2 Timothy 1:7 ” For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (ESV)

If you have maintained any leadership position, then good ol’ fear has more than likely influenced your decision making. Fear of how things will play out. Fear of what others think of you. Fear of what others say when you are not around. Fear of making a mistake. Fear of being a failure. If any of these sound familiar, then you can bet that fear is a foundational problem, preventing you from leading in strength.

• Fear distances you from reality.

When you operate in fear, you operate from a perspective void of reality. Fear creates scenarios that have not happened, with conversations that have not taken place. Fear assumes to know the outcome, and forces you to imagine a sort of rectification to compensate for the best outcome.

• Fear conjures up lies.

When you let fear drive your life, you give birth to a multitude of lies. Lies about yourself, others, your circumstances, your future, your family, your marriage, your work. Fear will wreak havoc in your mind, as most of it is built on half truths, sugar-coated with excessive falsities.

• Fear dominates your thoughts and increases defensiveness.

When fear drives your thoughts, you will find yourself spending most of your time preoccupied, battling demons inside your head. You will be skeptical of anyone and everyone, and your level of defensiveness will rise. You will have restless nights, and operate mostly on autopilot. When leadership demands so much more, how can you afford letting 60% or more of your thoughts be taken up by fear-driven outcomes? Your worth comes from being fully alert, not being half-dead.

• Fear will cripple you and your ministry.

When you fear, you cannot trust. When you cannot trust, you cannot lead. When you cannot lead, you are ill-equipped to guide those around you. Remember one thing: no matter what situation you face, you will always enter into it with some level of fear. No matter what situation you go through, you will always leave it with a measure of fear. Fear is there, but when you let it overtake your commonsense, and start predicting your future, then you will find yourself in troubled waters.

• Fear is arrogance.

Fear is a false prophet, and is in opposition to God’s spirit of love and self-control. When fear drives you, you are willingly opposing God’s sovereignty over your life. In fact, you are saying, “Let me worry about my circumstances. I will feel much better if I can control the outcome.”

• It is never as bad as it seems.

How many times have you feared something, went through it, and then looked back in awe of your presuppositions and misconceptions? How many times have you wrongly judged or blamed someone, simply because you feared the outcome? Truly, if God is for us, who can be against us?

Operate from faith, with courage, in self-control, out of love.

From www.crossleadership.com

BWT

On October 16th, 2011, we will begin the new chapter of our life in Largo, FL as the Student / Children Pastors at Abundant Life Ministries. We are overjoyed to be apart of such a wonderful, healthy, servant-driven church. We are also excited to have opportunity to work with Pastor Anthony and Ms. Kendra McDaniel and their wonderful staff.

When I talk about this opportunity to people, I can hardly explain to them magnitude of this God-given blessing. I am in awe of God’s grace and mercy.  No matter what you are going through trust Him, because He has your best interest in mind.

Thank you to everyone who has prayed and offered encouragement to my family and me.  I pray God richly bless you as He has blessed us.

BWT

We love everyone!

BWT

Anyone who has ever planned an event, (a wedding, birthday party, etc.), knows that it is imperative to have a “plan B”.  The only time a “plan B” is activated is when a “plan A” fails.  So having a “plan B” is thought of as good planning skills; however, this way of thinking has no place when it comes to God’s instructions.  When God gives us a vision or instructions to do something, it is in our best interest to obey.  So the question arises, Why wouldn’t we? God knows what is best, so it should be easy to obey, right?  Though this statement sounds great, it is not at all correct.  Usually when God instructs us do something, it is immediately met with resistance.  From experience, I have learned the resistance normally comes from two places: the enemy and/or ourself.  So when God gives us His plan (Plan A) we must follow through with His plan no matter what it looks likes or even if our plan (plan B) makes more sense. Why you ask?  Take this example from the book of Acts:

Acts 27: 30-32, “Then the sailors tried to abandon the ship; they lowered the lifeboat as though they were going to put out anchors from the front of the ship. But Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers, “You will al die unless the sailors stay aboard.” So the solders cut the ropes to the lifeboat and let it drift away.”

A little background: Paul was on his way to Rome to stand before Caesar.  Against the warnings of Paul, the captain and the ship set sail for Rome.  While out at sea, a violent storm overtook the ship.  The solider’s biggest fear was running aground on a sandbar and the ship be destroyed, thus everyone perishing.  But, angel of the Lord appeared to Paul, ans stated that Paul would stand before Caesar and all the people on ship would live.

Here we pick up the story. The storm is violently pounding the ship and ship is falling apart.  So the soldier’s, in the midst of the storm, believe it is time to jump ship. They begin to prep the lifeboat, a perfectly safe vessel.  In fact, a lifeboat’s purpose is to be used when the main ship is sinking or is deemed unsafe.  So their plan seemed to be logical, but then Paul spoke, saying, “If you leave this ship you will die” or “Stay in the boat!”.  This time, they listened to Paul and cut the lifeboat lose and watched their “Plan B” float away.  After this the ship does run aground; however, every person on that ship lived.

We can parallel this story with our life.  We listen to God and obey Him and the next thing we know we find ourselves being tossed by the storms of life.  So, we panic and fear of death now creeps into our thinking.  We begin to reason with-in ourselves, saying, “I must have missed God’s voice. What do I do now?”  and we begin looking for the lifeboat.  It is extremely sad, the way we throw God’s instructions aside at the first moment of opposition.  This is where we should be praying, “God get me through this.” not “God get me out of this”.  Both prayers will get you out of the storm; however, the first statement will bring you out with more strength, discipline, and character.

My encouragement to you is to say “No” to “plan B” (your plan) and stick to God’s Plan (plan A), no matter what it may look like right now. When you are might by opposition, hang-on because opposition is a direct indicator for potential. In the end, not only will your life be impacted but so will the lives of others around you.

Galatians 6:9, “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

BWT

Mr. Webster defines “pain” as a physical suffering or distress.  For a normal human being, we spend our entire lifetime trying to avoid pain, but no matter how crafty, cunning or strategic we are it always seems to find us.  Pain is something we can not hide or run from, so why does a loving and compassionate God allow us to go through it? We can find our answer in the book of Exodus, with the Israelites being slaves to Egypt.  God hears the cries and prayers of His people and He raises up a leader, Moses, to lead His people into the Promise Land.  God instructs Moses to go before Pharaoh with a demand to “let His people go.”  Pharaoh refuses and because of his refusal God sends a total of 10 plagues to Egypt, which ravished the land, people, and live stock.  If we take a look at the attitude of the Israelites after the first couple of plagues, we will see the Israelites are ready to give up and stay in bondage to Egypt.  These reason why they wanted to do this is because their work-load was increased and they would rather stay and go back to the way things “use-to-be.”  However, God continued His wrath on the Egypt and after the 9th plague, Israel’s whole outlook was different.  Their living conditions became so unbearable that there was no way they could stay in Egypt.  God used the pain of the plagues to create a value of deliverance the Israelites were going to need in order to live in the Promise Land.  If God would have just delivered them, they would have had a deliverance they never worked for.  It is easy to squander way something that has no value to you.  Look at the Prodigal Son, he squandered his inheritance because he it didn’t cost him anything to receive it.  God uses the pain of our lives to create a value in us.  To many people want a blessing from God but do not want to go through the pain of receiving it.  This is why I have a hard time believing and listening to the doctrine of “Name it and Claim it”.  It makes me sick to my stomach to watch someone stand in front God’s people and proclaim a lie to them.  This is why we have some many people in debt, and they are waiting for God to show up and magically fix financial issues with an instantaneous blessing.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe if God wanted to He could, but I believe God is more interested in creating in you a value / discipline of how to handle your money.  Let’s be honest, if we do not learn how to be “Godly” minded with our money, giving us more money would only drive us farther in debt, because we have not learned the lesson. God will use the POWER of PAIN to create a value in us that we will never forget, thus being more like – Christ.

I will challenge you with this, “If you never endure a great burden, you will never be able to handle great success.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” 1 Peter 1:2-4

Blessings,

BWT

God spoke to me about this story.  Too many of us have become watered-down Christians.  We were once “on-fire”, radical and courageous Christ-followers but over time we have become the soft, mundane, “just-getting by” Christians.  This change did not happen overnight, but there is one thing to blame, “nothing”.  Nothing is to blame for this transformation.  See, going back to my Coke story, the Coke became watered down because the ice in the drink melted and as we all know ice is frozen water.  Have you ever looked on the back of a water bottle and read the Nutrition Facts?  The Nutrition Facts of water reads:

                                Calories                 0%

                                Total Fat               0%

                                Sodium                 0%

                                Total Carbs          0%

                                Protein                 0%

 Water has nothing in it and when nothing is added to something it becomes diluted.  When you add nothing to your Christian walk, you become watered down.  You lose your zeal, your vigor, and your intensity.  To add nothing means not reading the Word, praying to God, or giving.  This story might seem a little elementary to some, but I know how it feels to be watered down, I have been there.  It happens slowly but surely.  Life goes by 100 mph and we have no time to read or pray.  Don’t forget the economy is bad, so we definitely don’t have any money to give.  Here is a scripture that will help you out.

 Matthew 6:33, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.”

Seek means to passionately look for something until you find it. We need to passionately seek God by constantly praying, fervently reading the Word and cheerfully giving. And notice how God instructs us on what to seek.  He tells us to seek the “Kingdom of God”.  In Greek the scripture reads not as the “Kingdom of God”, referring to an actual place, but to read it as the “Kingdom” of God, where “kingdom” means dominion.  So this means we are not to seek the earthly things but we are to seek the God who has dominion, supreme authority, over the earthly things.

 I encourage you to stop adding nothing to your walk with Christ and start adding something by seeking the God of supreme dominion.  Read, Pray and Give.

 James 1:22, “Do not merely listen to the word, and deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

“For if our heart condemns us, God is great than our heart, and He knows all things.”

1 John 3:20

Translations in Greek:

• heart – desires, or feelings
• condemn – to blame or accuse of wrong

So if we re-write this scripture using the greek translations it reads like this:

“For when our feelings tell us we are wrong,

God is greater than our feelings and He knows everything”

One of the biggest Heavy weight fights, from the beginning of time, has been Feelings vs. Faith. Have you ever been in a situation where your feelings were not cooperating with your faith?  Maybe God has told you something good was going to happen, but meanwhile, you are in the midst of the worst time of your life?  This is where is what I call the “breeding ground” of faith. I think Christians today have become too soft. I have become to soft. We have become scared of opposition.  The fact is, opposition is what creates opportunity.  The main opposition to your faith is not the devil, but it is yourself, your feelings.  When your feelings oppose your faith, it creates an opportunity for your faith to grow.  As believers in Christ, isn’t that what we want, our faith to grow.  We pray for God to increase our faith, so when He puts opposition in front of us, we cry and search for what went wrong.  When actually, God is giving us what we asked for. Don’t get me wrong, when you are in a situation like this it is hard, but it is right where you want to be.

If you ever want to do something great for God, He will always place opposition in front of you.  Look at the Israelites, the main reason why God took them through the wilderness is to increase their faith in Him.  He did this because He knew the faith they already possessed had to increase to get to the Promise Land.  The opposition they faced in the wilderness was only preparing them for the opposition they would face in the Promise Land.  Their faith in Him had to increase to inherit the promise.

If you are facing opposition today, take a step back and find the opportunity in your opposition.

Be Blessed,

BWT

If you are going through some “mess” a.k.a suffering, chances are you are going through it for some of these reasons.  The good news is they all work out for our good.

1. To produce the fruit of patience

Rom. 5:3; James 1:3-4; Heb. 10:36

2. To produce the fruit of joy

Ps. 30:5; 126:5-6

3. To produce the fruit of maturity

Eccles. 7:3; 1 Pet. 5:10

4. To produce the fruit of righteousness

Heb. 12:11

5. To silence the devil

Job 1:9, 10, 20-22

6. To teach us

Ps. 119:67, 71

7. To purify our lives

Job 23:10; Ps. 66:10-12; Isa. 1:25; 48:10; Prov. 17:3; 1 Pet. 1:7

8. To make us like Christ

Heb. 12:9, 10; 1 Pet. 4:12-13; Phil. 3:10; 2 Cor. 4:7-10

9. To glorify God

Ps. 50:15; John 9:1-3; 11:1-4; 21:18-19; Phil. 1:19-20

10. To prevent us from sinning

2 Cor. 12:7, 9-10

11. To make us confess when we do sin

Judg. 10:6-7, 15-16; Ps. 32:3-5; Hos. 5:15; 6:1; 2 Chron. 15:3-4

12. To chasten us for our sin

1 Pet. 4:17

13. To prove our sonship

Heb. 12:5-6

14. To reveal ourselves to ourselves

Job 42:6; Luke 15:18

15. To help our prayer life

Isa. 26:16

16. To become an example to others

2 Cor. 6:4-5; 1 Thess. 1:6-7

17. To qualify us as counselors

Rom. 12:15; Gal. 6:2; 2 Cor. 1:3-5

18. To further the gospel witness

Acts 8:1-5; 16:25-34; Phil. 1:12-13; 2 Tim. 4:6-8, 16-17

19. To make us more than conquerors

2 Cor. 2:14; Rom. 8:35, 37

20. To give us insight into God’s nature

Job 42:5; Rom. 8:14-15, 18

21. To drive us closer to God

1 Pet. 4:14; 2 Cor. 12:10

22. To prepare us for a greater ministry

1 Kings 17-18; John 12:24

23. To provide for us a reward

Matt. 5:10-12; 19:27-29; Rom. 8:16-17; 2 Cor. 4:17

24. To prepare us for the kingdom

2 Thess. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:12

25. To show God’s sovereignty

Rom. 8:28; 1 Cor. 10:13; Ps. 66:10-12; Gen. 45:5-8; 50:20

“You can’t have a message without going through a mess!”

Be Blessed,

BWT

Joshua 3 – “Israel Crosses the Jordan”

This passage of scripture is pivotal in the history of the Israel.  For forty-years, the nation of Israel had been wandering around in the Wilderness.  While in the Wilderness, generations have died, multiple encounters with God, and basically an ultimate faith test.  But now, under new leadership, Joshua leads the Israel Nation (about 3 million) across the Jordan on dry land.

This is it.  This is what was passed down from generation to generation.  Israel had dreamed on this day for forty years.  God promised them the Promised Land, and finally the moment is here.  Here is a couple of lessons I have learned while I have been in my own Wilderness and i know stand at my “Jordan”.

1.  The Wilderness sucks! I am not going to lie or be cute, being in the wilderness is hard, but I have learned the wilderness is a stop everyone must make en route to their promise. This is true because in the wilderness you learn:

a.) to trust God – The wilderness was a deserted land with lack of resources.  Some of you may be there now.  You have a                                                                          promise but the place you are in now is not it.  The place you are in is miserable and it seems hopeless.                                                                          The only thing to do in this situation is trust God.  Every morning, Israel had to trust God for provision.                                                                        The reality is, if God  had not provided they would have starved.  I have been in this situation for a                                                                                  couple of years now.  If God had no stepped in  my family and I would have perished, but God is                                                                                        faithful.

“For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for                                                                        when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” James 1:3-4

b.) stay focused – Israel knew the wilderness was not their home.  When in the wilderness you have to know it is                                                                                       temporary.

2.) God’s promises are Yes and Amen

a.) No matter your current situation, what God said, it will come to pass.  Just because your promise is DELAYED, doesn’t                                          mean it is DENIED. Before God ever used someone greatly, He first wounded them deeply.  He wounded them                                                            because to  suffer is to become more like Christ.  God will never give you more than you can handle.  We most of the time                                        speak of  this in a way that deals with temptation and struggles, which is true, but God will not move you into your                                                   promise until you are ready.  The wilderness is the training ground you get you ready for you promise.

So here I am standing at the my “Jordan River”.  In the past month, God has burden me with a love for a people.  I have know idea who or where these people are but it brings me to the point of tears as I pray for them.  I know these people are the future people Cari and I will serve one day as a pastor.  I believe that day is at hand.  Every time I talk about it my Spirit tries to leap out of my body.  In knowing this, the Wilderness make a lot of sense.  At the time, I cried, pleaded, questioned, and complained, but every time God calms me down; just like I calm Bayleigh when she acts like her leg is going to burn off because it was bit by a “fire” ant.

I KNOW, God is moving me from the land of “just enough” (wilderness), to the land of “more than enough” (promise land). I have the promise and I live it with purpose and passion and when I step into my place of destiny, I know God will do great and mighty things.

My encouragement to you is, it is perfectly normal to not know what happens next. Hold on and hang on! Learn what God is teaching you and live it, because the things you learn now is only preparing you for your Promise.  Despite your circumstances, the economy, your debt, and your past; What God said He will do, guess what, He will do!

We have placed resume’s with different states and have been praying for favor with God and with man. So, please keep the Tisko Nation in your prayers as we use wisdom to make the right decision concerning our Promise.

Thanks and be blessed,

BWT

Chapters.

Long Chapters.

Short Chapters.

As a book, life could be broken down into chapters.  Some chapters are long and some chapters are short, but none-the-less each chapter plays an important role in the book.

Tonight, I write this as an end to one of my families’ life chapters.  As of June 10th, the Tisko Nation will no longer be in Panama City Beach.  We are moving, as our time and purpose in PCB is completed.  Our purpose here in PCB, was to help plant a new church and so we did.  God is transitioning us into a new chapter.

To our Baypointe family, we are truly going to miss everyone. Baypointe Church is blessed with awesome leadership and an incredible team. Truly great things are in store for the future. Our time here was short but the relationship that were made will last for a life time.  The Tisko Nations loves each and everyone of you.

If you are reading this I ask you to pray for our family.  As Cari and I are faced with making decisions that will affect our family and our lives and if you knowus, this is not a decision that we do not take lightly.  So pray that God would give us clear minds and clear direction.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1

Blessings,

BWT