Wait. I’m lying.

I have an opinion on every single thing.

And while there may be nothing wrong with having an opinion on everything, the problem develops when I insist on expressing my opinion on every single imaginable thing.

What if, for a change, I learned to develop an opinion but refrained from expressing it, until someone asked me?

What if I didn’t always insist on telling everyone else exactly what I thought on the matter?

What if, just once, I did something even nuttier – like refrained from having an opinion at all?

I could be wrong, but I have a feeling if I took that risk, I’d have an easier time hearing your opinion for a change.

Of course anytime a single person says they’re giving a “personal update” everyone assumes it has to do with a guy. But alas….I didn’t get engaged or elope.

But I did join eharmony.

Yes, yes…I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but it’s the truth.  In a moment of utter post valentine’s weakness, on Feb 15, I joined eharmony for exactly 1 month. If you’re good at math that means we’re already 1 week into it. So, God has exactly 3 weeks to find my Mr.Right.

Go God go. The clock is ticking.

All right. I really don’t have anything much more serious to share so I guess the personal update is over. If you’re new to the blog, you should know that I write about Biblical Truth for Every Day life from Monday through Thursday. On Fridays I give stuff away, and on Saturday I do a short 100 word post or so. Sundays I’m off. I’m glad you’ve found living with power.

And since it is Friday, I usually give away a $25 gift card to a lucky blog subscriber. This week’s winner is: Pam Larson!  Email me at lina@livingwithpower.org to claim your gift. If you haven’t subscribed to this blog yet, do it by clicking here.

Also on Fridays, I put away $5 per comment you leave towards a fund I’ve called the LWP Fund that will be used for charity once it accumulates a bit or as needs come in. Find out more about this by reading a post I wrote about it.

This week, instead of focusing on our needs and challenges, I’d love for you to leave a comment about the good things God is doing in your life this season!

If you live in the Chicago land area and you’re a girl, you don’t want to miss Lindsay McCaul will be at Harvest Bible Chapel on February 28 from 7-9pm. Come! It’s going to be great. Click here for more info.

I’ll admit that chinese eateries land high on my list.

But the truth is that idols are much more insidious than a statue in a restaurant, especially in the heart of a follower of Christ.

I like this definition of an idol: an idol of the heart is the desire, ideal or expectation that we worship, serve and long for.

Suddenly things change.

Idols become much more personal, and much more dangerous, luring us to sin.

What is it that you worship?

It’s easy to say that you worship God while harboring a number of idols in your heart.

Or just one.

It may be a dream that you’ve been hoping for your whole life, or a career, an education, a position.

It may be a habit that you can’t stop, an addiction of sorts, or the approval of man.

It may be a relationship, a friendship, money or ministry.

But really….how can you tell if something has become an idol? How can you tell if God is no longer the only one you desire?

I’d like to share with you 4 ways to tell if something has become an idol in your life:

1. Without it I won’t be happy. The greatest lie of the enemy is that you need anything outside of the Lord Jesus Christ to give you happiness. Yet so many of us live out our lives holding out for that one thing, convinced that unless God provides in that specific area, our life will just not be as full, not be as happy. Are you there today? Are you living in the place where you are convinced that you will not be happy without ______. You fill in the blank. Whatever your answer is, that’s your idol.

2. Without it I doubt God’s love for me. Eve believed that lie. God doesn’t care about you because if he did, he’d let you have it. Friend, there is no greater life. God loves you. Period. He loved you while you were still a sinner. He loves you still today. He loves you so much he gave his son for you. Many of us need to get rid of the notion of an impersonal God far away who doesn’t care about our deepest needs, and embrace the God of the Bible who loves unconditionally. He loves you even if you’ll never get that one thing you want. By the way – that thing you’re hinging God’s love on – that’s your idol.

3. Without it is not an option. You want it and you want it so bad you’ll go to any extreme to get it. No matter who gets hurt. No matter the consequences. Knowing the consequences. If that describes you, then that thing you’re pursuing is your idol. You’re in a dangerous place, friend, because with God there is no room for idols, and I hate to be the one to break it to you, but God doesn’t accept ultimatums. Ever.

4. Without it my life is not worth living. What a sad place to be. Many of us may have visited that place, but by God’s grace refuse to remain there. Some may be visiting that place right now. You’re thinking, if God doesn’t do ______, you might as well be dead. First of all, know that you are loved. Secondly, know that you don’t have to stay there. You were made to worship. That’s a good thing. But you’re worshipping the wrong thing. Turn your eyes upon Jesus and be set free.

Isaiah 44:20 says this about the man who made his own idol to worship it: “He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray”.

The antidote to worshiping any man made idol is the worship of the One you were created to worship: Jesus Christ.

Do you know Him?

Do you love Him?

Are you worshiping Him and Him alone?

You’ve probably read most of them if you’re striving to be a better leader, although some of you are reading this and wondering why anyone in their right mind would want to lead anything.

I get it. Being a leader is not always fun, but it certainly has its share of blessings.

As a daily blogger, my mind thinks in lists and top 5 outlines, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there really is one greatest blessing to being a leadership.

Don’t worry – I’m going to share it with you. Get ready for it.

The greatest blessing of leadership is the unobstructed view.

You ever thought about it? If you’re at the front of the line, you get to see it all without hindrances.

You get to see the beautiful panoramic view of what lies ahead.

You get to see the open fields and deep valleys, and the sunshine creeping behind the mountains.

You get to see the winding road with all its furrows and ridges.

But it’s not always clear, the road ahead, you’re thinking.

That is true.

Which is why on a clear day you can see forever.

And on a cloudy day you can see enough.

But on any day, you can see the most.

And with clear vision comes the responsibility and the duty to let others know exactly what you’re seeing and where you’re going and why.

Because as long as they know that you can clearly see the road ahead, they will be willing to follow.

So leader, lift your head high and keep your eyes looking. God is at work, leading, directing, showing, and you’ll be blessed enough to see it the most.

And that is the greatest blessing of leadership.

Joseph was one of the good guys.

He was the son of Rachel, Jacob’s true love, after years of barrenness and waiting.

So he may have been a little cocky. He should have known his brothers wouldn’t appreciate his dream about personal greatness. But he wasn’t lying. He really did have some weird dreams.

And maybe he shouldn’t have worn that many colored coat every single day. I mean…this guy was asking for a beating.

But he sure didn’t deserve to be dumped in a pit while running an errand.

And he didn’t deserve to be sold as a slave to an Egyptian caravan.

Ok, so he was also good looking – I mean hollywood style George Clooney good looking.

But he didn’t deserve to be sexually harrassed by Potiphar’s wife.

And he didn’t deserve to be thrown in jail for saying no.

This guy couldn’t catch a break if he tried.

After rising through the ranks he finally sees some light creep through the narrow prison bars.

He meets a baker and a cupbearer.

They’re not much to look at in the darkness of the prison, but they’re all Joseph’s got. He does what anyone would do. He hopes.

This could be the day he’s finally set free. This could be his moment.

But Joseph’s hopes are quickly and thoroughly destroyed while he remains forgotten.

Talk about a recipe for bitterness. Talk about a set up for anger. Joseph had every reason for payback. He had every right for revenge.

Except that Joseph understood what you and I usually forget.

What satan intends for my hurt God uses for my good.

Or, as Joseph aptly put it in Genesis 50:20

“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.”

Are you going through some difficulties today? Do you feel misunderstood and wrongly attacked? Are you wondering when you’ll finally see some light inside your prison cell?

It’s coming. God is in the process of working all things out for your good and His glory.

Until then, stop asking why and start asking what.

What is God trying to change in me through it?

Chances are He’ll not only show you, but He’ll transform you as well.

This one was no exception.

The 10 year old boy presented with abdominal pain for over a year. As soon as I walked in the room I realized I knew the kid. I’d seen him myself just over a month ago.

The mother proceeded to fill me in on the details.

Things hadn’t been doing great for Johnny. He’d been to a couple other Emergency Rooms and had a few other tests since they last saw me. Johnny eventually made it to the Gastroenterologist where he’d had an Upper GI, an endoscopy, a colonoscopy, a CT scan, an MRI and thousand of dollars worth of tests.

Everything single test was normal.

I looked at the mom, then at Johnny, and asked the obvious question with the least hint of sarcasm.

“So….What would you like me to do for you today?”

“Well, I’d like you to figure out what’s wrong with Johnny”.

I didn’t say anything for a while, simply staring at the nice, though slightly amusing woman and her son.

It was Friday night in late January, the problem had been going on for over a year, the kid had seen more doctors than I could name and had more tests than I could count.

And suddenly it hit me.

Life isn’t just about getting all the answers but accepting the ones you get.

Are you ready to do that yet?

In Genesis 42:36 Jacob says this:

“You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.”

Here were the facts from Jacob’s perspective:  The famine was life threatening. All the money in the world couldn’t feed Jacob and his family. Joseph had been missing for years. And Simeon was now gone too.

But here was the truth from God’s angle: Joseph was safe and sound in Egypt storing up food for the family. Simeon was being treated like royalty in a minimum security prison under the protection of his brother Joseph.  Food was well on the way since God was a few steps ahead of Jacob.

Are you tempted to make wrong conclusions about the facts in your life?

Don’t.

Jacob despaired but he was wrong. And so are you if you’ve giving in to despair.

Same facts, but entirely different conclusions.

Maybe it’s time to leave the conclusions to God.

Valentine’s day is behind us now. The next big event on the calendar is my 40th birthday in April.

Do you even dare think what I’ll be blogging about leading up to that?!

Meanwhile, it’s Friday. Let’s do our usual give away. If you’re signed up on my subscriber list, I draw a random name to give away a $25 gift card. This week’s winner is: The Pry Family! Email me at lina@livingwithpower.org to claim the gift!

If you want to subscribe to the blog, simply click here!

If I were you, I’d tell my friends about this blog and have them subscribe. Why, you ask? 

I’ve got 3 great reasons for you to tell your friends to subscribe!

1. I’m doing the dirty work on topics you want to tell your friends about but don’t know how to bring up.

2. I’m giving away my iPad when I reach 1000 subscribers. We’re almost there!

3. It’s a greatly fun blog!

I’m sure you can think of hundreds of other reasons, but I’ll leave it at 3! One last thing: I give away $5 per comment left on the blog on Fridays. Currently, the money is going into a fund I’ve called the LWP fund. While it may seem like a small amount now, check back in 6 months. Trust me – God is up to something Big here. I can’t wait to see it unfold.

This week’s question for your comment is:

If you could ask God one question, what would it be? 

It’s been around for almost 180 years.

Yet most of us have never really paid too much attention to it until this year.

If you’re a Christian and have been watching the political scene, a question that may have crossed your mind is this: should a Christian vote for a mormon for president?

And while that is a great question to ask, I do not intend to address it today.

Instead, I’d like to give you 5 things you should know about mormonism in an effort to help you tackle the bigger elephant in the room.

1. Mormons call themselves christians but aren’t. Just because a guy calls himself a duck doesn’t make him a duck. A Christian is one who believes and teaches what the Bible teaches. Mormons say they are christians but believe in a different Jesus Christ and god than Biblical Christianity does. They can call themselves what they want, but they deviate from orthodox christianity. Mark Driscoll has a great article on this topic.

 2. Mormons don’t believe in the trinity. Mormons do not believe in the trinity as Christians understand it. They believe the trinity is three separate Gods: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Regarding the trinity they teach “That these three are separate individuals, physically distinct from each other, is demonstrated by the accepted records of divine dealings with man,” (Articles of Faith, by James Talmage, p. 35). The Bible is clear. There is only 1 God in 3 persons. Each person is fully God.

3. Mormons believe in a work based salvation. Mormons do not believe in salvation by grace through faith alone. Article 3 in the fundamentals of mormon beliefs says this “we believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”  They do not believe that Jesus alone can cleanse us from our sin. Let’s stop right there. The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that Jesus died in my place! Paul said it this way in Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”.

4. Mormons believe that God was once a man and progressed to become a God. Mormons believe that God used to be a man on another planet (Mormon Doctrine, p. 321; Joseph Smith, Times and Seasons, vol. 5, p. 613-614). Joseph Smith, the founder of mormonism said this: “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!!! . . . We have imagined that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea and take away the veil, so that you may see,” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 345). Further they believe that God had an actual physical relationship with Mary that resulted in Jesus. The Bible is clear: God existed in eternity past, and Jesus Christ is God incarnate born of a virgin to redeem us from sin.

5. Mormons don’t believe that the Bible is the only divinely inspired Word of God. In Article 8 of the fundamentals of mormon beliefs, it says “we believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.” The truth of God’s word is quite different than what the mormons teach: There is only one revelation from God that we possess today – the written Scriptures. His word is absolutely sufficient in of itself (Psalm 119:160). It is God breathed (II Timothy 3:16). It is divinely inspired and written by men (II Peter 1:20-21). In Revelations 22:18-19 God gives a warning to anyone who adds to His word. I’m pretty sure He means it.

There are so many other differences between mormonism and Biblical Christianity.

The bottom line is this: mormons need the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray for them. Love them.

And know what you believe.

If you haven’t participated before it’s easy.

Simply pick a verse, write it down in the comments section and on a 3×5 card and work on it for 2 weeks.

We will finish up mid may and have a party for those who have memorized 15 of 17 verses!

Look – it hasn’t always been easy to keep up, but it’s been good. I hope you’re enjoying this discipline!