A Bad Investment - Bitterness & Unforgiveness

Dr. Egolf speaking in the Philippines on Spiritual Leadership

A certain tenant farmer had worked hard for many years to improve the production of the land he leased. Then something happened that caused him to become very bitter. When it was time to renew his lease, the owner told him he was going to sell the farm to his son who was getting married. The tenant made several generous offers to buy it himself, hoping the man's decision would be reversed, but his pleading got nowhere. As the day drew near for the farmer to vacate his home, his weeks of angry brooding finally got the best of him. He gathered seeds from some of the most pesky and noxious weeds he could find. Then he spent many hours scattering them on the clean, fertile soil of the farm, along with a lot of trash and rocks he had collected. To his dismay, the very next morning the owner informed him that plans for his son's wedding had fallen through, and therefore he would be happy to renew the lease. He couldn't understand why the farmer exclaimed in agonizing tones, "Oh, Lord, what a fool I've been!" 

The poison of bitterness always fuels the eventual embarrassment of one's self. It deceives by masquerading as the rightful spirit of vengeance and promises fulfillment in the end. Unfortunately, it leaves the perpetrator with the unbelievable guilt of trusting a heated emotion instead of principle. 

Stop giving access to the enemy of your soul through uncontrolled passions. Instead, submit your whole being to the Lord and permit him to glorify himself through your submission to his authority. Don't become easy prey to the excuse of "they really hurt me" or "you don't know what they did to me." None of these things rectify the situation and reestablish a healthy connection to God. 

Forgive and forget! Walk on and don't give the Devil another day of satisfaction for a job well done, but let go and destroy his plan over your life. 

Jesus was flogged, mocked, insulted, humiliated, and left for dead on a cross. Yet, he said concerning all the perpetrators of his pain 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." 

Remember the following verse:

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Leadership must stop Pimping and Prostituting Issues

Some people thrive off of division, strife, and the so-called struggle of issues confronting a nation or nations. Leaders of movements sometimes are not looking for real solutions because a solution would spell the end of their importance, financial means, and power. As long as there is a problem, they are needed and can prostitute the situation for their personal gain. As unsettling as this observation sounds, it is an unfortunate reality in today’s world.

Leadership pimping of racial, tribal, and ethnic conflicts must come to an end. Contrary to popular belief, there are real solutions to these problems. However, it takes leadership that is honest, non-hypocritical, and possesses a heart for peace to be achieved. One who is not looking for fame and fortune for oneself but looking for the benefit of all. A true selfless heart of compassion is hard to come by but such leadership is needed like never before. When one of this caliber stands up, trust could be reestablished again between political and religious leaders with the public at large. If only integrity could be revived in leadership – people’s trust in government and religious institutions would once again increase out of the dismal polling numbers we currently have.

Leadership must stop thinking people are mindless and that they can’t discern the motives and hypocrisy of their leaders. The proof they are not mindless is in the polling numbers (in America) that have the Congress job approval rating at the least it has ever been on our history. That simply means the people see through the facade and smoke screens and realize they are being used to further personal agendas and fortunes.

Our religious institutions are not doing much better. Priests, pastors, and clergy, are not esteemed as highly as they once were. Why? The news of exploiting children in unthinkable manner splashes onto the news and trust is immediately dissolved between parishioner and minister. When other ministers exploit people financially to purchase jets and multimillion dollar mansions while begging for more to fund orphanages in some remote place, somehow doesn’t ring with authenticity to the congregants.

Our world is in trouble. The games must stop and we must get serious about the solutions that are facing this planet today. Living in the past is not a cure, learning from it is a start. Excuses will not solve the present and guarantees an aborted future of success. Leading a cause but shifting direction every time a solution appears invalidates our voice and disqualifies us from the position. People are dying as a result of the pimping and prostituting of these issues and causes.

There are real viable solutions for racial, ethnic, tribal, and religious divisions. For it to materialize, race baiting, hatred, personal gain, and vengeance must stop. Leadership can lay these things down and come to a table and truly begin sound, honest, and meaningful discussion, that will produce healing and peace. It doesn’t end with a conversation, we must leave that table and implement it into action.

James 3:16 (KJV)
¹⁶ For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

Past Present & Future

Below is an article I wrote for Leading Nations concerning leadership globally.

We all have a certain stigma concerning the past. Things are usually said like “don’t bring up the past” in a sharp tone, or “forget the past” and so on. Though I understand the negative side of the past and the power it can wield over a future, it still can’t be ignored nor can it not be learned from. The past can be one of our greatest educational experiences in preparing us for a better future. I said this recently and I think this sums up the downside of past failures.

Don’t give past failures the power to neutralize your future successes. Don’t abort possibilities and goals by building monuments to past experiences that brought no reward. Instead, learn, persevere, and try again. Never give up what you know is possible!

However… the upside.

Thomas Jefferson realized the impact on the future that correct teaching of history would be in guiding the future of a nation. He wrote, “History, by apprizing them [students] of the past, will enable them to judge of the future.” We understand that living in the past, or the rehearsing of previous hurts, is a detriment to progress both individually and corporately. However, what we learn from the past will affect our behavior determining whether we increase the timeline of our growth, or remain stuck in a past destroying hope for a better tomorrow. Living in the present is not an isolated position. Ignoring the past and thinking the future doesn’t exist is believing the present is isolated. Our present has one arm connected to our past while the other is connected to our future. The past has shaped our present and our present will shape our future. Interestingly, we are not bound by our past because we can change decisions in our present to reshape our future. If you do not like the past – change the future by sowing seeds (making different decisions) in the present to change the future.

Destiny is your experience created by your decisions. Right now was your future a year ago… 10 years ago… 30 years ago. My decisions created my present which was my future – my destiny. I can talk about my future and my hopes and aspirations, but it will remain a pipe-dream if I don’t make decisions to create it. My future will always remain there and fleeting if I never make a decision to make it a reality. Vision should not remain a vision the whole life – it’s a destination to be reached, a goal to be experienced. My wife Laci once said “You won’t see an ending without first seeing the vision, & without taking action, the experience will be dead.”

Leadership not only creates a personal future, but our decisions create the future of others who live under the consequences of our decisions. Those in spiritual leadership can recall Adam and Eve. Governmental leadership can recall all despots and tyrants both current and past and how their personal decisions subjected all citizens to be submitted to their consequences. Adolf Hitler subjected all of Germany to the suffering consequences of his perilous decisions.

We in leadership have been given something called power which is the faculty or capacity to act, the strength and potency to accomplish something. It is the vital energy to make choices and decisions. We posses the steering wheel to provide direction for a country.

Spiritual leadership of a nation is extremely important to providing the keys to a principle reformation in each nation. Returning to a political principled approach in government establishes trust in the people, promotes development and innovation, and creates a national calm and peace. These are just a few of the benefits of such a revival. Instead of bemoaning the failing systems, the personnel in office, bad policies, spiritual leadership should instead do what they are supposed to do – LEAD!

I would like to call the spiritual leadership to look at the following.

Romans 15:4 – For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Hebrews 10:32 – But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;
1 Corinthians 10:6 – Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

Once we learn objectively from our past, the quality of our decisions in the present improve, and our future becomes brighter.

Decisions Decisions Decisions

James 1:22 (KJV)
²² But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Destiny is your experience created by your decisions. Right now was your future a year ago… 10 years ago… 30 years ago. My decisions created my present which was my future - my destiny. I can talk about my future and my hopes and aspirations, but it will remain a pipe-dream if I don’t make decisions to create it. My future will always remain there and fleeting if I never make a decision to make it a reality. Vision should not remain a vision the whole life - it's a destination to be reached, a goal to be experienced. 

What will my future be like?

Look at the decisions I am making today and I will be able to know what it will be like. Life is not a lottery or one big chance or the result of a big bang theory of creation or evolution. Goals are nothing without action. For ten years a young man would tell his pastor  "This is the year I'm going to bible school" and after those ten years never went. Why? Because he never applied action to the dream, vision, or the goal. God's visions require his ability and power to be fulfilled but demands my decisions and application of his Word to be accomplished. If this year is going to be different, then changes must be made that are different than 2014 to make 2015 different.

God's development program is not an exercise bike - peddling but never going anywhere. God is about development but he is equally about getting somewhere. He will develop you to go somewhere not to show off and merely feel good about yourself. The purpose of his exercise program is more than personal benefit but to be equipped to touch others for his glory.

Many times we wait on a miracle while God is waiting on us to make a decision. Many people are waiting on revival to just happen but are unwilling to make decisions to create it. A person who understands decision-making will succeed quicker than a person who is waiting on a miracle. The bible is a book about decisions. A book that promises life through the decisions it prescribes for us. To live it means to do it!