The Armor of the 4 P’s

The last two weeks we talked about starting each day with an invitation to Jesus to be a part of your day, and then at various times throughout the day pausing, to reset your focus, by involving him in what you are currently doing. We call it Outset: Invite – Reset: Involve.

This week I want to give you a tool to assist you in this. I call this, “The Armor of the 4 P’s.”

1. Perspective: Start each day by reminding yourself the Holy Spirit is right there with you. You are in his presence. And he is in yours.

When Jesus starts his famous prayer with, “Our Father in heaven,” he actually says, “Our Father in the heavens.” The … heavens. Jesus is saying God Almighty’s presence starts with and in the air around you. You live in a God-saturated world.

The image we have of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God out there somewhere beyond the stars, in heaven somewhere off in space—as Bette Midler sang, “From A Distance” —is absolutely ridiculous. You are surrounded by God. You are hemmed in by Jesus. The Holy Spirit is always with you.

Start your day with this perspective of His always-presence, and then reset your perspective throughout the day to remind you of this … fact.

2. Purpose: I typically wrestle with one of three purposes each day:

1. My purpose
2. Inviting and involving the Holy Spirit into … my purpose.
3. Wanting to be invited and involved in the Holy Spirit’s purpose for me.

The first is all about Sam and Self.

The second is an improvement, but it is still ultimately about my purpose.

The third is a matter of the heart. I still have my list of things to do each day—my Daytimer for next week is already full—but I reset my heart to be open to his interruptions, his pop-ins, his shifts – i.e. his purpose.

Yes, each day I follow my Daytimer, but I am first following Jesus, so I am ready and open to his purposes throughout the day.

3. Priority: Jesus promises, actually he guarantees that if he is my top priority, he will get involved with the details of my day, and in the process help me with all the things I need.

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ … But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31 & 33)

“Seeking first” is a matter of the heart. If I start each day with our Outset: Invite, and during the day I practice Reset: Involve, I will more and more naturally seek first the Kingdom of God, and not the kingdom of Sam.

Regrettably, I believe it is a binary priority choice: The Kingdom of God or Sam’s kingdom.

4. Power: Each day I have a choice as to which power source I choose. I can rely on Sam’s power, or I can ask for, and lean into, the power of the Holy Spirit. My power or His power—or yours?

We are promised an incredible Holy Spirit power source by Jesus:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. (Acts 1:8)

And Jesus said we will actually be better off, and do greater works than him, with this Holy Spirit power. That is an astounding promise! (See John 14:12 & 16:7)

To sum up: “If you want things to be different” —and I hope you do— “you have to do things differently.”

This begins not just doing differently, although it certainly involves this, but being different. By starting each day putting on the full armor of the 4 P’s: your Perspective, his Purpose, his Priority and his Power source.