There are No Short-Cuts!

This past Monday night I just finished several months of formal discipleship/leadership mentoring with some outstanding young men, followers of Christ. We met every other Monday night at our house and as each night approached I sensed my own excitement building. I had planned out the 10 sessions way in advance, I asked God what He wanted me to teach, and most nights that planned was followed. There were some nights however when what was planned got changed and that was great, for I love how the Holy Spirit leads like, and I am grateful to hear His promptings and as much as possible, follow them. One of the sayings that I repeated,t "there are no short-cuts!" In matters of spiritual growth, scripture knowledge, a deeper and more effective prayer life, growing more intimate with God and so on - "there are no short-cuts". I remember one of my spiritual/ministry mentors say to me many years ago; "you have as much God in your life as you want, you have as many close friends in your life as you want, you have as much love in your life as you want" and so on. He was and is correct. The question we must all ask is "how badly do I want something?" One of the keys in obtaining it is to make sure you have peace and confidence it is from God, if it is, than He will provide the plan, power and passion to see it through. Right now I am trying to lose some pounds around my stomach, re-gain some muscle, and get more limber, there have been several challenges like injuries, and those have discouraged me. Much of my success or lack of it will depend on how badly I want this. I know that there are no short-cuts. I am grateful for my relationship with God, my love for Him, the joy I get in serving Him and the people of the church I serve for they are a Godly, teachable and passionate bunch! There are no short-cuts in seeing our church become all that He desires. As I finished up our last meeting, I closed in a prayer for each man, a personalized prayer that I hope they get to see become a reality. I then challenged each of them to find 4 men they can mentor and I will do the same, that will become exponential. Come next Fall it will be time to Produce some more Reproducers, four new men will step into our living room and I will lead off with the same true statement - "Men, there are no short-cuts."