It’s crazy when the thing that you’ve circled in prayer for many days actually presents itself as a possibility today. You start to get excited as what seemed impossible now looks doable, what was far away is now closer, and what was once tears of pain transformed into tears of joy. Then it happens. You realize that there’s one more day and this day seems six times harder than rest.

When I woke up this morning, my mind was flooded with the words “Keep Circling”! You see, there are some things that I have been praying for and up to this point, the once a day circle hasn’t required much from me. It’s as if for the last six days when I prayed I slammed a 5 hour energy of hope and expectation.

However, this morning when I heard the words “Keep Circling”, although I’m much closer to the promise, I got this feeling that 7th day was going to be 6 times harder, six times the effort, and six times more strenuous. If I’m honest it would be easy to concede.

I believe that many of us have the tendency to give up because the end seems harder than the beginning, where we end up fading when our faith should focused.

I want to encourage you that although the 7th day seems 6 times harder, that’s really not the case. The 7th day is like God hitting the fast forward button on the heavenly remote. It takes the energy, effort and strain of what took 6 days and packs it all into one day: one moment.

I believe that this moment in your life is like the 7th day that Joshua and his army faced. This was their moment and just as the walls fell at the end of a day of extreme circling, the walls will fall in your life as you continue to circle! As you get closer to what you have been praying for, don’t stop, don’t fade, and whatever you do, don’t give up. “Keep Circling”! Don’t waste the last 6 days of circling because the 7th day seems 6 times harder. The last 6 days wasn’t practice, it was preparation for today. So go ahead and circle one more day! This is your moment! The walls will come down!

Watch my recent message on Perseverance, Prayer and Boldness here.

As a leader, boss, father, husband and coach, I have been in many situations that needed confrontation. Whether one of my kids received a bad grade on their report card, an employee came up short on a project or there was something my wife and I needed to work through,  how I handled the situation always determined the outcome of the the situation. Specifically, what I mean by this is that a smooth process in most cases corrects a rough problem, care and concern for the person normally creates care and concern in the person, and if you desire to create a new behavior in someone, you must first model the behavior yourself. Whether you’re confronting a 10 year old running back or a 40 year old manager, when it comes to confrontation, an offended coach, leader or parent will always cause those who they are confronting to be defensive.

Some things are easy. It’s easy to get mad, yell, fly off the handle, make yourself feel good, and point out bad behavior or poor performance in others. However, what’s not easy is being slow to anger, controlling your emotions, getting over hurts, and forgiving others when you’re frustrated. We always need to ask ourselves, “are we doing what’s easy or what’s not easy?”

So let’s come back to our opening statement: “we can’t conqueror what we are not willing to confront!” The question that every leader should ask him/herself is “Have I been a part of confrontation gone wrong? Have I contributed to feeling better about myself rather than leaving someone in a better place? Ultimately, am I willing to confront my issues with confrontation?”

As we tackle the subject of confrontation, here are three practices that you should consider employing.

3 Things Practices of Confrontation

1. Listen Before Deciding – The best thing you can do when confronting is listening first and deciding last. Be careful not to pre-determine the outcome of any confrontational conversation. I have found that many times a person’s heart may not reflect their actions. If you decide before listening, you could be reacting to a wrong action that has a right heart. In most cases I have found that having a right heart can be led to right actions. I have learned that I’d rather work with someone who has a right heart and wrong actions than someone who has right actions with a wrong heart!

2. Bring Life Rather Than Strife – Never confront anyone in any situation without the end goal being bringing life to that situation. Confrontation should always bring someone to a better place, not make you feel better. Here’s a good practice: “always choose life over strife!” Nothing good comes from yelling, losing your temper or intimidation. Remember this: actions that bring life cause people to grow, actions that bring strife cause people to go!

3. Focus On The Future, Not The Failures – When confronting, always paint a picture of how a different action could have caused a different outcome. Show the person how doing better next time can make amends for this time. Illustrate how failures can be used as powerful tools for a greater future. If you learn to look at problems as opportunities, you will see the potential of what things could be and not how things presently are.

Confrontation is something that can definitely go wrong, but if you’re willing to first confront yourself, it can definitely go right!

I asked him, “Is there anyone in the canoe”? “He answered, “No, there’s no one in that canoe, it’s actually mine”. I then asked him how his canoe ended up in the middle of the lake with no one in it? He explained, that because he forgot to tie the canoe down, it simply drifted away.

I believe that drifting away can easily happen to anyone. We declare the vision, we set the standard, we say that this time things are going to be different and for some reason, over time we end up drifting away and ending up in the middle of no where.

Has this ever happened to you? Maybe you are a leader and you had a vision for your business, company or church where you have found yourself drifting from what you set out to do. Maybe you have set some personal goals for yourself where you had a great start, but over time you found yourself far from your original goals. Maybe you’ve had a personal struggle where you’ve proclaimed, “Ill never do that again.”, and for some reason you found yourself far from your commitment.

Drifting can happen to the best of us, however, there is hope to get reconnected.  To ensure you do not drift away and end up in the middle no where make sure you, “Check, Re-Check and Check Again.” Whether you are setting vision, making a personal commitment or trying to kick an old habit, make sure you “Check, Re-Check, Check Again.” Do not allow your vision or commitment to go unchecked or unattended for too long. Remember that It’s easy to drift away from values, beliefs and vision. It’s not only important to stay engaged, connected and committed in the early stages, but in every stage. Make a conscience decision to disallow the storms of adversity, the current of complacency, or the wave of busyness to cause you to become a drifter. The more check points and check ups you have the closer you’ll find yourself to your goals.

If at anytime you find yourself in the middle of no where, ask yourself in what areas have I drifted? Drifting happens over time but re-connecting can happen today!

Here is an excerpt from my speech. You can download and read the full speech here.

When I was a little boy I would sneak into my dad’s closet when he wasn’t at home, and do my best to imitate him. I would put his shirt on. I would pull down one of his ties off of his tie hanger, and to complete the look I’d find his best pair of shoes in the closet and slip my little feet into his shoes. I’d then try to deepen my voice and mimic him as if to say: this shirt may be big on me now, this tie may drag along the floor, and these shoes may be to big to fill now, but ‘one day’ all of this will fit me just fine. As I look back on those days playing in dads closet and playing on my dad’s basketball team I realize that’s it’s no longer the first quarter, It’s now the 4th quarter!

I represent a generation of people who are not only ready to take the big shot, but are ready to fill the shoes of dreamers!

People we have big shoes to fill and big shots to take. It’s the 4th Quarter so play like a team, move the ball around, don’t waste any opportunities, and lastly keep on dreaming! Who will dare to be a difference maker or a game changer?

Ministry burnout is a very contagious virus that can suck the life out of you, your ministry, your team and even the church. This nasty virus has been known to enhance complaining, drain energy, hinder productivity and kill momentum in any church ministry. If ministry burnout is not caught in the early stages it can be hazardous to an individuals ministry effectiveness ultimately causing them to question their call, their leader, their church and even God.

If you or any one you know are experiencing any of theses symptoms please take one or any combinations of following remedies to cure your “Ministry Burnout”.

1. Take A break! Many people who serve in ministry feel like they cannot take a break. Although serving in ministry is important it’s not the only thing that’s important. Rest, relaxation, taking a weekend off to spend time with your family will not only help you with ministry burnout it will also help you be a better spouse, parent to your children and will ultimately help you be more energized in serving God’s people. So take a break! Schedule time for you and your family to chill. This will also create some margin for someone else to step there game up on your ministry team. The church was here before you arrived and missing a weekend here and there will not sink the ship.
2. Remember It’s Not About Us! It’s so easy to get caught up in how much we do for the church. I’ve heard so many people say, “look how much I’m here, I’m always on time, or I never get any recognition for what I do.” This is a classic sign of “Ministry Burnout’! Listen, we must remember that it’s not about us! Remember that we are serving a greater purpose and that God uses us to reach them! The Bible tells us that Jesus did not come to be served, but the serve and give His life for ransom. We must remember that we are not serving our purposes we are serving God’s purposes!
3. Talk To Your leader! It’s so easy when someone has ministry burnout to talk to everyone except for the person we should be talking to. Remember that this virus is very contagious, spreads very fast and very easily could turn into offense. The best way to stop it from spreading is to talk directly with your team leader and not everyone on your team. Let your team lead know what you are feeling. Share with them how hard it is to do everything that you have to do in your life and still be effective when serving. This is a great opportunity to have you leader pray with you. Being in the trenches of ministry is sometimes overwhelming and there’s nothing better than knowing that others are in the trenches with you. Your leader will not only pray for you but also help you find solutions to the challenges that you are facing. Communication is the key to knowing that someone else cares. Everyone wants to know that our leaders care and in order for them to care for you they must know what your feeling.

If you ever find yourself with a bad case of ministry burnout remember to take a break, remember whom you doing it for, and talk to you leader. I assure you that if you’re in ministry long enough you will be attacked by ministry burnout many times!