POWER THOUGHT:
“Always do your best. What you plant now you will harvest later.” Og Mandino
“For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:7
Tag: Bible Verse
The Process of a Champion
You could’ve taken off like a rocket ship with tanks of fuel lighting your tail, sending you fast to reach the stars. Yet, God chose a different journey; one with a paced climb, step by step, your path ascending a little higher each day.
Sometimes it seems slow. Painfully so. But, have you ever considered it just means the potential on the inside is powerful. Therefore, great care has to be taken in developing, caring, and raising your growth inch by inch.
Shooting high and shooting fast – the world has enough of that. Superstars with no substance are all they are. But, God made you to be a champion.
So what’s the big deal?
Champions create change. Champions endure – they tough it out. They fight the cause with the very last breath, staking their all to see victory come to its best. They are a peculiar creature not willing to forgo the promise or give up too quickly on the process. There’s a hope and a knowing that if they just stay on the wheel a little while longer the Master will develop a treasure from this little lump of clay.
Your value is too precious to be rushed. Let those whom will zoom if they please. But you, my friend, take joy in knowing there is great care being taken in making you who He wants you to be. So, let Him have His way and perfect the precious in you.
Spotlight creepers. Thrill seekers. This course is not for you. Only champions, whose heart will bend to His molding; who will ride the wheel to impact lives will understand this can’t be rushed. They are created for more and with that, embrace the process of being shaped, knowing dear champion, that’s who God wants you to be.
“. . . Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand . . .” Jeremiah 18:6
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“Gonna Find Out Who’s Naughty or Nice . . .”
“And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works,” Revelation 20:12
“He’s making a list, checking it twice; Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice,” (Santa Clause is Coming to Town, J. Fred Coots, Henry Gillespie (©) 1934). For most of us being on the “naughty list” is synonymous with that old Christmas jingle, a song that was sung to inspire children to be on their best behavior lest they be left out of the gift-giving that year. “The list” would tell whether one received a lump of coal or not.
While the idea of Santa Claus and his lists are very much fictional, the stark realities of records being kept are very much true. A lump of coal would be the least of our worries, for when one stands before the “great white throne and Him who sat on it,” (Rev. 20:11, NKJV), one’s eternal destination is at stake. “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire,” (Rev. 20:15, NKJV).
For the most part, the book of Revelation is a book that many people try to skip over in their reading. There’s a lot of vivid imagery that tells us horrible days to come. But, can it tell you something? There’s also a beautiful depiction of what the righteous get to experience.
There’s an intimacy that we see where the Father, on purpose, hovers over and protects them that are His. He prepares this glorious place for us to spend all eternity and the closeness with God cannot be compared.
There, we’ll see the victory of the Lamb come to the forefront once and for all. Over there, we’ll see everything of this world that tried to come against us be put in its proper place. All that old junk will be replaced with the glories of the new. Rivers of life, healing of the nations, every tear wiped out of our eyes . . . oh, yeah! We have something great to look forward to, as long as we are on the right “list;” as long as our name is “written in the Lamb’s book of life,” (Rev. 21:27).
Those that are on that right list and not the naughty list have endured hardness as a good soldier, 2 Tim. 2:3. They have fought the good fight of faith, 2 Tim. 4:7. They have submitted themselves to God and have resisted the advances of the enemy, James 4:7. They have taken on a new nature and are on that day found “arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints,” (Rev. 19:8). Being on the right list also gives them an invitation to the “marriage supper of the Lamb,” (Rev. 19:9).
Where one’s name is written matters; it matters a whole lot. Whatever “list” it’s found on identifies the pathway one has chosen to walk in their life. For those who have lived life for themselves without any regard to the Father will not receive the invitation to that glorious event. Opposite of that, he who has managed to live this life in a manner which pleases Him (a life hidden in Christ), will find themselves not only invited, but will arrive in style as an active participant. “I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying ‘Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God!’” (Revelation 19:1, NKJV). Oh, what a day that will be!
“But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life,” (Revelation 21:27, NKJV). In other words, avoid the naughty list so that we can all enjoy that great and coming day together.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” 1 John 1:9, NKJV.
List Photo Credit: Pixabay
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Words to Live by – “SEEK TO BE EXCELLENT!!!”
“Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before unknown men,” Proverbs 22:29, NKJV.
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“Formulas Aren’t Faith!”
No matter which way you look at it 2+2 will always equal 4. It will never change. As long as the equation is written the same exact way each and every time, the outcome will always be the same.
In life it’s not always that easy. One day we may wake up and we do something that brings happiness, joy, or success. Thinking to repeat the same results, the next day we awake and try the same equation. Unfortunately, this time it doesn’t always equal up to the previous time allowing discouragement to take over at what seems to be failed results.
Befuddled, one wonders in confusion of how can this be?
More confusing is when we try to apply this mathematical method to our walk of faith. Yet, that in and of itself is contradictory to the very essence of faith itself. For if one is striving to walk by formulas then he/she is not walking by faith.
Formulas are not faith. Pre-prescribed methods are not the path of liberty to walk freely in trust and belief before God.
Do we get discouraged because the 2+2 of our spiritual disciplines didn’t add up to the amazing results it once produced? For instance, one morning I may get up and pray before having coffee or anything. My morning worship is awesome. My day is awesome. Therefore, I repeat the process day by day. Then, one day I awake too tired to form a coherent thought and need to sit for a bit first and drink a cup of coffee while I fully wake. What do I do? Is my day predicated on my formula or my faith?
It’s easy to get attracted to formulas for in them we feel like we have some control over our destiny. But, this is not the life we have been chosen to live. We are called to “walk by faith, and not by sight,” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Jesus repeatedly stated, “Your faith has made you well,” (Matthew 9:22; Mark 10:5).
I absolutely don’t knock anyone’s way they are used to doing anything; spiritual or otherwise. I don’t buck against their rituals or the like that makes each one of us comfortable. We all have things we like to do a certain way. But, we must never let these things take precedence over our spiritual walk in Him. We must never let formulas replace faith.
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“Privileged Responsibility”
Photo Credit: Kevin Payravi, Wikimedia Commons
” For unto whomever is given, of him shall much be required,” Luke 12:48
In 1998 a movie titled “Ever After: A Cinderella Story” starring Drew Barrymore came out. Over the years this has become one of my favorite movies to watch because it gives a realistic human experience to that fairy tale of old. With a comedic twist is shows one way that this romance could have played out if it were real.
The so-called Prince Charming in this movie had a name, it was Henry. Henry was a some-what spoiled prince who didn’t always want to operate under his parents rule. He didn’t want to be king and he didn’t want to be forced into marriage with a complete stranger because of obligation. It was around this time when his mother Queen Marie said, “Sweetheart . . . you were born to privilege and with that comes specific obligations,” (IMDb).
This quote came to my mind one day as I was traveling on a busy road in my neighborhood. Traffic was running pretty smoothly that day. There were several cars in front of me including an unmarked police car. As we began to approach the intersection the light turned red for us. After a few seconds of sitting somebody got impatient. You got it, the police car. He turned on his lights and sirens then proceeded through the red light. I watched to see if he was in fact attending to an emergency or if he used his privileges as a police officer to do something the rest of us could not. Well, by now you should know the answer. When he got to the other side of the intersection the lights and sirens were turned off and he drove on as if everything were okay.
I thought to myself the shame of it all. Here is a man in a respected office, but instead of being an example to the civilians around him he chose to spot his office by acting as any ordinary man. He ran the red light, point-blank.
As frustrating as it may be to see these occurrences, it also gives a very vivid example of our role in Christ. 1 Peter 2:9 declares, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,” (KJV). What this verse does is speak of a royal lineage in Christ. It tells us the office we now hold is not that of the common man. Prince Henry was born a royal, but we were born-again to live royally the privileged life that He offers us. That which He extends to us is enormously, wonderfully blessed. But, with it comes responsibility.
The latter half of the above verse says we are to “shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” What that means is that we are to magnify our office. We are to bring glory to Him through our life. We are to show the world what it means to have Christ save you and to give you the privileged life. It’s not by running the “red lights” of life, rather it’s done by walking circumspectly, Eph. 5:15. It’s done by patiently enduring those “red lights” in life that try to hinder our progress in Christ because we are an example to the world.
The world is watching us. They want to see if the life we claim to have in Christ is real. Our day-to-day affairs become our living testimony. It does not matter if your days are spent in an office, on a construction site, or even as an at-home mom; someone is watching you to see how you “shew forth the praises of him who hath called you.” What will they see? Someone who is responsible with their privileged life – a life that will draw men to Christ? Or, will they see a “red light” runner; someone who taints their office? “For unto whomever much is given, of him shall much be required,” (Luke 12:48, KJV).
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Image
In a world where selfies, mainstream personal videos, and profiles dominate it’s easy to surmise that image to most means a great deal. One’s style and the exterior of self are put on display for the world to like, or not.
But, the degree of the image goes deeper. It’s so easy to look at the clothes, the hair, and the poses and think that’s the sum of a person. When God crafted us individually and designed us like Him, He saw so much more. He had a greater vision in mind.
I fear that we have watered down His intention for our purposeful design of a deeper and more spiritually revealing self that personifies His glory before the world and we have settled for the cheaper, mass-produced, mass approved public version.
I believe when God spoke in the beginning that we were made in His image (see Genesis 1:27), He spoke of more than just our facial features, our physique, our height, weight, and so on. He spoke of our representation of something the boundaries of those outer measurements can’t comprehend. He spoke of our likeness of Him. At that point of creation, when it came time for humanity to be put on the earth, God looked to Himself to snap a portrait of who we are truly designed to be.
Now, do I mean that you are supposed to be God sitting on the throne in heaven? No. But, what I do mean is we are carriers of so much more. The portrait of our lives is made to expose and reflect His glory of the greater. The selfies we have grown accustomed to can’t compare to the true nature we were designed to resemble.
So my question is, why settle for less when your life and mine were made to shine beyond the flash of a lens? Can we not view our importance and value through the eyes of God instead of view clicks, like buttons, and reactions? Who or what do we really want our lives to model?
Selfies and having fun with cameras aren’t bad. They just don’t hold the sum of who we really are. We can make pretty faces, pose, and dress – but, we will never find true happiness and satisfaction in life exchanging Image for image.
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“You have been upheld since birth!”
“By You I have been upheld from birth; You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb. My praise shall be continually of You,” Psalm 71:6, NKJV
As you look back over your life, is there ever a time when you know you should not have made it? Is there a time when you recognize that it was only by the grace of God that you are still here today?
Yeah, me too!
Life has a way of throwing us many curve balls. Sometimes we hit it and sometimes we miss. Sometimes we are even awesome enough to get a home run, whereas at other times we would just be grateful to still be in the game. The fact that we are is a testimony to the love of the Father on us. It is evident that He still has you and me in His hands.
There are times that come that make it extremely hard for us to recognize this great truth. Crushing times that weigh on us making us believe that we are forgotten or that we are walking this path alone. Nothing could be further from the truth. God has always been with us. God has always taken care of us. God has always been the one holding on to us when our lives seem to be spinning out of control.
I find it utterly amazing that we have been upheld since birth. Truth be told, Psalm 139:16 shows us that He was paying attention to us even before the time of our birth. It says, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them,” (NASB). Even before day 1 of our lives, God had His eye on us.
How awesome is that? I find great comfort in verses like these because I realize that yes; I have gone through some very difficult and troubling times. Yes, as I look back through the different stages of life I wish things could have been better or I wish wrong choices could be undone. But, despite all the “I wish I had . . .” or the “could haves and should haves,” these verses remind me that I never walked alone. There was never a time in my life that God didn’t see me and didn’t see what I was going through. There was never a time when He was absent; rather, He was there with His hands on me, cradling me with His love.
God’s hands have always been us!
I don’t know what you may be facing today but the Word of God is sure in all it promises and His Word promises that you are not alone. Yet, sometimes it does seem that way. It seems like you cry and cry and cry some more, but your tears do not fall on deaf ears. As you cry, the one who has had His hands on you since birth feels the flow of your tears running over His hands as He holds you.
Trust Him who has you in His hands today. Be blessed.
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Venturing Forth!
For the children of Israel there always seemed to a pull to return to bondage; to give themselves over to chains as opposed to freedom. It was almost as if they had a case of the “couldn’t help its.” For every little obstacle they faced they were soon ready to throw in the towel and return to what they formerly were. They spouted, “Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness,” (Exodus 14:12).
Lest we judge them too harshly perhaps we may need to rethink how oft we fight to stay where we were once comfortable. God stretches our faith, pulling us to follow Him through what seems to be desert wildernesses. His fulfilled plan is on the other side, yet to get there we have to venture out into the unknown territories where He calls us, step by step in our own walk of faith.
Alas, through the drudgery and turmoil of the march, that old familiar pull rears its ugly head once more and beckons us to stay in the comfortable; to stay where we know what each day will bring. But, we know that settling will never get us to the other side of the wilderness. Turning back will never propel us forward.
May we, through this day, venture forth where God is leading with a heart of faith that refuses to turn back.
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“I thank God for my family!”
