O Lord, look how my enemies have increased !! .. Many are attacking me.
But you, O Lord are a shield that surrounds me. You are my glory. You hold my head high. I call aloud to the LORD, and He answers me from His holy mountain .. Selah PSALMS 3 : 1, 3 - 4 ARE YOU FACING SOME FRIGHTENING SITUATIONS AT THE MOMENT ? .. ARE YOU FIGHTING AN INNER STRUGGLE ? .. ARE YOU GOING THROUGH AND EXPERIENCING YOUR VERY OWN PERSONAL WAR ? .. If the above sounds a little familiar .. please STOP worrying .. YOU ARE NOT ALONE .. God has heard your cries for help and He will surely answer .. Keep the fires of your faith burning and whatever you do .. don't ever let go of His strong, Almighty hand. In the above Scripture we see that David .. who was a very faithful man of God .. was also facing and going through a personal crisis in his life .. he faced situations, circumstances and attacks that he did not quite understand .. much like you do not always understand why you have to experience certain events in your life. BUT DAVID'S RESPONSE TO HIS CRISIS .. IS WHERE YOU CAN LEARN A VERY POWERFUL LESSON .. No matter what David went through .. No matter how scared or frightened he was .. he NEVER took his eyes off God !! David stood up proudly and he outright declared that it is God who will assist, guide and support you through each and every terrifying, frightening moment that you might ever have to deal with. When God is in control of your life .. and you have truly, honestly handed everything over to Him .. and your faith and trust in Him is as solid as a rock .. then your life will be filled with a peace and a calmness that really can not be explained. And it is this precious, priceless peace that God shares with you, that will ease all of your stress and anxiety while you go through the process of making choices and decisions .. facing all sorts of disapproval, doubt and distrust .. both from within yourself and from people around you. Amongst the trials and tribulations you will face in your journey through life .. is the attacks that will come upon you from people that you encounter on a day to day basis. From time to time you will encounter a person or even a group of people that seem to go out of their way to make your life miserable .. people that make it very clear to you that they do not want you to be successful at anything that you try and do. Too often .. when we find ourselves in this position .. blocked at every move that we try and make .. we seem to fall into the trap of believing the opinions that others have of us .. we start to believe that we are never going to make it .. we start to believe that we are failures .. we start to believe that we are never going to amount to anything .. we start to believe that we will never be successful .. and the saddest thing of all is that we actually convince ourselves that we are not worthy enough to receive the great love and blessings that God has promised to give. But you need to STOP, STOP, STOP this way of thinking !! .. Just because others may have that opinion does not in anyway make it the truth. ARE YOU LIVING YOUR LIFE IN LINE WITH GOD'S PERFECT WILL FOR YOU ? .. If you can answer this question with a yes .. then you are definitely in the safest place in the world .. there is no greater place and no safer place to be than right where God wants you to be. If you have reached the point of knowing that you have not been quiet as successful as you would like to be .. then now is the perfect time for you to dig in deeper with God .. pray, ask and desperately seek His divine will and purpose for you .. and as you do this, God will without a doubt develop and improve your resources in order to bring every "impossible" to within your reach. If you make the commitment to align your life plans with God's will and purpose for you .. then success is on your horizon .. and there is no demon on earth or devil in hell that will be able to disrupt or ruin your plans. Remember .. When the storms come and you know that you are in the will of God, then little else matters !! WEAVE IN FAITH AND GOD WILL GIVE YOU THE THREAD As a man rejoices over his new wife, so your God will rejoice over you. Isa 62:5
Have you ever noticed the way a groom looks at his bride during the wedding? I have. Perhaps it's my vantage point. As the minister of the wedding, I'm positioned next to the groom… If the light is just so and the angle just right, I can see a tiny reflection in his eyes. Her reflection. And the sight of her reminds him why he is here. His jaw relaxes and his forced smile softens. He forgets he's wearing a tux. He forgets his sweat-soaked shirt…When he sees her, any thought of escape becomes a joke again. For it's written all over his face, "Who could bear to live without this bride?" And such are precisely the feelings of Jesus. Look long enough into the eyes of our Savior and, there, too, you will see a bride. Dressed in fine linen. Clothed in pure grace… She is the bride … walking toward him… And who is this bride for whom Jesus longs? … You are. You have captured the heart of God. When Christ Comes (by: Max Lucado) "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." Matt. 5:8
Did you know that our eyes are connected to our hearts? It's true. Whatever your heart is set upon, your eyes will search out and find. Whatever your heart dismisses as meaningless will always be passed over by your gaze. For example — have you ever noticed when you buy a new car and start driving it around, you then start seeing it each time someone else is driving the same model? Why? Because it matters to you; and because your heart is set upon it, your eyes will seek it out. Have you seen God lately? If not, the problem is not with your eyes.....it's with your heart. In another place the Bible says, "To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled" (Titus 1:15). In other words, we do not see things as they are, we see things as we are. And if we are broken, then we will not see things right — even if they are right in front of us. This is why we must turn to the Lord for cleansing whenever we are defiled by the awful things that happen in a fallen world. Otherwise we will carry the defilement within our hearts and find ourselves unable to even receive the words of the Lord, much less believe them. A corrupted and broken heart can distort the words of God in the same way that a defective radio receiver distorts a good signal. The signal from the station is perfectly clear but the message being heard in the living room is garbled and disturbing. Suppose, for example, that an individual had a particularly cruel father who treated him with such harshness that it warped how he viewed himself and the world around him. One can imagine the difficulties that would arise within that person's heart as he was introduced to the notion that God wanted to be his "Father!" "God wants to be my Father?" he might ask, inwardly thinking: "He wants to beat me and belittle me?!" Mistreated sons and daughters unwittingly project onto God the awful failures of their own earthly fathers. Aloof, absent, and angry men have done so much to give God a bad name through their distorted examples of fatherhood. As a result the world is filled with broken children who are in desperate need of a true revelation of the Father heart of God. Perhaps you are one of them? Jesus will heal you, and make you whole if you but ask Him — and you will see God! Since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Rom 12:1
Resentment is the cocaine of the emotions. It causes our blood to pump and our energy level to rise. But, also like cocaine, it demands increasingly large and more frequent dosages. There is a dangerous point at which anger ceases to be an emotion and becomes a driving force. A person bent on revenge moves unknowingly further and further away from being able to forgive, for to be without the anger is to be without a source of energy. Hatred is the rabid dog that turns on its owner. Revenge is the raging fire that consumes the arsonist. Bitterness is the trap that snares the hunter. And mercy is the choice that can set them all free. The Applause of Heaven (by: Max Lucado) By definition, endurance means to sustain one's capacity and integrity throughout the duration of any kind of ordeal. It means to withstand hardship, adversity, or stress; to remain firm under difficulty without yielding. It means that even though you may bend, you will not break.
This indefatigable spirit was illustrated in the life of one man in particular, who aspired for greatness despite many difficulties. Here is a brief review of his uphill battle.... His first attempt at business failed. He tried politics and within only one year failed there also. He went back to the business sector for yet another try, and failed again. Three failures in three years. He struggled for the next two years and then suffered a nervous breakdown. After taking two years to recover, he tried once again in the political world and was defeated in his bid to be elected as Speaker of the House. Two years later he made his bid to be appointed as the Elector and was again defeated. Three years after this he ran for a seat in Congress and was defeated. He waited five years to run for office again, and was again defeated. He spent the next seven years as a relative unknown in the private sector and then ran yet again for a political office — this time in the Senate. Again, he was defeated. The following year he was nominated by his party to be the candidate for Vice-President, but was defeated along with his running mate in the general election. After two more years he tried again for the Senate seat but again was defeated. Then, another two years later, in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States! Add it all up and you have twenty four years of sheer endurance! Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "The hero is no braver than the ordinary man; he just fights five minutes longer." In a day when so many seem so ready to give up so easily, will you hang in there for just five more minutes? It very well could make all the difference in the world! The Offseason All leaders go through stretches when they have to work overtime to meet deadlines and deliver results. We refer to these times as “busy seasons,” and they are illustrated by the following examples:
At other times, the pace of life slows, and pressure abates. We use the phrase, “offseason,” to describe these less hectic phases. In the offseason, leaders do not see immediate results from their work, nor do they face pressing deadlines. During the offseason, not every action carries do-or-die consequences, and stress levels are greatly reduced. Whereas everyone tunes in to watch a leader perform during the busy season, hardly any spectators pay attention during the offseason. Making the Most of the Offseason Leaders are revealed during the busy seasons, but they are made during the offseason. Work done for months behind-the-scenes determines what happens onstage the night of the show. Here are five ways leaders, and the teams they lead, can make the most of the offseason. 1) Develop Stamina During the offseason, leaders develop stamina through a mixture of rest and training. Recognizing that they’re ineffective when worn out, leaders prioritize rest during the offseason to replenish energy reserves. However, leaders must also condition themselves to be ready for the rigors of the upcoming season. Much as a runner would be foolish to show up for a marathon without having trained, leaders cannot remain idle throughout the offseason and expect to be at their peak when the season arrives. Revisit Vision The offseason is an opportune time for leaders to revisit vision and values, and to make sure their team is focused on what matters most. Once they’ve gained personal clarity, leaders then can help their team generate its goals for the future. Keeping a vision in front of a team, and giving it goals to reach for, brings much-needed purpose and motivation to offseason activities. Build Team Unity During the offseason, teams face less stress than at other times of the year, and they do not have as many critical tasks to accomplish. This makes the offseason a prime occasion for investing in relationships. When teammates connect meaningfully during the offseason, they form bonds that can sustain team unity during the pressure-cooker of busy seasons. Pursue Personal Growth The frenetic pace of life’s busy seasons crowd out time for personal growth. Conversely, during the offseason leaders find themselves with plenty of room to breathe. Wise leaders make productive use of their extra time by attending training seminars, studying industry experts, and reading up on cutting-edge strategies. Those leaders who develop their skills and enhance their knowledge during the offseason have an advantage over the competition once the season starts. Rehearse Much as a music band must rehearse before going on a concert tour, a team must practice together in the offseason to prepare itself for future projects. Championship teams spend the offseason shoring up their strengths and working out the kinks in their systems. They conduct trial runs and pilot programs to test new ideas and fine-tune their processes. The practice that a team puts in over the course of the offseason improves its performance, and instills confidence for the upcoming season. "It's not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."
~ Paul "Bear" Bryant "A lifetime of training for just ten seconds." ~ Jesse Owens (on running the 100-meter dash in the Olympics) "Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work." ~ Stephen King "I run on the road long before I dance under the lights." ~ Muhammad Ali "It's better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret." ~ Jackie Joyner-Kersee Psalm 121:5 The Lord Himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade
He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Psa 23:3 NKJV
It's hard to see things grow old. The town in which I grew up is growing old… Some of the buildings are boarded up. Some of the houses are torn down… The old movie house where I took my dates has "For Sale" on the marquee… I wish I could make it all new again. I wish I could blow the dust off the streets … but I can't. I can't. But God can. "He restores my soul," wrote the shepherd. He doesn't reform; he restores. He doesn't camouflage the old; he restores the new. The Master Builder will pull out the original plan and restore it. He will restore the vigor. He will restore the energy. He will restore the hope. He will restore the soul. The Applause of Heaven (by: Max Lucado) Have you ever prayed something like this: "Lord, I know what you must be thinking about me right now," and then began to tell Him what you were actually thinking about yourself? We all do this. We condemn ourselves for the mistakes we have made and resolve within ourselves that it must be what the Lord thinks of us.
But, this is a wrong thing to do! We have got to stop "putting our words in the Lord's mouth." We must come to know the Lord as He is, and not as we assume Him to be. We must let Him put HIS words in our mouths. Listen to what the Lord says about Himself in the words of Jeremiah, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11). And in the writings of Isaiah, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8,9). In other words - God thinks more highly of us than we think of ourselves. And God's plans for us are greater than the plans we would set for ourselves. Yet something within us makes us believe that God is always angry with us, always ready to "smite us, yea, and that right early!" We tread softly in His presence and cower when we pray, for we dare not rouse Him from slumber lest He strike us with His rod of righteous judgment — O bless His Holy Name! Now I ask you honestly, how in the world can you have any kind of a meaningful relationship with someone like that? You CAN'T! And that's precisely why so few really know the Lord. Why not right now reintroduce yourself to the Lord. And ask Him to reintroduce Himself to you. Start afresh and live in the delight of knowing that His thoughts of you are of peace, and not of evil. And then you will discover, that your thoughts of Him are of peace — and not evil. |
Ana & Andre Schoonbee God uses us to motivate and encourage the body. Authors
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