Ten reasons we don't fulfill our God given destiny

My observation is that there are many believers and even many Christian leaders who do not fulfill their God given destiny (Ephesians 2:10). This is not because they don't sense it's presence. They feel the call but for various reasons they don't respond.

One: We don't have the faith

This was the case with the ten spies who went into the promised land for Moses and then declared that the people were too strong to conquer and caused the people to roam for forty years in the desert because of their lack of faith in God. When God calls us, it requires faith to respond.

Two: We don't have the courage

Responding to God's call requires courage. We must take the first step: He will not do it for us. This was Abraham when he chose to follow God into an unknown destiny when God called him.

Three: We don't want to take the risk

Following His call can be risky. We don't know the outcome - we only have the call. This was Nehemiah who risked it all to respond to the prompting God had given him regarding Jerusalem. He was willing to risk his life and reputation for that assignment.

Four: We fear failure

This is a natural fear and it is why the command to "fear not" is the most repeated command in all of Scripture. We have much to fear but we have a God who is larger than any circumstance we could face.

Five: We don't believe God can really use us

This is Moses when he was eighty and God was calling him to lead the people out of Egypt. Here is the irony. When Moses was forty he thought he was something and God could not use him. When Moses was eighty he thought he was nothing and God could then use him.

Six: We don't believe we are qualified

Again, consider Moses who had all kinds of excuses for why he was not qualified for his assignment. Let's face it. None of us really are. That is why we need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and the presence of Christ on a moment by moment basis. God makes us qualified!

Seven: We don't understand the role of the Holy Spirit

Romans 7: There is nothing that can separate us from the love or presence of God. We are indwelt by God. Jesus said we would do even greater things than He did when the Holy Spirit came. Every Christ follower has Jesus living in them through the Holy Spirit! 

Eight: We don't understand our part in God's meta story

Life is not a random series of events. Every one of us who knows Christ steps into His story with a divine reason to be there (Ephesians 2:10). We don't know how the threads of God's tapestry connects but one day we will. Today we see the messy back side but in heaven we will see the beautiful front side.

Nine: We are caught by the expectations of others

When my father told people he was going to Hong Kong as a missionary many years ago, some prominent individuals told him that he was throwing his life away. How often others have a plan for our lives when God does as well. Who we choose to listen to makes all the difference in the world.

Ten: We are too comfortable

What if Abraham had said to God, "Look, I Googled the place you are sending me and it doesn't look too promising?" I think that is often the case. We weight the odds and think, "Hey, I am comfortable, why rock the boat."

Why follow God when He calls? It is the most exhilarating and amazing experience we could have. And what gives us the confidence to step into our destiny? It is as David said to Saul before he went up against Goliath. I have met the bear and the lion and God gave them into my hand. He based his faith on what God had done in the past and we can as well.

Do you want to raise the bar for you and your team?

I am convinced that one of the most important discussions we can have as ministry teams is how we can raise the bar on our effectiveness - personally and corporately. This is not about working harder or longer but working smarter and with greater focus. It is easy for all of us to gravitate toward the comfortable rather than to stay focused on what is most important.

There are a number of questions that can help us reflect on ways we can raise the bar.

As I look at the coming week what is the single most important thing I need to do in order to move the ball down the court? That may sound simplistic but the truth is that getting the most strategic thing done in the course of a week is far more important than getting many non strategic things done.

Do I take time each month to prioritize my work and activities? One of the secrets of highly productive people is that they take the time to think about their upcoming month and prioritize their activities so that what is most important gets done and those things that are of lesser importance are done last. I do this with a Personal Retreat Day each month to think through my schedule and activities.

If there was one thing that would help me be more productive, what would it be? This can be as simple as scheduling the most important activities at the time when we are at our best, or blocking out time without interruption, email or phone calls. Answering this simple question - and acting on it - can make a significant difference in effectiveness.

Are there activities in my schedule that I could simply eliminate to free up time for more important things? We often accumulate activities and obligations that over time start to weigh us down when critical analysis would tell us that they are no longer critical to our work. Time is the one thing we can never get back so jettisoning those obligations that are not critical can help us move to the next level.

Are there activities that need to get done that can be done by others in order to free up my time for those things that only I can do? Often, there are activities that someone needs to do but that we don't need to do. On the other hand, there are some things we must do because we do them better than others. Delegating what we don't need to do frees us up to do those things that we really must do. A rule of thumb is that if someone else can do something 70% as well as I can, I should generally let it go.

Can I connect my activity with specific key results that I want to see from my work? Remember that there is a difference between activity and results. Often our activity gets in the way of focusing on the few key results that we want to see from our work. Making sure that our activity is the right activity to get to those results is a simple but profound principle.

Does my calendar reflect my priorities? Our calendars (how we spend our time) tell the real story of what our priorities are. Unfortunately there is often a disparity between what we would say our priorities are and how we actually use our time. Bringing our calendar into alignment with our priorities is a game changer.

Taking time to reflect on our activity, lives and work will almost always help us raise the bar on our effectiveness. Taking the time to slow down and think through what we are doing and how we are doing it can be truly freeing.

Top Missions Blogs: Getting to strategic mission strategies

The blogs related to missions receive some of the highest readership on my blog site. I have compiled the top read missions blogs below with links to the individual blog you are interested in. I hope this can be a resource to missionaries, supporters and mission committees in local churches.


Missions and Europe: Should we be sending missionaries to a place that has been evangelized in the past?

Partnerships in missions: Five key principles

Can the great cities of Europe be re-evangelized

Accountability for missionaries: Rethinking the paradigm

The both/and of missions: The gospel and compassion

What is missions? Be careful how you define your missions efforts

Short term missions: Doing it right

Mission agencies: choose wisely

The nine critical shifts that must take place in missions today

Helpful and wise words from a veteran missionary to the US church

What I wish my supporters understood about my work

A wake call for missions: the world is moving to the city

Sticker shock in missions

Best practices for training overseas

Strategic missions strategy: leveraging your investment

Missionary support team building: very tough work

Holistic Missions: Cautions and opportunities

Bride over Brand


TED talk at the Mission Exchange on critical shifts that need to take place in the mission world today

Parents: A major inhibitor to sending new missionaries

It really is a very bad idea

Changing antiquated local church mission strategies

Muslims are not the problem

Straight talk about results in missions

Disappointment in missions

Leadership in missions

Missions in the 21'st century: Two circles, one goal

From leader to partner in Global Missions

What kind of churches should we be planting around the world?

Western vs. indigenous missionaries

Missions and the Holy Spirit

Determining what missionaries to support

The changing face of world missions

What do you pray daily?

The answer for me is simple. There are many things I pray about but there are three things I pray for every day and before every key interaction: Wisdom, empowerment favor. Let me explain.

Wisdom because I want to be to able apply God's counsel and understand how He would have us respond in any given situation. As a leader there are many options from which to choose. The key is to have the wisdom of God to know which is best. It comes from Him so I ask for it regularly.

Empowerment because unless I am walking in the power of the Holy Spirit I will not have the wisdom or insight that I desire. It is the Holy Spirit that helps us see clearly and apply God's truth wisely.

Favor with people because without favor there is no influence. Unless God gives us favor so that others respond to us well, we cannot lead them or have the influence we desire with them. 

I have been amazed at how faithfully God answers these prayers as I am faithful in praying for them. What do you pray for daily?

Our real identity

Our identity is a complicated puzzle made up of many factors. For instance, I grew up in Asia so I am defined as a "third world kid." I feel most at home there but my home is here. Add to that the family each of us grew up in, our experiences through life, the education we received, the job we have and our station in life. No one of these is sufficient for identity but together they profoundly impact who we believe we are.

Now, I believe that God uses all of our history to craft who we are in the present and he uses the present to craft who we will be in the future. But at its core, our identity is all about who God created us to be in relationship with him rather than the external factors that we often falsely believe are our core identity.

For many men, their job defines their identity. What happens if the job goes away and I am unemployed? Did my core identity change? If my 25 year old son who is a strapping outdoors man were to suffer an accident that left him as a paraplegic did his identity change?

External factors in our lives are certainly important in shaping who we become when we allow the Holy Spirit to grow us. But our core identity is found in our son ship and daughter ship of the King of Kings. In the end we are more defined by our relationship with God than our jobs, our position or life experiences. All of those may be wonderful and may have had a part in forming us but many of these can go away. Our life "in Christ" can and will never be taken away. It is the core of our identity for all eternity.

Believing that and living it out changes everything.

Crafting the culture of your organization

It is perhaps one of the most important jobs of a leader: crafting the culture of their organization. Whether in ministry or business, when the culture is healthy and life giving one attracts and retains the best staff and they will weather all kinds of challenges together. The corollary is that where the corporate culture is unhealthy it breeds all kinds of dysfunctional relationships, politics, lack of cooperation, turf wars and general discontent.

Leaders often pay far too little attention to culture in their desire to deliver on the bottom line but it is a big mistake. A life giving culture is one of the most important keys to ministry or business success. 

Think of all the time and energy that it expended dealing with dysfunctional relationships, politics, lack of cooperation and turf wars. Eliminate those life taking dynamics from the workplace and all kinds of great things can be accomplished. In fact, in healthy cultures these kinds of behaviors are not permitted and are anti values for the whole staff.

How does one craft a life giving culture? First leaders model what they desire from their staff. People will hear what one says but they will pay attention to what they experience with their leader. Culture always starts with leaders who either live out life giving or life taking behaviors.

Second, leaders clarify the values, guiding principles or behaviors that they expect to be lived out in the organization. Many leaders don't realize how much influence they have in this regard. If that clarity is lived out by the senior leader and his/her staff, others will start to get the picture and move in that direction.

Third, leaders make it clear that there are behaviors that are not allowed and back it up with action when necessary. When we allow dysfunctional behaviors to exist it sends a message that we are not really serious about the values we espouse.

Here are some of the cultural pieces we have been intentional about creating in ReachGlobal.

• Health: Healthy individuals, healthy teams and healthy leaders. This includes emotional, relational, spiritual and skill health.
• Robust dialogue: Any issue can be put on the table with the exception of personal attacks or hidden agendas.
• Graciousness: How we communicate matters and we respect one another.
• Autopsy without blame: Bad things will happen and when they do we will seek to learn from it without assigning blame.
• Whatever it takes: We will do whatever it takes to get the job done and are flexible on strategy but not on our philosophical underpinnings.
• Team: We work together well.
• Trust: We trust one another and deal with it when that trust is violated.
• Promises: We keep them.
• Development: We develop and grow people in our desire to see them reach their full potential.
• Accountability: We deal with situations where behaviors do not match our desired culture.

What culture are you creating? Is it intentional or accidental?

Relationships and influence

There is a direct and organic connection between the quality of our relationships at all levels and the influence we have with others and within our organizations. If one wants to have influence one must focus on healthy relationships.

If we see positional authority as the base of influence we miss the point! People may accede to the authority of another because of their position but they will not genuinely follow someone who they don't respect or who they don't think has their best interests in mind. And the way they judge that is usually in the quality of their interactions.

It is easy to become careless in how we interact with others. We can take them for granted, send them biting emails, be short or critical or simply not acknowledge them and their contribution. Every poor interaction is a withdrawal from our influence bank and every good interaction is a deposit. Carelessness in our relationships and interactions is devastating to ongoing influence. 

Some people I know would say that the above statement is all about "politics" and they don't like politics. I would say it is about respect and all of us want respect. It is about negotiating relationships for the best possible outcome. If we want to have influence we will focus on the quality of our relationships. It is the basis of true influence.