Dale Cresap's blog

Have you ever had anyone tell you, don’t take it personally? This is easier said than done. The default human response is to take everything personally, to see everything from your own perspective and how it relates to you. But this leaves you too much at the center of your own world, and distorts your ability to see things the way they really are. It also gives others undue influence over you and makes you unstable if your personal worth is attached to everything. I told my followers to build their house (life) upon the rock (me) rather than shifting sand to make them immune to flattery or scorn.

Is it easier to see your own faults in others than it is to see them in yourself?  If you see someone who likes to be in control and you didn’t have control issues, you may say to yourself that someone has to steer the ship. If you do have control issues you may resent the fact that it isn’t you. I told a story about removing the log from your own eye before you volunteered to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. When you react strongly to someone else’s offense, is it possible that your reaction says as much about you as it does about them? If you can’t avoid judging others, at least judge yourself first.

You recognize intercession and petition as types of prayer. Do you understand the difference between them? Petition is understood to mean requests on your own behalf, and intercession is making requests on behalf of others. Both are valid prayers and I accept them, but do those with a ministry in prayer refer to themselves as petitioners or intercessors? To be an intercessor you must be willing to look beyond your own needs and concerns and consider those of others to be important enough to engage your time, energy, and spiritual passion, and in this manner love others as they love themselves.

Are you aware that you carry my presence, and on that basis can be influential wherever you go, just by showing up? It is good for you to know this, but you don’t need to limit it to that. This presence is intensified when you speak up and interact with other people. Let your mouth speak my words of life, and let your hands heal and minister life. For you are my representatives; ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. My Spirit is present with you always, and you have my promise on that, but my presence in you is expressed through what you say and do. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and hear your words of grace, and glorify me.

Are you familiar with the passage that says my word is living and powerful? Yet do you treat it as if it were dead and static? You treat most books as being frozen expressions of the thoughts of the author when they were written. Do you see my word as being in a different category? Living things must remain intact to remain alive. When they are dissected they are necessarily dead. Yet how many Christians like to extract their favorite verses from the Bible and consider them in isolation? Even if you regard every word as being true, none can be considered apart from the others and remain a living word.

Are you familiar with “IMHO” as “in my humble opinion”? This is the way things should be, but how many people do you know who are humble about their opinions? It is no compliment to say someone is opinionated. People are prone to attachments, and most of all to their own thoughts and conclusions. And other people of different opinions feel as strongly about theirs as you do about yours, and this is a source of strife. Recognize that your opinions are neither facts nor eternal truth. Therefore you should hold them lightly, knowing what they really are, and being teachable that you may release them when you encounter higher truth. Then you will honestly be able to refer to your opinions as humble.

My word promises that you can ask me for anything and get it. Does it seem that this concept could be viewed from a selfish perspective? Is it possible to view it from an unselfish perspective? You have real needs. If you want to be self-sufficient you are prone to worry and concern about providing for yourself. This is really the more selfish point of view for it keeps you absorbed in your own issues. If you come to me with your needs and trust me to meet them, then you can let them go and not be possessed by them. Then you can serve me from a larger perspective that doesn’t revolve around you.

Does the practice of your faith make you a better Christian? Church attendance, prayer and Bible study are common Christian practices. They are recognized for their own sake among believers, but those outside the church don’t care if you do them or not. They do care how you treat them; whether you are kind and generous and honest or not. You might say that these are qualities that make you a better person. Hopefully the things that make you a better Christian will also make you a better person, but it is important to understand which matters more. If your Christian practices don’t make you a better person, try some different practices that do.

Do you recall my promise to my disciples that I would go and prepare a place for them? This is one of my most widely known promises. Do you think it refers only to your eternal home in glory? It means that, but more besides. Do you understand that I prepare a place for you now? I know that you need provision here and now in addition to later. In fact, it is normal for you to need a series of places in progression before you arrive at the eternal one. If you feel restless it may be that I am preparing a new place for you and you need to be ready to transition to the new one. When this happens release the old one graciously even though I gave it to you.

Have you ever visited an art museum? These are places where creative expressions are brought together and put on display. Such places are popular but seldom crowded. Do you realize that you live in an art museum? For you are surrounded by my creative expressions wherever you go. Don’t let the fact that you don’t need to travel and pay admission diminish your appreciation of this. Have you heard that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Two people standing side by side and looking in the same direction will see different things. If your vision is transformed then you will see the beauty in my artwork everywhere you look.