Daily Huddle - Tue Jan 12, 2021 Bring Solutions

Love you all, praying for you,
 
I just love God’s Word – it’s how you get the mind of Christ, because it is the mind of Christ.  Jesus is the Word of God – in a human suit.  His mind is the mind of a winner.  Because Jesus wins, the devil loses  - you can count on it!  Most people lose.  Because they think like losers think, they talk like losers talk, so they act like losers act. Even what motivates and drives them, is what motivates and drives losers, self-gain, rather than self-sacrifice and others service.  Get the mind of Christ, you get the mind of a winner.  PRISM is how you get the mind of Christ – PRISM – those five things you can do every day in God’s Word.  It starts with humility (humble yourself to obey God – no matter what… and humble yourself to serve others - the guest of honor washing servants’ feet.)  Humility then works itself out in obedience – whatever your Heavenly Father has planned for you and tells you to do.  That’s why PiVAT is humble practice, and PRISM is mind-of-Christ practice.  Jesus humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.  Obedient for a while, or obedient once in a while, is not obedient unto death.  And obedient unto death doesn’t mean you have to obey and die (other than die to yourself – that’s the life of Christ… to save your life, you have to lose it).  Obedient unto death - means you will be obedient for the rest of your life! No shelf-life or expiration date on obedience… you decline the choice to go your own way – and choose His way instead - for the rest of your life – obedient unto death.  One thing I just love about God’s Word - obeying God is surprisingly practical, highly unusual, and extremely beneficial.  Colossians 3:23-24 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the LORD rather than for your boss.  (Always) Remember that the LORD will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.  One of the principles of obedience to God - is the command of work.  And when you work, you’re working for God.  One key principle of work is to serve.  First you serve your master – that’s what servants do.  And when you serve your master – you can also serve your customers.  And everyone is your customer – your target – to prefer others and serve them is to show the love of Jesus – and it’s good business.  Boss Principle #1 - Make your boss look good.  Help them succeed, because if they succeed, you will succeed.  Boss Principle #2 - You are there to serve.  Paul teaches this regarding spiritual leaders – and it also applies to any leaders.  Hebrews 13:7 - Obey your leaders and come under their authority, for they watch your your souls as those who must give an account.  Do this so their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.  Have you ever thought about what God would have you to do to make your boss’s work a joy?  No one thinks that way… God does, it’s how He wants you to think.  Anyone who will have to give an account of you – whether spiritual leaders, or your boss at work…  Help them succeed, because it honors God, and if they succeed, you will succeed.  Make their job easy, not hard, and God will reward you.  Joseph, Daniel, David, they all made their boss look good, because they knew their real boss.  The first principle of serving your boss is know who your real boss is.  The second principle of serving your boss is know their vision.  Know what their goals are and what they are trying to accomplish - and do everything you can to help them achieve it.  It doesn’t matter if you fully agree or not, or would do it a little differently if you were the boss, come alongside them, and help them succeed.  Make their job easier!  Make it a joy!  The third principle of serving your boss is bring solutions, not problems.  Every problem is an opportunity – not for you, but for God to show what He can do.  Most people on their job or in their life, bring problems.  They come to their boss with a problem.  They don’t know how to serve.  Your boss isn’t your problem solver – that’s your job…   They are your barrier remover, and information provider.  They often know what you don’t know because they are more experienced than you (be humble) and if nothing else, they are privy to more information than you are (they are in higher level meetings).  Your job is to help them make the best decisions -  by identifying the problem, and bringing alternate solutions, with the due diligence on each… So they can make the right call, having the due diligence already provided by you.  It helps them include the factors their higher exposure gives them, and combine it with your due diligence which enables them to make the best decision.  Serving your boss, making them look good, it means expediting them to the moment of decision – through the risk and benefit analysis of options… possible solutions.  Every time you bring a challenge with optional solutions – they will usually have another set of questions for you, or even some further due diligence they will request - to confirm that option as the best solution.  Great servants (employees) run the details for each one, and are prepared to produce the further information their boss may request, on the spot where possible.  This is called the spiritual gift of anticipation.  Did you just make that up?  No.  Jesus said, the Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth, and will show you things to come.  Asking the Holy Spirit to anticipate your boss’s next question – is “things to come,” so you can have the research already completed for them to analyze deeper - without having to go away, and come back later.  It won’t always be possible, but when it is, do it.  That means you will need to bring potentially several options with further detail.  There’s a risk they will make a quick decision on the first option, with the second and third becoming a mute point – tempting you to regret the effort expended to prepare them… But the research you had ready “just in case” – wasn’t a waste of time, it was an investment in success - bringing solutions, not problems.  Jesus many times asked the disciples what they should do, or to do something – that they then said was not possible.  Whether giving the crowds something to eat, or casting out demons.  Jesus always asked them for solutions to help them grow in faith, and in hearing the solutions God gives.  There is not one problem you will ever face in your life, that God doesn’t know the answer to, the key to, the exact attitude you should have, the exact response you should give, and the exact action you should take.  I recently lost a microphone screen – that I carry with me to record…  Upset at myself for forgetting on a road-trip, I spoke to my daughter about the kind of screen needed.  And mentioned, "I’ll have to research it."  Two days later – I hadn’t even gotten to that task, (I used a workaround), and on the kitchen table was a delivered package with a new microphone screen.  My daughter had done the research, ordered it, had it shipped to arrive before we even had a follow-up conversation.  That’s the spiritual gift of anticipation, servants of God under-promise, and over deliver.  They anticipate, and take the immediate action that the Holy Spirit prompts them to, to bless their boss, and make their job easier… to make it a joy!  That’s just the excellence of Christ.  It’s the mind of Christ.  It’s seeking opportunity, in the midst of challenge or setback, asking God, taking action, and bringing solutions.  It’s just Godly.  Praying that you will ask the Holy Spirit to help you develop that spiritual gift of anticipation.  That you would bring solutions, not problems,  Because if Jesus is in you – He is the answer, He has answers for you, and when you call – He answers. 
 
Love you all,
dad