RUSSJONES.US

Joshua 1: 6 - 9 6  “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.  7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” God again promises that they will get their land.  He promises prosperity and success.  He promises that He will never leave them.  And . . .  He tells them to be strong and courageous - 3 times!  That’s a big deal.  When God repeats Himself (which He should never have to do) He is always trying to make a BIG po

Joshua 1: 5   No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Let’s talk about you for a moment.  Leader, pastor, family leader, employer or whatever your title is.  What is God saying to you? Wouldn’t you like to have some promises that Joshua had here?  Never leave, never forsake.  Good stuff right?  Well that fact of the matter is, you do.  Ready Hebrews 13:5    Jesus died on the cross for you.  It wasn’t just for your salvation (even though that would be enough),  It was for your future too.  Jesus died for what was going to happen to you, thousands of years before you were born.  Jesus rose again so he could be here with you today, as he was with Joshua there thousands of years ago.  Confusing?  Well it isn’t really.   God has always been, always is and will always be.  He knew you before time, He knows you now and He will remember you forever.  He came to

Joshua 1: 3 - 4  3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. Funny thing about vision.  “What’s in it for me?”  This is a good question and a bad one at the same time.  It isn’t wrong to ask it, but then again, it’s wrong to ask this question.  Confused?  Let’s sort it out. God has a vision for you.  Jer 29:11 promises that.  Do you want to know what His vision is for you?  Really?  When we ask, “What’s in it for me?”  Are we asking from a selfless or selfish point of view.  Then when we discover what Gods plan is for us, do we think that we can argue it, change it or redirect God from it? The thing about vision and future is the dark side.  I call it the dark side because that’s the way we see it.  God doesn’t see it that way, but then again, we rarely see things God’s way do we?   Jo

Joshua 1: 2  Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River  into the land  I am about to give to them —to the Israelites. The transition of leadership has taken place and without any hesitation and new vision is declared.  If you are in a crisis of nothing - then say something!   But what don't you say? - In an effort to protect people from being terrified of the future, we sometimes say, "We will continue to do what we have always been doing."  Well that was nothing - so you said nothing..  - "We will take 3 to 6 months to analyze our current position and get back to you on this."  Dumb.  The window that you have to do something will have closed.  Now you will have to exercise A LOT of energy to reopen that window.   Bad idea.  - "I have to say something - anything."  Yes and no!  Yes you have to say something, but anything isn't an option.  You have to say the right thing at the right time.   Release the vis

In order for Joshua to be the new leader of the nation of Israel - Moses had to go.  But this whole idea of leaders dying isn't as gory as you might think. Leader #1 - Moses in Egypt.  The prince of Egypt was by no means qualified to lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt.  I am sure that he was smart - but he wasn't humble.  This leader had to die before he could lead the Israelites.  That is what happened in the desert.  His exile was his education in leadership that qualified him to do what God asked of him. Many times we think as leaders that we cannot change.  That we cannot do business differently.  That we cannot lead our families or lives any other way.  The truth is - yes we can!  The leader in your now can die - grow - change - and be a different person.  The question is, do you want to do it?  Stubbornness can be an asset when it comes to negotiating or risky decision making.  But if you use it on yourself, it will always come back to haunt you. Leader #2 -

What do you do when you have been nowhere?  I know that this isn't your usual leadership question, but it is a relevant one none the less.  The nation of Israel had been wandering in the desert for 40 years.  That is about as no where as you can get.  The generation that arrived in that desert had now died off and their children were ready for their new home.  But how do you lead a people to somewhere when you have been no where?  It's easy to walk into a business or a situation that is in deep trouble.  Bad decisions wreaking havoc on its culture and future.  But that isn't the case here in the desert.  Life hadn't changed in 40 years.  Nothing was wrong - it was just - nothing!  The crisis of nothing.   Some might argue here that they knew what they were suppose to do - go and occupy their promise which is now the nation of Israel.  True, they did know that.  But did they embrace it?  After doing nothing for 40 years, we would assume that they were tried and

Ok - enough time off.  Back to work!  Let me know if this web design works for you.  I know that different browsers do different things with it.   Let me know if a link here or there isn't working either.  After doing a lot of research over the last few weeks I have come to some hard conclusions.  Posting my messages or video blogging just isn't working for me.  But to the one person is that was listening to them.  Thank you!   I think I am going to have to think some more about Godchange.me.  The vision I have for this website just isn't working.  I have learned that if you try to put a square peg in a round hole, stop what you are doing.   The book HOW TO MINISTER TO ZOMBIES is on the back burner now.  I had hoped to have it ready for October.  But again, I have had to ask myself some hard questions about putting anymore time into this.  Without the internet value that comes from a strong blog following - social value which comes from thousands of followers on p

Okay!  Let's look at a common problem that people like me face all the time.   You know that you are the leader, but people do not follow you any more.  The old vision isn't getting the job done.  So you come out with a new vision.  But the people whom you are leading don't buy into it.  They are still following an old vision that you know isn't going to get the job done.  You've got a BIG problem.  What are your options. #1 - Leave.  Let a new leader bring the new vision.  Now on the face of this it might not be a bad plan and I'm not saying that this might not happen.  But there are few things that you can never resign and move on from.  Marriage and parenting for example.  Leaving isn't and will never be an option.  Sometimes as a pastor or CEO you might be tempted to go somewhere else.  But the fact of the matter is, you can't!  No, I don't mean that you can't physically move - you just know that it is the wrong thing to do. 10, even 20