Faith Journey Blog

Spiritual Leadership: Living and Leading Like Jesus Matthew 4:19 - Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.  Live It - Personal daily rhythms of apprenticeship to Jesus  Model/Share It - With your circle of influence  Multiply It - Intentionally disciple and lift others to lead  Live It: Personal Daily Rhythms  Psalm 46:10 - Be still, and know that I am God.  Practicing Presence - Cultivate awareness of God's nearness throughout your day.      •  Breath prayers, Lectio 365 app , pausing at key transitions (start car, enter home, etc.)  Scripture Meditation - Slowly engage the Word, not for information, but formation.      •  BibleProject , asking/journaling: "What is God saying to me?"  Prayer - Conversational, confessional, intercessory (praying for others), listening.      •  Examen , written prayers, intercession list  Sabbath, Silence, & Fasting - Weekly (or dai...

This morning's men's group was heavy - a good heavy. We had deep conversation in our men’s group. We read Daniel 9 and prayed. But men also opened up about real struggles with addiction, cancer, fear of dying alone. Raw, unfiltered life. And in the middle of it all, I'm reminded of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. (Luke 22:42) As I drove away, the song “ Is He Worthy ” by Chris Tomlin played on the radio. It felt like God was underscoring everything we had just heard, said, and prayed.  Here’s what the Spirit is stirring in me this morning... 1. Confession and Intercession ( Daniel 9 ) Daniel’s prayer is powerful and deeply honest. He owns the sins of his people as if they are his own. He models what it means to stand in the gap - confessing, pleading, trusting. As I reflect on this, I realize how easily I gloss over my own sins, thinking I’ve got it “pretty much together.” But ...

Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” Mark 2:27-28 God has given us incredible tools to help us navigate life - the Sabbath being a foundational one. A rhythm of rest. A weekly reminder that we are not machines. A holy invitation to stop, breathe, and remember who we are and whose we are. But somewhere along the way, we forget. We take the tools meant to serve us and we let them rule us. We do it with Sabbath, turning it into a checklist of do’s and don’ts instead of a window into God’s mercy. We do it with money, obsessing over security instead of trusting the Provider. We do it with our bodies, our image, our knowledge, even our theology. We idolize success. We weaponize Scripture. We cling to politics as if the Kingdom depends on our side winning. It’s not always blatant. Sometimes it’s subtle... just a quiet drift away from intimacy with G...