Heart of a Warrior - Dr. Greg Bourgond

Papa's Blessing

I have just contracted with iUniverse to publish my next book titled "Papa's Blessing."  I wrote the book because so many people encouraged me to do so.  Everywhere I speak on the subject of blessing I receive tremendous response.  Every son, daughter, father, and mother longs to receive a blessing from someone that matters in their life.  The sad truth is that most of us never receive the blessing we seek.

The book will include many examples of blessings not the least of which will be blessings I have written and administered to all my grandchildren.

Many have asked how to write and give a blessing.  I have concluded that a meaningful blessing includes the following elements...some of which was derived and adapted from Gary Smalley and John Trent's book entitled "The Blessing."

Meaningful Touch

Spoken Word

Personal Assigned Values 

Expression of Esteem and Affirmation

Picture of a Unique and Distinct Future

Scriptural Focus and Support

Commitment to Bringing the Dream Alive

The book will include a Blessing Worksheet.  This helpful aid will collect the necessary information neeeded in crafting a meaningful blessing including candidate information, prayer response, personal observations, a pattern for a blessing, a blessing draft, and details of a ceremony to administer the blessing.

I hope to have the book ready for Father's Day in 2011.

My hope and prayer is that many will take the initiative to bless the ones they love.

I hope you will want to purchase the book and receive  a blessing from the Lord by blessing those who mean the most to you.

 

How Many Kings

He is the reason for this season--and every season. This moving rendition of "How Many Kings" by Downhere reminds us of God's gift--free to any who would receive it but very costly nevertheless. I am moved every time I listen to it. Thank you, Justin Irving, for sharing this with me and now others.

The Kilns - 2010

 
Earlier this month I was extended an invitation to once again come to the Kilns in Headington England, the home of C.S. Lewis, as a Visiting Scholar to write my next book.

Papa's Blessing is about blessing.  Every person longs to receive a blessing from someone that matters in their life.  Whenever I speak on the subject of blessing I see the impact it has on the audience.  In all cases, I am repeatedly asked how to pick a value for a loved one, how to draft a blessing, and how to give a blessing. 

The book describes the process I went through selecting values for my grandchildren, developing a blessing contaning those values (for them and others), and bestowing the blessing. There are numerous examples and a comprehensive worksheet designed to help someone through the process.

I finished the manuscript in 8 days.  Stats:  ~120 pages, 31,200 words, 7 chapters, 2 apendices, a dedication page, preface, and introduction.

Chapter Titles:

Chapter 1 - The Importance of Blessing

Chapter 2 - The Source of Blessing (Strategic Fatherhood)

Chapter 3 - The Power of Blessing

Chapter 4 - The Essentials of Blessing

Chapter 5 - The Preparation of Blessing

Chapter 6 - The Realization of Blessing

Chapter 7 - The Legacy of Blessing

Appendix A – The Blessing Worksheet

Appendix B – Personal Bio of Dr. Greg Bourgond

As I near the end of my stay, I am once again feeling the blessing of God.  This is such an inspiring place to live and write.  As you may recall I was here in 2008 writing my first book, "A Rattling of Sabers."  If you haven't gotten your copy yet you can order it from Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.

Click on this link:  A Rattling of Sabers:  Preparing Your Heart for Life's Battles

Oddly enough, I wrote the last 8 chapters of that book in 8 days as well.

While I was here at the Kilns I attended a Carol Sing at Magdelan College Chapel on the campus of the college in Oxford.  Lewis taught here for a number of years.  It was on Addison's Walk in the college grounds that he and Tolkien would discuss spiritual matters that contributed to Lewis' conversion.  We were seated directly behind the altar.  It was stuning, inspiring, and uplifting.

I have a few days left and will spend some time in Oxford.

Samuel - Part 3

 

1. Prayer is the bridge we must cross for influence and empowerment.

Samuel (and his mother) was a prayer warrior.

The Bible contains nearly fifty lengthy prayers recorded in prose sections and several hundred shorter prayers or references to praying.

(Dictionary of Biblical Imagery © 1998 by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. All rights reserved.)

Mighty men of God are prayer warriors.

ILLUS:  Gaelan (Goodness & Integrity)

Not all prayer requires word—awareness, attitude, posture, work, reflection…

Romans 12:12 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. NIV

2. The significance of what leaders accomplish is directly related to their relationship with God.

Samuel maintained a vibrant relationship with God to the end.

Significance and meaning can only come from the Creator who gives meaning and significance to our lives.

Significance is more important than success. A life of significance is attained by living a legacy worth leaving in the lives of people God places within our sphere of influence. The only legacy worth living is a godly legacy.

We are wired to seek significance for our lives (Ps 139:13-18; Eccl 3:10-11; Eph 2:10)

God has a prescription for significance.

• We have a DESTINY to fulfill . . .God has ‘plans' for us! (Jeremiah 29:11)
• We have a CONTRIBUTION to make . . .God has equipped us for His purposes! (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)
• We have a MINISTRY to complete . . .Our objective is Christlikeness! (Ephesians 4:11-16)
• We have a LEGACY to leave . . .God wants us to invest in others! (1 Chronicles 28:8; 2 Timothy 2:2)

 

3. The kind of person we are is more important than anything we might do.

Samuel’s character spoke louder than his accomplishments.

It is not what you do that determines who you are.  It is who you are in Christ that will determine the significance of what you do.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. NIV

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: NIV

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. NIV

Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. NIV

4.      God is our salvation, not any authority in the world.

Samuel answered to one authority – God.

Ephesians 2:19-22 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. NIV

Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, NIV

Samuel - Part 2

1 Samuel 16:1-7

The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king."  But Samuel said, "How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me."  The Lord said, "Take a heifer with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.'  Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate."  Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, "Do you come in peace?"  Samuel replied, "Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.  When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord." 

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."  NIV

After anointing Saul as the first king of Israel much to Samuel’s disapproval he delivers his farewell speech to the people of Israel.

1 Samuel 12:6-25

Then Samuel said to the people, "It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your forefathers up out of Egypt. Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your fathers.  "After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your forefathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place.  "But they forgot the Lord their God; so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. 10 They cried out to the Lord and said, 'We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.' Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel, and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies on every side, so that you lived securely.

"But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, 'No, we want a king to rule over us'-even though the Lord your God was your king. Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you.  If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God — good!  But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers.

"Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call upon the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king."  Then Samuel called upon the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So, all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.  The people all said to Samuel, "Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king." "Do not be afraid," Samuel replied. "You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless.  For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away." NIV

What lessons can we learn from the life of Samuel?  Take the next ten minutes, review the passages we have just read and what you know about the life of Samuel to write down principles gleaned from his life and ministry.