#KP31 Unity & Harmony

Unity is not uniformity.

I find I need two words to describe this concept fully - A group of distinct individuals working together:

1. "unity" as united for a common purpose and
   
2. "harmony" as synchronizing of differences to achieve the common purpose.

Unity is about shared purpose and not about 'sameness'. Harmony is not about 'passive peace' and calmness but about appreciating each other differences and c0-operating actively together for the shared purpose.

Paul (Rom 12:5) uses a living body as an illustration - all parts of the body, the heart, hands, eyes etc, each with its unique function, working at its best, to contribute to the life and growth of the living body. Any healthy Corporate or Society should work like that.

The ingredients for success are then

1. shared common purpose - of the same mind Php 2:2. This will create the alignment of unique members toward acheive the same goal. There may need to be cascading of the higher goal to lower level goals.
   
2. discovering our unique roles and maximizing our talents to fulfill that roles.
3. the glue for harmony is "Love". Love as seen in being able to see the greater picture of the corporate body rather than self, respect for individual's differences, humility(Eph 4:2) .

The mind map is below:

This is the last posting of the series Kingdom Laws & Principles. 

Interestingly, the Ancient Chinese Classic I-Ching, the Book of Chang,
Hexagram #38 睽 Deviation– Synergy of Differences cover the same topic.

#KP30 Continuity - Old & New

With regards to things new and old, it is quite typical to find two main thought. Common among the younger generation, the thinking is "old is bad and new is good". On the other hand, among the older generation, "new is bad and old is good". They wish to return to the good old times.

• In Mat 13:52, ... Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

The person who is skilled in the Kingdom of Heaven thinking is able to draw out the best of the things old and new.

The principle is about continuity & discernment- keeping the best from the past and continues to innovate for the future. Certain structures of the past that bring harms need to be changed so that improvement and advancement can be made with new innovations.

Biblical principles - the Kingdom principles do not change with time. We need the unchanging principles to handle the ever changing new world. Unchanging principles give us the confidence and the patterns and guides to handle the unknown and changing situations. While principles do not change, the applications can be changed for different situations.

Even for high technology, TRIZ has shown technology system evolution follow certain laws and patterns. Moore's law is still applicable after different generations of technological evolution - from vacuum tubes, to transistors, to VLSI, to ... see Kurweil's presentation on Ted.com.

Jesus' teaching on "New Wineskin for New Wine" is not about throwing away the pass, old-wine-skin, but about using the right container for the right content. It is about fit for use and not about discarding the old. Paul's exhortation about the "forgetting the past and strive towards the future goal" is not about throwing away all the past but about the throwing away the dead weights of the past sins and burden. On many instances, Paul told us to remember the testimonies of the past heroes and to mimic his behavior as he followed after Christ. It is all about discernment and not about discarding.

Remember then to keep and develop the treasures of the old and continue to innovate the new and to pave the way from old to the new world.

Next: Principle of Unity and Harmony

KP#29 Human Resource Development

Most manager would like to quickly blame the lack of performance on the staff. If one is familiar with the 6-M Fish bone analysis of causes, man is one only of the six elements of Man, Machine, Materials, Methods, Measurement and Management of possible causes ( 6M came from Germany and one of the M was the Environment rather than Management. Management is the external entity that is responsible for improving the system). If one is familiar with the work of Edward Deming's system of profound knowledge, then the key cause of the lack performance could be in the system or methods.

In the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree Luke 13:6-9, the tree did not produce for 3 years and the owner wanted to cut it down. The Vine dresser however pleaded for another year. But he first want to dig around to find the causes and to add fertilizer. He was practicing a good method of finding the causes first before blaming the obvious - the tree or the man.

We can learn from the method of the Vine dresser:

1. Find the Blockages - Obstacles or Diseases for lack of Performance.
2. Empowering with Fertilizer.
   For human being, may be there should be encouragement and development - e.g. sending the person for training or coaching the person.

We can find a similar verse in John 15:2. The Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament gives the verse as:

Joh 15:2 "Every branch in Me not bearing fruit, He takes it away [or, lifts it up]; and every [branch] bearing fruit, He prunes clean, so that it shall be bearing more fruit.

The word airo G142, according to Thayer's, have 3 different meanings:

1. to raise up, to lift up
2. to take upon one'self and carry what have been raise up, to bear
3. to remove, carry off.

Most Bible translation just use cut-off. I prefer the 1st one - which is lift up. For development point of view, 2nd definition of carry and bear is even better. BRUCE WILKINSON, in the "Secrets of the Vine" uses the lift-up. Please read the book for the reasons of "Lift up". Essentially, vine stuck in the ground covered with dirt do not produce fruit. They need to be lifted up to get the sun and air to produce fruit.

The principle that I want to stress here is Human Resouce Development first before blaming and firing the staff for lack of performance. Please apply the 6M method to find the cause and if it is the man, coach and develop the man first. If he still can't perform, perhaps his job should be changed for his benefits.

Give Staff one more chance with Training & Support before firing.

Next: Principle of Continuity

KP#28 Excellence is Zero Defect

In the Parable of Lost Coin and The Lost Sheep, great emphasis was spent on searching and finding the lost. Why is it so? We can look at this from 2 points of view.

Firstly, from the macro view of the whole picture. A beautiful zig-saw puzzle will look awful if it has missing piece. A artifact with a missing piece is no longer a master-piece. A master-piece must have every details just right. The success of the whole body is dependent of the success of every member. The missing piece holds the last key to complete the picture. Hence, great effort should be spent in finding it.

Secondly, from the micro view of the missing sheep. The lost one has missed his calling and trying to find the way. He has lost his purpose and meaning and is likely suffering, like the Prodigal Son. Imaging ourselves being lost in the jungle or the desert without contact with others. How we long to get back to civilization to be back with friend and family. It is love that drives the effort of the search and rescue team who often put their own lives at risks to save the lost.

Lastly, if you are unhappy with "will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance" (Luke 15:7), then you may be living a performance based life like the Elder Brother in the Prodigal Son story. Why there is greater joy? The other 99 righteous persons give forth their joy too.

Here is mind map showing the details:

Next: Principle of HR Development

Knowledge Tree of Good and Evil - Looking from Tree of Life

In looking at Gen 2:9 and Knowledge Tree of Good and Evil again, I have additional point to make.

Original Hebrew Word of Knowledge in Knowledge Tree of Good and Evil is H1847 da‛ath. BDB gives 2 definitions:

• 1a) knowledge, perception, skill
• 1b) discernment, understanding, wisdom

Strong's says From H3045; knowledge: - cunning, [ig-] norantly, know(-ledge), [un-] awares (wittingly).

In my earlier posting, I said "Knowing" instead of "Knowledge" in "Tree of Knowing Good and Evil". This agrees well the discernment of BDB and awareness of Strong's. A better word could be "judgment" which ties even better with my explanation of man wanting to be a judge of good and bad without God.

Understanding Knowledge of Good & Evil from Understanding Tree of Life
What does life mean? Checking BDB, we have H2416 chay

1) living, alive (adjective) 1c) lively, active (of man)
2) relatives (noun masculine)
3) life (abstract emphatic) (noun masculine);3a) life; 3b) sustenance, maintenance
4) living thing, animal 4a) animal;4b) life;4c) appetite;4d) revival, renewal
5) community (noun feminine)

Checking up Strong's, give:
khah'ee
From H2421; alive; hence raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively: - + age, alive, appetite, (wild) beast, company, congregation, life (-time), live (-ly), living (creature, thing), maintenance, + merry, multitude, + (be) old, quick, raw, running, springing, troop.

In the original hebrew, Chay, Life is more than just being alive and active but include a very important element, Community, Company, Congregation.

So, if Adam partakes the Tree of Life, then he would be choosing communion with God and life comes automatically because God is the source of life.

On the other hand, choosing Tree of Knowing/Judgement of Good and Evil means a rejection of communion with God and Adam's own desire to be the judge.

The choice that Adam was presented with were:

1. Life with God (Tree of Life) versus
2. Be my own Judge (of Good & Evil) without God.

Or more simply put : 1. God versus 2. No God.

This choice is not about choosing life over knowledge but life with God or Be-my-own-boss without God.
One should hold the two key concepts in balanced and not choosing one and discarding the other.

e.g. God is both Love and Righteous (Truth, Justice).

In fact, Love has truth in it (1Co 13:6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ) and Truth has love in it. (Col 1:6 ...understood the grace of God in truth)
And Jesus is full of BOTH grace-love and truth Joh 1:14.

Similar, we should pursue both, Life and Knowledge(Wisdom) and not emphasizing one and rejecting the other. If you have Jesus (life), you have Truth( Knowledge, Wisdom). Life contains wisdom and knowledge because God if full of both. Wisdom or Knowledge begins with life - fear of the Lord (of Life) is the beginning of wisdom. (Pro 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Pro 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. )

So, choose both Life and Knowledge/Wisdom .
The choice that Adam made was not about life vs knowledge but about with God or without God.
Hope this clarify.

For a discussion on how to hold two extremess in balanced, see Yin Yang and the Bible .

KP#27 Principle of Accountability

The Principle of Accountability is found in the Parable of Dragnet Mat 13:47-50 and Parable of the Sheep & Goats Mat 25:31-46. The lessons can be combined for us to come out with a good method for establishing accountability.

If one studies the companies that are rated as "The Best Companies to Work for" , you can find that those companies tend to outperform their industry counterparts. Digging deeper, you can find that the staff have much freedom to decide what to do (empowered) and they are highly motivated to do well. The secret is two fold:

1. clearly communicated mission and vision (understanding the what & why)
   and no detailed prescription for how. Staff are given the freedom to decide the how to achieve the goals.
2. a proper accountability system.

Accountability provides the learning framework for us to grow. It is important that we know how well we are doing - correcting the wrong and strengthening the right actions. Accountability provides us to remove those behaviours or people that are not working towards the achievement of shared mission and vision.

Following the system, we can achieve the ideal of 'self-management' that is productive and adaptable and agile to changing business environments.

Here are the details:

Next: Principle of Excellence - Zero Defect

Salvation is Devotion to Christ

It is good now and then to relook and reflect on the meaning of salvation.

Past postings include

• Reconciliation- A Better Term for Salvation
• Salvation Re-visited - Relational View

Last Sunday, Pastor preached such a topic. My reflection is to look at it as "devotion" to Christ as Mary towards to Jesus (Luke 10:42). Jesus defining purpose of eternal life as knowing God the Father (John 17:3) and a warning by Paul in 2 Cor 11:3 that devil wants to prevent us from such a pure devotion to Christ.

The details are in the mind-map:

Life & Death

Rev Samuel Sia preached at my church Mandarin Service yesterday morning. I found his message very useful in our witness and sharing of the Gospel. Below is my reflections and summary. i.e. include my learning of his message and my own additions even though many ideas are from his message.

Jesus Breaks the Inevitable March from Birth to Death to Give us Zoe Eternal Life
When man are born into this world, he begins his match to death. The only way to reverse or break free from this covenant of death (Isa 28:15) is Jesus. Accepting Jesus not only reverse this sequence, bring us out of death into the life, He gives us a better life of Zoe, Godly eternal life (Isa 28:18).

I Don't Want to Receive Christ because I want to Join My Passed Away Spouse in Hell
While sharing the Gospel with older people, we came across, often, the refusal to accept Jesus because they wanted not to be separated from their passed away spouse in hell. Rev Sia offerred two key points:

a. They may not be there! Rev Sia shared two stories about the Fathers had already received Christ in earlier times but did not tell their spouse or children nor did they go to church.
b. Those in Hell wish that you don't come to join them. Luke 16:28

I wish to add a third point - seeing from the view of your children. My friend shared with me how his mother accepted Christ after years of refusal using the reason that she did not want to be separated from her husband. He told her to think of it from her children, his point of view. How much pains they will have to carry with them to see their beloved mother in hell. She was convinced and receive Jesus as saviour.

For other detials, please read the mindmap below:

KP#26 Stewardship - Optimization of One's Gifts & Resources

Most people in position, such as Chairman or CEO of corporation or Minister in Government Organization, do not realize that their position is an entrusted one. They are actually stewards to the entrusted resources and must be accountable to them. CEO is the care-taker of the investments made by the public and sharesholders. Government is entrusted by the citizens to be care-taker of their country and the associated resources. As stewards, one has the responsibility to optimize the resources entrusted.

The Jesus told of at least 3 parables and many more exhortations to encourage people to be good stewards. In the Parable of Talents Mat 25:14-30, the talents, 5,2 and 1 are distributed according to their abilities. The able has more talents and resulting in the key teaching of Mat 25:29 more will be given to those who has and those who has not will loose even what they have (my paraphrase).

In Luke 19:11-27, the Parable of Minas, the money is distributed evenly, 1 for each of 10 servants totaling 10. Everyone started with equal amount of resources. The key message is "do business until I come" in v19:13. There is a day of accountability in v15 when he returns "to know what they had gained". In the evaluation, those who have done well is a given greater responsibilities, from mina to cities! The one who did nothing lost his mina.

The principle of Stewardship means we must be accountable and we are to optimize the use of resources entrusted to us.

How can we Optimize the resources?
The key word is Faithfulness. In Luke 16:11-12, Jesus tells us the secret - starts with the little things now. Faithfullness in little will enables you to be faithfulness in the large. You will be promoted from stewards to owners.

Other principles include:
1. Less could be More: It does not depend on the resources given. Don't complain and worry about what you don't have. Work with what you have. More does not means better. In the Miracles of Feeding of thousands, the one starting with less fed more people!

2. Don't waste- Be Lean. In the feeding of multitudes, Jesus asked the disciples to collect back the remains and they filled up big baskets. They also clean up the mess at the same time!

See the mind map below for more ....

Next: Principle of Accountability

Watchout for Over Extrapolating & Spiritulizing of God's Word

It is very sad that Bible expositors, commentators and preachers tend to over extrapolate the original meaning of bible verses. Take this simple one, Mat 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour(taste), wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Most commentators just take note of the word "salt" mentioned and then begin to expound and extrapolate the meaning of salt. So the commentators said that salt is for preservation. It is to preserve the quality of food so that it will not be spoiled. Hence, Christians are to preserve the people from the corruption of the world. Some even say that the color of salt is white and white represents purity. Christians are to be pure and so forth .... create thirst, sting pain, ....

But of all the attributes of salt, Jesus only highlighted "saltiness taste" and stressed on it twice. Any exposition should concern itself with the salty taste of salt. What is the purpose of the salty taste of salt? It makes tasteless food tasty. It makes thing better. It brings improvement. To put it with greater emphasis, it transforms thing - from tasteless to tasty. Similarly, Christians should bring transformation to the world around it - from lifelessness to liveliness; from darkness into light (see v14 ye are the light); from hopelessness to hopefulness etc. Salty Taste is about Transformation to the better.

With this "transformation" in mind, using salt as preservatives become wrong. Saltiness is not used to keep thing unchanged but to change thing for the better... is is about changing and not keeping the status quo!

Looking at the other half of the verse - if one lost its saltiness, it becomes useless and is cast out and be trodden under foot. There are some people who use this verse to support the view that Christian could loose his salvation. Again, this is over spiritualizing the issue. Jesus simple said that salt without saltiness were useless and were to be discarded. Christians that are not impacting and transforming the world are not fulfilling their purposes and calling of God and are useless - i.e. no impact. Together with v14, ye are the light, the call is for Christians to boldly go and cause transformation to world - bringing life to lifelessness, bringing light to darkness. It is more of an encouragement and commission to go rather than a threat of losing your standing and relationship with Christ. The flow of the paragraph is to go, not to hide, to influence the world, and bring glory to God.

Let our mind be sharp and wise and not be misled by overly extrapolating and overly spiritualized teaching. Learn to know how to accurately understand and apply the Word of God.

KP#25 Principle of Potential

The parable of the Mustard Seed Mat 13:31-32, a small seed growing up to a big tree, shows that :

• You cannot judge the future success by the present physical size
• Do not despise a small beginning

There are other popular descriptions for this hidden potential in a seemingly small thing:

• You can count the seeds in an apply but not the applies in a seed
• The Butterfly Effect: the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas (From Chaos Theory and sensitive dependence on initial conditions).
• the small spark that lighted the forest
• Snowballing

The Parable of the Yeast Luke 13:20-21 which Jesus used to compare with the Kingdom of God shows forth the power and the process of the working of Kingdom Economy. The little yeast is first planted into a much larger volume of flour. The yeast then ferments the flour and with time, eventually converted the whole. It shows us that believer is not to be isolated but to

1. engage the world
   
2. transform it
   
3. and expand and
   
4. fill all the earth with His Kingdom's rule.

(yeast is used in other places of the Bible to signify a bad influence as in Mat 16:11-12, Gal 5:9. People then to over utilize symbolism and generalised it. One should always look at the context first unless one cannot be clear from the context then it may be ok use the interpretation from other context. Nevertheless, the principle of small beginning is the same whether it is for good or bad).

We should encourage the good small beginning and be watchful of the small bad influence and stopping them before it becomes a big problem.

See also Luke16:10 faithful/dishonest in a very little is also faithful/dishonest in much.)

Next: Principle of Stewardship - Optimization of One's Gifts & Resources

How to Get Your Need Met

The story of Elisha and the Widow in 2 King 4:1-7 teaches us the principle and shows us the steps for getting our needs met.

The principle is very simple - Jesus is the answer and source. Seek Him first and then followed up with work of obedience and faith.

The steps are:

1. Understand Your Need.
Very often, we confuse the symptom with the cause. We often think God should change the situations for us rather than our own need to change. We pray for God to give us a better Boss but we actually need to improve in our skill and discipline. God has in fact arranged for a demanding Boss show that we can be better. In our case, the widow need is very clear - pay up the creditor or loose her sons. What could have caused this lack was not explained to us. The key theme seems to stress on God will answer your need despite the cause. But for long term solution, finding the cause and fixing it is key.

The rest of the steps are explained in the mind-map below:

The lessons to learn are:

1. Go to God first with any need or problem. God may ask you to talk to your mentors or friends.
2. Miracle comes with using something you have or could do first. This is the principle of sowing and reaping. Confessing is a form of doing too.
3. Advice must be followed with Action - No action no result.
4. While God is the Giver, you determine how much you get by your action of faith.
5. God always supply more than enough. The widow only asked to clear the debt but God provided the extra living needs. The oil could have stopped when there is sufficient to pay for debt. But it only stopped when there was no more vessels.

KP#24 Going Back is A Good Option

Distractions and scope creeps are common occurences in business and project. Before long, the business or project would take on its own direction. It is time to review and return to the original mission and values may provide a way out of your troubled business or project.

The story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 or the Ephesian church in Rev 2:1-7 serve as examples of the need to go back to the original mission and values.

Business Venture Lessons from the Prodigal Son Parable
There are much lessons to be learned from the parable of the Prodigal Son.
The Prodigal Son know how to start a business - get capital first. Unfortunately he does not know how to run it. He committed the same error as most start-ups with lots of capital - waste them in big scale marketing events and advertising without the products being ready for the market. Nevertheless, his father teaching lead him not to steal or cheat in time of need but to earn a living working even in a lowly job. His breakthrough comes from doing a reflection, facing the reality, admitting his errors, working out the options, making the choices and once again taking the action - Go Back, even if need to be shamed. Other lessons are given in the mindmap below:



Next: Principle of Potential
 

KP#23 Create The Trends

Instead of watching and following the trends, we could innovate and set the new trends. e.g. The software Vasicac create one of the killer application for micro-computer now widely known as the spreadsheet providing successes for Lotus-123 and then the Excel. Older people will be similar with names like Multiplan, QuatroPro etc.

In the post Creative God but a Boring Church I discussed about some of the reasons of the boring church and how to be creative. Jesus had always been an innovator - breaking free from the traditions, revealing the truths, and demonstrating the power and authority. Innovation is not about breaking moral laws but more about breaking contradictions, impossibilities and removing compromises. It is about 100% win win for all. This is very unlike human practices of legalizing our sins or weaknesses. Mat 5:17 shows Christ came not to abolish the Laws (God does not contradict Himself) but to expose the lies, the sins, the weaknesses, the truths and to empower us with new nature to fulfill the laws. It is not a compromise but a break-through solution.

As we establish the new trend with our innovation. we need to provide a bridge to the new world. This bridge could involve educating the existing market, building new infrastructure, removing prejudices etc. This bridge building could be very expensive. It could be most expensive show stopper for your innovation. It caused God to incarnate and die on the Cross. If possible, your innovation should ride on existing structure and knowledge unless you have large resources. e.g. cars need better roads than the trails that horses ride on. Cell phones needs a new infrastructure. The growth rate and investment needed to make our innovation successful depends much on how we can make better use of existing knowledge and infrastructure. This explains the easy adoption of PC with word processing to replace type-writer and Spreadsheet software.

See the attached mind-map for more ....

Next: Going Back is a Good Option

KP#22 Seize the Opportunity

Seizing an opportunity has a pre-requisite practice of KP#21 Be Watchful. Once you detect and confirmed a structural change, you need to act quickly. Your ability to act quickly depends on your agility, readiness, responsiveness and risk management. Most people are not ready to act - the inertia to change is too high or there is a lack of resources (no reserves), or lack of mobile resources.

Responsiveness does not means "recklessness". One needs to have Risk Management. Risk Management is not about not taking risks but taking calculated risks and determine how much risk you can take without jeopardizing your core business success.

The details are in the mind map.


Next: Create the Trend

The Purpose & Process of Life

The purpose and process of life can be summarized in 3 steps :

1. connect to Jesus and then to others
2. living out by good behavior and good works
   
3. telling others about the how and why - getting them to connect to Jesus.

Life purpose begins with knowing the creator Jesus and then to establish a intimate relationship with Him. Created being can only understand his purpose by asking his Creator - Why am I created? We are created to enjoy His love, glory and companionship. When we experienced His love for us, we can then begin to relate and to love others. As we connect with others, and taste the good and bad, we learn more about His love for us.

Relying on the inner strength that comes from Christ in us, we are able to live out and show forth the strength through good behavior and good works. Our performances bring glory to God. But our performances must be motivated from the inside by His love. We perform because we are of excellent character. We do not perform to gain glory, or money, or influence for ourselves. We want to gain influence through and for Christ. We are the channels and the stewards where God could show forth His glory.

Our excellent performance will draw people to ask us for the 'secrets' of our success. We are to tell and to share our 'secrets' - Paul called it the "Mystery" - which is the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Our telling comes after our acts of love and performance and not before. Someone says, "No one cares about what you know until he knows how much you care about him". We must tell, but first show forth your action of love and success.

The order, connect first to God and then to others, and then living out and then telling how, is important. We don't tell before we work. We don't work until we know Jesus. We don't work ourselves but with and through Jesus.

Connecting to our creator Jesus is the purpose of life and then life is about living out and sharing the Jesus within.

As an example, the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. All true knowledge and wisdom begins with the understanding of God existence and His ordered patterns of life. Science is not possible without a Creator and a Creator of order. Without a believe in order, there is no science. Knowledge without having an absolute anchor and moral standard will leads to failure, destruction and death in the long term. The secrets of success and a fulfilled and healthy life begins with knowing God and His character. The main cause of the financial crisis is essentially a belief without God and only in Self and greed.

Wolf Cutlure vs Lamb Culture

Recently, in Chinese Businesses in PRC, there is this promotion and adoption of the "Wolves Culture" of doing business. The wolves culture promote wolf-like principles like

1. aggressiveness, ruthless and self-seeking - achieving the ends at all costs ; the ends justify the means; never satisfy - always go for more.
   
2. alertness to opportunities and grab them
3. great team work.
   

In contrast to the Wolf Culture, there is the Lamb Culture which is biblical based, or at least, good moral based, and has love as the center, stressing integrity, humility, sacrifice, dedication and social responsibility. The lamb culture is very much like what is presented in Dev Seidman's "How" and Gary Hamel's "The Future of Management".

The 1st principle is like a new version of an old Chinese book titled "Thick Black Study" teaching people to be thick-skinned and back-hearted to get thing done their way.

Except for 1st principle of ruthlessness, the other 2 principles of alertness-agility and team-work are quite biblical and are covered in Kingdom Laws & Principles.

Some more information on the Lamb Culture Forum can be found here.

Fleshy Work & Spiritual Work

God put His Kingdom Principles and Laws to work in His created universe. Key character traits like honesty, diligence, humility, and integrity make for success. Business people, whether believers or not, when they follow the God established laws will reap the benefits. Such accomplishments are not, work of the flesh, but spiritual work - they are the outcomes of respecting, trusting and following God's Laws.

However, if business people violate God's laws, and use dishonesty to grow their business, then those short-term successes are work of the flesh. It is the motivation and principles that we exert bodily in the fresh to follow that determine the spiritualness of our effort - spiritual or fleshy work.

Don't let anyone deceive you into not working. Spiritual work takes a lot of effort in the body flesh and muscles and our mind too.

See Let Go & Let God - Spiritual or Just Plain Lazy?

KP#21 Watch and Ride the Trend

It is common knowledge that change is the permanent and unavoidable thing of life. Living means growing and changing. However, coping with the changes bring stress and hardship.

The secret of successful and victorious living lies in the following 4 strategies:

1. Watch & Ride the Trend
   Being watchful of the changes, the trends, and then plan to riding on it to success.
2. Seizing the Opportunity in the Crisis.
   Very often though, the changes just happen suddenly; at least to those that have not be watching or to those with lack of knowledge. There is little to plan to cope with the changes. The ability to seize this opportunity, or more precisely, crisis, depends very much one readiness, agility, and responsiveness.
3. Innovate and Create the Trend and Following.
4. Going Back is a Good Option. When there is uncertainty and lack of directions and the present situations is not at all comfortable, going back to the original mission and calling that make the corporate successful in the 1st place could be a good option. We don't always have to do 'new' things.

We will cover the 1st strategy - watch and ride the trend.
Jesus uses the Budding Fig Tree Mat 24:32-36, the Evening Sky Mat 16:2-3 to tell us that

• changes can be predicted.
• be watchful wise and know the trend

We must be always on the watch so that we don't be fooled by our present and past success thinking that things will always stay the same. We should not be fooled by things that happen on the surface and go deeper and further. Luke 18-9-14 tells the story of Pharisee and the Republican - who is the one that is saved? self-righteousness or true repentance.

Here is the mind map ....

Next:  Seize the Opportunity

Grace Based Doctrines

It is good to reflect on what we have learned after some years. My growth in Christ goes through several stages. Firstly, I got to know Jesus as my personal savior and then I tried to please Him by trying to be a good Christian and following the Bible as much as I could. Then I discovered the spiritual gift of tongues and experienced the miracles working God of the Bible. After this I discovered that it was God within me, Christ in Me, that empowered me to be the Christian that Jesus wanted me to be. It used to be 'have-do-be'. Now it is 'Be-Do-Have' (see Be-Do-Have Repeat and Grow). I started this blog showing the great love and empowerment of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not just save us but gave us His Zoe life so that we are empowered to live out  His glory. It helped me through my desert time of betrayals, disappointments, and attacks. It enables us to come through all the more confidence in His love and empowerment for us. This is now commonly known as the grace-based doctrine.

What are then the essential beliefs of the Grace Based Doctrines?
Below is the mind map showing the key beliefs.
I wish to quote John Piper's "God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him."
Know for yourself that God is delighted in you - just as you are. But He loves you too much to leave you in your present state. He will bring you to greater heights to show forth His glory through you.

What about work?
It is about obedience to the general and unique calling of our lives. Our work of obedience is not for gaining salvation for we have already been saved, but for extending God's Kingdom and God's glory from and through us from within. Our obedience brings the blessings that God has appropriated for us and shows forth His glory to others so that others may be drawn toward him. (updated on 19 Aug 2009)