Two Thoughts from Today

Hi friend! Happy Tuesday!

And a HUGE happy Q4!

Q4 (4th quarter of the year) is usually one of two things for me:

dread and misery because all those slick goals from January are far from complete.
Excitement because a new year is just around the bend, which means mental restart, new inputs to focus on, and exciting adventures that I get to store in my 2025 archive.

Whichever you're feeling today, just realize that you're probably well ahead of where you think you are, and whatever 2024 was for you, these last 3 months can be so much more incredible.

You just have to seek it out.

Ok, that wasn't a recap... last week was awesome but incredibly overwhelming as I got back into the swing of things after traveling for two weeks.

God is good and I'm already well into crushing goals this week.

How are you feeling headed into a new week and quarter?

Two Thoughts from Today I just got back from a walk and I have two things on my mind.

He's already working, so start believing.

Ask, seek, knock.

I've shared something like this before, maybe back in April, but I have been learning the simple lesson that our belief in God does not determine God's faithfulness.

Our belief does not determine God's faithfulness.

Our belief impacts our experience of God's faithfulness.

See, He's always faithful, whether you like it or not; or believe it or not.

It's who He is.

And we don't always experience it because we don't always believe.

Think about how wild it would be if God's faithfulness was dependent on how much we believed.

It would keep impossible situations impossible because neither you nor I can believe that much.

HOWEVER, we can believe and experience that faithfulness because He is faithful, not the other way around.

That's like mega-faith-building for me.

And this leads to the second thought that's been on my mind for the last month or so.

Ask, seek, knock.

Again, for the sake of keeping this short; Matthew 7:7-12 (in the Bible) talks about how when we ask, we receive; when we seek, we find; when we knock, doors open.

I have, since I was first taught this as a kid, always seen this as three, completely separate truths.

Ask. Seek. Knock.

And recently, I've been challenged to see it as a progression.

First, we ask, and believing that we have received, we begin seeking, and as we come to closed doors in that seeking, again believing that we have received, we knock, all until we have received.

(if you're not familiar with these truths, the caveat is that the ask must be in accordance with God's will, which is another email topic on its own, but there in the Bible)

This took me some time to wrap my head around, I'm going to be honest with you.

It blew my mind because now I had a framework that made it all make sense.

He's faithful, so I believe.

I ask (I label them Specific Asks) in faith and in accordance with His will, believing that I will receive.

With this clear, specific ask made known and set before God, I take steps forward as I seek the outcome I prayed for (and continue praying for).

And now as I see closed doors, as long as the above is still clear, out of faith, I knock, until it opens or I see otherwise that I need to stop knocking.

You could easily take this too far one way or the other, so I'm just leaving you with my observations to ponder as you'd like.

Seeing it this way doesn't turn it from full reliance on God to full dependence on me, but rather, takes it from passive asking to engaged, proactive believing.

In the last several hours I have already been seeing areas in business where I've been too afraid to believe as if it rested on the level of my belief to happen; areas where I haven't made a Specific Ask before God and just wandered through; where I've asked but haven't taken the steps to seek it out, just waiting around for an answer to drop out of the sky; and doors that I walked away from without knocking, because "it's a closed door, duh".

Oh and one last thing, remember how I said I first saw them as three separate truths?

The cool thing is, they are!

But they also work in progression.

It's like doubling the reach, impact, and transformation of this.

So there you are... my couple of Tuesday thoughts for you.

I'm curious, friend, do you agree? How would you share this truth in a way that is simpler and makes more sense to you?

Hi friend! Happy Tuesday!

And a HUGE happy Q4!

Q4 (4th quarter of the year) is usually one of two things for me:

dread and misery because all those slick goals from January are far from complete.
Excitement because a new year is just around the bend, which means mental restart, new inputs to focus on, and exciting adventures that I get to store in my 2025 archive.

Whichever you're feeling today, just realize that you're probably well ahead of where you think you are, and whatever 2024 was for you, these last 3 months can be so much more incredible.

You just have to seek it out.

Ok, that wasn't a recap... last week was awesome but incredibly overwhelming as I got back into the swing of things after traveling for two weeks.

God is good and I'm already well into crushing goals this week.

How are you feeling headed into a new week and quarter?

Two Thoughts from Today I just got back from a walk and I have two things on my mind.

He's already working, so start believing.

Ask, seek, knock.

I've shared something like this before, maybe back in April, but I have been learning the simple lesson that our belief in God does not determine God's faithfulness.

Our belief does not determine God's faithfulness.

Our belief impacts our experience of God's faithfulness.

See, He's always faithful, whether you like it or not; or believe it or not.

It's who He is.

And we don't always experience it because we don't always believe.

Think about how wild it would be if God's faithfulness was dependent on how much we believed.

It would keep impossible situations impossible because neither you nor I can believe that much.

HOWEVER, we can believe and experience that faithfulness because He is faithful, not the other way around.

That's like mega-faith-building for me.

And this leads to the second thought that's been on my mind for the last month or so.

Ask, seek, knock.

Again, for the sake of keeping this short; Matthew 7:7-12 (in the Bible) talks about how when we ask, we receive; when we seek, we find; when we knock, doors open.

I have, since I was first taught this as a kid, always seen this as three, completely separate truths.

Ask. Seek. Knock.

And recently, I've been challenged to see it as a progression.

First, we ask, and believing that we have received, we begin seeking, and as we come to closed doors in that seeking, again believing that we have received, we knock, all until we have received.

(if you're not familiar with these truths, the caveat is that the ask must be in accordance with God's will, which is another email topic on its own, but there in the Bible)

This took me some time to wrap my head around, I'm going to be honest with you.

It blew my mind because now I had a framework that made it all make sense.

He's faithful, so I believe.

I ask (I label them Specific Asks) in faith and in accordance with His will, believing that I will receive.

With this clear, specific ask made known and set before God, I take steps forward as I seek the outcome I prayed for (and continue praying for).

And now as I see closed doors, as long as the above is still clear, out of faith, I knock, until it opens or I see otherwise that I need to stop knocking.

You could easily take this too far one way or the other, so I'm just leaving you with my observations to ponder as you'd like.

Seeing it this way doesn't turn it from full reliance on God to full dependence on me, but rather, takes it from passive asking to engaged, proactive believing.

Oh and one last thing, remember how I said I first saw them as three separate truths?

The cool thing is, they are!

But they also work in progression.

It's like doubling the reach, impact, and transformation of this.

So there you are... my couple of Tuesday thoughts for you.

I'm curious, friend, do you agree? How would you share this truth in a way that is simpler and makes more sense to you?