David Lee Martin

It’s Wimbledon season here in the UK.

My favourite tennis championship.

When we pastored in London we lived so close to the Wimbledon Tennis arena we could hear the cheers go up when matches were played. It was always an exciting time in Southfields. The buzz was palpable and the two weeks of the tournament were a highlight of our year.

We no longer live in London, but the tennis bug pulled us back to familiar streets this year to enjoy a busy day among the courts.

The scorer announced, “First serve”.

I think this would be the very words Jesus would use too.

How can I be a champion, Lord?

First, serve.

Serve others. Love others. Build others. Encourage others. Lift others.

Truly the best and only way to truly live.

Selah.

​In days when hope seems in short supply there is a refuge, strong and sure.

Don’t be dragged down. Hold tight.

“Turn you to the strong hold (​​“Return to the stronghold [of security and prosperity]”), ye prisoners of hope” (Zechariah 9:12 KJV)

That word “hope” literally means “cord”. The thing that you are tied to.

Shackled to hope. Bound to the One who never changes.

Hope is the anchor, fixing and pulling our soul inside the courts of God’s favour, where the shifting sands do not touch us.

​“Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;” (Hebrews 6:19 KJV)

God’s name and matchless character is your strong tower.

​“The name of Yahweh is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is set securely on high.” (Proverbs 18:10 LSB)

How do we run to His name?

Only by letting go of the other cords that hold us.

​“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15 KJV)

When cords of envy, pride and desire for significance (in the eyes of others) disappear, a fresh eternal vista opens up.

Your life is grander than you believe, reaching into eternity.

This, friend, is just a pitstop on the road to real living.

This world, and all that is in it, will pass away.

But His words, and the hope that they carry, will never pass away.

Grab your Bible and bind your heart to its promises.

Selah.

​Your connection to and affection for something gives it power over your life.

Not the thing itself.

Your connection to it is what gives something weight.

​The idolatry not the idol.

How rooted your reliance on something determines the fruit of your relationship with it.

That’s why Paul said, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”

Be sure to root in the right soil. Jesus speaks about thorny ground, a patch of land full of life-sucking lies that will strangle your heart.

If your whole sense of self-worth can be counted by the number on the bottom line of your bank statement there’s an accounting error in your worship! You’ve placed your trust in something that will ultimately fail.

​Jesus warned that “the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19 KJV)

Obsessive focus on the material world is a recipe for blind obedience to careless powers that will lead you off a cliff.

Does this mean it’s evil to want more? Wicked to pursue ambitious plans? Heinous to desire some of the luxuries and comforts that this world offers?

No, no and no.

All of these of themselves are powerless and benign. Its the significance you bestow upon them that hands over the reins.

Elsewhere Jesus says,

“your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.” (Luke 12:30 KJV)

He’s not worried that you prosper. In truth He takes “pleasure in the prosperity of his servant” (Psalm 35:27 KJV)

What He is saying is that money is a good servant, but a very poor master.

​“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24 KJV)

Recalibrate.

Renegotiate your relationship with worldly ambitions.

Rest your trust in God’s graces and faithful ability and “seek ye the kingdom of God.”

The promise stands that when you do, “all these things shall be added unto you.” (Luke 12:31 KJV)

When your heart is aligned, God can bring increase without diverting your destiny in a direction that will destroy you.

Selah.

A friend and I were discussing yesterday, and landed on this verse:

​“I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.” (1 Corinthians 4:14–16 KJV)

Here is a window on the heart of apostleship.

To be an instructor is no small thing, and desiring to teach and train others is beautiful. But the heart of a father or mother in the faith (or business and life) is quite something else.

A father desires nothing for himself and all for his children. His utmost desire is the progress of his progeny. A mother wants her offspring to spread their wings and fly higher than she ever did, shadowing their origins.

And a mother or father is never threatened by the eclipse.

The same words can be spoken by instructor and father alike. The same pictures painted by mother and teacher. But the results will be markedly different.

Why?

Because of the heart behind the ministration.

One informs, the other transforms.

Knowledge puffs up, love builds up.

Many desire the notoriety of being “someone” in someone else’s eyes.

Few pursue the humble route of apostolic impartation. Not of knowledge alone, but of life.

As Paul said:

​“But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.” (1 Thessalonians 2:7–8 KJV)

Here is heart. Here is life. Here is ministry.

The laying down of life that others may rise.

Selah.

Of all the gifts I’ve received this one has been the most life-changing.

It was one I little understood to begin with.

In the doing, I developed.

Closed the door and exercised.

As Paul exhorted Timothy, “exercise thyself unto godliness.” (1 Timothy 4:7 KJV)

– “To practice (naked); to train.” (Strongs #1128)

Nakedness is optional, thankfully, but you will have to lay your ego bare to press into this prayer practice.

Speaking in tongues.

I fear the failure of many churches to comprehensively teach on this subject is because its kinda weird. It falls outside the realms of reason and catapults you into the arena of faith before you even utter the first syllable.

But once you get it, once you recognise the bucketload of benefits that arrive on the tail of tongues, its not something you’ll ignore.

My book, The Life Changing Power of Speaking In Tongues, dives deep into the subject, grounding this life-changing practice squarely in Scripture. But beyond the proofs, there’s the practice. I nakedly share what I discovered behind closed doors in literally hundreds of hours of glossolalia (the fancy name for speaking and praying in other tongues).

Grab a copy on Amazon: https://www.champlinks.com/sl/tongues/