Friday, September 28, 2012

20 Seconds of Insane Courage

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9, NKJV


There is a great line in the movie, We Bought A Zoo, where Matt Damon's character says,

“You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”

Isn’t that God’s challenge in today’s text? I can see at least four things in this verse that will help you to have 20 seconds of insane courage:

#1  Courage is a command not a suggestion

Have you ever noticed that when God speaks it’s usually not a suggestion? That’s right, God knows the score, He knows what’s good for you, He is on your side and when He speaks our job is to listen and obey. So, when God says that you are to have courage - that settles it and don’t settle for anything less. Courage is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. So whatever you are facing today, do it with courage.

#2  Strength alone is not enough

Did you know that God always gives us the strength to accomplish every one of our God-given dreams and visions? Of course He does, that’s not even up for debate. The God who created the universe and created you understands what it takes to accomplish a task. He’s never going to give you a dream that you don’t have the strength and the ability to achieve. He wouldn’t waste your time. But sometimes our own lack of courage will stop us before we even get started. Courage is nothing more than putting our faith into action. Don’t ever forget that when God told us in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me,” he meant what He said. So get started today, not just in your strength but His.

#3  Don’t let fear stop you

Right after God tells us to be strong and of good courage He tells us not to be afraid nor dismayed. I think we all know that fear does its very best to stop us before we can even get started. And if we get in the habit of letting fear have its way, then it leads to dismay and discouragement. The word “dismay” literally means to lie down. If fear builds a big enough stronghold in our lives it can ultimately cause us to lie down and give up before we get a chance to run after our dreams. Don’t ever let fear do that to you.

#4  God will see you through

I love how God finishes this verse. He reminds us that He will be with us wherever we go. He will be with you every single step of the way. He’s not just there at your first step, He’ll be there at the beginning and He’ll be there at the end. Remember, Jesus is the Author and the Finisher of our faith. He will be with you wherever you go. From the starting line to the finish line He’ll cheer you on with every step.

So, what would things look like a year from now if you exercised 20 seconds of divinely inspired courage? Are you just one decision away from the biggest move of your life? What’s stopping you? What’s the worst that can happen? It’s time for you to throw caution to the wind and see what you and God can accomplish. It’s your move, God has already made His. So be strong and of good courage, and I promise you, something great will come of it.


“Father, I choose today to believe Your word. I believe that You have commanded me to be strong and to have good courage. So I’m ready to reach for something big today. I’m not wasting the strength You have already given me, but I’m putting it into action because I have all the courage I need to see Your will and Your purpose come to pass in my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!”


Tweet it: Be strong and of good courage, and I promise you, something great will come of it. @jrjones

Friday, September 21, 2012

The Road of Integrity

“People with integrity have firm footing, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall.” Proverbs 10:9, NLT  

We all know that the fastest and most efficient way to get between two points is a straight line. The original Hebrew word translated for “integrity” is defined as “straightness”. People who walk with integrity typically walk a straight line. Their lives are defined as ordered and in control. But folks who live on the edge, always try to cut corners, and tend to be a little less than truthful are defined by following crooked paths. The result is always the same, they slip and fall.

I want to share with you five things that will help you to walk down the road of integrity.

#1  Develop Your Character

We live in a world that is extremely superficial. If you’ve got the looks: you’re in. People are enamored by appearance and are more interested on the outside than what’s on the inside. But here’s the deal-- you can alter your appearance a ton of different ways, but you can never hide what’s on the inside. Because whatever is on the inside, will come out when you’re squeezed. When you squeeze an orange, you never get apple juice.

So we all need to develop our character. Character is something that we can develop and work on everyday. It’s not glamorous or sexy, but it does define who we are. Ask God to help you develop a character that honors Him and allows you to walk in integrity.

#2  Be Honest

I remember the advice my mother gave me over 50 years ago, “Honesty is the best policy.” Well it’s just as true today as it was back in the 60’s. Here’s how it works:

A.  Be Honest with Yourself-- it always starts with us doing a little self analysis.

B.  Be Honest with God-- He knows everything about us already, so just be honest
with Him.

C.  Be Honest with Others-- learn to shoot straight with the people in your life.


#3  Do The Right Thing

Every day we’re faced with a ton of decisions. We come to a fork in the road where we need to draw on our integrity to make a decision on what direction to take. The choices we make determine our present as well as our future. Often times we’re forced to choose between doing the right thing which could mean more work or a delay in moving forward. Sometimes doing what’s right isn’t the easiest thing, but it’s always the right thing, for us and those that will follow our footsteps.

“The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.” Proverbs 20:7, NKJV

#4  Pay Attention To the Small Stuff

The Bible reminds us that it’s always the little foxes that spoil the vine. That’s a great reminder that we need to pay attention to the little things of life. Every day when an aircraft carrier gets ready to launch its aircraft the entire flight deck crew walks the deck, shoulder to shoulder, making sure that there is nothing that could get sucked up into the jet engine. Our Navy men and women know the importance of paying attention to the small stuff.

I remember finding a stack of quarters at the spray car wash one day. I could have used those quarters to wash my car, but they weren’t my quarters. They’d been left there by someone, and of course it wasn’t a big deal, but the bottom line is they weren’t mine. I left them there for the next guy.

#5  Keep Your Word

This is an easy one. Just say what you mean and mean what you say. Don’t say one thing and mean another. It’s the old adage, “Walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk.”  

Don’t promise to meet someone for coffee if you really don’t plan to ever do it. Listen to what the Bible says about this.

“...let your yes be yes and your no, no, lest you fall into judgment.” James 5:12, NKJV

Make a point to only say things that you believe and that you will back up with your actions. Every time you keep your word you are building your integrity.



“Father, help me to walk in my integrity. I seek to bring You honor and You glory by my words and by my actions. I desire to walk the straight and narrow with You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

Friday, September 14, 2012

Bring Your Best Today


Colossians 3:23 (NIV) “And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men.”

God put a desire in all of us to have fruitful lives. So, it doesn’t matter if you work the line at a factory, you’re a teacher at a school, or the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company we all should start our days with a goal to bring our very best. I would like to suggest five things that will help you put that goal into practice.

#1  When you get to work, be ready to work.

If you’re playing in the NFL and you’ve got a 1:00pm kick-off you’re not pulling your Escalade into the parking lot at 12:59pm. You’re probably there by 9:00am preparing to give your all on the field of play. Why is it that so many employees come to work minutes before their “kick-off’s” and wonder why they are not being celebrated for their efforts?

Here’s the deal. If you’re supposed to be on your post at 8:00am then be there, ready to go, well before 8:00am. Then, please don’t spend the first hour at work “winding up”, getting your coffee and eating your bagel and then spend the last hour of the day “winding down”. When you’re at work-- work!

Excellent employees don’t wait to get there till they ‘get there’, they come ready to work!

#2 Stay Focused

We live in a world where there seems to be a million distractions. So we need to learn not to chase the shiny things of life. Do you ever find yourself distracted from your main task by a Facebook notice, a Tweet, a text message from a friend, or even an email that is just not that urgent?

One way you can stay focused is having a daily checklist of the things that you want to accomplish. I would recommend setting aside a few minutes of thinking and planning time, at the beginning of each day, to prioritize your day. Then stay focused on it throughout the day and my guess is that you’ll be shocked as to how much you were able to get done.

So hunker down and stay focused on the task at hand.

#3 Be Solution Oriented

It’s easy to be the one at work that points out the problems, but how about becoming the person who comes up with solutions. Problem pointer-outers are plentiful, but solution comer-uppers are few and far between. Just because we’ve done certain things forever doesn’t mean that we need to keep doing them the same way. The incredible advancement of technology has opened up so many opportunities to improve efficiencies both at home and at work, it’s truly amazing.

So, if you want to increase your worth at work, be the one who works on making your company a more efficient operation.

#4  Don’t Hang With The Wrong Crowd

Every company has a group of negatrons. You know who they are. They are the ones who complain about everything. If they got a bonus, instead of being happy they’d find something to criticize about it. You don’t ever want to be associated with that crowd. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV) that “...bad company corrupts good people.”  Your image at work can be tarnished simply because you’re hanging out with Negative Norm or Critical Cathy too much.

So choose your associations wisely.

#5  Go The Extra Mile

With every task we are assigned, we can do just enough or we can choose to do more than enough. It’s what’s called going the extra mile. Don’t be ever be satisfied with just getting by, be the one that rises up above the others because you’re known for doing a little extra. I learned this lesson during my very first job, 36 years ago. My job was to park and fuel private airplanes. But there was typically a lot of waiting around in between tasks. So I took it upon myself to always sweep and clean the hangers. It wasn’t on my job description but I just saw that it needed to be done. Nobody else noticed except the owner. Owners of businesses have a tendency to notice things like that. Well guess who got the promotion to manage the whole department. You guessed it, the one who went the extra mile.

So, today bring your best to what you’re doing. Let the glory of God shine brightly through your work, no matter what it is.



“Father, I thank you for my job. Today I’m choosing to bring my very best because I want to please You with my work. I want to glorify You and bring You glory. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

Friday, September 7, 2012

God's Got Your Back!

As one who has now been walking with the Lord for 30 years I think I’m finally at a point in life when I can actually say AMEN, with some authority, to today’s text.

It really is true. I have seen it over and over again, in my own life and in the lives of countless others. Jesus is committed to those who are committed to Him. He will never forsake those who have forsaken all to follow Him. In fact He says that in Hebrews 13:5,

“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you,’” NKJV

I love how this verse reads in the Amplified Bible because it amplifies these rich and powerful truths about God’s commitment to us,

“…For He, God Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down, or relax My hold on you, assuredly not!”

Wow, are those incredible promises? God Himself is reminding us that whatever it is that we’re going through, we are never alone. He is ALWAYS with us, He NEVER leaves us and on top of that He ALWAYS has an ample supply of whatever we need in life.

Are you facing some challenges today? Do you wonder how you’re going to get through? Well the good news is that you don’t have to go through it alone. God has promised that He will never forsake you, no matter how tough the problem is or how big the mountain seems, He’s going to stick with you through it all.  Then on top of that He’s got the resources that you’ll need to get through it. He promises us that in Philippians 4:19,

“And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus,” NKJV

So, what do you need God’s help with today? Do you need a door to open? Favor? Opportunities? Do you need some extra finances for a project? Well it’s time to believe God and to walk in His promise today, because God’s got you covered!