Tag: Overwhelming Pursuit

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What Leaders Have to Protect Against Most

I believe strongly that any organization unwilling to reach outside itself will die. The same can be said for an organization’s leaders. Related…although I am absolutely committed to Catholicism, I believe that north of 90% of what all Christians believe we have in common. These two things in combination lead me to Reverend Rick Warren, Founder and Senior Pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County, CA.  

My wife and I have visited Saddleback, attended Sunday service (experiencing hospitality that you wouldn’t believe), and met with Saddleback’s Pastor of Small Groups. Again, absolutely committed to our Catholic faith, I/we can be learning from others. 

The above is a preface to a blog Pastor Rick recently wrote on “pride” and how destructive it can be. Paraphrased below, you can access the blog here.

Leaders can often become their own biggest obstacle. When they start to see fruitfulness, they may be tempted to make everything about themselves. This is pride. The Bible says it’s the root of every other sin.

Pride leads to conflict, prevents growth, leads to anxiety, and angers God. The opposite of pride is humility. That’s one characteristic we want and need to develop. Leading is a heavy responsibility. We cannot do it without God’s help. 

Humility is a choice. It is something we do to ourselves. So how do we develop it in our lives? Start with these five steps.

Admit your sins honestly.

We all sin, but the Bible is clear that God is ready to forgive us. Proverbs 28:13 says, “A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance”. God gives second chances (and third, fourth, and hundredth chances) to the humble.

Evaluate your strengths realistically.

You’ve probably heard the saying—maybe from your own parents—that you can be anything you want to be. But it’s not true. If you don’t have the talent for a particular role, you won’t be able to do it. 

To deal with pride in your life, you need to honestly evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. The Bible says, “Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you” (Romans 12:3). Pride is based on a false image of ourselves. Humility is based on a true and realistic image. Humility is being honest about both your strengths and weaknesses.

Enjoy your success gratefully. 

Remind yourself daily of two pride-busting truths. First, everything we have is a gift from God. Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “What are you so puffed up about? What do you have that God hasn’t given you?”.

The truth is, we wouldn’t even have breath if God hadn’t given it to us. Anything God does through you isn’t about you. It’s about Him. Everything you achieve is about Him. 

Second, one day we will give an account before God for what we did with what He gave us. It’s hard to be prideful when you realize that one day every one of your secrets will be exposed. It’s a humbling realization.

Serve others unselfishly.

The greatest antidote to pride is to give yourself away by helping others. It’s the only way to live more happily and humbly. 

The Bible teaches: “Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t just think about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and in what they are doing” (Philippians 2:3-4).

Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less. We need to get so busy serving others that we don’t have time for our own gripes and complaints. 

Depend on Jesus continually.

Depending on God is how we express humility. In fact, dependence is the heart of humility. God didn’t design us to be independent—but dependent on Him. Stress often comes from taking upon ourselves what we were never intended to do. 

You’ll never get rid of all the stress in your life, but you can depend upon God for the ultimate outcome. Your circumstances don’t have to determine your response. The Bible promises great blessings when we are humble and depend on God. Proverbs 22:4 says, “Respecting the Lord and not being proud will bring you wealth, honor, and life”.

Outwardly, you may be an extremely successful leader. But your success is not about you—it’s about what God will do through you. 

Thank you, Rev. Rick. Great stuff!!! I read Rev. Rick’s posts regularly. You can get them and other resources at https://pastors.com. Let’s learn together.  

As always, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with questions, comments, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.  

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

God made you for GREATNESS!!!

Mark Joseph

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Weekly Blog

Planning for a Life with Purpose

It is said that most people spend more time planning a two-week vacation than they do their lives. There’s evidence that many are additionally challenged with managing the “plan”, even if having established one. Does any of this resonate with you? If so, you’re not alone. And remember this…it’s never too late to start being (or enhancing) the person you want to be, the person God is calling you to be.

We started this series by talking about your life’s experiences (lifeline), which led to your “why”. Both play an important role in your life plan (last week’s blog), which would hopefully include God’s purpose for your life. Here we talk about how to incorporate your life plan into day-to-day life.

In knowing my material, it won’t surprise you that I suggest taking the planning process to prayer. Just prior to your planning for the month, week, and day, you could say something like,

“Dear Lord, please be with me as I move through my life. Help me to recognize, prioritize, and accomplish all that you want for me and from me. Help me to continue to understand that it is not me, but You working through me in all things. Therefore, help me to do my best, then surrendering all over to You”.

Monthly Planning

To do your Monthly Plan, you’ll want to reference your Life Plan, as well as your previous monthly plans. Asking God to put the right things on your mind, record on one of the pages in your Planner your personal goals, projects, and To Do’s. All the above things apply for your professional life too.

Note – although not everyone has a job outside his/her home, there are typically things that fall into the “personal” category and others that could be referred to as “work” or “professional”. The point is that this system can be used by everyone.

Weekly Planning

For the weekly plan, I’d suggest identifying:

  • Phone calls to be made
  • Emails to be sent
  • To Do’s
  • Projects
  • Goals
  • To Do’s
  • “Waiting On”

Daily Planning

What I do first thing in the morning or the evening before, is to identify those things from the Weekly Plan that I want to get done that particular day.

 

Execution of Your Plan

As I am moving through my day, achieving the things I’ve identified, I mark them down, with a “+” if I’m waiting on something or a double checkmark when completed in total.

Prayer, Planning, and Solitude – to be done at the end of your day, week, and month.

  • Daily
    • Review what you’ve accomplished, making sure all notes and tasks are updated.
    • Set your priorities for the next day, identifying them as described above
  • Weekly
    • Construct your weekly calendar, moving forward whatever you didn’t achieve from the last week.
    • Anything that you are waiting on will go to the “Waiting On” list.
  • Monthly – referencing your Life Plan and last month’s Plan, you assess what you’ve accomplished or not and what you want to keep on the plan or not. You of course can be adding things. It will help to reference your weekly plans as well.

I hope all this was helpful. As my dear old Dad used to say, “plan your work and work your plan”. It’s worked for me. I’m confident it can work for you.

God made you for Greatness. Hopefully these last four weeks, starting with:

  • Your lifeline
  • Then moving to your “why”
  • Followed by how to do your life plan
  • And now how to plan and execute

…help you to find and maximize the Greatness God wants for you.

If you’d like more detailed documents on these processes, please email be at the address below and we’ll send them to you.

As always, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with questions, comments, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

God made you for GREATNESS!!!

Mark Joseph

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Weekly Blog

You are Where You Are…Now What?

 

The age-old question is “how an all-loving God allows evil in this world”, including the tragedy that all of us experience at some point in our lives. An inferred aspect of that question is “why do these things happen to me, good or bad, and what am I to make of them?”

As you know, I work at Franciscan University of Steubenville, where there and previously, I’ve had the opportunity to lead teams through strategic planning processes. Over the years, I’ve always begun the process with having all the team members present their lifelines, so as to get to know each other more personally. Simply stated, one’s lifeline is the identification and description of critical or pivotal events in one’s life. Having prepared, in 10 minutes, each person describes their most impactful experiences, starting from their youth. For many, this will often include aspects of their faith journeys.

I’ve also incorporated the idea of our “Why” into this process, both individually and for the organization. We’ll talk more about this, as introduced by Simon Sinek in his 2009 book, Start with Why, in next week’s blog.

Related to our “why”, which is our purpose, cause, or belief, according to Simon, it is important to understand our lifeline…all those things that have occurred in our lives. Why did they take place? What lessons are we to learn? What are we to do going forward?

Here’s the reality…every single, individual thing (occurrence) in your life is CRITICAL to who you are today. My wife and I often joke that it would be so nice to eliminate this tragedy or that wound. That’s not the way it works…thank God. You wouldn’t be who you are today without experiencing every single thing…the good, the great, the wonderful, as well as the bad, the terrible, and the ugly. Part of my prayer of gratitude every morning is the line above, in addition to the line below.

We are were we are because it’s where we’re supposed to be. We are who we are because it’s who God is making us to be. Every single occurrence, again…good or bad, goes into who we are.  We all have God-given gifts, talents, and passions. How we use those and maximize our God given purpose are a result of our experiences. God gives us the opportunity to make a ministry out of our mistakes, our messes.

So, given the above, pray through your lifeline. Write it down, maybe in a prayer journal…start one if you don’t have one. Share your lifeline with someone else. Remember it for next week, as we do a deeper dive into our “why”. And take to prayer what God is calling you to do.

As always, please contact me at [email protected] with questions, comments, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember…God Made You for Greatness!!!

Mark Joseph

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Weekly Blog

Are You Overwhelmed? Well You Were Made for GREATNESS!!!

Have you ever beat yourself up for past or recent events? Second guessed yourself? What role does fear play in your life? What’s your stress level? Do you suffer from any anxiety? Are there times when you’re just exhausted? Deflated? Frustrated? Are you ever overwhelmed?

Believe me…you’re not alone. I’ve been there too. In fact, can you relate to this….the hamster on the wheel in the glass cage. It’s probably not hard imaging yourself on the wheel instead of the hamster…seeing the world go by outside. Take me for example…for the longest time, I was running as fast as I could. I couldn’t catch my breath. I couldn’t find a way to jump off. Didn’t know if anyone saw me on the wheel or if anyone else was on the wheel with me. I couldn’t keep up; I was massively stressed and exhausted. I was overwhelmed.

Guess what…I found out I wasn’t alone. We’re all overwhelmed. Here’s what I learned. We don’t have to be. Instead, we’re made for GREATNESS!!! And it’s Scriptural.

  • Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you went forth from the womb, I sanctified you. And I made you a prophet to the nations.”
  • Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
  • John 10:10 – I have come so that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.

God conceived of you thousands of years ago, making you with special gifts, talents, and desires. He made you for a specific purpose, in His image and likeness, as part of His grand plan, individually and as a part of all of humanity. God doesn’t make junk or mistakes. You’re a 10 on a scale of 1-10. God loves you more than you’ll ever know, no matter what you’ve ever done. God wants the very best for you. He wants you to be happy. God made you for Greatness!!!

I was overwhelmed for the longest time, even while experiencing some nice success. Then some stuff took place in my life, where I learned some incredible lessons. Praise God!!! I was able to transition and started living the life God intended for me. It’s been 15 years now. By God’s grace, I’ve found my purpose, which is the only way to live a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment.

The same can be true for you and I’d love to help. It’s time to go big. I invite you to attend this free webinar to see how you can accomplish the same things for your life. It starts here.

REGISTER NOW

As always, feel free to contact me at [email protected] with comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember: God made you for GREATNESS!!!

 

Mark Joseph