not only communicate, words also CREATE! 

Speak positive , faith building, God honouring words over people you love, people you work with and over yourself because words CREATE!

God created the universe with a word! Joel 3 "let the weak say I AM STRONG" The BIBLE always tells us to BE STRONG! You don't have to feel strong to be strong!

2) Be a leader that always grows and always moves on!

" you cannot do what you always do to be who you have not yet become!"

*Check out http://murraykilgour.com for helpful leadership resources and inspiration! He has a free e-book on his site called Living on Purpose!

- DJ McPhail

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Thinking About Strategizing

Mark van Straaten is a good friend of mine that leads a great church in Umhlanga with Campuses in Ballito and Durban North. Mark is real and has a great perspective on life and leadership .. so this blog on strategy is really helpful!

Thinking About Strategizing Posted by Mark van Straaten on 19 April, 2012 

As a church we have an opportunity to unlock something that could really affect our future. So it really is critical that we formulate a great strategy.

I became aware of this opportunity during a budget presentation. As the smell of coffee in the room became stale, the questions around our future become more intense.

The Simple to the Complex. A need for strategy usually starts with something simple. It could be that I want to lose weight or get fit or run a marathon. As you unpack a simple, straightforward goal you quickly realize that there are complexities to it. Now, here’s the learning – the degree to which you want to realize the simple will determine the energy you will exert to resolve the complex.

The First Draft. As I began to clearly see what I wanted and what it was I thought we needed to do, I drafted an initial strategy. I knew it would need to be refined, but I had to capture what I thought the strategy would look like.

The Inner Circle Consultation. Having made a first draft, I could take it to those I knew were already on board, those who wanted the same outcome as I did. Maybe you would call them fans. Together we integrated the strategy and made some changes.

The Second Draft. With the first consult done, it was clear that the general plan was good but we needed to refine it further. So I prepared a second draft of the strategy. Cleaner, crisper and more concise. This one I asked an outside colleague to look at. Someone who was smarter than me, who had no vested interest and would be honest in his feedback.

Off the back of this second draft, I began to work with my team, breaking up the elements of the strategy and formulating plans around it. This began to unlock further insights into our organization.

Now we will take the strategy and some of the plans to a larger group of leaders with a view to getting more input and “buy in” so that we can begin to implement the strategy.

We know that this process is going to take some time. Although I think the strategy still needs further refinement, we’ve had enough eyes look over it and heads go through to begin implementation. Watch this space!

- Mark van Straaten http://markvanstraaten.wordpress.com

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Miracles happen when we face the facts and then pray in faith anyway!

Karen and I spent three hours with my spiritual father, Dave Smethurst, in Brighton the other day. He told us of a time he was called to a hospital to pray for a seven year old girl who had been run over by a truck. He could only make it to the hospital after his preaching assignment in the town and when he arrived at the hospital, it was late and only the late night nursing staff were there. They informed him that the girl had died over and hour ago and that the death certificate had already been completed. Partly out of guilt, being late to pray, and partly out of compassion, he asked if he could see the little girl. When he saw her body, anger rose up in Dave and he and a minister friend raised their hands to God as they prayed for the girl and rebuked the enemy for robbing her and her family of her life!

They faced the facts that she was dead .. and then they prayed anyway!

They left the hospital, and the next day, decided to go see her family to offer condolences. When they arrived, no one was sad. 

The family told him what had happened early that morning.

When the morning nursing staff came in, a sister was preparing to wrap her body up to be sent to the mortuary when the young girl woke up. In absolute shock, the nurse said to the girl, “What are you doing, you should be dead?!” to which the girl replied, “Well I don’t know about that. All I know is I am hungry” 

The doctor who had completed the death certificate, and another doctor, went to work immediately to repair her injuries including inserting a plate to replace her shattered skull. 

What a miracle!

Dave once shared this miracle with a successful Muslim man in Lebanon who then proceeded to give his life to Issa ..Jesus!

Dave faced the fact that the man was a Muslim, but he shared Christ anyway! 

Faith that faces the facts and then acts based on God’s promises activates miracles!

 “19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” Romans 4:19-21

Check out Dave Smethurst ministry at www.smethurstministries.org

DJ McPhail

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A Passion for God's House

A passion for God’s house .. makes us stronger .. Kelly

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.Romans 1:11-12

I love Paul’s passion for the church in Rome - “I long to see you.”

There was a buzz around a relatively unknown Jewish Rabbi, Jesus. Paul was excited about the spread of the Gospel; the good news about Jesus in the very epicentre of world power.

His passion was not just to see the believers, but he had a purpose for his longing ..and that was to “..impart ..some spiritual gift to make (them) strong.”

His passion was to connect the Roman saints with the gifts of the Spirit and to infuse them with a strength that would cultivate a community of faith in a hostile world of false worship .. much like our world today!

They would need all the strength they could get for when Caesar’s empire would strike back!

 As in Rome, every era and every culture has a built in opposition to Jesus, and his followers need to get stronger!

The strength we need as the opposition to multiple layers of deterrents to God glorifying, Jesus centered faith, is not intellectual nor apologetic in essence, but a strength that comes from God’s presence and activity (gifts) in our every day life!

Every time we build a passion for God’s house.. the church, this community of believers who do life and ministry together .. we create an environment charged with incredible possibilities for the gifts of the Spirit to be ignited in making each believer stronger!

I see an increase in the church, slight but not insignificant, of a growing longing/desire/passion for the presence of God that comes to us as promised by Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Now is not the time to ignore or miss the activity of the Spirit intent on making us stronger!

If we need to be stronger, it is for a specific purpose!

The Spirit of God is strengthening us in preparation for GREATER THINGS!

DJ McPhail

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I turned 51 and thought of how I may want to die.

I was on a plane flying to one of the most beautiful cities in the world the other day.. there are few places as stunning as Cape Town in January! On the flight, I was reading “Let the Nations be Glad!” by John Piper.. the best book I have ever read on world missions and living for Jesus .. really.

At the age of 79, after many years as a missionary in North Africa, Lull was teaching Arabic in Europe ..but instead of retiring or lecturing until his last day, his ambition was to die as a missionary, not a lecturer. In 1314, he decided to return to the small band of believers he had established in North Africa and served them for another year. 

At the age of 80, ‘weary of seclusion’, he longed for a martyr’s crown and so presented himself at the open market where he had previously been expelled from the town. There, Raymond Lull stood and preached with love the truth of the word of God. ‘Filled with fanatic fury’ and unable to reply to his preaching, the local population grabbed him, dragged him out of the town and, by the ‘convenience’ of a local king, he was stoned to death on the 30th June 1315.

In John 21:19 Jesus told Peter by what death he would glorify God.

I wonder, as I get older, if I will pursue comfort and stability, peace and warmth, as my body gets brittle, cold and burdensome, or if I will keep pushing the edge of faith as I live a life that is God Glorifying, Jesus centered and Holy Spirit saturated.

I hope to be very healthy as long as possible. I hope my greatest daily desire will not be a better round of golf, nor that my joy will be reduced to the choice of dessert at dinner. 

I hope that I will be of suitable faith, reason and courage to choose, like Raymond Lull, a martyr’s crown! Can there be a more honorable, faith - filled and God glorifying way to say good-bye to this temporary life?!

I remember Ps. Rick Godwin once saying, “Some men die in shrapnel, some men die in flames, most men die inch by inch playing little games”

DJ McPhail

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#Fast2013 - Stirring my passion while starving my bod

There is another less frequented joy that I too reluctantly practice, that is just as nourishing and of greater worth for my inner strength! It is stirring up a hunger and thirst for the presence of God through communing with His Spirit.

I have written a new daily ‘mantra’ to mediate on each day, especially during this year’s fast. I say it a few times a day, usually first thing in the morning, and it is usually the last thought I whisper to God before I sink into my temporary coma. Here it is:

Lord I choose to stir up a passion to treasure You above all other treasures in a world that dis believes, dis honours and dis respects you.

I choose you above all  possessions, including money, positions, that make me look good,  and people, especially myself!

I choose to..Value You above all else that is valuable Love You above all that is lovable Admire You above all else that is admirable Adore You above all that is beautiful

Savour You above all that is sweet Fear you above all that is fearful Respect you above all that is respectable Honour you above all that is honourable and to Prize you above all that is precious!

I am still hungry.. but He is my treasure above all else!

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Why can 2013 be a ridiculous year?

The more I think about the #ridiculous strategy God gave Joshua for defeating Jericho, the more I am convinced that 2013 is going to be a #ridiculous year!

The word #ridiculous comes from the Latin word ridiculus which means “laughable’

In Genesis 18, the Lord says to Abraham “.. about this time next year ..Sarah your wife will have a son … so Sarah laughed to herself..”

Sarah laughed because the notion of her, at her age, and Abraham at his, having a child was .. #ridiculous .. laughable!

Look at what this #ridiculous word from God produced ..”Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born. Sarah said, ”God has blessed me with laughter
and all who get the news will laugh with me!” (Gen. 21:5-6)

I believe that our ‘ruthless obedience’ to God’s, #ridiculous ways will result in joy and laughter for others, as it did for Sarah and those who laughed with her!

David, the great King, leader and worshipper, wrote in Psalm 68 “Up with God! Down with His enemies!
 Adversaries, run for the hills!
Gone like a puff of smoke, like a blob of wax in the fire—
one look at God and the wicked vanish.
When the righteous see God in action they’ll laugh, they’ll sing, they’ll laugh and sing for joy.”

Jesus said “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. 
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. (Luke 6:21)

My prayer is that you and I will step out and have faith in a God who does the #ridiculous. May your year be filled with Jericho type breakthrough .. Sarah style ‘new life’ .. Davidic worship ..  and the blessing of laughter that can only come from Jesus!

When you look back over this yea, may you say.. #ridiculous ..only God could have done that!

DJ McPhail