Mike Taylor

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  • How do I know if I’m doing what God wants me to do?

    Imagine a father and a son sitting in a living room together.

    The son is 6 years old. His head is tilted back staring at the ceiling in boredom. He has a frustrated look on his face. Finally, he lets out a big breath, looks at his father, and says, “Dad, what should I do today?“

    The dad looks at him and says, “I don’t know, son, what do you want to do?“

    The son says, “I want to do whatever you want me to do.“

    The father, confused, replies, “I want you to do what you want. I don’t want you to just do whatever I tell you to do.“

    As a father or a mother, or as a son or daughter, can you picture this situation? 

    Why would the dad be frustrated? After all, the boy only wants what his father wants.

    But the belief beneath the question that the son is asking really comes down to this: 

    “I’m afraid to choose because I don’t want to disappoint you.”

    As a father, that’s both frustrating and heartbreaking. 

    We want our kids to feel free and secure around us. 

    We don’t want them to feel like we’re over bearing or controlling. We want to be the safe place they come with their creativity and ideas and dreams.

    For a child to have such a fear-based mentality when it comes to their relationship with their father is a tragedy.

    Instead of telling a child what to do, a good father is more concerned with how they do it.

    As a dad, I don’t want to tell my kids what to do with their lives. 

    Instead, I want them to learn from me how to do whatever it is they decide to do with their lives.

    I want to teach them things like:

    • Whatever you do, do it with excellence. 
    • Love people in the same way you love yourself. 
    • Treat people with kindness. 
    • Serve other people before looking out for yourself. 

    These are the kinds of things I want my kids to think through as they do whatever it is they’re doing in life.

    To tell them what to do only fuels their propensity to avoid their freedom to choose.

    Imagine this same boy at age 18 coming to his father and asking him, “Dad, what major should I choose in college?“ Or, “Dad, what woman should I marry?“

    It seems asinine that a child would live like that.

    And yet that’s often how we approach God.

    We’re afraid to do things we’ve dreamed of doing out of fear that God won’t approve.

    Longing for the will of God becomes a mask for fear we’ve developed about the character of God.

    Fear causes us to picture God as a harsh man (Matthew 25:24). We think that if we make the wrong choice, we’ll lose his approval.

    But that’s not God’s character at all.

    God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love (see Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8, Psalm 145:8, Joel 2:13, and Jonah 4:2).

    God is patient, merciful, and loving (see Romans 2:4, Romans 9:22, Romans 15:5, 2 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 6:6, Galatians 5:22, Ephesians 2:4-5, Ephesians 4:2, Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 1:11, Colossians 3:12-13, 1 Timothy 1:16, Titus 3:4-5, Hebrews 4:16, James 5:11, and 2 Peter 3:9).

    I’ve spent long nights praying for God to give me the “right answer” between two good options. But I’ve almost never gotten a direct answer. 

    What I’ve found is that God will prompt me with questions and thoughts and help me filter decisions through his character.

    He often asks me what I want. (See 1 Kings 3:5, Matthew 20:21, Matthew 20:32, Mark 10:36, Mark 10:51, Luke 18:41, and John 1:38.)

    Other times he’ll wait until a desire bubbles up inside of me and I have enough courage and faith to ask Him for it. (See Genesis 15:2-6, Genesis 28:20-22, Exodus 3:7-10, 1 Samuel 1:11, 1 Samuel 1:19-20, 1 Kings 3:9-13, 2 Kings 20:2-6, Psalm 37:4, Matthew 7:7-11, John 14:13-14, John 15:7, John 16:23-24, Acts 10:30-31, and 2 Corinthians 12:8-9)

    I used to see this line of thinking as selfish – that it’s selfish to think about my desires.

    But what does a good father want? 

    A good father wants to be a part of his kids’ lives, and he wants to model for his children how to do whatever they endeavor to do in life with excellence. 

    For a child to make their own choices and act in the character of their father requires a deep intimacy, trust, and respect.

    Fear, on the other hand, has to do with punishment (1 John 4:18). But there is no condemnation for those in Christ (Romans 8:1).

    So what are you afraid of?

    Make the bold choice to exercise freedom and receive mercy (Micah 6:8).

    Then, in all your ways acknowledge him. But you have to choose a way first.

    And whatever you choose, do it with all your heart and in the full representation of God so he gets the glory. (1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17)

    I think you’ll find that was the point all along.

  • Why do I feel like I never have enough?

    The world says to take. Find what fulfills you. Go after what you want.

    And yet, despite America being one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Americans are some of the most dissatisfied people in the world.

    That’s because we’ve developed a backwards view of value.

    What you give to, lives. What you take from, dies.

    The value of bank accounts, houses, and relationships are all built on what you give, not what you take.

    What you give to increases in value.

    What you take from loses value and eventually becomes detestable to you.

    The things we hate the most are usually the things we’ve taken from the most.

    Taking says, “I need more. Why can’t you give me more?”

    Giving says, “I’m secure. I have more than enough. You are valuable to me and I’d like to invest in you.”

    Abundance comes from security. Poverty comes from insecurity.

    In finance, a “security” is a financial asset. It’s value that can be given in order to receive value back from the investment.

    You can’t receive value from something you haven’t given to, and you can’t give what you don’t already have.

    So if you find yourself lacking, the question, is, where is your security?

    If your security is found in anything other than God alone, you’ll always find yourself lacking, and you’ll never have enough.

    But if you can stop chasing the false security of comfort, achievement, and control, then you’ll find that the security you have left, in God alone, leaves you content and open-handed with the world.

    So the determining factor in whether or not you’ll be fulfilled isn’t found what you can gain but rather what you can give.

    Because what you give determines the value of your life.

  • Is God always with me?

    What does it really mean for God to be with you?

    Scripture says that God is always present.

    Psalm 139:8 says, “If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!”

    But Scripture also says multiple times that God will never leave us or forsake us.

    Jesus said in Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

    Hebrews 13:5 reminds us of this: ‘…God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” 

    This line is echoing God’s promise in Deuteronomy 31:6 to never leave or forsake his people.

    In that sense, God isn’t just present, he’s also with those who follow Jesus.

    In Isaiah 41:10, God says, “fear not, for I am with you.”

    Joshua 1:9 says, “the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

    Psalm 23:4 says, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”

    1 Corinthians 3:16 tells us that we are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in us. 

    Dwelling involves a conscious choice to not just be present but to also to be committed to the wellbeing of the home.

    There’s a big difference between being present with someone and being with someone.

    Being present is a matter of logistics. It involves putting yourself in the same space as someone else. God is present with everyone.

    Being with someone, on the other hand, is a matter of the heart and will. It’s a conscious choice to align with someone not just physically but also mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

    Many parents are physically present with their kids but not emotionally with them.

    Sometimes, as children of God, we can find ourselves believing the same about God:

    We know that God will never leave us in the sense that he will always be present; we’re just not sure that he’s with us.

    You can’t go anywhere God isn’t.

    But then there’s another piece of God‘s character. 

    He’s on your side, wishing and willing your good in all circumstances.

    It’s often very difficult to see God as someone who’s rooting for us to win and willing it to be so in every moment.

    Seeing that the God of the universe is truly on your side no matter how good or bad you are gives you confidence to do the good work he’s put in front of you. 

    He’s not waiting for you to get your act together. 

    He’s waiting for you to realize that he wants to call your heart his home. 

    And he knows, of course, that once you open your heart to him, then the right actions will flow from that naturally.

    When our actions start flowing from our understanding that God is actually with us and not just around us, then the goodness we’ve been chasing starts following us instead.

  • Can I be ambitious and still follow God’s will?

    We all have things we want to accomplish. We all have ambition.

    Ambition is simply the tension between where we want to get and where we’re currently at.

    Whether we realize it or not, our worldviews, our beliefs, and our actions all flow from our ambitions. 

    And God is okay with that.

    In fact, he ordains and blesses ambition.

    From the beginning of time, God created an ideal for mankind.

    He said he put mankind on the earth to watch over it and to keep it – to serve it and protect it. 

    Being in God’s presence drove ambition in its purest form.

    It was only when our ambition drifted away from God’s ambition for us that things got out of order.

    There are essentially two types of ambition: 

    • Selfish ambition
    • Selfless ambition

    Selfish ambition primarily helps us but can also benefit others.

    Selfless ambition primarily helps others but can also benefit us.

    The determining factor between selfish and selfless ambition is submission.

    Submission is what keeps ambition in check.

    God desires for his people to prosper.

    Deuteronomy 30:8-9 says, “You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands […] Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands”. 

    This promise of prosperity is repeated over and over again throughout Scripture. 

    One of my favorite examples of the promise of prosperity is in Leviticus chapter 26. 

    God is telling the Israelites that if they will obey Him then He will make them exceedingly and abundantly comfortable and successful. 

    He says things like, “you will eat all the food you want” and “I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers”. 

    It’s very difficult to read through the entire Bible and maintain the belief that God is not on a very direct mission to fulfill our ambitions and bless others through us.

    But the beautiful thing is, every good thing God gives to us is only available through submission to Him. 

    And therein lies the great dichotomy of submission and ambition. 

    Our truest and purest ambitions are only fulfilled when we give them up and trust them to God. 

    Submission to God is trusting Him, rather than ourselves, to fulfill our desires.

    Submission, then, isn’t choosing something less than what we want because someone else said so; it’s choosing to allow God to fulfill our God-centered ambitions for both ourselves and for others.

    Ambition is not something to be feared. 

    Ambition in submission to God is an expression of faith. 

    Whenever we shy away from ambition, we’re playing it safe.

    We either don’t believe we have what it takes or we can’t trust God for it.

    So we put on a mask of fear and call it contentment.

    Fighting the fight of faith involves pressing into ambition while maintaining submission to God. 

    This is the call on all our lives, not just some. 

    Many people live in fear because they misunderstand contentment. 

    When Paul writes, “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6), he’s teaching Timothy to find all he needs in God alone regardless of circumstances.

    He’s teaching him to lack nothing (Psalm 23).

    When you lack nothing, ambition becomes a way for your blessings to become other people’s blessings. (Genesis 12:2)

    Paul repeatedly encouraged Timothy to use his gifts while also not getting caught up in needing acceptance or worldly wealth.

    This is a perfect picture of ambition under submission.

    Just before the verse where Paul talks about contentment, he says this to Timothy:

    “…devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you…” (1 Timothy 4:13-14). 

    He’s telling him to step into his gifts instead of shying away from them.

    In the first chapter of Paul’s second letter to Timothy, Paul tells him, “…fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:6-7). 

    We love quoting that verse, but the fear that Paul was specifically targeting was the fear of using ambition for God’s glory.

    Fear leads us to shrink into the shadows and call it contentment.

    God calls us to step out of our comfort zone to use the gifts and talents as an expression of faith. 

    And in that process we grow closer to God. Because it requires cultivating ambition and giving it to God through submission.

  • What does it mean to live in the fullness of God?

    What if your view of God is incomplete? 

    What if what you believe to be true about God is only a portion of the full picture? 

    We like to think that what we currently know is all there is to be known. 

    At least, until we learn something new.

    Then, once we realize that we weren’t 100% right, we think that by adding what we knew before to what we now know, we can now be 100% right again.

    But we’re always missing at least some portion of truth. 

    Think back to the things you believed to be true a decade ago. 

    You only had part of the picture. (And it’s still true today.)

    So how could we think that we alone could see the full picture of God?

    Paul, talking about the resurrection, says, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully…” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

    What we believe to be true about God is only a portion of the picture of who God really is in all his fullness.

    In fact, it’s impossible to fully know God strictly from your own personal perspective.

    He’s too big for any one person to understand.

    Paul said that the Church makes up the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 1:22-23)

    In other words…

    Christ is fully known only through the Church collectively.

    Different parts of the body of Christ come together to create a whole picture.

    You can’t know God fully outside of community in God’s church.

    Ephesians 3 goes more in depth about how God’s purpose is to use the variety of believers within the body of Christ to showcase God’s glory to the world.

    Paul calls it the “manifold wisdom of God” which just means “many diverse manifestations.”

    In Ephesians 2, Paul also talks about how believers are like stones being built together on the cornerstone of Jesus into a dwelling place for God. 

    Each of us fits together to create the environment where God is fully known.

    Here’s another way to put it:

    Our view and knowledge of God is limited by our unity within the Body of Christ.

    In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he’s talking to a diverse group of Christians in a large, thriving city.

    The church was brand new and there were many types of people with many different types of beliefs. 

    And here’s what he says to them:

    He prays that they would be rooted and established in love, which can only exist in community.

    Then he prays that they would have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. 

    This, he says, will lead them to being filled with the fullness of God.

    Notice the order.

    Notice that the fullness of God, the full knowledge of him that goes beyond what we can personally understand, is only experienced together with all the Lord’s people, rooted in love for one another.

    Jesus was once asked what’s the greatest commandment in God’s Law. 

    He said that the first and greatest commandment is to love God. 

    But then he says something interesting. 

    He says that there’s a second commandment that is like the first, and that is to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-40) 

    The phrase Jesus used when he said that the second commandment “is like” the first commandment is a word in Greek that means the same as or of equal rank.

    When you put Paul’s teaching in the context of what Jesus taught about loving others, the picture becomes much clearer:

    The only way we truly come to know God in all his fullness is within the context of community with other believers.

    In isolation, your view of God, and mine, is always slightly incomplete.

    There’s a portion of God’s character that you can only experience through other believers. 

    Of course, the friction of someone else’s view of God rubbing against our view of God is really uncomfortable.

    But unity drives God’s blessings, according to Psalm 133, and unity is how the world comes to know Jesus, according to John 17.

    So when alternate viewpoints frustrate you, remember that you both need each other to see the full picture.

    And without the other, you’ll both miss out on what you’re intended to get.

  • When does preparation become avoidance?

    One of the biggest misconceptions created by personal development culture is that we always need just a little more.

    Just a little more experience or knowledge, then we’ll be ready to face what we’re afraid of.

    Through this lens, fear is something we can overcome with preparation.

    But what we’re often saying is, “I’m not sure this will work out, so I’m going to delay it.”

    And we end up feeding the fear that’s keeping us from taking action.

    You’ll never be fully ready and you’ll never out-prepare fear. 

    You’ll never have enough knowledge or money or experience.

    The only way to overcome irrational fear is to plan and take action quickly.

    Knowledge can only go so far in overcoming a lie. 

    Fear cannot always be circumnavigated or overcome. 

    Most of the time you just have to go through it.

    So the question is, what stopped you?

    Was it really a roadblock? 

    Or were you delaying uncertainty?

    Maybe you should do it anyway.

  • Is personal ambition dangerous?

    Our culture puts a hyperfocus on ambition and individual success. 

    We’re becoming more and more okay with sacrificing on the altar of self-improvement.

    Personal growth and achievement aren’t inherently unhealthy. But as a society, we’ve taken ambition entirely too far.

    True progress always requires yielding for others, not advancing past them.

    When you’re driving down the road and you approach a red light, you stop. 

    You do that so people coming from other directions can get ahead of you on the road you’re on.

    Even though you’re allowing those people to go in front of you, you’ve decided that it’s best for society for us to yield to them. 

    To stop our progress for theirs.

    Is it frustrating? Absolutely. Especially when you have to be somewhere. 

    But imagine if every driver prioritized their progress over others. 

    Imagine the chaos that would ensue if everyone started doing what seemed best to them to get to their destination the quickest.

    There would be people driving in the grass, driving off the road, and crashing at red lights.

    Now compare that to the current state of society:

    Does it seem as if maybe we started adopting that mindset a bit too much in our culture? 

    We’re in a chaotic environment that’s largely caused by an unhealthy amount of selfish ambition.

    Ambition has always been, and is still today, best utilized with a healthy amount of submission to others. 

    We were created to serve, and we’re most fulfilled when we’re serving. 

    An 80-year Harvard study found that the number one key to happiness is found in giving your time and energy to others through relationships. 

    Deep down we all know it. That’s why we’re drawn to help one another even when we have nothing to gain.

    If service is where you’ll be most fulfilled, then serving others is what will keep your ambition in check.

    This service-first mindset is what keeps relationships healthy and families whole. 

    When you put aside what you want in order to do what’s best for the whole, you actually end up getting what you want – fulfillment and happiness.

    It’s another one of those weird Jesus paradoxes. 

    But we’ve lost sight of that truth in our culture. 

    It should come as no surprise that both self-centeredness and mental health issues have been on the rise at the same time. 

    We’ve lost our sense of community.

    And we’ve found that the lack of connection leaves us empty, no matter how much we achieve or attain.

    So here’s my bet:

    If we filter ambition through the lens of submission to others through service, I’m willing to bet that mental and emotional traffic jams will start to clear up.

  • When should I expect God to provide?

    Where there’s limited vision, there’s limited provision.

    God will not provide where there’s no pursuit.

    When Abraham called God “Jehovah Jireh” – which means “The LORD Who Provides” – the literal meaning of the Hebrew word for Jireh is “to see” (Genesis 22:14).

    It’s the same word used to describe when God created the Earth and “saw” that it was good.

    His vision led to his provision.

    Prophets in the Old Testament were called “seers”. The Hebrew word for “seer” comes from the same word that was used to describe God as Jehovah Jireh.

    What the prophet saw, God provided.

    In order to get God’s provision, it was important to first seek God’s vision.

    We’ve carried the same idea into our English language.

    The English word for “provide” comes from two Latin words that literally mean:

    • “Pro-” – to come before, prepare, or make way for something
    • “Videre” – to see

    Together, “provide” literally means “to make way” for “something that has been seen”.

    If provision is stagnant, it’s worth asking yourself how resolute you are in the vision.

    Is it vague? Is it hazy? Can you only sort of see it through a mental cloud?

    Visions are outcomes, not detailed plans.

    You don’t need all the facts, but you do need a destination.

    If you can’t see it, it might be time to seek after it.

    Follow me here…

    Matthew reminds us to seek the Kingdom of God first, then provision comes. (Matthew 6:33)

    The Kingdom of God is union with Jesus. (John 17:21, John 15:4)

    And union with Jesus comes with revelation – which is vision. (John 14:21, John 10:27, John 16:13, James 1:5, Isaiah 30:21)

    Union leads to vision which leads to provision.

    It makes sense when you break it down.

    Without vision, we’re wandering aimlessly.

    And wandering aimlessly is unproductive and wasteful.

    So why would a good God pour resources into aimless, wasteful wandering?

    When the Israelites were wandering in the desert, he gave them very simple provisions – manna every day.

    In fact, they complained about the provision so much that they missed the fact that they had rejected the vision.

    If you remember, the vision was the Promised Land – which was flowing with milk and honey and fruit.

    They reached the Promised Land within a couple of years of leaving Egypt, but because they failed to see the vision, they wandered.

    And because of their wandering, their provision was limited.

    Which leads us back to this:

    Where there’s limited vision, there’s limited provision.

    God doesn’t bless short-sightedness.

    Proverbs 29:18 tells us where there is no vision, the people will cast off restraint.

    The word for vision here means mental sight or revelation from God.

    The word for “cast off restraint” means to let loose of the boundaries of an ordained covering.

    When we stop seeking vision, we’re letting go of the intended provision.

    We suffer from short-sightedness.

    In 2 Peter 3, the apostle Peter addresses short-sighted people:

    He says, ‘They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he [Jesus] promised? […] 

    Then he says, “But they deliberately forget […]’”

    They abandoned the vision because they had forgotten God’s faithfulness to see them through what seemed unlikely.

    And in doing so, they rejected the provision of hope, joy, and peace along with the tangible provisions needed to get them through to the destination.

    So if you find yourself lacking, it might be worth asking if you’re still on track.

    Are you seeking his voice?

    And are you laying down selfish ambition?

    If so, provision is coming.

    If not, it might be waiting for you somewhere else.

  • What does it mean to give up everything to follow Jesus?

    The impact of your life is less dependent on what you’re willing to do and more dependent on what you’re willing to not do.

    To achieve something, it’s natural for us to first think of what we can do to make it happen.

    But when Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, he didn’t talk about what we needed to be willing to do.

    Instead, he talked about what we needed to be willing to not do.

    He challenged the disciples to leave everything they had to follow him. 

    When Jesus asked Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow him, it was immediately after they had just caught so many fish it was sinking their boat. (Luke 5:7)

    Imagine having the best day of sales you’ve ever had at your business, and deciding to walk away from it altogether on the same day.

    If you consider the immediate requirements of discipleship, there wasn’t much for them to do.

    But being willing to stop pursuing their business was a much bigger deal.

    What Jesus was asking them to give up made no logical sense at the time. 

    Why would they give up the thing they had built – the thing he just blessed? Why give up their steady income?

    We like to think that maybe Jesus would’ve played it safer. 

    Our version of Jesus would’ve asked them to give their extra time to him when they weren’t fishing.

    He would’ve asked them to be part-time fishermen, maybe. 

    But he didn’t do that. He showed them what was possible, then he invited them to go all in.

    In Luke 14, Jesus is talking about the value of counting the cost before you do something.

    This parable has been used to justify playing it safe – to be as certain as you can before doing something. But that’s not exactly what Jesus was saying.

    He basically says, wouldn’t it be dumb to endeavor to build a house or go to war without first thinking about what you’re going to have to give up in order to be successful? 

    If you think you can go into either of those things without giving up a great deal, you’re not going to be prepared to see it through. 

    Jesus ended that conversation by saying, “those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” (Luke 14:33)

    That’s not a paraphrase. Go read it.

    When a king decides to go to war, he’s also deciding to not focus on farming, harvesting, building towns, and improving infrastructure. 

    By deciding to go to war, he’s giving up everything else. 

    It’s a reckless endeavor, but one that must be committed to wholeheartedly. Anything short of that will end in failure.

    We all have things that God has given us to do that require our full commitment. 

    And it’s easy to say that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen. 

    But the more difficult question is:

    What are you willing to not do? 

    What are you willing to give up?

    Your number one barrier is not your ability or inability. Your number one barrier is distraction. 

    What’s so important in your life that it’s going to require the elimination of all distractions?

    Because in order to fulfill your purpose, you’ll find that you have to be willing to give up your potential.

  • Finding panic

    About 8 years ago, I overdid it.

    I had two jobs, two kids (one of which was a newborn), and a head full of business ideas. I poured every spare second into something new. 

    No plan. Just “hustle”.

    Eventually, the pressure broke through and I experienced a panic attack for the first time.

    Out of nowhere, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I was certain I was having a heart attack.

    I used to think anxiety happened to people who had mental health issues. But I learned that this is what happens when you try to carry too much alone.

    At first, I resisted it. I tried to shake it off, but it only made it worse.

    Then I came across something that stuck with me:

    You only beat anxiety when you stop fighting it.

    So I stopped fighting and started noticing it instead.

    When it showed up, I didn’t try to fix it. I tried my best to not label it as good or bad. I just noticed it. 

    As hard as it was, I just let the discomfort be there without trying to fix it.

    Like watching a wave come in, then go back out.

    What I learned is that peace doesn’t come from avoiding anxiety. It comes from letting go of the need to control it.

    A certain amount of stress is part of life. Anxiety comes with caring deeply. There’s no version of life on this side of eternity where those things disappear.

    But you can get better at not running from them.

    And when you do, they slowly lose their grip.

    And slowly you find freedom in the release.